Mid July Update

 Hello again! We have been keeping busy the last few weeks, making new friends, serving with teams, working around the institute, and traveling. 

The photo above is our local Alliance Church, mostly run by Ninawachi and staff, as they currently don’t have a pastor. We had two mission teams last week and one of the construction projects was putting up walls and a roof between the church and bathroom (building far right), to make a storage area. 

With the teams we split into groups and went to visit some elderly people in the community nearby, we purchased these bags of food to give them. It’s rice, corn, pasta, salt, lentils, canned fish, sugar, and vegetable oil. Everyone came back with so many great stories from those home visits, so much prayer went into them. We were all reminded of when Jesus healed people, he healed them of so much more than their physical illness. He healed them spiritually, he forgave them from their sins, and gave them peace. These home visits were exactly that prayer for us, they have plenty of physical needs, but more importantly they need God, to know they’re loved by him, created by Him, for a purpose. We were able to share the gospel with the lady our group visited, I ask you pray for her salvation with us. 

This is Kalel, his parents are staff at Ninawachi as well, him and Josie are 6 months apart. It took a few weeks but they’re becoming friends with one another. Kalel’s mom, Magaly speaks English, it’s been sweet getting to know her deeper as time goes on. 

Josie has been pulling this dog all over the property. She also enjoys collecting rocks and throwing them in the water near our house. She has picked up on “The War Against Bugs in Our Home” as she’s watched us kill multiple or trap. Last week she killed her first bug, she let out an “ugh!” In disgust of it, asked me to take a picture of it, and then cleaned it up with a napkin herself. 

Of all things to find in the jungle I did not expect to find a coffee shop, let alone THIS coffee shop. It’s like a little piece of home, within walking distance of Ninawachi. It’s been such a small blessing, if you know us you know, Gideon & I (and Josie) love coffee. 

Earlier this week we drove a team back to Quito, stayed at Casa Blanca with them (a missionary house owned by Incalink for short term teams & longterm missionaries to use). We did some touring with them for a day and Gideon drove them to the airport Tuesday. We decided to stay in Quito as a family for a few extra days, since we were between short term teams. Today (Thursday) we started to head back this morning when up this steep mountain, the car started to give out. Turns out it might be the water pump and head gasket, we had to call a tow truck and leave it with a mechanic because Gideon doesn’t have any tools or parts. So we are back at Casa Blanca and returning to Ninawachi with the short term team Saturday morning. God was in all the small details of this “adventure” and I’m so thankful for that. 

This family, they are the Crossen’s. They are Incalink staff, tracking nomadically from ministry to ministry in South America, filming and capturing stories to highlight that ministry. We got the privilege of hosting them at Ninawachi for almost two weeks. Josie is fully obsessed with all four of their kids, but Norah (the one holding her) spend countless hours playing with Josie in the dirt, water, throwing rocks, coloring, picking flowers, and much more. Josie calls Norah, Flora. We have quickly became friends with their family and I’m so thankful our paths have crossed. We got lucky and also got to spend an extra week with them here at Casa Blanca. I keep joking with Jessica (the mom) that Josie won’t know what to do without her kids and she keeps saying her kids won’t know what to do without Gideon. We are already making plans to visit with each other back in the States.