Light at the End of the Tunnel

Greetings to all,

It has been a while since we have updated you on our progress. We have continued to work on the family issues that have caused our extended stay in the US. We have been on a real emotional roller coaster in the last few months, at times feeling as though we were not making much progress, and at others being very encouraged. However, as we look back over the last 6 months, we can see definite progress. The people who have been helping us through this process have also commented that they feel like we are through the worst of things and on the road to recovery. As a result, we feel like we can begin to make plans for our return to Ecuador, sometime around mid-January. Although our family is still not perfect (is any family perfect?), we feel we have made sufficient progress that we can now manage the stresses of daily life together again.

The kids are doing well. They are very excited about the prospects of playing in the snow this Christmas. Neither Daniel nor David have ever been in snow for more than an hour or so. Rebecca has memories of Christmas in Indiana from when she was a little girl, and wants to show the boys how to make snowmen, snow angels, snow balls, etc. Ruth and I just complain about the cold. Can't we have snow without the cold weather??

I have started working on some Facebook fan pages for two of our ministries in Ecuador. The first is named "HCJB Voz Global". This page has information in both Spanish and English about HCJB Global and it's media ministries in Latin America. We include some general information about other regions as well when it is available. The other fan page is "HCJB La Voz de los Andes" (The Voice of the Andes). This page is targeted more for our local radio audience in Ecuador and is all in Spanish. Both sights have videos of the ministry, as well as some photos. These are two examples of the things that I hope to do when we return to Quito in January. If you have a Facebook account and want to check out the pages, feel free. Just click on the fan page logos on the side of this blog and join in the fun.

This coming weekend (Dec 10 - 12) Radio HCJB will host our annual radio-thon fund raiser called "Misión Compartida" (or Shared Mission). Last year we raised over $260,000 from local listeners in Quito and Guayaquil. During Misión Compartida we also host thousands of listeners who visit the stations in order to donate or meet their favorite radio personalities. This is the most significant "touch" we have each year with our listeners. So please be in prayer for the radio teams who will be hosting this great event. You can also check in and listen to one of our live streams at www.radiohcjb.org (Quito) or www.hcjb2.org (Guayaquil).

We hope that you all had a good Thanksgiving and are enjoying this Christmas Season. Merry Christmas!!

Doug

Moving in the Right Direction

Hi all,

Thanks for your prayers for us. We have been encouraged in the last week by the progress that we are making on our family issues. Ruth and I have seen some good progress over the last few weeks and that has been confirmed by others who know the details of our situation. Please continue to pray for us and that the Lord will continue to provide for our financial needs. Several people have sent in special gifts to help us meet this challenge.

The kids have settled in to classes now and are getting involved in after-school activities. Daniel joined the football team (#22 in the photo). He had never even seen a football game before, but wanted to join the team anyway. He is one of the smaller kids on the team, but that is not discouraging him.

David is running cross country this fall. It is amazing to me that they have cross country activities for 4th graders, but it is something that he enjoys. He has always enjoyed running and has his first meet this week.

Becca has settled in to classes at the high school as well and is taking a French class via correspondence course, as French would not fit into her schedule. She really enjoys her art class and her craft class. She is making a few friends at school which helps with the adjustment. She is anxious to return to Ecuador so that she can graduate in the spring from Alliance Academy International in Quito.

Rachel is doing well in her second year at Huntington University. Another girl from Alliance Academy is attending HU this year and they have a class together. The girls played basketball and soccer together while in Quito, and Rachel enjoys having someone else from Quito at her school. The girls are thinking about how they can get more Alliance students to HU in the next few years.

Ruth is getting involved in a Bible study on Tues nights and helping with the children's ministry on Wed night. She has also joined the choir and enjoys singing on Sunday mornings. She is taking a couple of correspondence classes in order to renew her teaching credential this fall.

I am not directly involved in a lot of things yet, although I have been invited to speak in several classes at Huntington University this fall. Nothing firm yet, but I expect that I will be talking to some of the Radio classes, as well as the missions major classes. I also enjoy the Men's Prayer Breakfast that meets every Monday morning.

