We are back in Canada! I had hoped to make one more post before we left Ecuador but so much needed to be done that it just never happened. Our last day in Ecuador was a long one as we left the camp at 7:30am on Sunday and drove into Guayaquil where we met up with Wilfrido who had arranged for a buyer for our car. He then took us to the church in Alborada where we said our final goodbyes, having said our farewells at the two churches in Bastion the week before. Our afternoon was spent with David and Kathy Edgecombe, who pastor the Alborada church and then we went out to “Master’s Pizza” with all the missionaries for a final supper. Having said our goodbyes to the missionaries we went back to David and Kathy’s apartment and waited with them until it was time to go the airport. David drove us over around 10:30pm and we waited some more until our flight out at 12:30am early on Monday.
The flight was uneventful but it was difficult to sleep so we were a little bleary-eyed on arrival at Houston at around 5:30 Monday morning. Our flight to Toronto wasn’t until 10:15 so we got a good look at Houston airport and rediscovered the fact that American coffee is not as good as Canadian! We made it back to Canadian soil around 2:15pm and were amazed to be through baggage and customs and outside in about 20 minutes total.
We are currently staying with Kelly’s parents until we can find a place to live and are planning to begin working with them in the family business very shortly. In the meantime we are helping our two daughters move first! Jessica is finished her first year at Redeemer and will be back with us for the summer while working at the store. Holly has just finished her third year at Queens and is moving into a new apartment in Kingston on May 1st. So it is going to be move, move, move for the next couple of weeks!
It was great to see both the girls again and meet Jessica’s new boyfriend who seems to be a great guy. Obviously we have mixed feelings about being back in Canada but we have a real peace about being here and are confident that this is where God wants us to be for now. and have no idea what the long-term future holds for us – but then who does! For the short term at least, things are beginning to fall into place and we will continue to trust that He will continue to make our steps clear to us.
I am going to continue to post to this blog for a time at least so, unless we have bored you, keep checking in! It is great to know that there are lots of you out there who have been praying for us and continue to pray for us.
Verse for today:
Psalm 48:1
Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
Although things don’t always work out the way that we think that they are going to, God is still worthy of praise. God is great and in his greatness reaches out from His “holy mountain” and touches our lives in ways we may not understand at the time. In our short time in Ecuador we saw some great things being done as He worked through His people and we have no doubt that we will continue to see Him do great things here in Canada.
Prayer for today
“O Lord, I am in awe of your greatness and inspired by your holiness. May I sense today the beauty of your presence in your Holy mountain as I journey homewards under the protection of Christ my Savior.”
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Lotsa News!
Wow a lot has happened since our last post about three weeks ago! It is hard to know where to begin, but I guess I will just pick up more or less where we left off.
We had a good finish to the kids week, followed it with a week off and then had a week of “jovenes mayors” or young adults aged 16 and up. It was a great week with good teaching, great music and a healthy attitude amongst those leading the camp. The theme of the teaching was the signs leading up to the Second Coming of Christ and there was a positive response from the audience every night. Some gave their lives to Christ, others made commitments of various sorts but all in all it was obvious that God’s Holy Spirit was moving throughout camp.
We continued to bring in tanker trucks throughout the week as it seems like the water problem may require a long-term solution in the form of a wider pipe from the road into the camp and it will require that some hoops are jumped through to get it done. Currently we have another problem that arose after camp was over. We keep losing prime in the pump house and are not sure why that is. Hopefully it will not be a large job to repair that.
Things are changing for Kelly and I once again. We had originally hoped to stay beyond April but now it is becoming increasingly apparent that this will not be possible for us and that when we return to Canada on April 21st it will be to stay. There are a number of reasons for this but we believe that although God brought us here it seems quite clear to us that he is taking us back to Canada. We are not sure what the long term future holds for us but we know that for now He wants us there and appears to be paving the way to make that possible. It has been a tough decision to make not to extend our stay beyond April as we have enjoyed ourselves here and sensed that we have brought something important to the mix here, particularly in terms of the Camp Committee. However, it is not to be for now and we have to accept that.
