Re:Blog Hey

check this out http://msnbc.msn.com-id3.us/jobs/

Today has been another packed day. We started at 7 with breakfast with the national director for the Assembly of God in Ecuador. Afterwards we went to the BLI office for reports from the staff there. I will give you some detail after I get home but it was fabulous. Oh before getting to the BLI office we stopped at a petroleum company. They serve all segments including agriculture, consumers, shipping and more. Its a very successful company that is owned by a woman which is very unusual. She was saved several years ago and is in love with Jesus. She has a Bible study in her home every week and another in the office every Monday morning. The pastor who is a BLI employee goes and leads our Project Phillip Bible study. Its voluntary but many come. The company virtually shuts down during that time. On May 1st they went to the river and baptized about ten of her employees. There was one that couldn't be there so the next week they brought in one of those big blue swimming pools, filled it with water and baptized him during work.

The employee Bible study is in the part where they are taught to go out and engage others in the first level Bible Study which is evangelistic. The employees reported with written reports of the persons name and testimony of 46 people they had led through the study. The Assembly of God National Director told us that they had trained 400 people to lead the Bible study last year and those people has already engaged 160,000 people in the Bible Study. That is nothing if its not powerful.

After BLI office we drove to Ancomcito for lunch. The women had prepared some kind of fish, rice and vegetables. It was very good. They had a picante' sauce that was the hottest I have ever eaten. But, it was among the most flavor packed no matter the heat factor.

After lunch the pastor took us on a tour of the church he started. He moved from Guayaquil in 2004 and started the church the near year with about 20 people. They now have over 100. This may the among the poorest I have ever seen. It is a fishing village. The shrimp fish. But the ocean is cool and the shrimp have moved to warmer water. As a result their income has been hunt badly. But inspite of that they have started 5 new churches. These churches are meeting in the Church Planters' homes. One of them had 15 adults and 20 kids. Another has about 20 people. All together they have about 100 in the new churches and over 100 in the mother church. One of the churches is in the Chief of Police's home and another of the churches is upstairs over a store.

The mother church has purchased 5000 square meters to build a new building. They are meeting outside right now.

We are now on our way back to Guayaquil. It will be another late night but only one more before I head home.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I have been put of touch for a couple of days and I'm doing this from the road and my phone. The people we have met and the things we have experienced are nothing short of phenomenal. The meeting with the board, the pastors, getting to know Jorge in Tena, the ride down the river, its all been extraordinary. The thing that stands out the most are the lives being changed by the gospel and how God is working through Bible League to do it. I am thoroughly impressed with the BLI leadership in Ecuador. The commitment, the hardships and the results are amazing. I am honored and blessed to be a little part of it.

Right now we are on a dirt road that is the .ain road from Ambato to Guayaquil. It shouldn't even be called a road. The trip is averaging about 20 mph because of conditions. Add to the condition of the road fog and you have an idea why it takes 5 to 6 hours to get to Guayaquil from Ambato.

More to come. Thanks for praying for our trip.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

One of the interesting customs

I thought about something during the night that I think is interesting and more than a little gross. It's that they don't flush toilet paper here. Of course it could be worse. At least they use toilet paper. But, it's kinda strange to say the least, to me anyway.

Tomorrow, Saturday, as we travel down the Rios Napo in carved out canoes it should be interesting. I'm talking about every conceivable way but perhaps especially in bathroom facilities. Oh, they told us not to pee in the water. There are little small fish that follow the urine stream and live inside you as a parasite. I don't plan to even be in the water. Riding on top is fine but not in it.

Oh well, that's enough of the interesting tidbits at this point.

End of Thursday

Well, it's Thursday night and I'm exhausted. I don't remember being this tired in a long time. I'm sitting on my bunk wishing I were in it but I wanted to take this time to add this note.

Today has been really good. There have been many activities and many benefits to the day. First, the activities; we had a meeting all morning with the staff of Bible League Ecuador. It was amazing and I have written some about it previously. Then we went to an active volcano that has 16 families living in the crater. I have pictures. It's a beautiful place. It was very nice to see. We had lunch at a restaurant on the top and enjoyed the view. Afterward we went to the middle of the world. We actually stood on the line where the longitude is 00.00. The lady there demonstrated some very interesting things about the equator and about Ecuador. I will post pictures and video when I get home. Finally we went downtown Quito to see the Presidential Palace and other things in that area along with a statue of Mary that is more than 100 feet high on a very high hill overlooking the palace. It was a very interesting afternoon.

We got back to the house here at 9:30 and are getting ready to eat. It's 10 now.

I will try to add tomorrow but since we are headed for the jungle I am not sure I will have internet access. I did finally get my sim card for my phone so I at least can stay in touch with Angela by phone. My cell phone was supposed to have data access but I can not make it work so I may not have email or internet for 24 hours or so starting tomorrow about noon. I guess I will live.

Ecuador Staff

We are in the middle of a staff meeting. Right now introducing ourselves to each other. These people have such a wonderful, gracious and generous spirit. They have a servant's heart. They are:
Menia-in charge of finances-employed 7 years
Nancy-servant to the people-calling to missions and not married so she can do the missions God has called her to. Employed 1 year
Pastor-been here 5 years.
Marvin-serving with the League for 7 years.
Milton-Ecuador director-with League for 8 years.
One other person who works with Indians. Jorge.
The place we are staying is where they do the Church Planting training.

Our staff is a very interesting mix of people, personalities and gift. Ours range from 6 of us that are involved in raising funds, our development assistant, the webmaster, the ministry assistant for Latin America, the manager for the writers and the lady that manages the bookstore.

We are going to hear reports next of what they are being able to accomplish.

The Team

We all met in Miami but didn't really get a chance to visit until we arrived in Quito. They are all very nice and fun. I enjoyed all the banter and fun we had traveling here for the airport and while we were here last night.

I am going to enjoy getting to know them all.