Ministry in Process

I was going to ask for your prayers as the Lord has put on my heart and mind a new ministry for our whole family to do to help the street children of Quito, Ecuador. Pray that I would think through all that it would entail, for the future school and kids partners the Lord will have us work with from the states, that many street children would be blessed. More detailed info. will come but for now please pray as we get all the logistics together.

Mari is wondering if anyone reads these updates!

As I write this I wonder is my time spent updating in vain? does anyone read this? I hope and pray that people are informed, encouraged and blessed by these updates. I think I would write them anyways even if I knew that noone read them.

Spiritual Emphasis Week!

Every year the school has 2 Spiritual Emphasis weeks. Usually they have some special speaker come and share Christ to the students in a fun interactive way. They do this everyday for one week. This past week we had a couple do Power Lab which was this past summers VBS curriculum for a lot of churches in the stats. It was great b/c most of our kids never saw it before b/c they weren't in the states. The kids loved it! And over 30 kids accepted Christ! Praise God! Pray that these seeds planted this past week will be firmly planted. Alot of our students don't have Christian parents some are holiday church goers, others are buddihst, others atheist etc... So school is the only place they can get fed and encouraged in His word. Pray that the staff will make time to follow up with these little ones.
Ethan got picked to go up on stage for this also, unfortunatly, we missed seeing his response to the person behind the sheet.

learning the culture is very important when doing ministry

I have been trying to figure out ways to minister to the mothers here. So I decided it would be fun to have a party and have the kids play with Ethan and I can chat with the moms from Ethans class. Little did I know that in the culture of this group of people at the school it is customary to just drop off the kids at a party and parents don't show up. I realized this yesterday as parents called me to ask when they can pick up their kids. I was shocked because it never crossed my mind that they would not accompany their child. So today I had a group of nine 4yr olds join us for Ethans Fall dress up jungle party. Actually one mom did show up. It was great fun for the kids but I was wiped out by the end of it.
So now I know for next time that I need to specifically request for parents to come if my goal is to reach out to the moms. I am sure I have many lessons to learn about the Ecuadorian culture but also the culture within the school.

Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me

Give the world the best you have

And it may just not be enough;

Give the world the best you have anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,

It is all between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.

Mother Teresa

As I walked up the flight of stairs of the childrens hospital I stared at the chipped, dirty walls. I had no idea what would be waiting for us when we got to our assigned floor- broken bones and trauma. We had been warned that it may wreak, that the conditions may be horrible, that kids stayed there for weeks until their parents could pay the bill, that some kids lay there all alone b/c parents had to go out and work to pay the bill, that it would break our hearts to see these little patients.


That is exactly what happened it broke my heart to see this little girl lying in bed in a cast from her waist down b/c she was just operated in hopes that she would finally be able sit up. She had been living her whole little life on her back unable to sit up. As I walked over with a balloon in my hand she gave me a croocked smile. I tried to be cheery for her though it hurt to see her like that. She was also mentally challenged so she couldn't talk she just grunted with her little lopsided smile. I was glad that a balloon would bring such joy to her. I walked away holding back the tears and reminding myself what Mother Teresa said trying to be content with having given her the best I had and that was a green balloon with red ribbon.

We have a team about 30 kids. We split up onto different floors and go share the gospel, pray, listen, color and bring balloons and cookies to the kids. It's neat to watch our high schoolers in action! I pray that God would use us in a big way to be love, light and hope to these hurting families. We will do this once a week.

Here is a large room with 8 kids and their families. As you can see the beds are very old though I was glad to see an old chipped cheery murals on the wall.

The Game of Love!

That was the name of our marriage seminar that Mari's counseling dept. put on this past weekend for parents of students at our school. We had a wonderful turnout and great interaction during the 6hr seminar. At one point in the seminar parents went around and shared a little bit about their children. It was really interesting for me to hear almost every couple share that their children were teaching them good values, prayer and about the Bible as a result of attending this school. I was fascinated to see how touching the lives of these little ones is an awesome opportunity for us to reach the whole family. It was also neat to hear what great a reputation this school has in the community. It made me glad to be a part of such a neat movement that God is orchestrating here in Quito through Alliance.

Learning about shipping things to Ecuador

So we are learning as we go. We had to pay $60 to get a small size box. The reason b/c the sender put a large amount for the value of the items in the box. Mark it as a gift and for a $1 value (since its a gift) b/c they charge us a % of the amount of the value that you write on it. Another suggestion is to use those flat rate boxes. Those are cheap and you can fill them up as much as you want and the price doesn't change for shipping. More tips below in a previous blog. Thanks so much to you all for going out of your way to send us some loving via mail!

