Quito 2010 Ladies Summer Team

The ladies had some delays in their flights but alas, they made it in last night at 10ish and arrived "home" at 11:30p.m.  I am sure they slept well last night! 

We are headed to Mitdad del Mundo (Middle of the World) which is the Equator.  Had an amazing time at church this morning in our more "latin jovial" way of worship.  Nothing like what they are used to at MMBC. 

I am sure you will see pictures and hear more from the ladies blog when they have a minute to blog. 

Looking back.... Pressing forward. Two years completed!

I just happened to find a prayer card picture of our family that we made the summer of '08 when we first embarked on this journey (last picture in the row above).  I was so amazed to see how little our boys were.  Aiden was just learning to walk and talk.  Now he is running, jumping, speaking in two languages and in pre-school.  Ethan was only 4 and so little.  Now he is 6yrs old, finished his first year of Kinder and growing. (First 2 pic. are recent this year)   We had no idea what life was like here in Quito if they had clothing stores, how accessible they were etc...  We bought some clothes for the boys that were 1 or 2 sizes too big just in case.  I was just cleaning out their closet and saw how much our boys have grown quickly leaving that clothes behind. 
There are many missionaries who embark this similar journey not knowing where they are going but knowing that God is with them.  Many missionaries get to their location and ministry and are miserable there but having sold everything, raised support and made a time commitment- they just stick to it.  We are so blessed to be able to say that this has not been our experience.  Yes, of course we have had our share of hardships but nothing that would make us want to pack our bags and leave or count the days til our commitment is over.  This place of ministry has been a great fit for our family.  Our school is considered one of the top schools here in Quito even though its a missionary school.  So Ethan is getting a wonderful education, Aiden was offered a scholarship at an excellent preschool, Ben loves his job teaching 6th graders, mentoring and discipling students who have never heard the gospel, to be able to reach out to street children as a family and I love the variety of work in my counseling position. 
Our constant struggle is looking back at our life, family and friends that we left in the states but the Lord gives us strength to press forward and to be content in the present.  We count our blessings as we look back at 2 great years of ministry completed here in Quito.  You are part of those blessings we count because as you know it would not have been possible without you.

Driving Restrictions, Electricity Restrictions, Schedule restrictions - Whats next?

Ecuador just began a new form of traffic control "Pico Placa"  Through out the week certain lic. plate #'s are restricted from driving.  If caught driving on those days you are fined, your car is taken from you ......  I still have not gotten used to this new law in our life so I completely forgot that it was Tues. and I couldn't drive.  I only had a 5min drive down to work and thankfully there were no cops out patroling. I would have hated to get fined and our car taken away for a 5min drive.  I think this restriction is here to stay. 

For what seemed like an eternity we had electricity rations.  It probably lasted for 5 months but throughout the day certain neighborhoods would have power outages for 4-5hrs at a time.  Some neighborhoods had it happen twice a day.  This restriction was much harder to deal with for our family.  Though it did provide some opportunities for creative entertaining and dining in the evenings.  We set up a tent and had marshmallows one evening, we would play games by candle light and then after a month of it we were out of ideas.  Maybe this was the time we got pregnant, just kidding.  I know that there are many missionaries out there who have to live w/o normal electricity in their lives and we are thankful ours was only a temporary solution to water shortage in this country.

The Ministry of Education which is in control of public and private education in this country has made it really hard on our school to function as we normally do with our school schedule.  They have made us modify our school calendar making the year forever long and shortening our Christmas break to start the 23rd of Dec.  This makes it hard on missionaries as I am sure nationals.  For missionaries it effects our furloughs, our support raising time and much more.  Our school is required to abide so here we go ending school on June 25th and starting up mid August.  Thankfully we are not traveling this summer but it makes for a short summer when your trying to visit supporters, family and get some rest time in there.  I am sure before long we will all get used to this schedule its just always hard at the beginning of unpleasant changes.

6th Grade Play

Thats what my husband has inherited as a 6th grade level teacher.  Every year the 6th grade class puts on a play and the teachers and students are all expected without question to participate in it.  Though its an added stressor to their already crazy end of the school year expectation I know Mr. Tuten has enjoyed working with this group of students.  The play has a spiritual undertone and lesson for the audience to ponder.  This year it is called "Pirates of the I don't Carribean".  This weekend they have an overnight trip for the whole class.

Summer Missions Team

We have a group of lovely ladies of all ages joining us from Mckinney Memorial Bible Church coming down this summer to do some work at the school we have been working doing a bible club (see post below) and also to do some work at the school we work at.  Pray that the Lord would continue to establish the work of our hands!  That many will be blessed here in Ecuador and that the ladies will leave life changed.  Many details need to happen states side and our side so pray that everything that needs to get done-gets done.

