We hope this letter finds you all well. We have been back in Ecuador for a month now. We enjoyed our time in the states at the end of last year. Spending the holidays with family and friends was a blessing to us. We were also able to make visits to many churches and share what God has been doing here in Ecuador.  

                Since being back, the church start in Pelileo has been doing well. We have changed the Sunday service times and have added a Wednesday evening service. We are no longer doing the two home bible studies. We are praying that by combining the two studies into one mid-week service we will be able to do more outreach and target a group of people that can’t attend on Sundays.  Many of the people we are trying to reach have farms, crops, and animals they have to tend to in the mornings which keeps them from a Sunday morning service. Please pray with us that we will know how to reach this group of people.

                We had our first Wednesday bible study and prayer service this week with 23 in attendance. This group is so eager to hear and learn about the Word. Pray for John as he prepares for Sunday and Wednesday services that the Lord would speak through him and that the congregation would be discipled and grow in the Lord. Our prayer is to make disciples that will go make disciples. Jesus said “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always to the end of the age. Matt 28:19-20.

                Pray also for our children’s program, we have about 9 that attend on a regular basis. We are hoping to be able to start a backyard Bible club in the public park across from the church. This will be great outreach for kids but also for the moms of the children who come. Please pray that we can get the right permits to meet in the park. 

                Please pray for our family, for physical health so we can do the work set before us. And also for our spiritual health, that we will stay grounded in the word and be led by the Spirit. Hannah is doing well, she lost her first tooth this week, which no one was anticipating. She is doing well with her homeschooling. Pray as Hannah and Becky continue to learn Spanish.  Pray as we continue to need monthly funds to stay on the field. We are also still in need of a vehicle. The Lord never fails and always provides! If you would like to give to our ministry you can follow this link or go to www.globaloutreach.org. Thank you for all of your prayers, we could not be here without them!

In Christ,

                                                                                                                                                               John and Becky 

ROADS? WHERE WE'RE GOING WE DON'T NEED ROADS

I love being back home in Ecuador! I am so glad that God has brought me back with my wife and my daughter to minister in this beautiful place. It is hard to believe that we have already been here for 3 weeks. We have been pretty busy trying to get unpacked and somewhat organized. I don’t think we are close to organized yet, but we will get there. I had a break from the unpacking/organizing last week when I had the opportunity to travel into the jungle with some folks and it was a really great experience.

I heard about the possibility of going on a hike deep within the jungle to a Huaorani village, maybe about a month before we were to arrive down here. I immediately wanted to go, and hoped that it would work out for me to be able to make the trek in. My dad told me the hike in would be rather hard, but completely worth it, and it was! I was not involved in the planning and set up for this trip, but I was so blessed to be able to go and be a part of it. I will be glad when I get to go back, but I am definitely going to be getting in better physical condition before then next trip in (yikes!).

Dad and Hermano Jorge Rodriguez planned and organized the trip, unfortunately my Dad (Steve) couldn’t go in this time because of a scheduling conflict. There was a very large group who went in to Kakataro (a Huaorani village). There were six men from FBC Odessa, Texas on a weeklong mission team, some of them had come in to the village before a few years ago and had the chance to come back. There were several members of the staff and a few guests from Camp Chacauco, which is where we are living right now and settling in. There was me, a missionary named Bart who lives outside of Tena, Hermano Jorge and his wife, and then to help all of us get into the Huaorani village, there was a large team of Quichua believers from Huachiyacu Chico who also helped in cooking for the whole group during the week.

To put the distance in perspective, it takes about 4 hours to get to Tena (one of the larger cities in the jungle region) from where we live at Camp Chacauco. From Tena, we went for another 2.5 hours on the bus which I am pretty sure is as far as that road goes. At that place we were met by a group of people coming out from Kakataro to take us into their village. And from there we walked. The hike going in was very difficult for me, I haven’t had to walk hardly anywhere in the last 13 years that I’ve lived in the States, much less slop my way through a muddy, hilly, jungle trail. I will say that thankfully it hadn’t really rained much in a few days before the trek, so it wasn’t all that slippery, but it is the rainforest, so it was plenty wet and humid.

I had been warned by those who had been before that on the trail in, the first hour is the hardest because the steepest hill of the whole trail is right there at the front. I was also told by several that if somebody offered to help me with my backpack, I should go ahead and let them, since they are used to the terrain and would want to bless us any way possible to help us make the trip in. Before we even started, a brother asked if he could help me with the pack (I guess he could tell I was going to need the help, LOL). But no, I was determined I would carry it in as far as I could. Thirty minutes in, we reached THE hill. It was steep. I began the climb, pushed through all I could, gave it my all. At the “top” of the hill, I was spent. The brother came to me again and asked to help me with the pack because there was still a lot left before we reached the village. I accepted, and thanked him for the help. Then I walked a little further and realized that I wasn’t at the top of THE hill. Turns out, I was maybe half way up the big hill at that point. So, I marched on, no backpack, just me. Honestly, it was all I could do. There were many ups and downs, sometimes I was in the middle of the pack, sometimes at the back, but I made it. It took me about 6 hours to hike into Kakataro. My backpack made it there much faster than I did, ha.

