We begin this post by thanking all of you for your interest in the work – reading, responding, supporting in prayer and other ways – you have been a true blessing to us this past year and those previous.  Thank you!  It’s hard to believe that this month of January marks twenty-nine years since we came to Ecuador to work as a family in the ministry He laid on our hearts.

The year 2018 finished with Ron having his first ever hospital stay after some surgery and needing to take it easy for about six weeks.  It’s hard to keep this guy down!  He has recovered well, so we are thankful for a little slower month for him to rest in December.

We were blessed with having five of our six kids here for the holidays along with one fiance and a nephew and niece-in-law!  No trips or excursions were planned, but everyone was more than happy to just have a “stay-cation” this year.  We had many happy times singing, playing games, eating and laughing together.  Conversations sometimes revolved around Julia and future son-in-law Paul’s wedding plans in March, but we also talked about past memories from our life in the jungle to school days to testimonies of God’s faithfulness to ministry opportunities past and present.

Now that we have entered 2019, we have a number of events coming up the next few months that we would appreciate prayer for.

• January 21st – 25th Ron and his Cofan team will be visiting the downriver village of Zabalo.  They will be celebrating the Bilingual Cofan/Spanish New Testament with the folks in that area.
• February 22nd – 25th is our 7th annual Homeschool Teen Retreat!  This year we will be on the beach of Same, on the Ecuadorian coast.  Our theme is:  Not Cast Away.
• March 30th – is Julia and Paul’s wedding and we will be heading up to Washington and Oregon a few weeks before to help with the preparations and returning to Ecuador on April 2nd.  The wedding will be held in a little country church in Sprague, WA.

In between all this is ladies Bible study on Tuesday afternoons, homeschooling Carolyn Rogers weekday mornings, two Fridays a month with Homeschool Teen Fellowship, Sunday mornings with our teen Sunday school class and pre-school class, and various other mid-week Bible studies and twice monthly jungle trips.

With our nephew Greg and his wife Sarah living on the property now, we needed to make a new bodega/storage room for their camping ministry supplies.  This week the foundation on an extension to the outbuildings was poured!

This seems symbolic as we enter a new year, continuing to be instrumental in building God’s Kingdom.  Thank you for working with us!