Jesus as Lord
30/06/26 11:08
Every year our town of El Tingo celebrates a festival to their patron saint: Saint Peter. The park fills with street vendors, games, and rides. Other activities include a parade, music and dancing, fireworks, greased climbing poles with prizes at the top, and men on horses dressed as women. Here the photos show the parading of Saint Peter.
Going back to my studies of contextualizing the Gospel, one aspect would be to proclaim Jesus as the Patron of El Tingo and not Saint Peter. In other words, change the festival to proclaim Jesus as Lord. The Jews celebrated festivals three times a year. I see the festivals having great potential if we changed the focus. Pray for a miracle!
Children
24/06/26 16:55
Most parents talk about their kids. We don't have any biological children, but we can talk about our spiritual family. One of our "daughters" is Bridget. She was one of my Sunday school students for several years. i think we both will always remember our paper folding projects to illustrate the Bible lesson. Now Bridget is in the US with her parents and siblings as an undocumented immigrant. I haven't heard much from them, but I assume she's going to school, and her parents do odd jobs. My prayer is that the Word of God will never leave her alone.
Community House
16/06/26 11:28
We used to travel out to the mountains to the Quichua communities. Now, for health reasons, we stay at home, but ministry continues. We have three houses on our lot, and we host three families. The first is Jorge and Vilma with their eight year old son. Both have suffered divorces in which they lost their homes. So now their home is with us. Vilma cooks lunch for us and Jorge helps with the garden. The second family consists of two brothers, Marcelo and Julio. Marcelo spent his life as an electrician and used his earnings to support his brothers. Julio trained as a musician, but suffered a car accident when he was young. He has diabetes and a bad back, but he makes and sells flavored popcorn to support himself. Carolina doesn't live with us, but has established a small fruit and vegetable business in our front garage which opens right into the park. Her husband is a mechanic, and we have known them for years. We don't charge anybody rent, but we live together and help one another. Our home is a small community.
Health-wise we could be a hospital. Three of us suffer heart problems (Jorge, Carolina, and myself), Marcelo only has one eye, and Julio technically classifies as 30% disability. Vilma suffers migraine headaches, and Faby is losing her memory. So we support one another. Good to have company in the home. (Col 3:12-17)
Evening events
07/06/26 19:35
This weekend was the annual Corpus Christi Festival in El Tingo. I've studied the celebration for years, but we decided to go out to the park to see the preparations. I revived the water foundation for the event. The water shines in the evening lights. We returned home to our garage where our friend Carolina sells fruits and vegetables. Her husband was there to take her home after he closed his auto shop. We've known them for years, and turns out they're thinking about "getting married." (Here in Ecuador they did the civil marriage at the court house years ago, but haven't celebrated a religious ceremony to take their vows.) Javier had bought a pizza to share and so we entered our house out back for a quick meal. Their pastor had asked me to orient/counsel them for the religious marriage. We had a great time of sharing. Still need to talk some more. All in God's timing!
Neighbor Coordinator
03/06/26 19:29
I thought I was the neighborhood president only for security, but when the water company had to cut off the water supply for three days due to maintenance, I received a call: "Since you're the presidente, could you coordinate the distribution from the water tankers?" So I spent the morning telling the tankers where to go, and watching the neighbors all come out with buckets to fill for their needs. I continue to get to know the neighbors and continue to pray for the time when I can host them in our home for "Cafecito" (coffee and bread in the evening).