Our first night in, everybody was tired from the hike, so after dinner we met briefly for singing and prayer and called it a night. We spent the next two days in Kakataro, we had services in the morning and in the evening, each time with special singing, some in English, some in Spanish, some in Quichua, and some in Huao. We had preaching each time from one of the guys from Texas and then from Hermano Jorge one morning. We did some construction and helped to extend the area on the back of the church building there, to take in their kitchen and eating area. The ministry team from Camp Chacauco also worked with the children of the village in the afternoons and did VBS. The people of that community are so gracious, so loving. It is amazing to see a village who has embraced the Gospel. They love God, and they were sharing with joy about invitations they have received to go to other Huaorani communities and share the love of Christ there.

During my time there, I began to think about how the body of Christ works together. It was amazing how many different parts were working together as one. We had fulltime missionaries from the States and Ecuador. We had a short term mission team from the States, the ministry team from Chacauco, the mission team from the Quichua church. Some laymen, some leaders, some pastors. All working together for the glory of God and the exaltation of Christ. I know the brothers in Kakataro were encouraged by the visit and the help during the week, I know that all us who went in were encouraged to see their faith working out.

I love it when we get those opportunities to see God at work in such a practical way that it illustrates, and brings to life some passage, or teaching of scripture. In thinking about all of this, I was thinking about 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 18-20: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many…” “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.” I am grateful to God that He allowed me to be a part of and see His body at work last week, through believers from the US, and from the mountain region, and from the jungle region. All members of one body and Christ is our Head.

The hike out was quite a bit easier, even though the trail goes up and down, it is certainly more uphill going into the village, so I made it out in just over 4 hours. I’m sorry to say, my backpack still made better time than I did, ha. I was beat, I was thirsty and I was ready to see my wife and daughter. They stayed home at Camp Chacauco while I went in the jungle, so after 4 days I was ready to see them.

After a week, I think I can say that I have recovered pretty well. My muscles have stopped hurting, so it’s about time to start the training routine, so maybe I can do better the next time I get a chance to go in.

Around here, we are still unpacking and trying to find a place for everything. We are finding out what is our new normal and trying to find a schedule. Please continue to pray for Becky and Hannah as they continue their language learning. Since I arrived 3 weeks ago, I have had some opportunities to visit around and I am encouraged to see the work is growing. I am looking forward to the opportunity to preach in my home church “Iglesia Bautista Ficoa” on this Sunday, be in prayer for me as I prepare to share from God’s word.

In Christ,

John

Do you want to be a part of our support team? Click here

As I sit here trying to write this blog I don't know where to start, there is so much I could say. We flew in on Sept. 17, in all honesty that day was harder than I ever could have anticipated. We have moved so many times before, left family and didn't know when we would see them again, but some how this move was so much more than that. There was no return ticket. I know God has amazing plans for us here in Ecuador and even in my sadness and tears I have peace that this is now our HOME. I know it will take me time to adjust to a new way of life but I am confident God will give me the patience to do so.

We have been pretty busy this last week and have traveled a lot. We are not really settled in yet and still have a ton of unpacking to do! John is currently with a group of men deep in the jungle. Pray for them as they are there this week and make the 5 hour hike out on Thursday. Hannah and I are at home this week, attempting to unpack and figure out a new normal. I ask that you pray for us and Hannah and I learn Spanish and adapt to all the new things around us. God has brought us to such a beautiful place and we don't want to miss anything.

We are still in need of financial support, we moved in faith knowing that God is faithful and His timing is perfect. If you would like to join our financial support team you can  click here.

Until next time, may God bless you all!

Becky

TICKETS BOUGHT!!!

WE HAVE GREAT NEWS! We have bought our tickets! We are moving on September 17^th, so counting down, about 54 days from now! We are very excited to go! This does not mean that all of our budget needs have been met. Actually, we are still in need of financial support team members, but we are going ahead, trusting the Lord. We know He will provide for all of our needs, He is faithful.  We are so glad to go right now, but being able to stay will mean that we need more monthly support. Would you please pray about joining our support team, either by special gift or monthly support? No amount is too small, it will all help. I remind you that Global Outreach is committed to making sure 100% of funds sent for us go directly to us and our ministry. If you would like to support us click here. If you would like to hear more from us leave us a comment below and we can make further contact. We'd love to hear from you.

