Settling back into life in Canada

I said that I was going to keep this blog going for a bit and realized today that it is now almost two months since we returned to Canada. So I decided that you were all long overdue for an update as to what is going on in our lives.

The first two weeks after we got back we did nothing but move people around, ourselves included. It took two days to get Jessica moved back from university, another two days to move Holly into her new apartment in Kingston, and then multiple days in getting ourselves settled into an apartment here in Frankford. The apartment is just a few doors down the road from Kelly's parents store, the Oasis. We are working with them for the time being, learning the business, with a view to possibly taking over from them when they retire if it all works out to everyone's benefit.

The store is a succesful and interesting business that has been in the family for well over 40 years. It is a grocery/convenience/gift store with a gas bar and also a restaurant that is currently rented out. It is in an excellent location and the business is growing due to the new subdivisions that are being built in the village and the closing of other gas stations in the area. We are not sure if it is for us at the moment but we have some time to make up our minds.

Holly is doing well and received good marks in this, her third year at Queens University in Kingston. She continues to major in Spanish and Italian although she is currently unsure what she is going to do when she graduates. She has been spending the summer travelling back and forth between Kingston and Frankford as she has been working at the store in between her so far unsuccesful attempts in job-hunting. However, she is hopeful about an interview that she had in a shoe store last week.

Jessica has been working at both the store and the restaurant (her first experience at waitressing) and spending time catching up with her old friends and spending time with her boyfriend, Nate. Nate is from Sarnia and also attends Redeemer so they have not seen as much of each other as they would like. However, Nate did make it up here this past weekend so they were both pretty happy for the duration, especially after he missed his Sunday train and had to stay over one more night!

We are often asked if it feels good to be home, but really, although we missed Hols and Jess, we would have loved to have been able to stay on in Ecuador longer. We still don't feel settled in here and are not sure how long that will take, if it happens at all. But that's OK we are still in a transitional stage in our lives and probably will be for a while.

Smilin' Kelly greets the customers!

Keepin' an eye on the gas prices!

Back in Canada

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.”

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.

The Last Camp - "Jovenes Mayores"

Water. It is pretty hard to run a camp without it. In fact you can’t run a camp without it. We know, we tried! Not intentionally of course. We simply found out one afternoon that there was no water. The cistern had run dry! Now this is a big cistern. I’m not sure how much it holds but it must be in the neighborhood of 6000 gallons. So we got a little worried as there were approximately 30 people here at the end of training week and we were expecting around 150 to arrive for camp the following day! It would be no fun if there was no water.

Of course there were a number of different theories going around as to why the water was off. Our neighbor, Maximo claimed to have heard on the radio that there would be a cut from 8 until 6 that day to repair the line. His drinking buddy was sure that it was because the neighboring town of Posorja had not paid its bill and they had cut the water supply to them for a day to teach them a lesson. The bottled water guys were confident that it was because the water at the plant was coming out of the plant yellow and that they had cut the supply to the entire area until the problem was solved. We decided that the first theory was most likely and decided to wait it until 6 and see if it came back as predicted because we did have enough water to get us through the night in our back up water tower.

Monday morning arrived and checking the cistern I found out that there was still no water. Now it was time to spring into action. I drove into town and found out that the answer to our original question was “none of the above.” There had been no water cut, no problems with Posorja and the water and the plant had not been coming out yellow or any other color of the rainbow so the problem was obviously with our line. I requisitioned a work crew to come out and fix the problem and they were there shortly after 9. Wow, that was fast! I had also ordered a water truck to come out but by the time they got there the workers had cleaned out what appeared to be a blockage in the line and we were back in business. So I gave the water truck driver something for his trouble and cancelled the delivery. Big mistake! The campers arrived later that morning and I assumed that all was well until about 5 at night when the cry went up again. No water! It turns out that the flow of water into the cistern had slowed to something between a trickle and a stream but that any way you looked at it the water was going out faster than it was coming in.

I managed to get another tanker truck delivery and really needed more but because it was too late in the day and the tanker truck had no lights it couldn’t be out at night which, although frustrating did seem to be reasonable. As it stands today, Friday we still have nothing more than something between a trickle and a steady stream, the city workers have not come again as asked and we have averaged two tanker trucks of water delivered each day. For those of you who like to do the math, that is 4000 gallons a day for a total cost of $40 a day which works out at about $1 every hundred gallons. It doesn’t sound like much but that is what is standing in the way of us having a pretty miserable bunch of campers this week.

In other news, we have a great team of Canadians from Halifax, Nova Scotia working alongside the Ecuadorian leaders this week and they are in their element because today is Canada Day! Well, Canada Day at camp that is. The Canadians have been running games, teaching the kids to play ice hockey without ice, and helping them to decorate around a gazillion pillow cases that the kids get to take home with them. Their final act for the day will be to make a Canadian style snack before bedtime. I am anxious to find out what it will be but they are keeping a pretty tight lid on it for the moment.

Verse for the day:

Revelation 7:15-17
“Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Ecuador can be a hot country and so this verse takes on special meaning, especially when you are without water. But we have a marvelous future ahead of us when we will no longer have any water worries – or any worries for that matter!