Well that is a brief update on us. Thanks again for you prayers. Our plan is still to return to Ecuador in January 2010. Pray that we will continue to make good progress toward that goal.

Thanks,

Doug

Sitting on the Bench

Have you ever played a sport and had your coach suddenly set you on the bench and you weren't sure why? Well we feel a lot like that right now. After sending out our last prayer letter and letting everyone know about our changes in ministry and the new opportunities for us as we returned to Ecuador, suddenly the Lord seemed to sideline us.

We were scheduled to return to Ecuador on Aug 20th. However, just 2 weeks before our departure, it became very obvious to us that we would not be able to return on time. Without going into details on such a public forum, suffice it to say that our delay is directly related to the family issues that caused us to come home this summer in the first place. We did not make the progress that we had hoped to during the last 2 months and have decided to take more time to work on them. HCJB Global has been very supportive of our decision to delay our return and for that we are very grateful.

As a result, we have extended our return date to mid-January, although that could change as well. It was a little crazy having to switch plans again so rapidly and we really had to scramble to get kids registered for school, do something about a vehicle, etc., etc., but we are finally feeling like we are starting to fall into a routine. If we have learned one thing in the last few months, it is flexibility! It is difficult to make plans for our future, as much of that will depend on how the Lord works in our situation. We are trying to leave our options open and let the Lord lead us each step of the way.

On one side, we wonder why God has set us on the bench at just this time when we were anxious to start our new ministries. On the other, we see evidence that God was orchestrating events even months and years ago in order to facilitate this break from the action.

This will be classified as a medical leave and there are on going medical expenses that we will be incurring during this time which our medical insurance will not be covering. So if you would like to help us with some of those expenses, you can make out a check to "HCJB GLOBAL", include "For Account #110295" in the memo line, and send it to HCJB Global, P.O. Box 39800, Colorado Springs, CO 80949. A one time gift would be a great help or you might find this a good time to join our monthly support team by committing to $20, $30, or $50 per month. We can charge the uncovered medical bills to our ministry account if it has a positive balance.

We would also covet your prayers. Pray that the Lord will be working in our family. Pray that He will bring healing and allow us to return to Ecuador in January so that Becca can finish her senior year of High School there. If you want to know more specific reasons for our stay in the US, feel free to call, write, or e-mail us.

Thanks,

Doug

Things Change

We have not updated the blog for almost a month, but it is time... Lots of things have changed in the last month so let me give you a little update.

We were planning to spend the summer in Ecuador this year since we spent last summer in the USA. However, due to some family things that came up in April and May, we decided we needed to return to Indiana again rather unexpectedly. So here we are again.

Then just a couple of weeks before our return, we found out that Ruth's step-mom was entering hospice care. The doctors did not really give us a diagnosis for Jean other than that she was dieing of old age. She passed away one week before we returned to the US. So within a week of flying to Indiana, we flew to Los Angeles. We are still in CA now. The funeral was really good, and it has been a great time to spend with family out here. We fly back to Indiana on Tues.

Because the funeral was on the same weekend, we were able to attend Church of the Open Door's Summer Missions Night tonight. What an encouraging time here. Almost 50 missionaries or future missionaries were in attendance. It was really great to see some old friends.

Before leaving Ecuador, Ruth decided to leave her current position as a third grade teacher at the Alliance Academy International and teach Educational Therapy next year. That is a big change for her and will allow her to slow down a little, working only half time. We are hoping that this change will help her fibromyalgia symptoms to be a bit more manageable.

I decided during our last few weeks in Ecuador to ask for a reassignment as well. I will be stepping down as the Radio Director for Latin America and instead be working with some the new media opportunities in the region when we return. These will include things like YouTube, Podcasting, Twitter, Facebook, cell phones, etc, etc. I am pretty excited about the possibilities that some of these media present for creating new audiences in Latin America.

We have been in such a state of change lately that it has been difficult to just sit down and give you an update. But we thank you for your prayers and ask that you continue praying as we move into these new ministry opportunities.

