12/03/16

The trip here was smooth and I was afforded the opportunity to see some things from the air that I hadn't seen before like the Panama Canal and Panama City. The Flight into Quito took a little different path also so I took a couple of pictures.

I arrived in Salasaka about 5:30 PM and started unpacking but everyone was starting to prepare for the two weddings on Sunday. I guess from the amount of food being prepared there is going to be a lot of people. The way it seems to be working out is Salasaka is bringing the chickens and El Florida is bringing the pigs. Pablo is having two cooked and Patricio had, I don't know how many, chickens they were dressing out today.

Mercedes pulling feathers…

Elvia showing a fine specimen! Guillermo and Elvia below…a team effort.

Guillermo, Patricio and Franklin were at seminary today so I just hung around the market area talking, the best I could, to Soila and some of the older ladies. There is one old lady they call "momma" and she always wants to talk in Quechuan. I know one word in Quechua and it means "I will see you later". This one word is all I need to know to make my exit. The spelling is not right but it sounds like it would be spelled "Kia Kama.”

Tonight we only had 14 people in the training. Two new ones, three from Salasaka and nine from Condorahua. All of the other Salasaka and El Florida people were preparing food for tomorrow.

We were in chapter 20 of "God's Called-Out Assembly---The Church."

Tonight we learned about how God called Isaiah in Isaiah 43:10 to be His witness and how Saul in Acts 22:15 was called to be His witness. It doesn't stop there. As believers we are also called to be a witness to Jesus Christ living in us showing his nature through the way we live our lives.

Tomorrow at 2 +- is the wedding of Pablo and Aurora, Patricio and Mercedes at the camp in Chacauco. Steve Thompson has been so kind as to let us use the facility. I will send pictures.

Well that's all for these two days,

Guido

12/04/16

Today started with the last minute wedding preparations before leaving Salasaka for Chacauco. When I went to get into my truck someone had parked right behind me and the front of my truck was facing a wall so I couldn't go anywhere. It took about 15 minutes to find the owner but I was not late.

The drive is about 30 minutes or so and the weddings were supposed to start at 2:00 PM. Well I was there at 1:30 and the weddings started at 3:00, Ha!

After Pablo, Aurora, Patricio and Mercedes were married everyone was invited to share a meal. It was a wonderful Lord's Day and He was honored through the obedience of these two couples desiring a Christian wedding.

The pictures really tell the story of this day so I hope you enjoy seeing a representation of what

God is doing here in Ecuador 🇪🇨 working in the hearts of believers.

Guido

Patricio, Mercedes, Aurora, and Pablo

Patricio, Mercedes and family

The happy couples.

Pablo and his family above, the after dinner, dinner below.

Pigs for the wedding feast.

12/05/16

This day started with Guillermo and me going to visit Amparo and Tobias.

They were baptized on the 10th of March this year as new believers. The problem is that since that time Tobias has been living two lives. One in front of the church and one in the World. The fruit of his salvation has not been exhibited in that he has departed the church, goes on drinking binges and avoids being confronted concerning these things. He has been taking the children to another town and they want to be with their mother.

Amparo asked that we come today and try and find out what is going on in his life.

When we arrived he was sleeping but we woke him up and asked to talk concerning his spiritual life. Basically Tobias told me that all of his problems, financial and otherwise, are God's fault and that he wants to live in the world away from us, God and everyone.

I asked him if he thought of himself as a Christian and he said, “No”! I asked if he cared about where he would spend eternity and he said, “No”!

With that I read from 1John 2:19, Matt. 7:20-23 and then from Matt: 18:15-17.

Nothing mattered so we prayed for him and then encouraged Amparo to keep reading her bible, pray for Tobias and stay closely connected with her church family. If anything comes up that she needs help with she can call Guillermo. He gave her his number.

From there we went to talk to Rosita who has been exhibiting a dislike toward Mercedes for a couple of months due to a rumor. She was not at home so we went and visited with Patricio and Mercedes.

The training tonight was on John 1 where John the Baptist was a witness pointing to Christ. Also we studied the four witnesses that point to God, Creation, Scripture, Christ and the Church. We had a good discipleship training group with good discussion.

That was all for today,

Guido

12/06/16

Today started with us going to a little town called Cevallos to a company that makes desks. The reason for this is that the desk in the room I was renting was confiscated by my landlord. When I went to pay the rent for next month he informed me that his son needed a desk for his school work so blood is thicker than water. I was able to find one used, suitable, and inexpensive. So most of the morning was taken up with moving the desk from one place to another.

At 1 PM we had an appointment with Javier from Condorahua. He is attending seminary with the three men from Salasaka and is Segundo's son. Anyway he needed advice on a woman problem he is having at his government school.

Apparently, he got asked by this young lady to help her with her homework so he did. The problem is she wanted him to do it with her every day. He realized that she was not learning anything so he quit doing her mime work. Now she has this infatuation with him and doesn't know what to do. Side note, she's two years older, has two children, is not married and is a non-Christian. (No red flags here!)

We discussed the obvious, telling him to keep focused on his studies, the inherent pitfalls of unmarried women with children and most importantly we discussed what principles the Word has to teach us about this subject.

Using selected scriptures from Proverbs and finally from 2 Cor. 6:14-18 he understood what he should avoid and what he should look for in the future.

Javier and Guillermo

After this meeting we went to try and talk to Rosita but again she was not to be found. We ended up visiting Jorge at his home near El Florida. He is from a Pentecostal background but is inquisitive and has been to our training off and on for several years.