The Water Truck Dumps its Load

Alborada and Sauces Hold Their First Camp

The first of this season’s children’s camps ended yesterday and both the kids and the adults left with mixed feelings. As usual some were ready to go home after a strenuous few days of activity and others wished that camp could go on for another week. For the leaders from the churches of Alborada and Sauces in Guayaquil this was the first year that they had run camp by themselves so the week had been a big experiment. They did it without Canadian help (unless you want to count us) and were pleased that they managed to pull it off. Their numbers were quite small by last week’s standards, with only 41 kids and a little over 20 adults but it was a good start for them. It is our prayer that next year will see a bigger group after these kids go home with positive reports.

We spent most of the week in a support role, running errands, paying the bills, doing maintenance, running the tuck shop and helping out in the kitchen. I did have to get in some local help with a minor plumbing problem but other than that thing s were fairly quiet. This week we were invited to help a little with the singing, judging events and Kelly also helped out with the crafts.

Some of the counselors went home quite tired as they had spent half the night patrolling the grounds after claiming that they had heard some whispered conversation behind our security wall at around 1:30am. One of the counselors believed that he saw a couple of individuals at the beach side of the camp but no-one else was able to confirm this. Nothing came of it and the dogs didn’t seem to react at all, so it probably wasn’t anything serious but nevertheless it reminded everyone that our security wall is not that secure as there are many stretches where it is only waist high.

We now get a few days to catch our breath before the next wave of Canadians arrive from Halifax, Nova Scotia and connect up with a group of Ecuadorian camp counselors. The last half of the week will be a training week and somehow I let myself get talked into leading a session about serving. I don’t know whether to share in Spanish with an English translator, English with a Spanish translator or just give it a go in “Spanglish.” Wait, wasn’t that a movie that got bad reviews?

After the 3 days of training we will see a large group of kids arrive from Bastion Popular in Guayaquil for our second week of children’s camp. We are also hoping to have around 20 children from our neighborhood attend. I have already begun to talk to some of our neighbors and it doesn’t look like it will be a problem to rustle up that many. Pray that there will be a positive response from this group too.



I Corinthians 3:10-15
“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what has built survives he will receive his reward. If it is burned up he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved but only as one escaping through the flames.”

I burned some garbage after the campers left and this passage came to mind as I have been reading through Corinthians the last few days. It doesn’t matter whether we are in full time ministry as we are or are in secular employment, what we do is going to be tested with fire. This doesn’t mean just what we do directly for the Lord but refers to how we live our lives as believers. The Christian life is a 24 hour, 7 day a week, 52 weeks a year life not a Sunday morning exercise in pew warming. Are we living our lives preparing for the big test?

Singing the Spanish version of "Lord I Lift Your Name on High

The group poses for a photo before they go home

The First Week is Over

The first week of camp is over and it went by in a blur of activity. It was great to see this facility being used for its principal purpose – reaching out to people with the good news about Jesus! Throughout the music, the workshops, the devotional times, and the teaching with Vicente Guerrero the message was always the same – Jesus changes lives –and many young people – experienced that this week.

Daniel Lucas and Janna Fox led the week with grace, tact, energy and a palpable sense of love for the youth. The camp counselors led their cabins with enthusiasm and the appropriate balance of gentleness and firmness where required, while the musicians did a fine job of leading everyone in worship.

The Canadian contribution was great to see with an obvious love for the kids being displayed and an eagerness to embrace all things Ecuadorian – food, language and cultural differences. Rain, mud, scorching heat, humidity, mosquitoes and fleas were accepted as part of the experience and the team efforts were greatly appreciated.

The cooks did an excellent job cooking for almost 200 people – the largest group yet at camp! We enjoyed fish, chicken, beef, and shrimp in various combinations along with the ever present rice. They thoroughly enjoyed their new screen doors and service hatches which, along with the newly installed ventilation fans, lowered the temperature in the kitchen while keeping the flies out. Now if we could do the same for the dining hall….! The maintenance crew of four worked tirelessly at keeping the facility clean and relatively garbage free and even cleaned out my car after a particularly smelly trip to the market for 50 pounds of shrimp!

We are thankful for the safety that we had on the beach and we are able to enjoy the ocean which is particularly dangerous on this stretch. Heather Moore as always did a great job as camp nurse while helping out in the kitchen in her spare time. She dispensed a number of Advil for the usual variety of aches and pains and the only real problem we had was with one counselor who spent the week suffering from a persistent fever until the problem was resolved with a trip into the town clinic.

We spent most of the time working in the background, taking regular trips into town with or on behalf of the cooks, handling the bookkeeping responsibilities and running the tuck shop. Other than a couple of minor logistical hiccups everything ran smoothly behind the scenes allowing the kids to simply enjoy their camp experience.

Our six local kids had a great time although some of them were obviously overwhelmed for the first day or two. Walter and Alex had a great time imitating a couple of Teletubbies on skit night and we are looking forward to going back into the community to hopefully rustle up around 20 children for the upcoming kids’ camp.