Thanks,

Doug

"What Every Father Needs to Know"

HCJB, La Voz de los Andes, had a special event last Friday night, for all those fathers out there. We invited Campus Crusade to join us and talk about fathers and their role in the family. The idea started after HCJB Voz Global's radio agency SERVIR, began translating the popular radio program "Family Life Today" into Spanish. The radio program is really an outreach of Campus Crusade's Family Life ministry.

The radio program is fairly popular in Spanish. We have received many good comments from listeners about it, so we wondered whether or not people would come to our station to attend a seminar on the family. We decided to have people come by HCJB and get tickets so that we would have an idea of how many were coming. By Tuesday we had only given out 15 tickets. We were beginning to panic. By Friday that number had risen to over 200 tickets and when the event finally ended we had over 300 show up.

The seminar was given by Armando Tamayo, a local staff member for Campus Crusade. He kept the crowd right with him the whole night and you could just tell that people were soaking up the information. Armando talked about the importance of being a father to our children. He talked about how our children watch everything we do and learn to do the same things we do, whether good or bad. He talked about taking time with our kids. At the end of the program, Campus Crusade gave out copies of the Jesus film for kids on DVD.

These kinds of special events are one way that we try to give our listeners just a little bit more. It is a way that we can touch them a little more closely. It is also a way that we can highlight other ministries in the community that can help them grow in their faith and relationship with God. Pray for the families of Latin America. Many are struggling and need to have their priorities aligned with God's priorities, just like North American families do.

Thanks,

Doug

Just for Fun!

May the 1st is a national holiday in Ecuador. It is Labor Day here. So we had a long weekend to rest up and..... play!!

Becca turns 17 tomorrow, so she decided that she wanted to celebrate by taking some friends to a little town called Mindo last Friday. Mindo is a tourist town with lots of Eco-tourism available for visitors. Some of the attractions include river rafting, zip lines, a butterfly farm, nature hiking, swimming in local rivers, an orchid farm, etc.

The kids decided to start the day with a little river rafting. They had a large enough group to have their own raft. The rafts are really several inner tubes, tied together. They each get a life jacket and a helmet for the ride. It had not rained much the day before, so the river was not too high. Our youngest, David, was allowed to go on the raft too, but had his own guide to make sure he was safe on the ride. The trip lasted about a half hour and as you can see, they all had fun.

After the river, it was off to the zip lines. There are 10 zip lines that criss-cross up and down the jungle valley. You ride above the jungle canopy and look down on the vegetation and wildlife. The longest of the zip lines is 1500 feet, so it is quite a ride. Guides take you through the series of lines and at the end of each line there is a short hike to the next launch point. It takes about an hour and a quarter to make the round trip back to your starting point. The guides will even strap you to them and let you do the zip line upside down (called "the butterfly") or headlong (called "the superman").

Everyone had a great day and were pretty worn out by the time we got back to Quito. It was a great time to get away and enjoy an extra long weekend.

Doug

Coastal Ministry

Hi all,

On Wed last week, I took a trip to the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador to visit our FM radio station HCJB-2. Several of us traveled from Quito to celebrate Luis Mora's 25 years of ministry with HCJB-2. Luis is the station manager for HCJB-2, which started in 1972 and which now has a repeater station in Machala, south of Guayaquil. We had a great time of fellowship and celebration with the staff there.

There are several Christian radio stations in this port city, however HCJB-2 is distinctive because of its central doctrinal position and solid Bible teaching. Many listen to the station for the Bible teaching. In a very diverse and divided city doctrinally, HCJB-2's mission is to unite the body of Christ see them work together as the body of Christ.

HCJB-2 is located in the poorer south-end of the city. This gives them a special ability to reach their neighbors with the Gospel. They will soon begin a clinic on their property, once again putting into action HCJB Global's two main ministries of Healthcare and Media. A local Christian doctor has already been enlisted and the rooms for the clinic are being refurbished and readied for the staff.