We have a lot to accomplish before we leave for Ecuador. Please pray for us as we work on getting our visas processed, and doing the last of our packing. Pray also that the transition will be smooth for Hannah, she is extremely excited to live in Ecuador and be close to her Pop Pop and Mamaw, but we know she will have her own set of challenges. 

We hope to get a chance to visit with many of you as we travel through Texas and Mississippi in the next few weeks before we move.

 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

In Christ,

John and Becky

 

It is about time for an update. Let me start by saying that these blog updates will begin to be more regular and less sporadic. I should really be better at writing these than I am, so I will get better. I mean, I can’t be worse, can I?

I do want to share what is new with us.

Since January we have been living in Silsbee, TX. There is a missionary residence here that has been made available to us, and it has been such a blessing. I have some roots in Silsbee since my mom, Carol, grew up here and all of her side of the family is right here in this area. This is also where we always came when my parents were with the IMB and we took a furlough. So, I have lived in Silsbee, actually in this very house on 3 other occasions (as a kid at ages 7, 10, and 14) for a few months each time. Being in this area is a blessing because of being so close to much of my family, but also, we are only a little more than an hour from Baytown and most of Becky’s family. So, we are enjoying the closeness to this part of our family while we can. In our married life, we have never lived this close to them.

At the start of the semester, we were able to get Hannah enrolled in the Preschool at the FBC here in town. She has been loving going to school, she loves her teachers and her classmates. It has been really good for us all, but Becky admits she is ready for summer break to have her back home with her in the mornings.

An unexpected blessing that we received after moving here has to do with time. When we moved in back in January, we were only going to be able to stay until the end of April, because the house was already promised starting in May to another missionary couple. But then we received word that their plans had changed, so we would be able to stay through the end of the summer and this was a huge relief for us to know we weren’t going to have to move again so quickly, especially since we aren’t moving to Ecuador just yet.

So this is all good, we see God taking care of us, but we are not in Ecuador yet. We are still fundraising and we still see his hand moving us there. We are hoping that the time for the big move will be soon. One opportunity that has been opened while we wait is for me to serve as a summer youth minister. I am very excited about the chance to work with FBC Kountze (which is only 15 minutes from Silsbee). I will be working with their young people this summer, Lord willing. I have deep ties with this church as well, since this is the church where my Dad was serving when they left for the mission field back in 1987. I am really getting a kick out of all the people coming up to me to tell me that they have known me since I was only about knee high. I was three years old when we left back then. So, I am looking forward to working with the youth during these next few months, as we are still getting our funding together. The church is very supportive of our calling and have been a great blessing to us already. I am just glad to serve the Lord and his church. I will be glad to serve the next few months here in Kountze, as we still prepare to serve in Ecuador.

Please pray for us in the days ahead, and if you haven’t had the opportunity to join our support team, please consider doing so. You may follow this link here: Global Outreach

 

In Christ,

John

This post is long overdue! Thanks so much for reading our new blog post, it has been way too long since our last update. Where to start? Well, we have not actually moved to Ecuador yet although we are ready to be there. Some of you will say: “Wait, I saw your pictures on Facebook, I thought you were there already!” This is true, we were there. We were greatly blessed to be able to go down at the first part of June and we were there six weeks. The trip was amazing!

Prior to this time, we hadn’t been down there since 2006, which means this was the first trip for Hannah. Well, everything went great! I was able to reconnect with many of my friends, and our brothers and sisters in the churches. I was even invited to preach a couple of times which was a blessing. We stayed at Camp Chacauco and were able to travel and make visits around the Ambato area. Hannah had a really good time, went with the flow, and made new friends. She is a great little traveler. It was also a good time for our family to be near my parents (Steve and Carol) and it will be great when we get to serve with them on a long term basis. Hannah especially enjoyed getting to stay with Pop-Pop and Mamaw a couple of nights while we were there.

Our short time in Ecuador was refreshing for me. To be home, to see the churches and pastors I grew up with, to fellowship with people I hadn’t seen in a very long time was a lot of fun. To take my wife and daughter places and introduce them to old friends was special. To be in worship in churches that are growing and continue reaching their communities with the gospel of Christ is refreshing.

It was really great to be at Camp Chacauco and join the staff in some of their ministry during our time there, we met some great folks who came down as interns or on short term mission teams. It is encouraging to see people working together for the glory of God!

My heart is very full right now, I feel like there is a lot more that I could say about the trip. What I need to share about it though is that it was a reconfirmation of our calling to be there. God is still at work in Ecuador, there is still much to be done, and we feel stronger than ever that He wants our family there.

We returned to the States in the middle of July and we moved from Abilene, TX back to the DFW area. We are now in fulltime fundraising mode. Just before we left for Ecuador, I took a step of faith and resigned from my job at Sprint, which had provided most of our income over the last 3 years since we have been in Abilene. So our job now is getting to Ecuador long term. What a task!

