May 2017 Prayer Letter

Happy Memorial Day Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

Freedom is the first word that comes to mind as we celebrate this holiday. We are thankful to all the men and women who have given their lives to serve in the military to help bring freedom to our nation. Yet there is a greater freedom we have as God's children. Freedom from death, freedom from sin, freedom from the law, and the list goes on. It is this freedom that we need to share to the unsaved world, and for that reason we serve God in Ecuador. Thank you for faithfully praying for us as we minister and take God's Word to a lost and dying world. We have quite a prayer and praise list; so, this letter will be focused on these so that you can be praying and also be rejoicing with us.

1. With our home church closing its doors, we were offered, by the trustee board, to buy the parsonage instead of the mission home. The Lord has provided our family a larger home, which will be nice for our children. We are now in the process of getting a loan and doing all the paperwork that comes with buying a home. We will be moving into the house in the coming weeks. There is some work that needs to be done but that will come in time, and when God provides for the needs. As for the church and all the property, the trustee board has decided to donate it to a church of like faith who wants to develop a Christian camp. We are excited to see how God will use this land for His honor and glory.

2. We praise the Lord for safety this past year as we have traveled to our supporting churches. We have enjoyed renewing friendships and making new ones. We praise the Lord for providing us a new church family who will be partnering with us in the ministry - New Hope Baptist Church in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Also, with not having a church to call home and not having a sending church we had to make a decision to find a new one. Since Gallia Baptist is like our second home, we decided to ask them to become our sending church. They have agreed to do it. We are so blessed to have great church families to support us with prayers and finances. We thank each of you for your faithfulness over these past 30 years.

3. Your prayers are desired as Dave and I will be taking a mission’s trip to Peru from June 2-11. We are accompanying a medical team (Jeremiah 38) to Iquitos to do ministry as well as translating for the team. This will be our first time to be on the headwaters of the Amazon River. Pray for safety as well as for opportunities to share the Gospel with the people of Peru.

4. We are excited to receive news from Ecuador that the ministry is going GREAT! The men who are leading at the church are growing and new studies are being started. As we were talking with Santiago last week, Dave told him he would not be coming back officially to the church but would be there for support, as we plan to start a new ministry in Chambo. His response was, "that is fine. We do, however, desire that you give us a few years to train us for the ministry. So, the plan is to go back to Riobamba for a year and do a Bible Institute with the men and women of the church.

5. Begin now to pray for our housing in Riobamba. We have bought our tickets to return to Ecuador for July 18th. Pray that God will have a house ready for us so that we can get moved in quickly. The reason for this is because we have a team coming on August 5 to help do a VBS both in Chambo and in Alausi. We need to be in a house before they come. Also, be praying for this team that they will be effective in sharing the Word of God in these two towns. The team wants to do some door-to-door evangelism too in a nearby town called Tixan. This will be a future outreach for the leaders of the Alausi church.

6. As always, we are thankful that you also include our family in your prayers. Many of you asked, as we visited our supporting churches, about our children.

• Pray for Tim as he seeks God's will for the future. He finished up the school year of teaching Spanish and is now looking for a job.

• Hannah also finished up another school year, but will be busy this summer taking some courses to be able to keep her teaching license.

• Nathan is headed to Walsh University in August and will be studying Physical Therapy. Pray for God's provision for his schooling as well as for wisdom in his studies.

• Daniel and Melissa are doing well and have settled in to their life in the United States. Continued prayers for Daniel as he learns English, and as he gets accustomed to the culture of this country.

• The grandkids have quickly adapted to life here. The boys just finished up Upward soccer, and have moved on to baseball. Lauren turned 8 this 1st of this month; she has been working on learning piano. They are all anxious for summer break to begin! • Lori continues to enjoy her job at the bank and is quickly advancing in her position.

God has truly blessed our family! It is going to be very hard to say goodbye in July but we know that our Father is always watching over our children because they are His!Thank you for keeping these requests in your prayers. With such a busy schedule between now and July we will probably not get another letter written. We appreciate so much your love and kindness. Please pray for God's provisions for all the tasks that we need to get done. There are always costs in getting set up once we return to Ecuador. Praise the Lord He knows our needs.

Together in the King’s Service,

Dave and Cindy