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