Saturday, December 5, 2009

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