Hope for Ecuador

This past week has been a very busy one! (as have the last few months!!)

On Monday, I was returning late from spending some time with some brothers in Christ in Puyo, and it was so late that I had to sit around and wait for one of the large buses that travel between the big cities to come by (these leave Puyo about every hour, and may or may not pick you up, once they know that you are getting off a couple of miles down the road). So as I was sitting by the side of the road waiting, this car drives by, stops, and reverses back to where I am sitting...a guy I never have seen before asks if I was going to Shell, and told me to hop in. Turns out that he is a driver for the local busses, and must have seen me using his bus to go from Puyo to Shell before. So as we are talking on the way to Shell, he starts sharing about how he has just broken up with his girlfriend, because she says that he never has enough time for her, and he is really broken up about it. In the 10 inutes that it took us to get to Shell, I was able to share some hope into his life, and it was amazing to see his countanance change on hearing the words that God gave me to share!!

Cinthia made a trip to Loja, about 13 hours southeast on the public bus, to the closest Peruvian Consulate to renew her passport and do some more paperwork. This is the start of several trips that we will be making toget her residency here in Ecuador, and then work on our boys citizenship papers and a visa for Cinthia for the USA, to be able to Lord willing go and make a visit soon. For this trip, Cinthia travelled alone with Esteban, while I stayed home with Daniel who wasnt feleing that good. God was good, granted her safety, and after several hours of paperwork, she turned around and came back home. Needless to say, she was very glad to get home after being away for 38 hours, over half of which were traveling on the bus with a 6 month old!! Esteban has started to teeth, and also starting to eat, so it made the trip even more dificult!! In a couple of weeks we will be travelling all the way to the Peruvian border to do more paperwork. Please keep us in your prayers healthwise, and also for the funding necesary to finish all of the paperwork necesary.

Friday and Saturday, I was the one travelling to Sucua, a city about 4 and a half hours away, to support a young pastor couple, friends of ours, who where holding an evangelistic crusade. The church there is about a year and a half old, and the Lord has blessed them tremendously, with about 110 people attending for Sunday morning services. This is the first crusade that this friend has held on his own, and it was a blessing to see them again, see how the church is growing and support them in the small way that we could. There where services both Friday and Saturday evening, which were held in the central park of the city right in front of the Town Hall, where God delivered several people from demon possesion, and healed many more! We truly serve a great God!! Saturdat at midnight I left the city to travel back home for the Sunday Service at Casa de Fe.

While in Sucua, I heard a story which both shook me and reminded me why we are here. About 15 days ago an 11 year old boy living in a village near the city took the families hunting rifle, and shot his own father right in the chest. The reason this boy had so much hate in his heart to do this? His father, 35 years old, continuosly came home drunk and beat his mother right in front of the childrens eyes. One day this child had enough and took matters into his hands, killing his own father.

Unfotunately, this story is not as uncommon as you may think here, with a reprise played over and over again: the characters and outcome may differ, but the basic reason is the same, time and time again..broken families, bad decisions, and death. This happens again and again, and can bring a big question into our minds...Is there hope for this boy and his family? Is there hope for these children marked for life, seeing this as normal while they grow up, and then doing the same in their families? Is there hope for the families of Ecuador?!? Looking into the eyes of the Children I minister to every day, into the eyes of the people I pass on the streets in the cities, into the eyes of the people in the villages as the bus flies by them, what I most often see there, is a loss of hope. I believe that I can say with our Lord, weeping, that these are truly as sheep without a shepherd.

What is the answer? What can I do to ease this suffering, to break this vicious cycle? What words do I have to lighten up these eyes, beautiful eyes, God-made eyes; heavy with sorrow, despair, and a loss of anything worth living for??

I may not have the answers, but I serve the One who does. The One who gave his only Son to bring hope to a dark and dying world, has called upon us to share His love with them, a love that changes hearts, that gives a future, that heals broken homes and gives a purpose for living!

Thank you for partnering with us in this heavenly task. We are so grateful for your prayes, help and support! If you have not done so recently, please stop by our website and blog to keep up with what we are doing. We also have many pictures on our facebook page. We are not always good at keeping everything up to date, but one thing we especially try to do is respond to personal emails, so shoot us a note! If you have not yet done so, please consider partnering with s financially so that we can continue to bring hope to this generation of Ecuadorians, and break these chains of sin and despair.

A huge thank you from Mark, Cinthia, Daniel and Esteban Blosser!