He also has three sons who are musically talented and he leads the praise, worship, and dance at his church. We spent 2 hours there talking about how the more you are in the Word the more mysteries that are revealed and he appreciates the study books we give him.

His house has a wonderful view of the valley and he wanted a picture taken together so we took one from his roof top.

Training tonight was on how Christ's Church is a witness to man and angels as to God's Grace in Eph. 2:7-8, His Glory in Eph.3:21, His Wisdom in Eph.3:10, His Power in Eph. 3:20 and His Truth in 1 Tim. 3:15.

As usual the day’s discussions were good and a little difficult to keep on track especially at the mention of angels. Patricio wanted to know when in the order of creation were they created. We looked in Genesis 2:1 where it indicates that angels were created prior to the seventh day when it says the heavens and the earth and all their hosts were completed. Leave it to Patricio to find a rabbit trail. Ha!

I guess that's all for today,

Guido

12/07/16 Today was laundry day so first thing this morning we went to Ambato. While there I got the truck tires rotated and balanced. From there we went to visit Angel in Condorahua but he wasn't home. Then we decided to check on Berta but she was also gone. Speaking of Berta, if you remember, she is the lady with 3 children, an abusive husband and almost committed suicide a couple of months ago. Well I found out today that she let her husband back in the house and she is pregnant. Please pray that God will watch over and protect her and the children. Louise is the same, no repentance. Next will come the abuse and then she will need help again and on and on it goes. On the way to Condorahua I noticed several people working on the side of a mountain and marveled at how hard they work with rudimentary tools just to live. I wondered if they, like some of us, are working so hard in this present life that they haven't prepared for the afterlife.

In Salasaka I noticed more horses than usual and the further out of town we went the more people were celebrating something. Maybe Cowboy Week, Guillermo didn't know, but it involved drinking and riding horses which seems to be a bad combination.

Tonight's study was on the fact that while Christ is building his church, Matt.16:18, there are enemies trying to destroy it, 1 Peter 5:8 and Acts 20:28-30. We started discussing 10 dangerous enemies of Christ's Church and got through 5 of them tonight. They are: False Teachers: 2 Peter 2:1. Worldliness: Romans 12:2, 1 John 2:15-17 & James 4:4. Legalism: Acts 15:1. Formalism: Romans 2:28-29, 1Sam. 16:7. Emotionalism: 1Kings 19:11-12. This one got a lot of discussion since several of the people, who were once Pentecostal and are now Baptist, could speak from personal experiences. That is all for today that has come to mind, Guido

12/08/16

Today was relatively uneventful and started with a trip to Ambato to get the laundry. On the way back I had to stop by a place that sells wood to get a piece to fix my chest of drawers. The rail broke that drawer slides on so it was sticking. It has been like that for months but today was the day that I had had enough with the straining to open the drawer.

After that we went to Pablo's for a bible study on Proverbs 23. We spent a lot of time on verses 29-35 since a drunken condition seems to be prevalent here.

Speaking of a drunken condition, I found out what the celebration involving all the horses was about. I think I sent pictures a couple of days ago but the country people are celebrating the remembrance of the Spanish Conquistadors conquest of the people living in Ecuador. The men on horseback represent the Spaniards, the men on foot represent the indigenous peasant farmers.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of partying, dancing and drinking. I think by morning the only sober thing standing is the horses.

After the Bible study Aurora prepared a chicken soup, corn on the cob, sausage, a pork chop and potatoes. It was very tasty but too much for one person to eat.

From there I dropped Guillermo off at his house to spend some time with his family while I went to the market to spend time with some of the artisans.

The training tonight was excellent with 28 in attendance. We finished covering the last five enemies of the church which are:

Diversion: Mark 16:15

The Salvation Army and the YMCA were given as examples of how they originally were evangelistic based but over time have drifted away from Christ's command in Mark 16:15-16 and Matt. 28: 18-20. They have been diverted from doing the best thing to now doing good things. (Is your church doing good things or the best thing?)

Coldness: Rev. 2:4-5 & 2 Tim. 3:4

Toleration: Rev. 2:2 & 1 Cor. 5. Tolerating sin in the church.

Division: 1 Cor. 1:10-12, factions, clicks and churches with unbelieving members in leadership positions.

Closed Bibles: 2 Tim. 3:1-9 & 4:3-5. Churches with its Pastor and members not opening the Word of God during the entire service. They have turned their ears away from the Truth.

The last study is on the Rapture of Christ's Church but since I know it will take all week to go through it I am going to save it for the January training. Tomorrow night will be spent attempting to answering questions that they might have concerning how to live out their faith in their daily lives.

That's all for today and maybe for this trip, depending on what tomorrow brings.

Guido

12/09/15

Today wasn't anything to write home about but tonight was. We had 26 at discipleship training and tonight was just a night for questions.

What we spent the most time on was the subject of whose money is it anyway? How we should view money as a gift from God and how out of our love for what Jesus did on the cross we should use a portion of it for the furtherance of His kingdom.

After the questions the group celebrated the end of the training year with cake and coke.

This has been a memorable year here in Ecuador. From Pastor Ordinations to weddings to baptisms to baby dedications God has shown Himself in so many ways and in so many changed lives.

I look forward to 2017 to see what God is going to do in all our lives and I pray that you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

See you on Sunday, Lord willing,

Guido

Solita at Sunset