The Lord Establishing the Work of our hands

We have been praying that the Lord guide us to specific ministries outside of our daily school ministry to be involved in. This is where we feel the Lord has opened doors for us. This is where the Lord is using you from the states and us here in Ecuador:
Discipleship-
Ben will be leading a discipleship group of 7th grade boys and Mari will be leading a discipleship group of 10th grade girls. Mari is also a sponsor for a group of High School students who want to learn to help others called Peer Helpers.
Community Service-
Mari will be visiting weekly a childrens hospital here in Quito that serves the lower income families. We will have opportunities to share the gospel with the kids and families, to be Jesus to these families who have little ones there by praying, listening or just being a peaceful presence and to give the kids at the hospital a sweet treat, balloons or color with them.
Hospitality-
As a family we love to host. It really is a family thing. Ethan loves to have company and to entertain as much as we do. So we try to have someone new over every week.
Church-
We have found a church that is predominatly Ecuadorian and is only Spanish speaking. Pray that we would be able to settle in and be a part of the church even though there is a language barrier for the boys and Ben.

The question that always comes with this is "How are you all being fed?" Mari prays with another wife on a regular basis, Ben & another guy keep each other accountable, Ben is also involved in a guys bible study and we have family devotions everyday(or we try) outside of our own personal devos. Ben has enjoyed listening to Mens Fraternity that is now avail. on the web great idea MMBC!

Time was not on our side, but God was!

We had so many amazing answers to prayer over the summer that I have not been able to post all of the, but I will because He deserves the Glory. We own a house and we were trying to sell it. As you know the market is horrible - so it wasn't selling. We decided 1 1/2 mos. before our departure date to contract a property management company to rent our home. We were very nervous because we had never done this before and also because time was not on our side. So to make a long story short, our property management company was lacking in many ways. We were out of town for a month of prime renting time and when we got back there wasn't even a sign out in our yard and many more things were lacking. At this point we now had 2 1/2 weeks left before we were to leave and we were getting nowhere with the renting of our home. After much frustration, a week later we begin looking for another company. So here we were with one week left to leave - we still have a home to rent, we aren't at 100% of our support yet, my (Mari's) parents are in the middle of some major issues and we are trying to pack and move to another country. Our prayer all summer was, "Lord I believe, but help my unbelief." Well, the Lord answered our prayers in his own creative way beyond our imagination. We got a call that week from the property manager apologizing for his lack of follow through with us and he said, "We would like to make it up to you all by renting your house from you until we can rent it out ourselves." Wow, I was blown away! I was humbled to see how soveriegn and in control our God is of all things. He had a plan all along. It looked nothing like our plan, but let me tell you, this was far better than what we were praying for. Isn't He such an awesome Father! All of our support came in that last weekend! I had peace about leaving the states in the midst of my parent's situation and so many more details, small and big, all came together! He is Amazing and full of Grace to give to us!

We Got Our First Care Package!

Yea, it was soooo much fun to anticipate the arrival of a package! Thanks Dons family for thinking of us and blessing us with such fun things. Ethan was so cute - we rec'd the package right before a staff cook out so Ethan & Aiden were showing every single person their toy. FYI: It got here in approx. 2 wks from TX with no problems and we didn't have to pay to receive the med. size envelope.

Care Package Tips

A Plethora of you have inquired about sending us care packages. Here are some answers to your questions:

Does it cost to receive a package? Yes and no. Yes if it's a box and depending on the size. No, if its in package envelopes sm-lg size. Also, it doesn't cost to receive letters. Always put a $1 value and that it's a gift.

Where should you send it to? Alliance Academy International, Attn: Ben/Mari Tuten
Casilla 171106186, Quito, Ecuador Please make sure to write it to our attention since we live at the school they will assume its school stuff if it's not in our name

How should we package it? Please send it in a package envelope not a box. A med-lg size envelope is fine. After you have addressed it cover it in clear packaging tape if your using the paper envelopes just to make sure the envelope endures the trip.

What can we send you? All of these things are treats. Nothing is a must have. We really could manage to live with out them: If the item is not listed anymore that means someone has already decided to send it to us. yea!

fun scrapbooking paper,

worship cds, -hot wheel cars,

paper craft magazines(Paper Crafts, Creative Cards, Card Creations you can get any of these at Hobby Lobby or Michaels use their 40% for a good deal)

a little sweet note especially addressed to Ethan(that will make his day)

Action figures for Ethan he doesn't have a preference as long as they are not scary

your sweet notes/letters

Any fun games we can play. I am terribly bored every night.

Be creative we will love whatever you send us. WE DONT mind if you take things out of the original packaging to save on space. (sending baked goods or perishable items are not recommended)


Thanks so much for wanting to bless us with a small package of love!

School and stuff

We started school today! Working here in this Christian international school has been very different from both of our secular and Christian school experiences in the past. So far all different in a good way. We started our day with chapel and worship - that was awesome. It was also fun to watch all the different types of kids attending this school - it truly is an international school. We are glad to get our ministry started with the students. We have enjoyed the time we had before school to get to know the staff and our team a little bit better before we start working together. So for now no major reports on school ministry.

Here are some pictures of Ben making our bedroom furniture. I mean Ben and Ethan. Ethan always comes home telling me that he was working with daddy making a bed for me.
This is one of Ben's friends Dan making a coffee table.

They are using the school wood shop to do this. They pay them for the wood and they let them use the tools for free.
Just in case you're wondering why Ben is making furniture, it's not because there is no furniture here - it's just that it will be more cost effective and he enjoys it. His father would be proud. I am!