Well, it’s been awhile since we have posted on this site! We could give many excuses, but if you follow our Facebook ministry page, you will know we continue to keep busy.

We started the new year, 2024, in Kentucky and Florida this year! We ended up taking a short trip during the holidays to be with our two youngest sons, and daughter Sarah, for just after Christmas and through the New Year. It was a blessed time! We are thankful for the lovely hospitality of Sarah and Lydia’s summer housemate, Rebecca, while in Kentucky, and got to spend New Years with Isaac and Yvonne! The last time we spent the Christmas holidays with our two youngest sons was in 2019, so it was a very special time for us. We very much enjoyed the beautiful gulf beaches near Pensacola!

January saw us jump right back into our activities when we returned to Ecuador January 4th. The monthly Men’s Breakfast started back up first Saturdays each month, Monday night youth Bible studies, Tuesday ladies Bible study, every other Friday Homeschool Teen Fellowship and Ron’s monthly jungle trips to the villages. We also had the privilege of hosting several families that month that were needing rides to or from the airport or were in town to work on paperwork. January 27th was our Homeschool Teen Fellowship fundraiser for our annual teen retreat. We had a Middle Earth theme for the fair which was enjoyed by all ages!

The end of January into several weeks into February, saw Esther traveling to Pensacola to help with the birth of grandbaby #6 – Esther Vanda Borman – to Isaac and Yvonne! Esther got to attend the birth and was very touched when they announced the name of our newest granddaughter. Meanwhile, Ron and Sarah had even more visitors to host that month. One of the visitors was a surprise visit from our son Ethan for Ron’s special decade birthday!! Ethan got to visit with some of his cousins he hasn’t seen in some time. Another one was Sarah’s friend, Shalee, from the Ark Encounter that works at the Ararat Zoo. They had a great time exploring some sweet corners of Ecuador together – Mindo, Limoncocha, Dureno, and a hike and camping trip to the wilderness behind Sinangue. It was a very full month!

March saw our schedule get back into it’s regular routine again, with Bible studies, Sunday classes, monthly jungle trips and hosting visitors. We also celebrated Ron and Esther’s decade birthdays with a group of our friends from church. One special time a week, Monday evenings, we routinely have a family video sked with our kids. We’ve done this since 2020 and it is one of the highlights of the week for us. Our Homeschool Teen Fellowship group celebrated Purim, and our family enjoyed exchanging Resurrection Sunday photos with each other as we celebrated with our church families in Ecuador, Mexico, Florida, Kentucky and Washington state.

So, we are now into April! The big event this month for us is our annual Homeschool Teen Fellowship Retreat! Our theme this year is, “Fellowship With the King.” Many hours were spent with scheduling, planning activities and events. Ron’s brother Rick is coming down, arriving tonight to be the speaker for four sessions. We also have our largest turnout yet for one of these retreats – 38 homeschoolers!! Here is a peek at our t-shirts this year – artwork of a compilation of Sarah’s and one of our homeschooled kids, Samantha.

Prayer requests:

• Pray for the retreat which will be from Thursday morning April 4th through Sunday afternoon April 7th. Pray for safety traveling to and from the camp by bus, the health and safety of all the campers and volunteers, for open hearts to God’s Word, and for friendships to be developed with the Lord and with each other.
• Continue to pray for the Cofan Old Testament translation work being done. Funding is low right now. We give monthly gifts to the four translation helpers, Wilson, Martin, Leoncio and Osmar, and have the funding covered for about seven months out of the year. Small gifts continue to trickle in, which we are so thankful for, but we are asking the Lord for the provision needed to help these men who are working on the project.
• Ecuador will have voting on April 21st. It will be a referendum on eleven points. Please pray for this and the continued situation here in Ecuador with gangs, drugs and crime.