We now get a couple of days to catch our breath before it starts all over again next Wednesday when the Alborada and Sauces kids come for a minicamp that runs until Saturday. This will be the first time that they have run the camp on their own and they are managing to cover the bulk of their costs themselves with the help of some sponsors in New Zealand. This will be a smaller camp of around 50 kids and 25 adults.

Holly thoroughly enjoyed spending reading week with us and left us early Saturday morning, arriving safely in Toronto on Saturday afternoon. It was great to see her again and her ability to speak Spanish was an asset as she wandered around camp helping with translating and worked alongside us in the tuckshop. She made it safely back to Belleville in time to celebrate Jessica’s 20th birthday at East Side Mario’s along with her grandparents and other family members.

On a final note, on behalf of the camp committee Kelly and I want to thank all those who prayed over this week of camp and provided generously to both the camp and our personal support in order to make it all happen for these kids. The Lord will surely bless your involvement!

Verse for the Day:

“The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.” Psalm 18:20

What is righteousness? In its simplest sense it is a perfectness that only God truly possesses. However, as followers of Jesus surely we hunger to walk with Him and live a life that is like His. But it is only when we yield ourselves to the active working of His Holy Spirit in our hearts that any righteousness becomes apparent in our lives at all. However, too many times we stifle the Holy Spirit and smother Him as he provokes us to act positively in the lives of others.
That said, I have no doubt that many will be rewarded for the righteous acts that they have committed by their participation in this camp ministry. Now, can we carry that desire to commit righteous acts over into other areas of our lives? Or was it just a onetime act committed in an attempt to salve our guilty consciences from unrighteous acts previously committed? A reward of one form or other awaits us.

Campers lining up by cabins


Five of our local kids!

Just hangin' around!

Trying to get everyone organized for a group shot!

The judges for the skits

Chapel time

Teams get real excited about their performances!

camp begins

I am delighted to tell you that camp is off to a great start despite the rain, mosquitoes, mud, fleas, and more rain! There are 148 campers in this group plus a small army of counselors, leaders, Canadians, cooks, maintenance guys, and other assorted camp followers.

It was an early start for me as the bread guy showed up in the rain with 350 buns at 8:00am. There was some confusion about this as the order should have been placed for Tuesday morning but somehow wound up being delivered today. It was therefore suggested that the entire Canadian contingent (around 20 strong) should eat around 15 buns each for breakfast. Some of the guys gave it their best shot but were always going to fail!

I then got a phone call from the cooks who had headed into town at 6am to buy the supplies for today. So I drove into the market to pick them up where, after some searching around, I found them enjoying a juice as they did not expect me to arrive so quickly! I told them that I now drive like an Ecuadorian and it doesn’t take long for me to make it into town. We loaded 3 sacks of vegetables into the back of my car along with two large bags of fish (my car will need an air-freshener now) and various other purchases. On the drive home they informed me that I am an excellent taxi driver and promised to give me a little extra come lunchtime! One of the perks of being camp administrator!

I arrived back at the camp and delivered the advance party of cooks with their purchases, then turned around and drove Scott Martin into town to buy some bits and pieces so that he could repair a couple of sinks, install the new screen doors and windows and While I was gone 30 large 20 litre jugs of drinking water arrived. So now we were all set for the invasion.

The first bus arrived at 10:30 followed by the second around 11, followed by a group of 5 local kids from El Arenal, followed by most of the leaders at around 11:30. Organized chaos was the result as kids, suitcases, knapsacks, musical instruments, technical equipment, meat, chickens, cooks, and leaders poured into the dining hall to await their instructions from the program directors. Daniel Lucas assigned everyone to their cabins along with their counselors while a few whose names had been missed for various reasons waited patiently until they were also given directions. By this time it was almost lunchtime so everyone milled around getting to know each other until the meal was served. The cooks had done an excellent job preparing fish, rice and a salad along with a tasty soup.

The afternoon was spent organizing the campers into teams and spending some time on the beach. Kelly, Holly and I ran back into town to buy snacks, drinks and candies for the tuck shop. We got back just in time to get organized and open the tuck shop which we are running through one of the windows in our house to keep the confusion away from the kitchen where it was run last year. They bought almost everything that we had purchased so we will be heading back into town to buy more tomorrow.

Supper was also excellent and shortly after that we had chapel time with Vicente who did a great job at keeping the kids attention. There were a number of hands that went up when he challenged the kids to make decisions for Christ.

I can’t forget the rain. After lunch the rain, which had stopped around 11 started up again just to add to the mud that seems to have enveloped the entire camp. It has rained every night for about a week and it is now 10pm and is still raining and the mud is turning into something like you would see in a movie about the First World War! However as I write, everyone is having fun presenting their team cheers. Kuma is throwing in his two cents worth with his funny bark that anyone who has been here knows so well. So who really cares about mud, fleas, mosquitoes and rain when you are having so much fun at camp!

Reinforcements Arrive!