Mision Compartida (our radio-thon) for HCJB-2 brings in over $60,000 per year from donors who want to get behind the station. Most of these donations are small ($5 or $10 a month), and don't cover the operating costs of the station. However Luis and his staff are working with 2 pastoral associations and several Christian businessmen to improve the financial position of the station. One the ideas these businessmen are interested in is starting a new business, but the profits from the business will support minsitry. This is a new concept in missions today and we hope it proves effective in supporting HCJB-2.

You can check out HCJB-2's web site and even listen to their live stream. Their most popular program is from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (EST) on weekdays when they can receive up to 250 SMS text messages from their listeners. They also use a live chat with listeners during the program.

Doug

Voice and Hands Working Together

Hi all,

Got a couple more stories for you... The first one is from a faithful listener for some 40 years. Recently she had throat surgery in HCJB's Hospital Vozandes. She described her recuperation from surgery as "incredible". She did not expect to be able to talk afterwards, but she gives praise to God for completely restoring her. Because of that, she came to HCJB to give her donation to the radio ministry. She says,

"Today I have come first to give to the Lord before going to my medical appointment in Hospital Vozandes because I am so thankful. I believe in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and not in religion. Although I am a Catholic and not going to change, HCJB is a blessing in my life."

The second story comes from a young man who would be the equivalent of a Senior in High School. He tells us that He was returning to Quito with some schoolmates when their bus had a serious traffic accident. Renato found himself trapped in the bus for 8 hours before rescuers could free him. He was told at the local hospital that he would lose both of his legs, and was sent to HCJB's Hospital Vozandes in Quito. Renato told us,

"Later in the ambulance returning to Quito, I lost all vital signs and was dead for a time, but thanks to God my life returned. At Hospital Vozandes, the doctors knew the chances for saving my life were very slim, but for God nothing is impossible and I am still alive. Although I have had 23 operations and had my left leg amputated, I have never given up."

The doctors thought Renato would never walk again, but with the help of a prosthesis, he can not only walk, but run. Renato gives all the glory to God his Savior. He finishes up his story by saying,

"The strangest part of all this is that before the accident I was very, very atheistic, and my whole family was too. But when I was trapped in that bus waiting for the firemen to arrive, I thought that I would die. I asked Him to not let me die and I asked forgiveness for not believing in Him and He has saved me, and now my Mom, my brother, my Grandmother and all of my aunts are Christians."

I hope this encourages you this week as you remember what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross some 2,000 years ago. But He didn't stay dead either, and raised Himself from the dead three days later so that anyone who believes can have eternal life with Him.

Doug

Prayer and Impact

Hi all,

Wow, how the time flies. I have several cool testimonies to share, but let me do just one now and then share a prayer request with you.

One of our radio programs on our AM station is called "Hymns of the Christian Life". It is the only program we have dedicated to playing the old hymns of the faith. Well, a week ago we invited our listeners to come to HCJB and spend a night together with us listening to these old hymns, sung by several local Christian artists. We gave out free tickets in order to control how many people might show up.

One 66 year old lady came by for her tickets and told us that she has been listening to HCJB for about 6 months, ever since she ran across "Hymns of the Christian Life" on the AM dial. She has been teaching women's groups in her church for many, many years. The day she tuned in, Candice, the host of the show, was sharing with her listeners about how they could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and be saved from an eternity in hell. This dear lady had never heard that before and decided to pray and accept the free gift of salvation that very day. She has since become a very faithful listener to our programs.

With this in mind, I would invite you to pray for our producers this week. This is Holy Week and we have prepared many special programs that will emphasize the events of this week some 2000 years ago and point our listeners toward Jesus as the one who paid our debt for sin and allows us to live for eternity with Him in heaven once we die. Pray that our producers will impact our listeners through their words and testimony, and that many new listeners would find us on the radio dial this week, just as this lady above did.

Pray also that our equipment will run without problems. Often during our special Christmas and Easter programs, our equipment has problems. Our transmitters fail, or our studios have problems, just when we are sharing the most important events of human history with our audience. So let's pray in advance that the Lord will "put a hedge of protection" around our equipment and keep it running throughout this Holy Week.

Thanks,

Doug

Coincidence?

