I'm Going Back!!!

"Thank you for booking your trip with Expedia. This email is your receipt for the travel item(s) you just booked; a complete itinerary that includes all applicable ticket numbers, reservation IDs, etc. will follow in the next 4 days..."

Yes, that's how the email began with the details of my return ticket to Ecuador. Lord willing I'll be flying back on Sept. 8th to Ecuador. At this point, I plan to stay about a year and be involved in much of the same ministry(s) as before.

Thank you to everyone who prayed and read this blog during my last 9 months in Ecuador. I plan to post more details shortly about my return.

Douglas County, WI

This past weekend I went camping up near Lake Superior with my siblings and friends.  Here are some pictures from the time.

Macro Mode

 

Here are some sample shots using macro mode on my new camera.

Home with the family

It feels like this blog is getting a little neglected.  I just got a new camera and have been enjoying doing different activities with my family.  On Saturday Jessica, Lucas and I went on a 37.5 mile bike ride.  Here are some pictures I've taken testing out the camera.

Praying

As I was leaving Ecuador, I was asked if I would consider returning for another year to continue with the ministry of helping the homeschool families. Please be praying with me as I seek the Lord's will and direction.

Strawberries in Menomonie

In case you have been wondering what I've been up to since I've gotten home, it's all been strawberries. Hopefully I'll have more time to post after strawberry season. In the mean time, take a look at the Red Cedar Valley Farms website to get the latest strawberry scoop. Come and taste for yourself that Menomonie, WI has outstanding strawberries.

Last week in Ecuador

Many may be wondering where I am in the world right now.  I did make it safely home last Tue.  Here are some pictures of friends and activities from the last week in Ecuador.

An un-fishing trip

On Monday I went with Kim, Pastor Santiago, Josue, Juan and Cristina on a fishing trip.  We went way up into the mountains to fish rainbow trout.  We were probably at an altitude of 14,000 feet.  Unfortunately, we didn't catch a thing, but the scenery and weather were excellent.  It was such a fun time.

Another prespective

Here's my cousin's perspective of the trip to the jungle: http://pressing-towards-the-goal.blogspot.com/2009/06/jungle-epistle.html

A mission trip to the jungle

For the last few months I've been working with a team of 5 youth from the Paz de Dios church to create a video in the Shuar and Quichua languages.  This past week, we had the opportunity to go down to the jungle to show the video for the first time, and deliver it to the missionary pilot (Rick LaBouef) who will be using it long term in his ministry.  Kim also came along.

We left by bus as a group from Cuenca last Wed. at 12:00 midnight.  We rode all night and arrived in Shell at about 9:00 Thur. morning.  That day we reviewed the 35 minute movie with some Shuar and Quichua brothers and spend the night with a couple missionary families.  All Thur. it rained and would have been impossible to fly into the jungle if we would have wanted to.  That evening we prayed that the Lord would open the clouds for the following day.  What joy there was in the morning to see the clouds breaking and the sun peaking through. 

From Shell we took a 2.5 hr bus ride further out into the jungle to a town named Arajuno.  We arrived at about 11:30am, and brother Rick was planning to pick us up with the plane at noon.  While we waited, I got talking with a man and he expressed a sincere interest in the movie.  It turns out he works for the government and is the director of children affairs (or something like that) for the area.  He was thrilled to receive a copy of the video and plans to show it in the area.  The video is of many different animal and nature scenes with a narration of Scripture and a salvation message at the end.

Finally at around 5:30 brother Rick arrived with the plane.  He had alternator troubles with plane and was unable to turn off the engine.  He dropped us off at a Quicha village about 5 min. (by air) from Arajuno and flew back to Shell to fix the aircraft.  The village is named Liquino and is on the Curaray river.  This is the same river where the missionaries were martyred in the 50s, only we were upstream from that location and with a different tribe.

Friday evening we showed the movie.  About 25 people came to see the movie.  Most of them were children.  That evening, they let us sleep in the local "community center".  It was a large wood building with a hard cement floor.  On waking up the following morning, it was drizzling.  After a time of prayer for the weather and breakfast, we decided to have a time with the children again.  It felt very isolated not being able to call out and find out when/if the plane was coming to pick us up.  We started with a game of soccer, and then had a time of singing and sharing with the children.

After the time of sharing the gospel, we asked the children if they could take us down to the river.  They took us for a 15 min walk on beautiful (muddy) jungle paths.  The flowers and plants were just gorgeous if you didn't mind the mud.  Thankfully, we were all in boots.  After that we arrived at a beautiful sandy beach. There we played in the sand with the kids and some of us jumped off an overhanging tree into the river.

At around noon the weather cleared up and the plane arrived.  We were very thankful to see it.  We were all fairied back to Shell and caught the return bus to Cuenca at 5:00pm.  We arrived home in Cuenca at 3:00am Sunday morning.  Just in time to get a few hours of sleep and get to church.

I was blessed in may ways by the trip.  It was such a blessing to work together with these godly youth.  My prayer is that the Lord would continue grow their vision for missions.  The Lord is faithful, and in spite of apparent problems and difficulties, He helped in each.  All glory to His name!  Ps 36:5  Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens, and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.  Overall, it was an excellent trip!

In the jungle

We had such full and wonderful few days in the jungle, it's hard to know where to begin... I guess I'll start with some pictures....