Blow the trumpets! Sound the bells! Put out the flags! Sing “O Canada!” The reinforcements are beginning to arrive! It was fantastic to see an eager, enthusiastic 6 pack of young Canadians arrive at the camp on Saturday afternoon! Jeff, Curtis, Bez, Kem, James, and Beck come strolling through the camp doors no worse for their unanticipated two day journey. We had expected them to arrive earlier but a number of flights have been delayed over the past few days due to blizzards in Canada and ash-spewing volcanoes in Ecuador- theirs included! Yes! Tungurahua is active again and throwing so much ash in the air that planes cannot risk flying over the area at night! Our gang were held up in Houston overnight – but we think that enjoyed the adventure and the chance to experience a Houston hotel courtesy of the airline.

We have put them to work on a number of tasks including cleaning all the cabins; installing curtain rods; fumigating for fleas (yes, we have had a flea infestation at the camp reminiscent of the 10 plagues– please pray about this!); unclogging clogged drains, cleaning washrooms; weed removal; and a variety of other fun-filled tasks. It would be very difficult for us to get camp ready for the big kid invasion next week if it wasn’t for their huge contribution. Further reinforcements will arrive on the weekend and they will be splitting their time between working at camp, working in Bastion Popular and a trip to the jungle. The contribution of all these Canadians is greatly appreciated and it would be hard to picture how the work down here would have developed without their efforts for the Lord.

In addition to these teams we also saw Heather Moore arrive in Guayaquil from Ontario at the end of last week. Heather has been visiting Ecuador for a number of years and is renowned for her work as the camp nurse. She has decided to take a different approach this time and has committed to Ecuador for a year. Heather will be working quite closely with the school in Bastion Popular as well as her usual contribution to the camp ministry. Pray for Heather that she will be able to adapt to living in “El Caracol” the little subdivision across from the school.

Holly is coming too! She has a week off from university next week due to reading week and has decided to come and help out any way she can. Yay Holly! So we are up for a very busy few weeks and I am not sure how often I am going to be able to post but we will do our best to keep you up to date. It should be easier to post than it has been as we have just managed to get internet access at the camp using cell phone signal. It is a little slower than we are used to and a little more expensive than we would like but it does mean that we have 24 hour internet access at El Faro.

Verse for the Day:
“Set your mind on the things that are above and not on the things that are on earth.”

Colossians 3:2

With the team here for the week we are studying what it means to have a Christ like mind. According to T.W. Hunt and Claude King there are 6 characteristics of a Christlike mind. The Christlike mind is Alive (Romans 8:6); Single Minded (II Cor 11:3); Lowly (Phil 2;3); Pure (Titus 1;5); Responsive (Luke 24:45); and Peaceful ( Romans 8:6) I hope that you are blessed by checking out the references!

James and Jeff clean the woman´s washrooms!

Kuma takes it easy - he was very disappointed that he didn´t make it on the last blogpost with all the other pets!

Curtis and Beck installing curtain rods

The closest I could get to a smile from them as they were too focused on the task at hand

Kem and Bez cleaning bunks!

Kelly and Janet with one of their spectacular lunch creations

Various Goings On

We had another successful camp committee meeting last Sunday. After some time discussing what basic camp organizational model might work best for us, we began to assign responsibilities. Kelly and I are obviously responsible for most of the administrative responsibilities but it was important to decide what responsibilities belong in the hands of the camp directors and their programming committee. Daniel Lucas, Janna Fox and David Edgecombe carry the bulk of that responsibility along with Maria-Eugenia Castaneda and a few others. The decision was made to have a third key area of responsibility, that being Camp Maintenance and Construction projects. Due to his considerable experience with the construction of the camp, Dale Horst will continue to head up this important area. It looks like we are slowly developing into a group that understands more clearly who is responsible for what. We have one more general planning meeting before camp hits to ensure that everything is on track while the sub-committees will handle the various details.

On Wednesday we had a midweek meeting with Janna to get a greater understanding of costs and programming details. Janna has been involved in the camp ministry for a number of years, even before El Faro was built and has a real interest in seeing this ministry being successful. One benefit of adding a second week of children’s camp this year is that we can invite more kids in the 9-11 age range, funds permitting. Kelly and I are going to begin to approach some local families in El Arenal to see if there might be around 20 children in this age range that we can invite to El Faro for a week of camp. Although a few individuals have been invited before, this will be the first time that a concerted effort will have been made to bring in a number of local kids. Please pray that there will be a good response. It costs approx $50 per child, per week so if you would like to help defray those costs you can do so by sending funds directly to the MSC address on the right hand side of this blog and specify that it is for El Faro campers and not for our personal support.

There are a number of practical details that need to be taken care of before camp begins and we are working through those little by little. We are in the process of finishing and equipping the interior of the last cabin which currently is without toilets, showers, sinks, mattresses, curtain rods etc., although bathroom doors are being added as I write. This cabin, which can accommodate 48 in 4 bedrooms of 12, was left unfinished last year due to lack of time and funds, but we are planning, God willing, to have it ready for this year’s groups.

We went through the kitchen and took an inventory of all appliances, cutlery etc. this week and found that we are short some items mostly smaller ones like spoons, bowls, large plates, oven mitts, and dishtowels. There are also some tables and chairs that have been damaged and will need to be repaired or replaced. This is partly due to general wear and tear and attrition and also because we need to add to the inventory due to the addition of the fourth cabin which will allow us to sleep a maximum of 192 campers and staff this year.

