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