Hi all,

A couple of weeks ago our local radio team went to the city of Ambato, Ecuador for the day. HCJB, la Voz de los Andes, has a transmitter in Ambato that repeats our FM programs in Quito. For years we have heard testimonies from our listeners in Ambato, but we rarely have the opportunity to connect directly with them unless they come to Quito. So we decided to go there for a day of "live" programming, and inviting our listeners to join us.

When the day arrived, our advance team headed south at 4:30 a.m. to set up for the transmission that began at 8:00 a.m. But, they soon learned that our transmitter in Ambato was "Off the Air"! How could that be? We had been planning this for weeks. Our listeners were expecting us. Now they could not even hear us! How would they know to come?

A lightening strike had taken out the power feeding the mountain where our transmitter is located. Coincidence? I don't believe in looking for "evil one" behind every tree, but I also don't believe a lot in coincidence... especially in this situation.

I immediately started receiving phone calls from our engineers as they began to strategize how to get power to our transmitter. Portable generators? Meanwhile, the president of the local pastors association quickly began to call pastors to pray. And pray they did. They prayed for 3 hours until the power company was finally able to restore power at around 11:00 a.m.

But our listeners were not deterred. Even though they could not hear us at first, they came anyway. Many of them expressed their gratitude to our staff, sharing how they had been touched by our ministry. Several wanted to give to our annual fund raiser "Mision Compartida". Others signed the hand-written Bible that HCJB Global and the Ecuadorian Bible Society have been sponsoring for the last two years. Our producers probably came away more blessed than anyone by this encounter with our listeners.

Thanks for praying for our producers and the ministry they are having in the lives of our listeners. Pray that they will continually communicate God's Word to our audience, not only in Ecuador, but in all of Latin America.

If you want to listen to our FM station click on the following link:

http://www.radiohcjb.org/copyrightnewfm.php

Doug

A Powerful testimony!

Hi all,

I wanted to share with you a powerful testimony that we heard in the last week or so. Carlos Pinto is a missionary with HCJB Global and a Peruvian national. He was recently in Lima, Peru attending a leadership meeting for COMIBAM. While there, the ALAS satellite network team asked him to participate in their live program called "Hola Familia" (Hello Family). This program is targeted toward the family and the issues facing the family in Latin America. Experts on family issues are often consulted during the program.

Pastor Antenor Rojas welcomed Carlos to radio station "Armonia" and indicated that HCJB Global was responsible for helping the station get on the air some 10 years ago. Carlos also discovered that this local pastor had received much of his spiritual training through our Academia Cristiana del Aire (Christian Academy of the Air) discipleship training program. The material was originally written by Glen Turner's father who was a missionary from Church of the Open Door and served with HCJB Global many years ago.

Once on the air, Carlos and Pastor Rojas were able to participate in the program along with our producers who were in our studios back in Quito. This was a special treat for Pastor Rojas as he indicated that the program was very popular in his area. Carlos was able to verify this claim very shortly after the program ended when various people began calling the station to thank Radio Armonia and radio HCJB for presenting such important themes about the family.

Later, a young lady arrived. Carlos writes, "... the pastor told me that she had heard the radio and wanted to ask a question. Her name was Roxana and she told me, 'I have problems in my marriage but the truth is that I am so excited to speak with someone from HCJB that the only thing that I want to say is that it was through listening to radio HCJB that I came to know the Lord and since then all of my problems seem small in comparison to the greatness of knowing God'. Seeing her face express a mixture of tears and smiles was the best payment God could have given those of us who labored at the radio station. Seeing transformed lives, and thankfulness to God and the radio, are unequaled experiences."

Later, the Pastor invited Carlos out for lunch at a typical Peruvian food restaurante. At the end of the meal, Carlos intended to pay for his portion, however the Pastor said, "No... various christians who heard the program today called me and told me that they had wanted to meet the person who had come from HCJB but because of their work they could not. These brothers are the ones who will pay the bill. I am paying now, but they they have asked that I take you to lunch and they will give an offering to cover the cost of the meal."

