The Ranchera to Talin only goes in on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, and only in the late afternoon on those days. So, to arrive in Talin in the morning, we must walk 2 hours, and then when the Ranchera comes, we take it back out to our town, Puyo. If we miss it, we must walk the 2 hours back out, for there is no other transportation to this community. 

We go there every Saturday and have service. Today, after service with one of the families in the community, we walked up the mountain to Manuel's family to visit and worship God with them. 

Now, what you must understand is, from up on the mountain, Manuel's family has a great view and can see the Ranchera when it comes. However, it takes 30 minutes walking to actually get to where the Ranchera is. So, we have to leave their home in time to get down the mountain and cross the river, so as not to miss the Ranchera.

But today, we were having such a great worship and Bible study, that we lost track of time. Suddenly one of the children shouted, "The Ranchera is here!" Oh no!! We can't miss it. It's our only way out. So, we grabbed our things and started hurrying down the mountain, running in our rubber boots, crossing the river, all the while yelling, "Espere, Aguanta (Wait, Hold on)!!" We also sent one of the children ahead to let the driver know we were coming.

However, the driver could not hear our yells, and we could not reach him in time. He left without us. As we watched him drive away from high on the mountain, our hearts sank for a moment. We had walked the 2 hours in and were exhausted to have to walk the 2 hours back out again (it's all up hill). But today, we knew in our hearts we had no choice. So, we said to each other, "We'll just walk out".  We accepted it and were at peace with it, knowing that God would give us the strength to do it.

But no quicker than we'd said we'd walk....a miracle happened! The Ranchera came back! Sis. Gladis was walking down the mountain with us (as they usually do, to see us off), and she said, "It's a miracle! It's a miracle from God!!" As long as they have lived there, she said the Ranchera has NEVER come back! EVER!!!!

You can guess that we were praising God at that moment!! Turns out, someone in the community below knew we were up on the mountain and would not be staying the night, and he insisted that the driver of the Ranchera go back for us. Talk about God taking care of us! It really was a miracle! God had honored our willingness to walk, even though the physical challenge seemed more than we could handle that day, and He sent the Ranchera back for us! A verse I love in Spanish says, "Que Dios es GRANDE como NUESTRO Dios??" ("What God is GREAT like OUR GOD?!!) Psalm 77:10.

We went to Puyupungo to work at the new church just the other day. The trip is one hour on the Ranchera to arrive there. We were going to be working for about 5 hours before another Ranchera came. We normally prepare by bringing snacks and drinks with us, but when we got off the Ranchera and checked our backpacks, we realized we'd forgotten to bring anything to drink! We had 5 hours to be there, and we had NOTHING to drink!! Remember there is no running water at our church in Puyupungo. (Charles himself normally drinks about 4 or 5 20oz. waters on this particular trip).

It was a very hot day, and we had lots of hard work ahead of us. We were making a lovely walkway to the church door, and had to carry bags of sand that weighed nearly 200 lbs each! We worked so hard and sweated so much. We were proud of the walkway, but the sun was 'whipping' us. We were SO THIRSTY!!!

We rested often so as not to dehydrate. We tried to think of anything that might have water in it that we could eat from the jungle. And we said outloud, "Oh, if we had sugar cane on our land, that would quench our thirst. It has lots of water in it! Oh, just one piece of sugar cane!" But alas, we have no sugar cane on our land.

After nearly 4 hours of much hard labor, and literally ending our work due to our thirst, our neighboring friends arrived home. They saw us and immediately came over to visit. As we chatted with the parents of our day, the 2 older boys ran off for a little while. When they returned, completely unaware of our dire need for water, you'll never guess what each had in their hands!?! Yes, HUGE stalks of delicious sugar cane!!!! We were so excited when they offered it to us!!

We did not pass out or suffer from severe dehydration that day. God provided us with that sugar cane to quench our thirst, just as we had so desired. As we boarded the Ranchera, Charles and I immediately gave thanks to God for always being faithful and never failing to take such good care of us!

We went to visit a family in BellaVista the other day. Sitting there watching the children play was quite enjoyable, as if they had no care in the world. I was surrounded by their laughter and completely wrapped up in their world. But then, to hear little Shirma speak words that changed everything and in an instant, brought me back to reality. She said, "I'm hungry". No, not hungry for a snack. Hungry for the breakfast and lunch she had not yet had. Why? Because there wasn't any. I was so saddened, because this day, I had only brought toys for the children.

The trip to their home is a one hour ride on the Ranchera, then one hour to walk in, treading through knee deep mud, and wading through an almost waist-high river. Therefore, I couldn't so easily turn around and run down to a store and buy them food. Unfortunately, they'd have to wait another day before I could get back to them. My heart ached as I left that visit, knowing the children would all go to bed hungry that night.

Hunger. Such a horrible thing caused by a life of poverty that so many suffer from in this world. We all hear about it, but when it rears its ugly face and looks you straight in the eye, it stares a strong, sad glare that does not easily erase from your mind for quite some time.

