Our First Camp Committee Meeting

The first meeting of the “Grupo de Consejo” or Camp Committee took place on Saturday, January 19th and it went very well. Everyone arrived around 9:30am – the designated starting time and had around 20 minutes or so of conversation and refreshments before the meeting officially began. We began with a time of worship and prayer led by Dale Horst, a Canadian missionary, and then spent some time explaining the purpose of the day as we wanted to make it clear to everyone that they were here at the formation of something new but still transitional. One of our goals is to develop a committee that will take over the responsibility for most of the camp needs with Kelly and I being a part of that group. At some point in the future we anticipate that ownership of the camp will be transferred to the Ecuadorians but there are many things that need to happen before that takes place.

The next key step for the day was to spend some time reflecting privately on God’s Word, so we gave them two passages to study with questions to help direct their thoughts. The passages were Ephesians 4:1-6 and Colossians 3:12-17. Their instructions were to find a private spot somewhere on camp property, read the passages, pray, and if they had anything to put right with a brother or a sister, to do it. We wanted to stress the importance of starting out united with all personal problems dealt with. This was important as there has been some friction between various individuals as they tried to deal with camp responsibilities without an administrative couple being onsite during the last year.

With the issue of unity through forgiveness and love having been dealt with it was time to move on to the vision for camp. Many people have expressed their ideas, or personal visions for how this camp could be used so it is important that we get a clear picture in our minds as to how as a group we see things going forward. With that in mind we read Tim Horne’s vision for the camp and stressed that was his original vision but that it was important that we as a group had to develop our own. If we have a vision that we reach as a group we will be far more likely to pursue it rather than one that belongs to someone else. We assigned homework, so that everyone could have an opportunity to reflect and put pen to paper in an attempt to encapsulate our personal visions for the camp.

One of the key concerns that everyone had as we had talked to them individually over the previous weeks was the lack of organization and communication that has been detrimental to the ministry over the last year. It seemed like a good thing to do to remind everyone that God is a God of order, that he created the universe that way and that he stresses the need for order in his church and by extension works such as this camp. So we began by looking at three verses: Colossians 2:5 which states “For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.”; I Corinthians 14:40 in which the apostle Paul also states the need for order “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”; and the first half of I Corinthians 14:33 which says that “God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” This prepared the way for us to talk about possible camp organizational models.

I had prepared a series of 8 diagrams or organizational models demonstrating a number of different ways in which we might organize ourselves structurally. The purpose was to get the group thinking about what might work best for this group here. Tim had stressed to us as we were coming down here that we had a blank sheet to work with so we purposefully left model 8 as a blank sheet. After we had gone through all the advantages and disadvantages of the various models everyone came to the same realization – that we were going to design our own based on the vision that we have for camp, based on the personal gifts and abilities that we have in the group and to a certain extent, based on the way that things have developed so far. I stressed that we were not going to choose a model today but take some time to pray and reflect on that. However, we did split into 4 groups of three to discuss what the blank model 8, our future model, might need to look like. As we gathered together afterwards it was interesting to see that three of the groups had decided that we needed a variation of model 7 in which the committee authorizes sub-committees to deal with a handful of key responsibilities like administration, programming and camp maintenance and construction. The fourth group’s model wasn’t very different so it looks like we are heading towards a consensus.

We finished off the meeting with a time of prayer and a decision to meet again this coming Sunday, the 27th, to agree on a model and begin to decide how we are going to divide up the various responsibilities.

As everyone jumped on the bus around 4pm, Kelly and I watched with a strong sense of accomplishment. The meeting could have gone any number of different directions but we were well satisfied to see everyone leaving together with smiles on their faces and an obvious sense of relief that things were moving forward. I was especially happy that my Spanish had held up well throughout the meeting ….. but then Kelly had been praying that it would!

I am sure that there will be much discussion amongst the various individuals about concerns that they still have but if we have accomplished nothing other than getting them moving in unity in a direction towards a goal that they can understand and believe in then we will, I believe, have accomplished a lot.