Kindergarten Trials

After much prayer and thought we decided to keep Ethan back in Kindergarten. So he won't be graduating with his class.  We greatly appreciate your prayers for our eldest as he has had a rough year.  On Friday we sat down in a meeting with his teachers, speech therapist, educational therapist and director to hear their feedback on his progress and areas that still need work.  It was overall an encouraging meeting but at the end we all concurred that the best thing for Ethan is for him to stay back in Kinder.  Please continue to lift us up so that we will have wisdom and discernment into his little heart and mind.  As a counselor and Ben as a teacher it is sometimes so frustrating for us that we can't help him and make it all better.  Since most of his problems lie within the emotional and academic realm.  But I know the Lord has a plan for his little life and that the Lord will guide us as we raise this precious little one He has given us. 

La toilette my new best friend

For those of you who know french you know I am not speaking of perfume.  My nausea and vomiting is relentless it starts the moment I open my eyes and ends when I close my eyes. In the past it has lasted between 6-7 months so I have heres hoping 3 more months of this. Alas that is part of the package of being pregnant for me.  So I ask your prayers as life has gotten a bit more challenging with this "morning sickness".  I had the blessing of having Ben, Ethan and Aiden pray over me tonight because I felt horrible today.  Thanks to God I am functional and I am able to get up and go to work but most days it is a challenge. 

Reaching students in the poverty stricken areas of Quito

This school maybe the only place these kids get a hot meal.  We were able to partner with this school and get a bible club going.  We had about 6 highschool kids come out on Wed. throughout the school year and lead the club.  The picture in the middle is only part of the group.  They were so sweet to prepare for us a little gift as a thank you for our group.  The last picture is the neighborhood they live in.  We thank the Lord for all of these smiling faces, their hugs, and desire to learn. 

Amazed!

I (Mari) have the joy of not having to deal with the finances of our family.  Today I was looking up addresses of our donors and was amazed and thankful to our Lord.  We have 33 wonderful people and families that faithfully and sacrificially give a monthly donation to our family so that we can continue serving here in Ecuador.  Thank you for your heart to serve our Lord and help us serve overseas. 
And only God knows how many faithful and sacrificial prayer warriors we have out there lifting us up to our Lord on a regular basis.  We are blessed by you all! 

If you have changed your address please let us know because we will be sending you an updated prayer picture card soon.
The picture over to the left is the largest waterfall in Ecuador that we recently got to visit.  Its power and beauty reminds me of our Lord!

Good and Bad News

Good news first:  Were pregnant!
Bad news: We are not heading to the states for our furlough.

Unfortunately, I suffer from months and months of nausea and vomiting which make me feel weak and exhausted all the time. To be exact 6-7 months.  This being the main reason why I don't think I can handle traveling for 2-3 weeks of non stop traveling will be possible for me. 
This was a very hard decision to make because we were excited at the thought of seeing all of your lovely faces and spending sometime with you all.  Lord willing we will try again next year.

Nothing like a little bit of stress to get your day going........

I show  up to school 1.5hrs early before the tea thinking this was plenty of time for me to get ready. Little did I know what challenges lied ahead.  I go to the conference room where we are having this and find out that someone else has reserved the room and they can't change there situation.  I am running around trying to find a suitable room that will hold all of these moms and their daughters.  Then I had to find chairs and set up the tables, get all of these tea cups moved to this room and decorate the room all by my little self.  I called to get help and apparently no one could help me.  I got off the phone and almost cried (I am pregnant everything makes me cry).  Noon strikes and miraculously it all gets done.  Not to my standard but at this point all my expectations are out the window.  Once the room is filled with moms and daughters interacting my stress is forgotten.  It was a sweet time with the moms.  We had moms write a prompted letter to their daughters and daughters to moms and then they exchanged their letters. Many moms got teary eyed as they did this.  We also had a fashion show which they pick a "model" and then each group has 10 min to design a dress for the model only using tissue paper, tape and their creativity.  Well worth the effort and stress!

Counseling Department

Unfortunately, I can't share with you all the needs and the praises that happen in my ministry here as a counselor.  I have realized that we live in a small world and random people have random connections here in Ecuador.  So to keep everything confidential its better that I don't share anything.  I do want you to know that the Lord has been doing some great things in our department and at the same time the enemy has also been doing his work of seeking to destroy.  Pray for us! There are 4 counselors and only one of them is full time.  Usually mid spring problems rise to the surface so we have a lot more to deal with.  On the other hand, around this time some students we have worked with all year show a lot of progress and freedom!! Pray that the Lord will give us wisdom and discernment.  That we would be carriers of His Truth, His Love and His Grace.