Baptism in the Mountains

We drove over the mountains this morning to a little community called El Tambo. The trip was made by members of three churches, Mulauco, Chuchauco and El Tablon. What is special about El Tambo? Well, first of all, El Tambo is a sister community to El Tablon. It is all part of the same comunal land organization and many of the people who own land in El Tablon also own land in El Tambo. El Tambo is known for its volcanic hot pools, making it favorite spot for baptisms.

The Mulauco church organized the Baptism, but invited me to participate in the baptism, along with himself, Clemente, and Clemente's son-in-law. It was a privilege for me to be invited to help with their baptism ceremony. We divided into two groups, Clemente and I together, and rotated the baptisms between the four of us, baptizing a total of 11 people. One of those was Luz Marie from our El Tablon church. Luz has been coming to our church for quite some time but had never taken the step of faith of being baptized. Several of our El Tablon families were there to witness the event. Two of the others were family members of Clemente and Cecilia.

After the baptism service was over, those in attendance were invited to swim in the pool and many did. Afterwards a meal was served before everyone headed back to the other side of the mountain and back to our homes. We are thankful that Luz Marie took this important step in her relationship with Christ and pray that others will follow her example in the near future.

Carnaval!

Hi all,

Here in Ecuador, we celebrate "Carnaval" on the Monday and Tuesday just before Lent starts. Traditionally the event is celebrated with water... lots of water. In fact, you better be careful just walking down street because someone is likely to take the opportunity to launch a water balloon at you from a nearby house. So every year we get a group of friends together and head out to our shortwave transmitter site for a giant water fight in honor of the tradition.


This year we had one of our largest "parties" ever with several families bringing along extra kids to share in the fun. Water balloons, squirt guns, buckets of water and even the garden hose are appropriate weapons on such a day. More recently the government has attempted to limit the amount of water that is used, so "foam" has become a popular addition to the armament. Usually by the end of the day you have some very soaked and foamed kids.

Afterward we had a picnic lunch/BBQ for everyone involved. Everyone brought a dish to share , so there was lots of food after all of the fun. The kids had a great time. The parents did too, although we mostly stayed inside until the water part was over.

Doug