2013 Ecuador Mission Report #3: Fri, July 5, at 3 P.M. from Salinas, Ecuador GreenField Hotel
Dear Family and Friends:
We are settled in pretty well now with Katie and Grandma sharing the double bed in Room 111 and Grandpa and Jonathan each with a double bed in Room 110. During the day we all share both rooms.
Grandma tried the shower this morning but no one would accuse the water of being warm to hot. Grandpa just took a sponge bath at the sink. Just now Jonathan is taking a swim in the small pool just outside our rooms. For now, Grandma and Katie are just watching him while visiting with another team member.
We are at the Santa Rosa site (a section of Salinas where the Hotel is) that is a public hall used each day for a health clinic until 5 P.M. so we could not set up even though we visited the place. We will just have to go as early as possible and trust that all is there that we will need for the meeting. Mary Alice and the twins will hold VBS meetings in another small building nearby. It is usually the meeting place for a club of soccer players.
Our translator is part Chinese and part Ecuadorian. He does very well and we expect to have good comprehension at the meetings. His name is Davis Israel Duala and he was born in 1995 when we retired from pastoral ministry. His English is not the best but he seems to understand when we go over the sermon ahead of time.
Jonathan discovered the source of Grandma’s cold shower. The knobs for hot and cold are reversed here. The water is ok but we were not accessing it right. Live and learn! (If you don’t freeze first)
The food here is very tasty. At least I think so and most of the people in our group take it freely. Getting supper poses the challenge of leaving shortly after for our preaching sites. The local church at each site is supposed to provide the transportation but thus far we have had to have several in a Van to be let out at different places, as was the case in Peru. We just go with the flow and trust the Lord will bring blessings through it all.
There is an excursion planned for us to go out on the ocean and watch the whales. This is the migration season and we should see several. Some will go instead to a hot water spa and get mud baths. Mary Alice and I did not bring bathing suits and might not use them even if we had. (There is enough mud slinging in our world without that) There is a little nip in the air in spite of what they say about the climate here in the country of the equator. After all, it is winter down here now.
From all we hear there is lots of water now in USA in areas where we would be if not here. So, we left just in time from that viewpoint.
We are meeting people as usual who know people we have known in the past. The Mission Trip Leader for Quiet Hour is Jim Neergard. He and his wife lived in Egypt and were there when Charlie and Joan Mizner were there. He remembers them well. It is so sad to lose Joan as we did.
The wife of the present director of our SDA work in Egypt is facing a terrible Cancer problem right now and so they are on leave in England for treatment. We have had special prayer for her and hope the Lord will intervene. Tomorrow night’s topic is “Why Does God Permit Human Suffering?” That is high priority in the thinking of many people today. I’m grateful the Bible does offer answers to that question. It is a privilege to share the Bible perspective that does have hope for the future.
We’ll soon be heading out for the meeting. The translator and I have gone over that sermon and the one for tomorrow morning, so it should flow easily. Thank you for your prayers and for letting us know that you are praying for us and the meetings here.
With Love,
Glenn and Mary Alice (Grandpa and Grandma) & twins, Jonathan and Katie