January Recap

We started off the New Year with a buzz of activities in Ecuador and if this month is any indication, we have lots of great ministry events ahead in the year to come.

Teaching in Spanish!

Both of us were really stretched on our Spanish skills this month having to do lots of teaching in Spanish without translators! We are so excited to be at this point, although it is TOUGH!

Tamitha taught Bible lessons to the shoeshine boys:

I had so much fun spending each afternoon with these guys who were taking a break from their jobs of shining shoes, selling candy or working in construction. They had a lot of fun laughing at my Spanish accent, but they were also very helpful when I was stuck on a word. They enjoyed learning all about the life of Joseph and how they can be more like him. We played lots of fun games while waiting on everyone to arrive. Can you believe they didn’t know how to hula hoop? And I’ve CERTAINLY lost my touch with that skill!!

The only bad part was that they kept me too busy to take good photos. Oops!

Bobby was busy getting students prepared for the new semester

This semester, Bobby has been asked to serve as the Director of the Transcultural Studies program at the seminary (SEMISUD). So this means that he has been recruiting students and helping everyone get ready for the first day of classes on Feb. 3.

Jonathan & Jordan’s new school

We found an amazing school for them to attend so they can make more friends in Ecuador instead of being alone in homeschool with mom all day. The school, Montebello, is operated by another missionary family who started it to teach the kids in their own orphanage. The school has just grown from that and now offers scholarships to many kids who wouldn’t normally have such an amazing opportunity.

They teach in English and use curriculum from the US. It is amazing that by simply having a good understanding of the English language, so many job opportunities will be available to these children as they grow up. But the school is also teaching them many other great skills.

Jonathan & Jordan are enjoying their new friends and the new opportunities for learning here. We are thankful for this blessing!

Update on the Bibles

Thanks to all of you who have given to our project of purchasing children’s Bible’s for the community of La Merced! We found a great deal on the Bibles so we have been able to purchase 200 Bibles and cover the expenses of the training program to teach the families how to use these Bibles in their household devotions. We will be delivering them and holding our first training session with them next week.

We found 2 fantastic Bibles and would like to purchase more and continue this program in more communities. $10 will purchase the hardcover children’s Bible that covers the entire Bible and $5 will purchase the comic book version of the New Testament which is perfect for the older boys! You can make your donations online or via mail.

Thanks to everyone who continues to uplift us in prayers and for your financial support. We are thankful for every day we have here in Ecuador to share the Gospel.

Blessings,

Bobby, Tamitha, Jonathan & Jordan

Video recap of 2008

Santa comes early to the students

We are so lucky to be able to go home and be with family for Christmas. Most of our students don’t have that opportunity. They are spending Christmas away from family and in a new country. To help ease the discomfort of this, the Vasquez family (other professors here) began a tradition several years ago to help the students bind together as a family.

We celebrated with the married students and their children. A sweet couple from the church opened up their home and cooked a delicious meal for us all. The children all had so much fun running and giggling while the adults played lots of silly games. At the end all the children received Christmas presents that were sponsored by a staff or church member. Most of these kids will get very little for Christmas as their parents are sacrificing financially to be able to study. They all seemed to love their gifts.

Enjoy these photos:

Cultural Anthropology Class

Bobby just finished teaching his first class completely in Spanish, without a translator! (Praise the Lord!) The class was cultural anthropology and he found a lot of interactive ways to teach how culture affects our view of religion and how we as missionaries have to work carefully to share the Gospel while being sensitive to cultural issues.

Here are some fun photos of the field trips:

Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving dinner with several of the people who have really helped us to adjust this year. Even though they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Ecuador, we had the traditional Turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie … it was really nice.

Our guests included the

• Munguia family (president of SEMISUD)
• Donata & Nestor (professors here and we worked with Donata way back in Richmond Oaks, Atlanta)
• The Vasquez family (professors here and they have kids about the same age as ours)
• Jaciel (a student from Mexico who has helped us find our way often because he speaks English… plus he can cook some AWESOME Mexican food!)

Here are a few photos of the fun: