We thank you all for your support shown in prayers, notes of encouragement and gifts. God continues to faithfully supply our needs, and we are so grateful. Philippians 4:19-20 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

October and November brings some birthdays of our neighbors Nataly, Diana, Diego, Victor and Shamir. We love celebrating with them and we invite them up for a meal, some cake, games and a few presents. Continue to pray for these two dear girls that care full-time for their three nephews. (Diego’s birthday is coming in January…)

November started off the first weekend with a youth retreat with our kids from our church. We ended up with a larger group than expected and had a great time with the theme of Christ and the I AM statements.

We hosted a couple of Homeschool Teen Fellowship groups and more kids keep being added. The largest group in attendance so far has been 52 for this fall, and the group usually grows even more in the spring! Continue to pray for wisdom for us on decisions for how best to handle these large numbers.

Between these Teen Fellowship groups, Ron took Sarah and some friends down to the jungle on one of his trips. They did a quick stop in Limoncocha, because of course that is the best place to see lots of wildlife! They also made stops in Dovuno and Sinangue.

Thanksgiving was later this year in the month of November, but we still hosted a good sized group of friends at our home for the event.

The first week of December Ron was planning to head down to the three villages to celebrate the Christmas season, but our car broke down! The event has been postponed, but the car was fixed temporarily so Ron could get down to Dovuno on December 5th for Rober and Estafania’s baptism. It was a very touching event for us as Ron has been visiting this village for close to 25 years with mixed response. Pray that things continue to turn around for this village. We have been praying for a church to be planted there for many years.

We also held our Christmas parties with our Homeschool Teen Fellowship group in our home and with our church youth group. As Ron worked on the devos for these groups, the details were emphasized. Why did the account of the birth include details like the census, the wisemen stopping to see King Herod, etc. We are sometimes so familiar with these accounts that we often overlook the things we are so familiar with. Why those specific details and not others? It’s fun to dig deeper when these thoughts come to mind.

This year we prayerfully decided to go to the States to spend Christmas with our kids. It had been five years since we last spent Christmas with family and the first year with grandchildren!! We have seven grandbabies from ages 4 1/2 to one month old! We were all able to be together with some flying in from Florida and Mexico and other taking the train in from North Dakota. What a special time we have been having! God is so good.

Cofan Bible Translation Update: So, here is where things stand at this year end. First Drafts have been completed on – Exodus, Leviticus, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel. A revision has been done on Exodus. Currently, Leoncio and Osmar are working on Joshua, Wilson on 1 Kings and Martin on 2 Kings. Please continue to pray for this project and the continued funding need.

Prayer requests looking forward:

• For our family as they travel back to their homes. Aaron and Heather already have returned to North Dakota; Isaac, Yvonne and Esthercita travel back on Wednesday the 1st; Lydia travels back to Mexico on the 3rd & 4th. Ron, Sarah and I will head back to Ecuador on the 9th & 10th. We are hoping to fit in a quick trip to Bellingham Bible Chapel next weekend!
• We have our Homeschool Teen Fellowship meetings starting back up in January and will also be having our fundraiser fair the teens put in to help with the cost of our annual retreat that will come a few months after.
• Prayer request for many requests from the Cofan people for medical needs these past few weeks. Pray for the health especially of our translation team and their families.
• Pray for our car to be repaired better. Ron still needs to get down to the jungle in January to meet with people. Hopefully the needed parts were found while we were away and will take care of the problem, so we will let you know when we get back. Meanwhile, we appreciate the prayer for this situation.