On another note! For all you pet lovers! The camp is slowly turning into a zoo! As you may recall we inherited Kuma the German Shepherd camp guard dog. We have since added two kittens, Leonardo and Picasso (bad things happened to the first two that we had)… and, surprise…so far they are still alive and with us. Beethoven, a Rottweiler puppy has since been donated to us by some kind folks that heard that Kuma was depressed after losing his doggy companion “Viejo” to old age a few months back. Add to that the fact that the Horst’s dog, Ginger, has been visiting for a few days and you can imagine that feeding time is quite interesting with every animal eating out of another’s dish. Actually there is only one way to describe it….. crazy…. absolutely crazy!

Verse for the day:

Genesis 31:46-48

“He said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha and Jacob called it Galeed. Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That it is why it was called Galeed.”

These two men, Jacob and Laban, built a pile of rocks to be a witness to the agreement that they had made with each other at this spot. Presumably it remained a marker for some considerable time before it fell apart or was demolished by someone who knew nothing of the agreement that Jacob and Laban had made. I would imagine that it is very unlikely that it still stands today. However, the story remains preserved for us in the Word of God and is an example of how two relatives managed to work out an understanding despite some very strong differences. Are there people or even close relatives with whom we have had disagreements and with whom we have failed to work out an understanding? These two have left us an example of how they prevented what might have become an outbreak of violence between them and they left a mountain of rocks and a bible story behind to prove it.

things are heating up

We have noticed that during the past few days there has been an increase in the temperature here at the beach and an increase in pressure for us to get things done before certain deadlines. Both are the natural result of the progression of the months.

We are now in the rainy season which means that about every other day we can expect some steady rain, usually during the night. It is during this season that we also find the temperature and humidity climbing, although we are still considerably cooler here than in the city of Guayaquil. Our little beach town is becoming busier during the weeks and quite crowded with sun-seekers on the weekends.

The Camp season is also now looming on the horizon and we are getting busier by the day. Our ministry is heating up! The school break here is different from that of the northern hemisphere as here it is usual to have a few weeks off during the months of January through March. We would especially appreciate it if you would begin to pray for the following activities in these upcoming weeks.

February 8 -17 Canadian Camp Preparation Team
February 18-23 Youth Camp,
February 25-March 1 First Children’s Camp,
March 5-March 8 Leaders Training Camp,
March 10-15 Second Children’s Camp,
March 24-29 Older Youth

In addition to this we will have the initial long-term camp planning meeting on Saturday, January 19th. This will be an all day event at the camp and will be first time that our planning committee will get together as such. The purpose of this group is to begin to take steps towards being responsible for the camp facility itself. We will begin to look at the vision for the camp and start to think about how we will translate that vision into reality. There have been some hurts in the past, mostly due to a lack of communication and we hope to address those issues early on in order that we might see the group work together to advance the ministry here at El Faro.

In selecting this committee we have aimed to strike a balance between the four brethren churches in Guayaquil along with missionary representation. Please pray for the committee members; Willian, Felipe, Joanna, Daniel, David E., David D., Gaby, Maria-Eugenia, Janna, Dale, Kelly and myself.

Genesis 18;1
“The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.”
What would I feel if the Lord appeared to me while I was sitting here on my deck at the camp sipping on some maracuya juice in the heat of the day? Would I be startled? Would I be disbelieving? Would I know it was the Lord? What would I say? Or would I remain speechless? As I read through Genesis I am struck by how this incident and others seem to be recorded as if they were everyday, natural, normal, unsurprisingly, matter of fact events. Maybe it’s because I have read these passages so many times that they have lost their impact for me. But think about it for a minute - “The Lord appeared to Abraham”-this is a supernatural event that is being recorded! It’s a miracle! William Lane Craig is quoted as saying in “The Case for Faith” by Lee Strobel, “a miracle is an event which is not producible by the natural causes that are operative at the time and place that the event occurs.” As the story unfolds in the next few chapters it is obvious that is what is taking place in the life of Abraham.

I am not anticipating any miracles in my life but hopefully if the Lord does appear to me suddenly I will recognize Him and have the humble servant’s attitude that Abraham displays and be intercessory in my conversation with Him as he was. But wait! Shouldn’t that be my attitude every day?

a hectic two weeks

We are feeling a little down today as Holly and Jessica went back to Canada on Friday night. The two weeks went by very quickly but we had a great time with them here and had no problem getting into the Christmas spirit once they showed up. We made numerous trips into Guayaquil and surprisingly enough some of them had little to do with malls, although we did have to do almost all our Christmas shopping over the space of two days. It is amazing how quickly the mind can focus on the task at hand when you know there is a deadline!

