“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

These are the words of Jesus and He is our perfect example of love.  February often has reminders of love, with flowers, hearts and candy.  In Ecuador it’s called the “Dia de Amor y Amistad,” the day of love and friendship.  Actions speak louder than words and Jesus reminds us of this, with these words and His actions while He was here on earth.  Here’s a challenge to make your actions reflect Jesus.

Ron and Sarah had a good time earlier this month visiting all three villages and doing some follow-up from the December trip.  They visited with Bautista and his family in Sinangue.  In Dovuno they went to the home of the vice-president of the community, who requested a follow-up visit last December.  In Dureno, Ron has been especially encouraged that the school leadership in the village is run by Christians and they are open to Ron working at the school and with the kids.  Ron also discussed with the church leaders about the building of the new church building.  It will be located near our old house – for those of you who have actually visited Dureno.  Pray for that project.

While they were visiting Dovuno, Ron wanted to make sure Sarah got a chance to visit the “carved stone” about a 30 minute hike from the village.

February 10th – 15th we helped with the Zabalo boys teen retreat.  Our friends and fellow missionaries Jerrell and Jane Richer, who have been spending a lot of time in the Zabalo village, put the retreat together.  We hosted them here for two nights where they got a city tour of Quito (first time for most of the boys to visit the big city) and experience hot dogs and S’mores cooked over a bonfire.  Then they went to Cotopaxi Park to camp one night to explore the high Andes, climb up to the glacier on Volcán Cotopaxi and climb the center peak on Volcán Rumiñahui.  They got to experience frost and saw some white-tail deer.  On their way back to the jungle, they were going to visit the base of Volcán Reventador.  I guess you could call it the “Volcano Retreat!”  Ron and Ramon from Sinangue shared from God’s Word with the boys.  We look forward to hearing about some of their responses after they get back home.

We have another jungle trip planned for the weekend of February 24th – 25th.  Ron and I will be padrinos at a wedding in Sinangue!  It is custom here to pick a seasoned married couple to stand up with you at your wedding.  This couple is someone you can trust to not take sides and help give the new couple advice.  We will be sure to send you photos of the wedding when we return.  Pray for the marriage of Juan Carlos and Gladys Esther.  She’s from the Cofan village of Sinangue (Emma Yepez’ daughter) and he’s from the Latino village across the river of Cabeno.  They have already been legally married for some time, so this is their church wedding – another custom here in Ecuador.

Continue prayer for the Homeschool Teen Fellowship Retreat March 16-18.  We are working hard to put things together for the devotional times and some other special activities.

We had a fun Homeschool Teen Fellowship meeting February 2nd with Water Games.  Here is a short video of some of the activities:

Tomorrow Friday Feb. 16 is our next Homeschool Teen Fellowship meeting.  Our theme is Sarah’s Crazy Challenge Course – something between a scavenger hunt and obstacle course.  Sarah has been such a huge help and inspiration with the work here.

We also are slowly working on putting together things for our furlough this summer.  We will be arriving in Oregon on May 8th and hanging around the Pacific Northwest until after July 4th, when we will start some traveling.  We are still working on some dates so hope to have a schedule soon.