We have begun meeting regularly with a young man named Carlos for a time of Bible study and are also helping him with his English. Carlos became a Christian last summer and is showing a lot of interest in learning more about God. He will be meeting again with us this Sunday to continue our studies in “Firm Foundations”, a study guide that leads us through some of the important fundamentals in the life of a Christian. Carlos is hoping to go to university in Guayaquil in April so we want to meet with him as often as possible before then. He already knows a number of the youth in the city from spending time with them at various camp gatherings.

One final note, this is a big weekend in Ecuador! Carnival is here at last and although it takes an entirely different turn from the world famous exploits of the Brazilians, it is nevertheless, a time of fun and laughter for some and a time of frustration on others because in Ecuador Carnival is a time to get soaked! It is difficult to go out for the next few days without getting wet as people spray hoses, throw buckets of water; fire water pistols throw water balloons and generally try to drench passers-by! You have to take it as the good natured fun that it is intended to be, nevertheless it can be frustrating for those who are all dressed up for work!

Verse for the day:

Psalm 14:2, 3
“The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

We read part of Romans chapter 3 with Carlos the other day and noticed that the apostle Paul quoted a couple of times from this passage. It struck me again as being very forceful and clear and also very relevant to our society today. It also struck me as being very personal because it describes me in my natural state. I have been as guilty as the next man in not seeking God - and many times I have clearly chosen to do what is wrong rather than what is good. Thank God for His grace and mercy! However, we must not wallow in our sin and allow it to become an excuse for not serving God. Charles Spurgeon is reported to have prayed “God be merciful to me a sinner” as he stepped into the pulpit and our sinfulness should not prevent us from appropriating His grace and serving Him either.

We thought that you might like some fotos of the various animals that are working for their living around this place.....although we forgot Kuma, the big German Shepherd. I thought that I had a picture of him on my memory stick but apparently not.

Picasso taking a nap in a laundry bucket!

Beethoven (Baby) is getting bigger every day!

Ginger waits all day, every day for her owners to

come back and rescue her from this zoo!

Beethoven and Leonardo are dreaming up a musical, artistic masterpiece.

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

The Elusive Christmas Spirit

I am writing this on December 15th, so there are only 10 days left until the big day and yet I am having great difficulty getting into the “Christmas Spirit.” A quick check of Windows Media Player reveals that I have over 17 hours of Christmas music (I was always a big fan of Christmas CD’s) ripped to my laptop. Yet even though I have a great little set of speakers attached to said laptop and although we regularly play a lot of music in the evenings (having no TV does that to you) we have yet to choose to play any Christmas music. I said as much to Kelly on Sunday after we came back from the service at Bastion. “We haven’t yet played any Christmas music and they will have been playing it at the services back in Belleville!” The last two weeks they have been playing a few Christmas songs and hymns at church services both in Bastion and Alborada and they even played one of my recent favourites “Celebrate The Child” - thanks Dan and the Wisdom band for teaching it to us a couple of years back - at Bastion on Sunday. By the way, that’s another song that sounds better in Spanish!




I drive the 5km into the little town of Playas and see that it is full of reminders that the Christmas season is now upon us. In its own way it is as commercial here as it is in Canada. The stores are full of artificial Christmas trees, singing lights (yes, most of their Christmas lights hum tunes incessantly), decorations, toys, employees wearing little red Santa hats, Christmas cakes, turkeys, and all the usual fixings. The streets are full of vendors peddling their Christmas wares like Nativity scenes and battery operated toys. The Christmas season is well and truly here in Playas, yet I don’t feel that I am experiencing it yet. I am not in the mood. I feel like I am just an observer of all the frantic activity and I am not really sure just why.




As I ponder this conundrum in search of an answer I have come to the conclusion that it must be one of, or a combination of three things. First, it is hard for those of us from the Northern hemisphere to imagine Christmas without snow or at least cold weather with the imminent threat of snow. Even in Scotland where it rained more often than not there was the possibility of snow. It could happen. Here, you know that it is just not going to happen. All the locals are talking about how cool it is at the beach at this time of year. We know that it has only been around 28-30 degrees most days, I would think! However, although it is so cool (beach season is usually in the 30’s) there is absolutely no possibility of it snowing. None. We will not experience the near silence of countless millions of unique snowflakes gently falling almost soundlessly on Christmas Eve. We will not wake up to a glistening, blinding, deliciously white carpet of snow. Barring the freakiest of freak storms that would turn the world on its head there will be no snow on the equator this December 25th. Maybe that’s the reason for my lack of enthusiasm – the weather is simply not conducive to the Christmas spirit.




The second possibility is that when you are removed from the whole merry-go-round of buying Christmas presents for family, friends, co-workers etc., you are also removed from the commercial idea of what Christmas is. The merchants would tell us that Christmas is buying. It is the largest collective orgy of spending that the world has ever seen and if you don’t do your part then you are in danger of being labeled a modern day Scrooge. Somehow that doesn’t seem to fit in with the Christmas story I read in the scriptures and I have always been uneasy with it. Maybe it would be better if we just had our wild orgy of spending and called it something other than Christmas. After all, how much time do we actually spend contemplating the birth of Jesus, the Saviour of the World at this time of year? Perhaps it is the sense of being removed from that merry-go-round that finds me watching instead of participating.