As the big week rolled around we were able to keep up some of our family traditions while mixing in some new activities. We had an enjoyable time on Christmas Eve and chose to eat our main meal then, Ecuadorian style- although we ate around 8pm and not around midnight as many Ecuadorian families do. Christmas Day was a quiet, enjoyable day for just the four of us and we enjoyed a walk on the beach in the afternoon.

At the end of the week we drove into Guayaquil for a hectic three days. Rolando from Bastion hitched a ride with us as he had brought our house-sitters out to Playas with him. He took us downtown to an area where they sell the majority of the “manigotes” that they burn on New Years Eve. The display must have stretched out for a kilometer or so and it is amazing to see the craftsmanship that is put into some of these papier mache figures.

We enjoyed the “Cena para Los Jovenes” (Youth Supper) at Alborada on the Friday night, although it was a little stressful for me as I was preaching in Spanish for the first time in almost 11 years. There was a large group of almost 80 out at this event and it was a good opportunity for all of us to catch up with some old friends. Holly and Jessica spent time with Gaby and Leyla; two of their old friends from our old neighbourhood. I had a chance to chat with Nestor who I was privileged to lead to the Lord so long ago. He has had some struggles in his life since then but seemed to be in good spirits and is appreciated for his ability to lead others to the Lord. Kelly spent time with Cecilia who is one of the teachers at the school in Bastion Popular and is also a very talented and creative woman. We also found out from Gaby and Leyla that unbeknown to us, three others from the old kids club that we used to hold in our house became Christians and that two of them are regulars at Alborada! So take heart all of you who work with kids. You just never know what God is doing in the hearts of the young ones that you are sharing with.

We spent three days overnight in Guayaquil staying with David and Kathy Edgecombe. Watching David preach and listening to him talk it is amazing to see what God has done with this formerly quiet, shy young man who used to come to our house for guitar lessons. David is confident, convicted, and of strong character and together he and Kathy make a very capable young couple. “Iglesia Evangelica Alborada” has grown tremendously over the years, much of it being the result of their strong leadership, the love they show for others and their passion for God. While staying with them we did some sight-seeing in Guayaquil, spending most of a Saturday afternoon visiting the Malecon and climbing “El Cerro Santa Ana” (Santa Ana Hill.)

The following day was spent at Alborada again where we were delighted to see Gaby, her husband Christian and her brother Jose along with 6 others recognized as deacons and deaconesses. Then we enjoyed another supper, this time immediately following the morning service. Turkey and rice were the order of the day and the meal was served with much confusion in the main auditorium with everyone seated – more or less! There are no church basements in Ecuador – so church meals are a little trickier to serve. However, miraculously there were no major spills as far as I could ascertain. In the evening we were back once again for the Christmas youth presentation. By way of a change about 30 youth had put together a cantata of sorts dealing with Noah and the Ark. They lip-synched to a backing track and had these marvelous costumes that had all been professionally made to match their requirements. Other than Noah, all the characters were animals and the make-up was astonishingly good. The message in the songs came across very strongly. It was suitable for all ages and was very well received.

We made it back to Playas on Monday morning, just in time to be in town for the big New Year’s Eve bash. The house had been well looked after by Rolando’s brother, wife and son so our minds will rest easy if we need to go away for a few days again. At around 11pm we made our way down to the malecon in Playas to see in the New Year. I think that almost everyone in Playas must have been out and we were reminded how much this means to the Ecuadorian people. For them the burning of the manigotes is a way to kiss goodbye to all the trials of the previous year and see the new one in with a flourish of hope and anticipation. There was a huge display of manigotes with, once again, some amazing craftsmanship. As far as I could tell the winner of the competition was a Fire Truck with working lights etc. Thankfully they did not burn it when the New Year came in as it was so big that it might have taken half the town with it if they had filled it with the customary firecrackers! However, they did burn just about every other manigote in sight and there was always a strong possibility that a couple of real live humans might be burned as well! We chose a site that was a little more distant from the main action where fireworks were going off in all directions and chose instead to hang around a group of families that were burning theirs a little further up the beach. The noise was incredible and the smell of cordite hung in the air as the figures literally went up in smoke!