So, yes we did bring food to Shirma and her family, and we continue to do so. I like to think that we're playing just a small part in helping to break the ugliness and shame of hunger, helping to release its innocent victims, just a few families at a time.

A few weeks ago, we saw Maria, 10, and Bartolo, 9, on their walk to school. We noticed that both of them were wearing very unfit shoes. Bartolo's had no shoe laces at all, and were much too big, and Maria's, also, were so big on her feet that with each step, she could hardly keep them on.

So, we took them and 4 more siblings on a shoe shopping trip! We had the greatest time. They were so well behaved, and were excited to be getting new school shoes. But it was going to be more of a blessing to them than we knew.

As we waited outside the 'shoe shop' for Charles to pay, the children were glowing and talking about the new shoes they were getting. And Maria said that the shoes Bartolo was wearing were actually 'hand-me-downs' from his older brother and hers, as well, were passed on by a cousin or some relative. I said, almost casually, "Then now, you both will have your own shoes". But they were powerful words to them. Maria repeated them, with her heart aglow, and said, "Yes, we will have our OWN shoes!"

WOW!! We didn't know how much a pair of shoes was going to mean to those children. When many of us have numerous pair, remember the children here who are receiving theirs for the first time ever! 

We went to visit Patricio and Gloria in Talin on Saturday, and this time we brought 'presents' for them. We had went out and bought new pants, skirts and tops for the whole family. So, we put them each in their own bag, so they would have their own personal gift.

They were so happy to see us. We had service with them, and what a beautiful move of God blessed them! Then we gave them their 'presents'. As Ecuadorian custom is, you never open your gift in front of the giver. You wait until after they've gone to see what you've received. We didn't tell them what we had brought, just that we had a little something for each of them. As we called each of their names, Gloria, Patricio, Eduardo, Carlos, Mirian, Sarah, Lucia...their smiles got bigger and bigger! And the 'Thank you's' were so sincere.

But it was truly the grins on the faces of Carlos and Eduardo, 4 and 6, that touched me the most. They were absolutely glowing to get that little bag. It didn't even matter to them what was inside it! Just the idea that someone thought of them made their day! Their family is so poor that they don't often receive any types of gifts or presents, as with many families here.

They were literally thrilled over their 'gift' and they didn't even know what it was!! What a lesson for all of us to learn, to appreciate all that we have, even more than we already do. They blessed my heart!

We went to Talin today to have service and to spend time with one of the families there. Gladys and Manuel's daughter, Ana Lucia, was celebrating her 19th birthday. Not a celebration like many of us Americans are accustomed to. Her gift was that we were coming. And her birthday cake? No, there wasn't going to be one because her parents couldn't afford it. So we brought one for her.

But the sacrifice her parents were making for her, to be given to her as her gift, was the meal they prepared for a late afternoon lunch. As usual, they made rice, and yuca, with fruit juice to drink. But, they also cooked meat. Manuel awoke at 4am to start preparing it, cooking it over an open fire.

When they served it to us, it was very good and we wanted to know what kind of meat it was. So, Manuel took Charles down the mountain to show him the animal. The delicious meat we had just enjoyed was goat meat, from a red goat!!! Manuel had killed it that morning, especially to serve to us, and for Ana's birthday. What a sacrifice her family made for her today, and what a lovely gift it was!

We are so excited to share with everyone that we have rented a beautiful building to have church in in our town of Puyo, Ecuador. We named it "Catch the Fire church", (Iglesia Coge El Fuego). Since our arrival here 2 years ago, we've been having home services, and have been looking for a place to worship together for quite some time. So this building is a huge blessing from the Lord. Because it's in town, we do have running water and electricty in the church.

With the help of so many faithful supporters, we were able to purchase sound equipment, too, which we've not had since we've been here. It is a blessing beyond words, also!!

We are already having services here and the Lord is moving on many lives, touching many hearts, that have never heard this message of fire, and passion in serving God before. We are so excited about all He is doing here, but even moreso, about all that God's going to do!

You can look at pictures of the Puyo church on the Photo page.

Upon arrival of our visit today with Bro. Carlos and his family, we found their son, Israel, playing with the family pet. No, it wasn't a monkey, it was a small armadillo. They caught him right out of the jungle, and was certainly enjoying playing with him. And no, he wasn't exactly 'tame' yet either.

After a short while, another son, Freddy, came back from his day. He had an old shirt in his hands. Inside, he had put a snake he caught while out today. It was a good 6 foot long anaconda. And, of course, he was all too anxious to show us. It was a beautiful cream color, with gorgeous red orange spots, and very strong, too. It was a good catch for him, as he said he can sell it to folks who work in tourism here. He said the tourists like to see those kind of things.

Yet another interesting day for these missionaries in the Amazon.

We are so excited because we have just purchased our first piece of jungle land!!! We have greatly desired to build churches in the jungle communities that we work in, because none of them have churches. So, it’s a goal that we have been working towards. Now with the purchase of this land in sector Puyupungo, near the community of Bella Vista, our vision is becoming reality!

We plan to start the cleaning process sometime next week. This will take a little while as cleaning is done by hand, with the use of a machete. However, several of the neighboring Indians have offered to help us clean. So, we’ll definitely take them up on that!!