The final possibility is that what we call Christmas is really for us a concentrated time of sharing and spending time with our closest family members. “I’ll be Home for Christmas” is a Christmas hit for a good reason. Well, we won’t be home for Christmas, and we will miss out on those family together times which are always special despite the extra work, stresses and family tensions that those times always bring. We won’t be making any trips to family members, we won’t be pulling any Christmas crackers, and we won’t be in any of the family photos this year. It could be that not planning for those family gatherings is leaving me bereft of the Christmas mood.




Having said all that, my mood may be about to change. I may just be about to get into that Christmas spirit, albeit a little later than usual. We are really excited that we are going to pick up Holly and Jessica at the airport late on Thursday night! After a short night’s sleep we have a mad rush home on Friday to be here for a Teacher’s Christmas party at the camp in the afternoon and a trip back into Guayaquil for the Christmas Service at Alborada on Sunday. We will have just a handful of days to play our part and buy decorations for our little $19 tree, buy some Christmas presents, buy the turkey etc., and then relax and play the music - Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, Michael W. Smith, Rachael Lampa, Hanson, Relient K, The Chieftains and The London Philharmonic Orchestra! If I am not in the Christmas Spirit after all that then I guess it must just be the weather!

On a final note, I will be preaching for the first time on December 28th at a young people’s Christmas supper at the church in Alborada. I will be talking about holiness and could use some prayer support!




Verse for the Day:




Genesis 3:17-19
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistle for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”




I am enjoying the different perspective that reading the Bible in Spanish gives you. It is also a great way to do your devotionals and practice your Spanish at the same time. Currently I am reading in the book of Genesis and had to stop when I came to the words “cardos y espinas” which mean thorns and thistles. It got me thinking about the little garden that we are tending here at El Faro. The garden is full of little thorns that attach themselves to your pant legs, laces, shoe soles or worse yet, jab your skin! They are extremely annoying to come across. Moreover, the ground here is either stony and rocky and very difficult to dig into or very fine and sandy. None of it seems to be very good soil and if you spend any time working in it at all during the day you find yourself very quickly sweating. So, what must it have been like for Adam to have been thrust out of the Paradise that was the Garden of Eden into the world outside? It must have been a huge shock to the system, a very rude awakening to the consequences of his sin. These last words from God must have been ringing in his ears as he tried to wring a living out of the barren wilderness. Maybe if we all received immediate punishment for our wrongdoings we would be less likely to wander astray from God’s will. But who am I to question God’s mercy and grace in holding back from us what we deserve?


We are posting this picture just to prove to Tim Horne that we have actually been on the beach!

For those who like to know where they are in the world, this is looking northwest towards the town of Playas.

A Busy Week Part One

I can’t believe that it has been more than a week since my last blogpost! However, it did seem to be a busy last few days so I guess that I will have to accept that it has been. We spent the first four days doing something that we will probably be spending a lot of time doing during our time here – acting as hosts.

Jose and Ivan came out from Bastion Popular to begin work on some of the things that need to get done before the next camp season begins in February. First up was the last of the four main cabin blocks as it, although having been mostly completed, still lacks bathrooms. The sinks, toilets and showers were no more than roughed in last year and space was a bit tight without the four rooms in this cabin. It was up to Jose and Ivan to build the sink counters and install the sinks and it was up to us to look after Jose and Ivan for the four days that we were here. Sounds simple right? However, you have to remember that we were trying to do this with our Spanish running at probably around 60% - 65% of where it used to be ten years ago – and harder still – Kelly had to try to remember how to cook for Ecuadorians, who like their rice just so. We decided to jump in with a leap of faith that somehow things would work out just fine – as did Jose and Ivan who were stuck living with us, miles away from their own homes, for four days.

They arrived at around 10am and we showed them where they were to sleep. We gave them a choice of either one of the cabins, or the spare room downstairs that is slated to be an office but for now sleeps four in two bunk beds. They chose the latter which was fine with us as though it gave us all a little less privacy meant that they had access to the washrooms and showers immediately underneath our deck, the cabins currently not being connected to the water system as the main pump is down and in need of repair. They then immediately got down to the typical Ecuadorian order of the business – “Un poquito de agua por favor?” “A little water please?” This involved more than just your standard glass of water but necessitated providing them with a twenty liter jug of water, a stand with a tap to place the jug on, and two plastic cups, one red and one blue so that they could tell them apart for the week. Access to an ample supply of water is of course a major requirement for the average Ecuadorian worker and they happily took theirs down to the aforementioned cabin block and tested it out. A couple of deep draughts and contented looks were the result.