On New Years Day we were up early as we hosted a group from Bastion at the camp. Close to 40 came out to spend the day at the beach and get away from the big drunken party that was the city of Guayaquil. The bus -replete with Canadian colours and flag as it was donated by Canadians – showed up around 10 and everyone piled out and made their way to the beach with Kuma our guard dog beside himself with excitement to see so many old friends. There was to be a lot more excitement before the day was over however. It started with a rat in the glass-fronted fridge!

We had opened up the kitchen so that they could use it to keep things cool and prepare some lunches. However, it wasn’t long before Holly came out to tell me in sotto voce that “there is a dead rat in the fridge!” To this point no-one seemed to have noticed it so when everyone headed down to the beach I headed into the kitchen to see what I could do. Unfortunately, the rat was very dead and had obviously been decomposing over a few days. We had left the fridge propped open with a bottle a few days ago to let it air out and the foolish rodent must have knocked the bottle over as it climbed in, thus imprisoning itself. I opened the door and was immediately sorry that I had as the stench was overwhelming. I tried to shovel the critter out but it was stuck to the fridge wall and was not going to budge easily. I realized that this was going to be more than a two minute job and that the overwhelming stench was not going to go away easily -so we closed the door, covered the glass with a garbage bag and left a “Do not open!” sign on the door and opened every door and window in the kitchen. The rat would wait for a later date!

More excitement was literally just around the corner! Shortly after the rat episode I was sitting in the shade with Rolando and his dad discussing plants when we heard a crash followed by another and a huge cloud of dust was kicked up from behind our neighbors’ far wall. We realized that someone had lost control of their vehicle on the bend approaching our house and rushed over expecting the worst. A Hyundai Santa Fe had lost control, hit a drain about 50 yards back and then crashed into the wall. By the time that Rolando and I jumped a couple of walls and made it to the scene we could see a fire below the vehicle and although the driver and passenger had made it out by this time we began to shout for water. Quickly a makeshift chain of people was put together and buckets of water passed from our house to the scene but before we needed more than a couple of buckets Rolando, “El Bombero!” (The Fireman) had it out. No one was hurt but the evidence was there for all to see when about a half dozen bottles of beer fell out of the car! Before you ask, neither the police, ambulance, or firetruck came and in fact the driver was quite insistent that we all leave him to sort things out. Within a few minutes they had pushed the car out of the ditch and were on their way to Posorja in a seriously devalued SUV. I wish I had taken a picture!

However, the biggest excitement of the day was reserved for late afternoon when Jaime, one of the youth, showed up at our house complaining that he had been bitten by something in the water and was now in excruciating pain! At first I thought that he was just kidding around as he only had a small pin-prick on his toe to show for it, but when he began to complain of pain around his torso, and feeling as if an electric current was flowing through his body I thought it was time we took him to see someone. By this time he was writhing about in agony and complaining of being cold so we wrapped him up in a blanket and Jose, Willian and I rushed him down to the Red Cross on the beach in Playas. There we discovered, as I suspected, that he had been stung by a Stingray! They gave him an injection for the pain and then cut out the stinger which was still in his toe! It didn’t take long for the pain-killer to take effect and Jaime was smiling again. As I suspected he was very popular with the girls by the time that we got him back to the camp and I am sure that he had an enjoyable trip home as the centre of attention! All in all it was an exhilarating New Year’s Day!

We spent our last few days with the girls relaxing, shopping, walking the beach, doing jigsaw puzzles and having a good time hanging out as a family. Their two weeks were action packed and fun-filled and I think that they were both reluctant to go home to the cold and snow in Canada and are both talking about coming for another visit. In fact, Holly is going to try to save enough to come and help out at the first week of camp in February during Reading Week! Anyone want to come with her?

Verse for the Day: Proverbs 22:6
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

El Malecon and Cerro Santa Ana

Jessica part way up the hill

The view from the top of the hill

Out shopping in Guayaquil

Three participants in Noah´s Ark getting their makeup on.

Supper at Alborada

, Gaby, Holly and Jessica