The land we purchased is within walking distance of these communities: Chinchayacu, Encanada, Jatarri, Puyupungo and Bella Vista. So it will be a blessing to several areas. We look forward to all that God is going to do here.

Please pray for us as we begin our first church building project in Ecuador. We're very excited! Check out pics of the land on the Photo page.

There was an earthquake in the Amazon last week. It was about 75 miles from our home, just south of us and registered a 6.7 on the Richter scale. So, yes, we got a real good tremor here. We live on the 3rd floor and our home shook for about 30 seconds strong.

Last year, Volcano Tungurahua erupted, sending lava streaming down the mountain, 16,000 feet into the river below. It's about 60 miles from our home. It, too, caused a tremor in our town.

Volcanoes all around us. We live on a fault line, so earthquakes are common. One might find all of this dangerous. Or others might be fearful. And yet, Charles and I live here in such perfect peace, knowing that amidst all of it, this is the place that God sent us to, to reach a nation, to save a people from their sins. And that's enough comfort for me right there!

The word of God says, "In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall DIRECT thy paths", Proverbs 3:6 I wholeheartedly believe that Scripture to be true. It is the reason I'm in Ecuador today. But direction? How can we always know it? Some days I feel as if I lack direction, in a sense. And I need the Lord to guide me as I go.

See, God called me to Ecuador. That doesn't mean just one region, or one province. It means all 13 million people here, all 13 different languages. So, my 'problem' is that I have fallen so in love with the Ecuadorians and I am so consumed by that, that I often wonder on a daily basis exactly where God wants me to go. Which tribe do I visit today, the Shuar? Or maybe the Waorani? No, maybe I should go to the Kichwa. Or which family do I teach a Bible study to today?

Some would say then that I must certainly lack direction. Is that what this means? Or do I lack understanding of His will for my life? I think not. I think it just means that I am fulfilling His word that says, "I delight to do thy will, O my God...", Psalm 40:8. And as Paul was so consumed with compassion for Israel that he wrote, "...My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved", Romans 10:1.

I feel just like Paul. I'm so moved with compassion for the Ecuadorians that I want to save all of them tomorrow. But I cannot. For it is only Charles and I, and we alone cannot reach the whole. Not yet, anyway.
 
But it is my one devotion, my heart's desire that Ecuador might be saved. And I know that it might take years, but I am committed. I am dedicated. And I will give everthing I can to reach them, one soul at a time, with God's direction.

We visited BellaVista a few days ago. When we arrived there, Bro. Carlos and 2 of his older boys, Freddy and Gonzalo, were gone. They'd went fishing to catch something for dinner for their family that night.

So, we visited with the ladies and had a Bible class with the children. I was so proud of them remembering all the Scriptures and Books of the Bible we'd taught them. They hadn't forgotten anything!

After a while, Bro. Carlos and his sons returned. And immediately, the ladies started cooking. Bro. carlos and them caught small tilapia, some shrimp and lots of minnows. Yes, they eat the minnows.

Now, they don't have electricity or running water, so their fish meal is prepared over an open fire. The fish are not skinned, but dropped whole into boiling water, and cooked. As the first bowls of talapia and minnows were nearly ready, the older boys beckoned us to the table to come and eat first.

Bro. Carlos and his family weren't expecting us this day. They didn't know exactly what day we'd be returning, so this was a surprise visit. They had went out that day to catch food so their family would have something to eat, and yet, they wanted to serve us first.

My heart was so touched that when they placed those first two bowls of food on the table and told us to come and eat, before any of them had anything to eat, I tried to refuse. I really wanted to break down and cry, because it´s all they had, but they wanted to make sure that we got fed!

As I persisted in telling them they should eat first, they wouldn't hear of it. So, Charles and I agreed, and sat down to enjoy our meal of minnows. But as we sat down, I asked one of the boys, "Are you sure you have enough for everyone?" And he said, "Yes."
I'm not really sure that they did. But I am certain that God multiplied those minnows that day because we had arrived and He wanted to make sure they had plenty.

I left there almost feeling guilty. But yet, it had made them so happy to see us eat and be content. Minnows they had for their meal, but they gave them to us instead. What a beautiful lesson in generosity I learned that day, and they didn't even realize they had taught it.

Charles and I are once again back in beautiful Ecuador. After 2 days of travelling, we arrived safely on Wednesday night, October 24. We are ready to get back to work here in the Rainforest. We have already visited several of our people. They'd all been patiently and anxiously awaiting our return, so they are very excited we are here.

We are grateful that God kept the Ecuadorians safe during a recent hurricane here. They had never seen one before, and were amazed and frightened by its fierce winds, strong enough to take down trees and roofs from houses. No one was seriously hurt, but they won't soon forget this storm. It happened 2 weeks ago, when we were originally scheduled to fly back to this country, but due to a bad case of bronchitis I had, we did not. Our God is so mighty and amazing and He protects us always. He's good all the time!

Please pray for our work as we continue what God has already begun here!