Obviously this leaves a hole at the camp. They will require new administrators here and there are none on the immediate horizon. This means that they will need someone here to watch over the place until a new Administrative couple can be found. Last year a combination of three different couples spent time at the camp until we got here and this may be what needs to happen again until such time as the long-term couple arrives. The Committee is now working on a solution to that problem so pray for wisdom that the right choice or combination of choices might be made and particularly that the administrative position might be filled If you are interested in exploring camp ministry in Ecuador or you know of anyone who is seeking the Lord’s direction and might be interested in this opening please let us know.
Currently we are working on tying up some loose ends before we leave. Kelly has been updating the camp website which is now up and running, although it still has areas that need to be expanded. If you would like to visit the site just go to http://www.elfarodeesperanza.com/ and follow the links in either Spanish or English. Of particular interest may be the photos.
I am currently working on job-descriptions for the various roles in the camp. We have already worked on an Organizational Structure but now need to make that more clearly defined so that everyone knows clearly what their role is within the Committee. The Committee is an exciting mix of youthful energy and a few older heads to provide wisdom and experience. They will certainly need our prayers to work through this problem and take the camp to the next level but we are confident that they can do it.
We had a good finish to the kids week, followed it with a week off and then had a week of “jovenes mayors” or young adults aged 16 and up. It was a great week with good teaching, great music and a healthy attitude amongst those leading the camp. The theme of the teaching was the signs leading up to the Second Coming of Christ and there was a positive response from the audience every night. Some gave their lives to Christ, others made commitments of various sorts but all in all it was obvious that God’s Holy Spirit was moving throughout camp.
We continued to bring in tanker trucks throughout the week as it seems like the water problem may require a long-term solution in the form of a wider pipe from the road into the camp and it will require that some hoops are jumped through to get it done. Currently we have another problem that arose after camp was over. We keep losing prime in the pump house and are not sure why that is. Hopefully it will not be a large job to repair that.
Things are changing for Kelly and I once again. We had originally hoped to stay beyond April but now it is becoming increasingly apparent that this will not be possible for us and that when we return to Canada on April 21st it will be to stay. There are a number of reasons for this but we believe that although God brought us here it seems quite clear to us that he is taking us back to Canada. We are not sure what the long term future holds for us but we know that for now He wants us there and appears to be paving the way to make that possible. It has been a tough decision to make not to extend our stay beyond April as we have enjoyed ourselves here and sensed that we have brought something important to the mix here, particularly in terms of the Camp Committee. However, it is not to be for now and we have to accept that.
Obviously this leaves a hole at the camp. They will require new administrators here and there are none on the immediate horizon. This means that they will need someone here to watch over the place until a new Administrative couple can be found. Last year a combination of three different couples spent time at the camp until we got here and this may be what needs to happen again until such time as the long-term couple arrives. The Committee is now working on a solution to that problem so pray for wisdom that the right choice or combination of choices might be made and particularly that the administrative position might be filled If you are interested in exploring camp ministry in Ecuador or you know of anyone who is seeking the Lord’s direction and might be interested in this opening please let us know.
Currently we are working on tying up some loose ends before we leave. Kelly has been updating the camp website which is now up and running, although it still has areas that need to be expanded. If you would like to visit the site just go to http://www.elfarodeesperanza.com/ and follow the links in either Spanish or English. Of particular interest may be the photos.
I am currently working on job-descriptions for the various roles in the camp. We have already worked on an Organizational Structure but now need to make that more clearly defined so that everyone knows clearly what their role is within the Committee. The Committee is an exciting mix of youthful energy and a few older heads to provide wisdom and experience. They will certainly need our prayers to work through this problem and take the camp to the next level but we are confident that they can do it.
The Last Camp - "Jovenes Mayores"
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