Ivan was then directed to sweep out the rooms as Jose and I then spent the next half hour or so checking out what was required in the way of building supplies. This should have been a simple job but I was very quickly reminded of how narrow my knowledge of Spanish vocabulary is. Ask me about simple bible stories, biblical concepts and theological definition and I can still hold my own but I have no idea what a screwdriver, hammer, and table saw are as they are not words I ever needed to use before! Thankfully Ivan seemed to know what he was looking for in and around the “bodega” or “storage room” which turned out to mostly involve “cemento” or “cement” (that one was easy); “madera” or “wood” ( a little harder but I was proud I knew what that was) and trowels, rebar, wheelbarrow all of which he thankfully found without my help. Interestingly enough I still don’t know what any of those are called so I guess I will have to check my dictionary.

Next up was a trip to the local ‘ferreteria’ or building supply/hardware store. I knew that we have accounts with a couple of the local stores in Playas and I even know my way around town well enough town to find them. We went up to the first one, “Disensa” where Jose is well known from previous construction projects at the camp but unfortunately they did not seem to have what he was looking for and I could not seem to catch what it was that he asking for. We then went across the street and down a bit to “Ferreteria San Fransisco” which unusually, was closed. Now Jose was getting a bit worried as we were heading into less familiar territory and he was unsure as to why they were closed. “You do have some money if we have to buy these right?,” he asked. “Dale said you would if we ran into any problems.” “Yes, I have some money,” I answered confidently although still not sure exactly what it was we were looking for. “Fregadora” he replied as I asked which I guessed may have something to do with washing as the verb for ‘to wash” is “fregar.” It was at this point that I managed to put two and two together and come up with four which is unusual for me as it turns out that we were actually looking for the sinks themselves. By way of confirmation Jose informed me that yes, we were looking for “fregadoras”, “lavacopas”, “lavamanos”, which means that I now have three new words for a sink! This was as we were on our way to “El Chino” the third ferreteria which is a little off Jose’s usual radar screen and will probably remain that way as they told him that they would not have any until Friday at the earliest. It was also here that we found out that “Ferreteria San Fransisco” had been shut down for 11 days – something to do with their paperwork! From here it was all downhill as none of the remaining two stores had the required sinks. We ended up returning to the camp with nothing more than a bag of cement and in Jose’s case a plan F as B,C,D and E had failed to work. As for me, I returned with a warm fuzzy feeling inside as I knew that I was for sure back in Ecuador! Stay tuned for more!

Verse For the Day: Psalm 136:3,13
“Give thanks to the Lord of Lords: His love endures forever. To him who divided the Red Sea asunder; His love endures forever.”

Why is it that when I look out my bedroom window I doubt that we can see a church established here in El Arenal? After all if God can part the Red Sea in a far more spectacular fashion than Hollywood ever dreamed possible, surely He can do such a small thing as gather together a group of His people here in this hot, windy, dry and dusty, corner of Ecuador.

Our First Visits to the Churches in Bastion Bloque 6 and Alborada

After a week of anticipation we finally got to go visit our old friends at church services in Bastion Popular and Alborada. First up was Bastion. The church there has a service beginning at 8:30am so that meant an early start for us. We were up at 6am and left home just before 7am. So for all those back in Canada who have difficulty getting up for 10:30 or 11:00 maybe you should come to Ecuador and try this service! What a great time to get started in the morning!
By the time we arrived in Bastion it was still nice and cool and the church was full. The building is 4 times the size that it was when we were first here to see it planted in 1995/96. It has two floors, one which is what I guess we Canadians would want to call the “Main Auditorium” and the upper floor is for Sunday school. There must have been about 50 in attendance and afterwards Rolando told me that they have decided to move the service back to the school gymnasium next week as the number of those in attendance has been growing after a time when the numbers had been down somewhat.

As we drove up to the church we were delighted to hear the music and singing from out in the street and as we entered it was exciting for us to see an entire worship team composed of three guitarists, four singers, a drummer and a keyboard player. The band also had a decent sound system and the congregation was using Powerpoint for the song lyrics. Having served on the worship team in Quinte Bible Chapel for a number of years it was a joy for us to see and it was a big change from the days 11 years ago when Tim Horne and/or I were the praise team! The music was lively, relevant and brought us to the throne of God. Part way through the service there was an opportunity for individuals to take part by sharing from God’s word or praying. Immediately following this we remembered the Lord together in the bread and the wine and from there moved directly into the sermon. The service was well-structured and had a good sense of flow to it while being nudged along by a chairman at the appropriate junctures. I was interested to hear the quality of the sermon and was well-pleased with Franklin’s take on John 8; The Woman Caught In Adultery. Franklin had obviously done his homework and was well prepared, presenting a carefully thought out and gracious take on the story while reminding us that we were no different from the Pharisees in that we too can be hypocritical when we need to be gracious and merciful to those of our family, friends and neighbours who are caught in blatant sin.

Afterwards we had a warm welcome as Rolando presented us to the congregation. We received many handshakes and “besos”(kisses) while our Spanish was put to the test as we tried to keep up with the questions and comments. It was a struggle but I think that we more or less held our own although it is obvious to us that our Spanish is certainly rusty. I think that this week calls for more study time!

