Showers of love in Guayaquil

Exactly two months ago we landed in the UK.  Our last stop in Ecuador was Guayaquil. There we spent a few days with Katuska's family. And that meant plenty of meetings and outings with her mum, dad, sisters, nieces, nephews, brothers-in-law and people from church.



Anything - such as Gwendolyn cutting Samuel's hair - is a good excuse for a family meeting.

Cousins sharing their knowledge of violin.

One of the most special moments for Katuska was the visit to her home church in Guayaquil, Filadelfia Church.  Although she met the Lord through her parents, it was in Filadelfia church where she learned to serve him and grew as Christian leader.  We said our farewell message and they prayed for us as we get ready for our new place of service - Mozambique.

Katuska, Gwendolyn, Mr & Mrs Saenz, Astrid, Ingrid, Pastor Villamar and Suzanne.

The cousins came from their usual places to enjoy this time together.

This is where Guayaquil started hundrend of years ago, by the Guayas river.

The night before our flight we enjoyed a reunion of the Abad uncles, aunts and cousins. It was such a blessing. Except one family, all of them know the Lord and seek to follow him. There is plenty of musical talent there, too; so we all start singing songs of praise accompanied by the keyboard, the saxo, the guitar and the violin.

Here are most of the members of the extended Abad family. Those who were not present live abroad.

Marlene and Francisco, Katuska's parents, have been of great support - spiritually and practically. They have been a living example of faithfulness and service to the Lord and to each other. Keep them and us in your prayers, as we don't know when we will be the next time we'll see our beloved ones from Ecuador.

Showers of love in Loja

Sam, Ben and Joe share a comfy spot.

On Thursday 7th, at 3:30 am we were ready to leave for Loja. It was a three-and-a-half hours journey. We give thanks to God for his protection on the Ecuadorian "full of character" roads.  The Vogans, our co-workers in Loja, prepared a wonderful breakfast for us; and then took us to the place where we would be staying.

At 10:30 that same morning I had to defend my thesis. I knew that only God could have helped me, because I was physically exhausted and didn't feel fully prepared for the challenge. But he brought to my mind what I had worked on when preparing the written document, he gave me clear thinking and good answers to the questions they asked me. And by his grace I got full mark for the defense of my thesis! He is sooooo good!

Lunch at the Vogans.

Back to the Vogans house, a wonderful lunch was waiting for us, with all the Loja OMSers.  At that moment, that meant:  Mark and Nube Vogan, Jenny Riggs, and the three Ripamonti boys, short-termers.  It was an excellent time of fellowship.  We give thanks to God for the love and hospitality he's put in the hearts of his children.

We spend a wonderful afternoon in Loja Zoo park, small enough for overworked parents (Steve and me), big and excitingly enough for our dear boys.  Probably Samuel will load more interesting photographs in his blog.

Friday 8th was the well awaited graduation day.  The hard work was over and it was time to rejoice!  I'd done it, with God's help and we've reached the end of that journey.  Again, Nube prepared a lovely lunch for us and a whole bunch of friends to celebrate not only this achievement, but also Mark's birthday, and the farewell of the Ripamonti boys.

After that lovely meal, we started our journey back to Cuenca.  This lovely rainbow accompanied us for much of this journey.  We took Jenny to Saraguro, said our farewells to our friends who had been working on a VBS (Vacation Bible School) in that indigenous village; and continued our journey to the guesthouse where we were staying for a further night before heading to Guayaquil.

Showers of love in Cuenca

Boxes to be shipped are not longer with us, they've gone to storage waiting for their journey to UK.  Just as we are!  To reach this point, we had to do several boring things:  sort out stuff for the garage sale (on Friday 2nd of July), closing down the internet service, getting paperwork done for the car transfer, clearing out the house where we were living in Cuenca, staying in a guesthouse for a few nights, travelling to Loja for my graduation ceremony, and packing the car full of boxes, bags and suitcases for our final journey to Guayaquil.  We are exhausted!

The good and happy notes are that the boys finished school with an excellent report each, both in school and music school.  Our boys have collected as many email addresses as possible to keep in touch with friends.

We have been showered with love by our friends from church and our mission team, with gifts in form of prepared food, time spent with us, plaques, invitations to dine out, help clearing the house, etc.  We were warmly surprised by the farewell service that the "Upper Room" church organised for us.  Many had the opportunity to express kindness and gratefulness for what we did during our time there.  We are thankful to God that he gave us a glimpse of how we blessed many lives - some of them completely unsuspected  by us.  We pray that the changes that took place in those lives were a result of God working in them, and therefore, long-lasting ones.

Music at our farewell service.

Pastor Sergio shared a whole day with us.

SEMBEC's engraved "Thank you!"

Friends from AWANA treating us to a meal.

Closing down, little by little

These last weeks have been frantic.  Last Sunday we managed to send to Guayaquil some furniture that my parent had lent to us for all these years.  We also managed to pack 7 of our 10 suitcases that will acompany us in our flight to UK.  It means that we have little with us at the moment, and almost no toys!  Yesterday the 12 boxes that we'll ship were ready to start the process, which involves a notary public, customs, and who knows what else.  Those boxes are very precious to us, since they hold most of our books...  And you know that we really are a book-worm family!

Tomorrow the internet service will be cancelled and on Saturday we leave the house that has been a silent witness of most of our life in Cuenca.  Everything seems to go just too fast at the moment.  Next Sunday will be the last time we'll visit the Upper Room Church.

Joseph finished school today, while Samuel and Benjamin will finish next Tuesday.  On Wednesday we'll travel to Loja (4 hours south from Cuenca).  On Thursday morning Katuska will defend her thesis and on Friday her graduation will take place.  That afternoon we'll head back to Cuenca and on Saturday we'll travel to Guayaquil for a last week with Katuska's family.

Please pray for us as we are feeling really tired.  But we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Healthwise, we are keeping well.  Thank you for being part of our team during all these years.  We hope to see you again when back in the UK.

Graduation day at SEMBEC

It is just right and appropriate that after studying hard and putting into practice what has been learned in the classroom, the students should receive their reward. All who make SEMBEC are very happy to see seven of their students reaching their final goal and graduating.

Last Friday 24th June we all gathered in SEMBEC’s chapel and celebrated with our graduates they joy of finishing a phase in their lives. We sang with them, we heard the Word with them, and we prayed for them. We are looking forward to see what God will do through these men and women who have been called to serve him.

Marcelo got a BA Degree on Theology and he will continue pastoring a church. Rut is a nurse and lives in the nearby town of Azogues (about 45 minutes from Cuenca). She finished her Certificate on Theology and will continue to serve in the church where she is a member.

Benigno, Marcelo, Steve and Katuska, Juan M., Adriana L., Juan V., Alexandra B and Rut.

The other five graduates, who finished their "Carrera Corta" studies, are from the Baptist Church in Santa Ana. The program they completed was full time and for a year. We saw them struggling with the new regime of studies, but we have witnessed how they have grown in confidence, in knowledge, and their thirst to know more about the Lord is evident. We have heard them saying that they want to share with their church what they have learned - and we've said "Go ahead, please!".  Please, pray for them, as they keep growing in the Lord!