Most of you remember that Bobby had a medical problem in Ecuador with his ear which due to the poor medical service led to permanent hearing loss in one ear. We have been praying and believing for a miracle as the doctors said there were no options.
Last night, we were attending service at Rainbow City Church of God where my cousin Pam and her husband Doug pastor. It was an amazing service filled with surprises from God which led to the healing of Bobby’s ear and the miracle we’ve been praying for.
Another awesome thing happened when we went to tell Jonathan & Jordan about it. They had gone to kids krusade with my mother at Harvest instead of going with us. Jonathan told us that while he was at kids krusade, God told him that if He’d raise his hand for prayer that God would heal Bobby’s ear so he went forward to pray while God healed Bobby 30 miles away! Isn’t that just amazing how God uses things like that for the building of our faith in undeniable ways!
Here is the audio from the prayer prayed over Bobby and then his testimony which followed 20 minutes later:
Prayer (click here to listen)
Testimony (click here to listen)
We praise the Lord for this incredible miracle. Thank you to everyone who has been standing in prayer along with us.
James 5:13-16 (NASB)
Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
The last few weeks have kept us very busy as we have settled into a bit of a routine (if that is possible with our lifestyle). We are now getting ready to head back to the US for 2 months. It is amazing how fast these first 6 months have flown by!
We arrive in Atlanta next Friday (20th) and will enjoy seeing our family and friends! We have scheduled to speak at several churches and are working in a couple kids crusades so we will be traveling a lot. We hope to see most of you during our time home. Bobby will spend the final 3 weeks of our trip beginning his doctoral studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. Please pray for us as we travel home and to all the different locations this summer. We posted a calendar of events on our website for anyone interested in knowing where we will be.
So … here is the recap of what we’ve been up to lately:
First of all, we have to report how we were blown away by the humongous yard sale that was sponsored by the Harvest New Beginnings Sunday School class. They raised over $5,000 for our mission fund. We can’t thank you guys enough for all of your hard work!
The Church:
Since January, we have done a lot of traveling throughout Ecuador. We have visited countless churches all while trying to get an understanding of the needs here. One church that we visited several times just really captured our hearts more than the others. I guess it is just more “us”. The San Roque Church of God (officially named “Jesus el buen consejo” which means Jesus, the good counselor) is located in the heart of one of the most crime ridden, poverty filled, and desperate neighborhoods in all of Quito. It’s the type of neighborhood where people advise you NOT to go. For those of you who knew our neighborhood in Atlanta, you will understand then why this is the neighborhood for us! This is the place where the need is tremendous.
The church here has been established for about 4 years and is a wonderful group of people who are sold out for Christ. They are hungry to learn more about Him and to bring others to know Him. It is amazing to see what God is doing in their lives. These are all people who have moved from their mountain villages to the city in hopes of better opportunities for survival. They are hard working, dedicated people who are struggling to get by. They are incredibly joyful in the midst of persecution and abandonment from their families for leaving Catholicism. These are people who would give all they have for the cause of the Gospel.
We are thrilled to have found a “home” church here to work with and worship with during the times we are not traveling. Here are some photos of our new church:
Dia del Niño
Ecuador has a holiday similar to Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. but it is all about children. We celebrated our first Dia del Niño working with the ministry to the shoe shine boys that our missionary friends operate. Every year, this ministry organizes a “Changing Places” type of event where volunteers go to work in the place of the children who are normally working. At the end of the day, the volunteers give the children the money they have earned by working in their place. So while the volunteers shine shoes or sell gum and candy, the children get to truly be KIDS for the day. This year, we took the kids to a camp where they could swim, play soccer and other fun games. Then we took them to see a movie in the theater. For many of them, this was their first time inside a movie theater or even the mall!
This was a wonderful day full of blessings for everyone as it gives the volunteer a chance to see the world from the other side while allowing these children to experience one day of freedom.
Here are some photos:
Urban Missions Class
During May, Bobby taught a class on Urban Missions at the seminary. He really enjoyed this as he got to take the students on “field trips” to experience urban ministry hands-on. The students seem to have gotten a lot from the class also.
Many of the students will be leaving for their in-field experience this summer. Some are going to Columbia, Turkey, Morocco, Mozambique, etc. Please, remember them in your prayers.
So that’s a quick update on us. On a day-to-day note, we spent a LOT of time trying to get our drivers’ licenses and finally completed all the tasks for that. We had to take a driver’s education course complete with 28 hours of driving with an instructor in those funny little cars with 2 sets of pedals. We had to take a written exam which was all in Spanish! But, thankfully, with many hours of cramming with the help of our Spanish instructor, we passed with flying colors and are now legal!
Jonathan and Jordan have made tons of new friends and love every minute of life here. Once again, we can say that God truly has His hand upon our family and we know we are following after His call.
Please drop us an email or give us a call while we are in the States. We will have our old cell phone numbers again: Bobby 256-238-3242 and Tamitha 256-452-1093.
Thanks for all your prayers and support!
Love,
Bobby, Tamitha, Jonathan & Jordan
I keep thinking about water a lot in my devotion time lately. We always have to be so careful with the water here because of the parasites and bacteria. The dishes have to be completely dry before using them; the fruits and vegetables must be soaked in a special solution before eating; simple things like cooking or even brushing our teeth must be done with bottled water. All of these are small things, but they are important habits to change. One mistake means a day of violent sickness for one of us.
Isn’t it funny that something as life-giving as water can become extremely dangerous simply because of what is IN it. The water here LOOKS like pure water, but once you taste it … soon you feel the sickening results. The fruit it bears is definitely NO GOOD! We have to be careful as Christians to make sure we are taking in pure water… the living water of Christ. I pray that the water flowing through us is the true life-giving water of Christ so we may bear good fruit so that all may see His glory. We have to stay connected to the source and not be deceived by imitations or tempted to drink from other fountains. We have to stay in His word daily. (more…)
Wow, time is just flying by. I can’t believe it’s been almost 3 months now that we’ve been in Ecuador. I guess we stay so busy it just makes the days go quickly. We are definitely thankful for each day and the gifts that God gives us through the precious people we meet each day.
We praise God who is continuing to provide all our needs beyond measure. We look to Isaiah 58:11 which says “And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places. And give you strength to be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.” This is our prayer to remain close to the Father allowing Him to use as a life-giving spring to those in need around us. Beyond that, to me, this verse speaks to the character of the Christian people here. They live in a constant state of struggling for daily bread yet, they are full of joy and love of God and have such a passion to share that love with others. (more…)
PRAY for our ministry