After we had said our goodbyes we headed off to Alborada to meet our old friends there. We squeezed a few extra bodies into our Chevy Vitara and with the 1.6 litre engine performing over and above the call of duty all 7 adults headed up the Via Perimtral with Dale, his guitar and Jose crammed in the cargo area until we got to Bastion Bloque 10. There we dropped of Jose, Willian, Dale and Dale’s guitar who were all heading to the later service there.

With a lighter load the Vitara roared on until we came to the Alborada turn where we left the Via Perimetral and headed south to our old stompin’ ground. This was the second time this week that we had taken this road as we had also headed down into Alborada on Thursday after meeting with the Bastion elders. We felt a little more confident about where we were going this time as on Thursday we had been completely disoriented. Alborada and its approach road have experienced enormous changes since we were last here. As we drove in on Thursday we did not recognize anything at all until we reached Albocentro, the old downtown that we knew from before and even then we had reached it more by accident than by good navigational skills. We never did find the church!

This time we only felt a little more comfortable as, although we had Nikki and Rolando with us to help keep us straight, things could change at the drop of a hat. For example Rolando jumped out just before the new bridge beside the church and to tell you the truth I never really did find out why he was with us or where he was going. He had simply found out that we were headed for Alborada and asked for a ride. It was around then that I found out that Nikki had never actually been to Alborada although she claimed to have a pretty good idea of where it was. Finally she spotted it and one missed turn and around 10 minutes later we were back outside the church which we had passed but could not reach because we were on an overpass! We found a parking spot easily and moments later we were heading into the building that Kelly and I had known so well but that we knew had changed so much. At least we hoped we were because as Nikki confessed, “I’m still not sure that this is the right building but I think that’s David’s car outside.” Not knowing whether we were heading into a Pentecostal, Baptist or Brethren service we walked somewhat cautiously into the building. It is at times like this when you are afraid of making a fool of yourself that it is a good thing to be a male and kindly offer to let the women go first!

We need not have worried because we immediately recognized Alba, who has not changed at all, and then David and his father Jorge on the platform, who both gave us friendly waves.
As we took our seats and looked around us once again, we were astonished to see how much this church had also grown since we fellowshipped there before. This building is also about four times the size of what we had known previously and also was well equipped with all the modern technology. At a quick count there must have been over 100 in attendance and although we arrived a little late and missed most of the music we were aware that they also were very enthusiastic in their worship.

It wasn’t long before we were given a warm welcome and invited to come up front to be introduced to the congregation. As I looked down on the sea faces it was encouraging to see number of familiar faces amongst all the new ones. We were asked to share a bit about what we were going to be doing and what we had been doing. As I had only prepared for the former and not for the latter I played it safe as I did not want to embarrass myself by butchering the language in front of such a large group of people.

David preached for almost an hour and it was fantastic to see a young man who I had mentored while here before now carrying himself in such a confident and capable manner. When the service was over we were thronged with people wanting to talk to us. Amongst them were Gaby, Leyla, Jose, Raul, (Super) Mario, Walter, Estefani, Andres, Zarita; all of whom were young people who we knew from our kids club or youth group from the nineties. They are all now in their early to mid-twenties and in some cases, married. It is great to see them still attending Alborada and in most cases actively involved. In the case of Estefani we discovered that she was a girl who had come from time to time to the kids club that we had held in our house but had no idea that she had become a Christian and was attending the church there. Later we were also invited to visit David and Kathy later this week and made tentative plans for Friday. David has been very involved with camp in the past and we are looking forward to talking with him about its future.

After saying our goodbyes and promising to come back from time to time we made our way back to Dale and Janet’s place where we had a quick lunch before taking them back out to Playas. They had received an invitation to attend a First Communion for one of the local families and decided that it would be appropriate for them to make an appearance and get to know some more of the local families. They caught the last bus back to Guayaquil at 8pm leaving us to enjoy the aftermath which has been one huge party. First communion is a huge deal here in this primarily Catholic country and for us it has been a chance to experience one continuous neighbourhood party since they left. The drinking, music and dancing began next door around 4pm yesterday and they are still going strong today at noon as I write this. The music is of course played at maximum volume and I could not sleep last night until about 2am. Kelly of course, slept well as usual, although she did complain of being somewhat restless and waking a few times.

Verse for the day: Psalm 140:12
“I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.”
We are trying to be more conscious of the needs of the poor. In Canada we are so used to people having access to all sorts of government and church programs to help those in need. Here there is very little of that sort of thing and it is always so difficult to know exactly what to do. However, we have given out a few coins first to a boy who was begging at the toll booth on the way into Guayaquil, and then we gave a small loaf of bread to a little girl and presumably her brother who were begging as we bought ourselves a treat at the bread shop. She immediately gave it to the little boy who wasted no time at all in attacking it. Finally I gave all the loose change that I had in my pocket to a crippled beggar who approached us outside the market. It probably wasn’t much more than 50cents but he was counting it carefully as we walked away. We know that this is but a tiny, tiny drop in a huge ocean and as skeptical Canadians we are always afraid of being conned. However, we think that maybe it is better to err on the side of kindness than that of hardness. After all, if the Lord is on the side of the poor, maybe we should be too.