2013 Ecuador Mission Report #8: Wed, July 17, at 8:40 A.M. from Goodlettsville, TN
Dear Family and Friends:
Yes, we made the connection in Miami for our flight to Nashville and were met faithfully by David and Melinda with her parents, Richard and Pat Sutton. Pat represented the Paparazzi and documented with digital photos our triumphant arrival after all the delays and cancellations by American Airlines. They can’t be responsible for what the volcanoes do in their flight patterns!
If our plans hold, we will be leaving here tomorrow before 8 A.M. and driving through to Gentry in time to pick up most of our back mail at the P.O. for a “search and destroy” mission. These bulk collections help us realize how much that comes to our mailbox is of little or no interest to us. Of course, we treasure the personal letters and the magazines that carry church news. Our bills have been paid along the way via auto pay at the bank. Otherwise, our mission trips would be much more complicated.
Looking back, we see how the Lord has blessed and protected each step of the way. There are things we would have preferred like a stronger attendance at each of the ten sites for the meetings, but we are blessed by those who did come and the beautiful cross cultural bonding that happened again.
At the closing meeting of the people from all ten sites, I was asked to go up front and offer the dedicatory prayer on the young children to be dedicated that day. Up there I asked when that should be and was told “after you have given the dedication service” for them. That was the first I had heard about my HAVING the service. That is not new when on the front lines in mission work. The luxury of previous preparation is rare. The Lord is always there to fulfill His promise that the Holy Spirit will bring things to remembrance when needed if we have done our daily study along the way.
As part of the Sabbath School program our Pathfinder group sang the Ten Commandments from memory with enthusiasm that sent a clear message to the hearers. Actually, they had recorded it on a CD before and sang along with it there, so every syllable was clear and easily understood by the audience.
Yesterday at David’s house we all slept in a bit since we didn’t get to bed until 11 P.M. In spite of the good food we enjoyed in Ecuador, the home cooking was very special to us. We didn’t have to guess what was in some of the food. That increases the comfort level when eating.
Suttons came back for lunch with us and we spent the afternoon watching many of the pictures Jonathan and Katie had taken on the trip. Some of them will show up in our own presentations. Their having a camera gives us the opportunity to “see ourselves as others see us.” (It isn’t always flattering!)
We brought back with us a digital Spanish Church Hymnal with each song in PowerPoint showing the words and having people sing along with them. It should be a great aid in learning more Spanish vocabulary used in Spiritual themes rather than just learning how to ask for food at a restaurant as in the usual courses for learning Spanish.
Quiet Hour sent an email asking for stories and photos again, so that will be part of priority today.
Yesterday, David had several cancellations for his music lessons because of people moving etc. That gave him the opportunity to be with us watching the photos and hearing the stories. Today he is back into the usual teaching schedule. It seems like the Lord arranges special treats in many ways just to make our life more pleasant on our way to the great fulfillment when Jesus comes. What a message and what a hope!
With love and appreciation for your responses,
Glenn and Mary Alice (Grandpa and Grandma) and the twins