February 18 prayer letter

Feb 2, 2019
3 min read

Greetings Family and Friends in Christ,

An encouraging Bible verse that has been on our hearts these past months is Isaiah 40:31, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount us with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

The ministry is harder than ever before because the hearts of men are closed toward spiritual things. Especially here in the province of Chimborazo there is so much paganism and idolatry that makes us wonder is God closing the door on this province. We wait and pray patiently for God's leading, but we also know that there is a lot to be done and we want to be useful vessels. So, our prayer these days is, "Lord, open up new doors of ministry where we might meet new families that would want to study the Bible; whether it be here in Riobamba, or Chambo or maybe even in a new province. Dave and I are considering the next province over, called Tungurahua, which has the tenth largest city of Ecuador, Ambato. We need your prayers as we contemplate the future and the ministry where God can use us in an effective manner. At times it is hard to wait for His leading but if we run ahead of Him then we will most likely faint and end up quitting - and we do not want to finish as failures. So we covet your prayers and encouraging emails as we bring this before the throne. January passed quickly as we stayed busy with nightly Bible studies and two evenings of Bible Institute. We want to thank all those who have given to our new project - rotating funds for a Christian bookstore. Many of the Bible Institute students are buying resource books to help them better understand the Word of God. We will be taking another trip to Quito in March to refill the shelves. It is rather unusual because most Ecuadorians are not readers; but we are excited that they want to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, and that comes through reading and studying. In March we will be hosting five visitors from our sending church, Gallia Baptist. As a requisite of our mission board we have an accountability team of three supporting pastors (more if we so desire), who will take turns in coming to the field and seeing the ministry and giving us counsel and holding our "feet to the fire." Pastor Cline Rawlins will be coming with his daughter and son-in-law, Rachel and Jared with their five month old son, Ashton, and Jared's father, Doug Lester. We are looking forward to their visit. Please be praying for safe travel and for good health while they are here with us. We also desire your prayers for the church here in Riobamba. Dave would like to see the church nationalize this year with a pastor and its leaders of elders and deacons. As mentioned in previous letters there are three young men, along with Dave, doing the preaching. But there is still a need to see them mature and branch out doing other ministries, like evangelism and starting Bible studies, etc. They need to have a desire to see the church grow, both spiritually and numerically. But not just them but the entire church family. It is the responsibility of every believer. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. We are sure you are facing the same challenges as we are because of the days we are living in. You are in our prayers as well. Thank you too for your faithful gifts of love. If any of you are looking for a field to visit our home is always open. Pray that God will send more laborers.