Back in the Saddle

Hi all,

It has been a while since I updated our blog. A lot has been happening here in recent months so I thought it time to give you a brief update.

We returned to Ecuador on the 20th of January. It is good to be home in Ecuador again. The kids are back in school, Ruth is enjoying her Educational Therapy work at Alliance Academy International and I am settling into his new responsibilities at HCJB Global.

I am working on promoting "new media" opportunities within the mission, things like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. I have been running two Facebook fan pages for HCJB Global in Latin America since last October. One (HCJB la Voz de los Andes) is focused on the local radio audience in Ecuador, while the other (HCJB Voz Global) is focused more on regional and global ministries of HCJB Global. This last week we were giving away tickets to a Christian movie on the HCJB la Voz de los Andes page. A few weeks ago we had an open discussion about whether contemporary christian music is satanic or not. (Don't send me your comments on that please.) Many of our fans are from outside Ecuador. Many are from the USA, yet others are from Belgium, Italy, Spain, Peru, Argentina, and even Korea.

I have also been looking for ways to uses Twitter with our ministries. A week ago, the local HCJB radio station co-sponsored a conference for pastors. I attended the conference and sent out "tweets" every half hour or so about the lessons being learned in the conference. HCJB Global used Twitter very effectively in Jan. when we had a medical team on the ground in Haiti after the devastating earthquake there. I am also hoping to start some Twitter accounts for our ministries in Latin America.

Although these new technologies are pretty popular in western society, they are still pretty new in Latin America. We dedicated a whole hour on La Telaraña to Twitter one day. La Telaraña is tarted toward the generations who use this new media to communicate with their friends. Yet it was amazing how few of our listeners had even heard of Twitter. So part of what we will be doing is educating our audience about these new technologies. Interestingly enough, several of the local TV stations are now entering this new media field, so I am hoping that this will heightened awareness and draw more listeners to our sites as welll.

We will keep you updated on things as we progress. Thanks for praying for us.

Doug

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