God is faithful! STOP. Read it again. God is faithful! I am reminding myself as I write this, please take time right now as you read this to remember how God has been faithful to you in the past. Our Heavenly Father provides for us, and does it with joy! So I know He will provide, He will bring in the people who will join us financially in this ministry in Ecuador. This is His calling, it is His work, and it is His timing. We are ready to go now. If God is willing, we want to be there by the end of this year but for this to happen we need more people who will join with us by committing to give to our ministry on a monthly basis. You don’t have to give a huge amount. It is much more practical to have a lot of people giving a little bit than to have a few of you giving a lot. So please reflect on God’s faithfulness to you and consider whether you could be a part of our support team.

We are blessed right now during these next weeks and months to be traveling around and seeing some folks and hopefully meeting new people as we fundraise. Over the next couple of weeks we will be going to see some of our friends and family in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. We are greatly looking forward to this trip and to the appointments God has prepared for us. Please pray for us during this time of raising funds and ask the Lord if there is a way you can or should be involved in His work in central Ecuador.

God doesn’t need us to accomplish His goals in Ecuador, but I believe He wants us there. If you would like to join our financial support team check out this link.

 

Packing....Moving...Packing....Moving.....

I've been thinking and praying about what to share all week, still not sure I have all my thoughts together but here's what I know, WE MOVE A LOT! If you've ever moved before and I'm sure most of you have at some point,  it's stressful.

We have been married almost 9 years and we have moved 8 times! The longest we've ever lived in one house was in the Youth parsonage while John was youth pastor at Tye Baptist Church. We were there almost 3 years. W have been in a mission house since January and will need to move out in May. This moving process has been the most difficult to date. I thought moving out of a house with a 2 month old was difficult, and it was, but this has been even more so. I have had so many mixed emotions. I've been excited about all the amazing things I know God has in store for us, but it has also closed several chapters in our journey, some good some not so good. John resigned from the church in October and they allowed us to stay in the house until January. So for 3 months I knew we were moving, and for almost 3 months I had no clue where we were going to end up. We were just trusting the Lord for his provision. Some times maybe not trusting so well and having more anxiety than I should have, but God was faithful. And it seemed He allowed John and I to never be weak at the same time. Anytime I was down he would encourage me and anytime John was down I would encourage him. I love how God works like that!

This move has been an incredible blessing in so many ways. Like I said we didn't know for nearly 3 months where we were going to move, and we had lots of people asking. We honestly did not know. We were constantly praying and trusting the Lord to work it out. Also we were just trying to make it through the holidays. The first week of January John made two phone calls, and one person answered at First Baptist Church. He asked if they had any mission houses and if they were available and the answer was YES. The secretary asked John when we wanted to move in! This was the first day John decided to start asking around for a place for us to move. GOD IS SO GOOD!!! Even when we doubted.

So for 3 months we debated on how we were going to pack up our things and what we would pack. You see moving to a foreign country is not easy. I tried getting quotes on how much in would cost for us to ship a crate of all our belongings we wanted to move but no one would giving me a price because I couldn't tell them how much everything weighted! And I wasn't going to pack everything up and weigh it. It's not like I was ready to move. So we ultimately decided the best way to move our things was in foot lockers/trunks. They are not very big, 31 x 17 x 13, but it meets all the requirements for taking on a plane. But the size really limits what we can take with us. No furniture, not big items, and they can't weigh more than 70 lbs or the airline won't allow it.

It was very difficult going through everything we owned deciding what to move and what to give away or sell. I did shed a tear or two or a thousand!  It's not that I was attached to everything we got rid of, I think the act of trusting the Lord to provide for future and current needs in the midst of chaos was the hardest part. I take pleasure in throwing things away and cleaning out stuff, but this was bigger than any spring cleaning event. It was reminding myself that material things and possessions are not the most important thing in life. My love and obedience to the Lord is more important than anything. And yes that includes my family. Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his own son....and he was obedient and blessed because of his obedience to God (Genesis 22.) It was not easy trying to explain to Hannah (3) that we would not be keeping all of our things as she watched us pack and have a yard sale. We did however do our best to keep her things/room as normal as possible during this transition. At least until we move again. Did I mention the mission house is fully furnished. This is a huge blessing because we were able to sell/give away all of our furniture. And we were able to really purge what we are not going to move to Ecuador.

We are not done moving. We are not done packing. But we have started moving. We were able to send 6 trunks down with John's parents when they went back home after the holidays. You might be thinking, but you're not ready to move yet...and you would be right. But we are humbly trusting this is God's will for our lives. I now ask that you pray for us as we are in this continuous state of packing and moving, and that God will guide and direct our next move in May as we are uncertain where we will go.

Blessings,

Becky