HCJB Global has a long history of telling others about the eternal life we can have in Jesus Christ. These believers originally heard the gospel message through our short wave transmissions. Today they are hearing it through technologies like satellite. Tomorrow we hope to be sending the message through technologies like the internet. And we will keep changing to new and effective technologies until Jesus himself comes to back to take us home.

Doug

New Opportunities

Hi all,

New opportunities for ministry come along all of the time. Many of them are things that we dream about being able to do in the future. Some are things that we didn't even expect to come along. Well, we at HCJB Global Latin America have been waiting for some new opportunities to open up for a while now. These opportunities involve ministry in two of Latin America's largest countries, Mexico and Brazil.

Mexico and Brazil have long been countries we have broadcast to via short wave and we have wanted to expand our ministry and reach into each of them. Yet radio licenses issued by the federal government to Christian broadcasters have been rare in both countries. Yet just in the last couple of weeks we have heard of one group in Brazil and perhaps two groups in Mexico who may have been issued legal radio licenses. The license in Brazil is particularly encouraging as it may well open the way for several more groups to obtain a license by using the same process. So please be in prayer for these groups and the new opportunities that we may have in helping these groups bring christian radio to their local communities and reach out with the Gospel message to their neighbors.

Don't forget to watch the video of our ministry here in Latin America at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVI1UnKkOCO

Thanks,

Doug

New Video

Hi all,

I wanted to let you know that HCJB Global in Latin America has just posted a new video to YouTube that I would invite you to watch. We made it initially in Spanish and decided to translate it to English as well. It describes our ministries in Media quite well and shows the diversity of ministries that we have in Latin America. We also have the video on DVD that we can make available to you all if you would like a copy. The DVD has higher video quality. I would encourage you to share the video with your churches, friends, family, mission groups, etc.

What the video does not show you are our plans to move more into digital media in the future. We have been talking for a long time about how we can begin to really use the internet for ministry in the future. Some of those ideas are beginning to come together and we hope to start using some things like FaceBook, podcasting, internet streaming, etc in the near future to create new audiences. We do need to be careful that we create ministries that we can sustain financially in the future, and that is our biggest obstacle at the moment. If anyone has experience in these areas or some good ideas to toss our way, by all means write to us on e-mail. We would love to hear your ideas.

OK, just click on one of the links below to watch the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVI1UnKkOCQ - English version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOQ4jOp-ArM - Spanish version

Doug

Tall Towers

Hi all,

Many of you have heard us talk about the fact that HCJB Global had an agreement to remove our tall shortwave towers in Ecuador. We completed that effort at the end of December as agreed upon with the Airport authorities in the country. These towers were the tallest ones that we had on the property, but that does not mean that we are no longer broadcasting on shortwave. We still have 14 antennas on the property that were not affected by the agreement. We will continue to operate on these antennas until some time in the future. However, we will eventually stop broadcasting from this site all together.

January is a fairly "normal" month. It is somewhat of a catch-up month for many of us at the radio station as December is so busy with special activities. It is also a time of evaluating the events that occurred in December. For instance we found that 4,584 people attended our 3-day "Mision Compartida 2008" event. We have as many as 2,246 donors, and 86% of those donors are women. We also discovered that in spite of the financial crisis our donors gave 37% more by the end of December than they did last year. That is a real blessing although we are certainly not out of the woods yet financially.

It was great to have Rachel home for the holidays in December. We enjoyed catching up on each others activities during the previous months of separation. One of the kid's traditions at Christmas time is to make ginger bread houses. You can see Rachel's creation here. Rachel seems to be enjoying college and has made some good friends. She left for the US again on Jan 1 to attend the "January term"
at Huntington University. She was involved in a mime class during that month. She really seemed to enjoy that. She is back in normal classes again now.

Thank you all for praying for us and for the very generous Christmas gifts that many of you sent us this year. We feel very blessed to have each of you on our team as we serve the Lord here in Latin America. It has been a difficult several years for us, but we are encouraged that this new year will bring new opportunities for reaching Latin America for Christ and helping others do the same. Thanks for being part of the team. We appreciate every one of you.

Doug