Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Thank you for your prayers and support these past months. God continues to be faithful to meet all of our needs.

January started off with Ron making a jungle trip to Sinangue and Dureno. One of the goals we have this year is for Ron to meet every month in person with the Cofan OT Bible translation team. This goal was met! Work continues and the new readers/informants that we have brought onto the project has given everyone a boost of encouragement.

Esther finished up the ladies Bible study on Heaven in January and we started up a new study on the book of Mark in February. We continue to keep Sarah busy with childcare during our study with averaging about twelve kids each week.

We also held two Homeschool Teen Fellowship meetings in January, one February 6th and one coming this Friday the 20th. On Saturday the 21st is our annual fundraiser fair to raise funds for the annual retreat coming up in March. Please pray for this event. The theme is “Journey Through the Bible” with the games reflecting events that happened in the Old and New Testament.

On January 21st, our daughter Julia and her husband Paul and their four kids came down to Ecuador for a visit! This was the first visit we have received from any of our grandchildren, so we were very excited. They were accompanied by Paul’s parents, Franklin and Gina Ridgeway, who were a great help. The kids were troopers as we visited Mindo, Mitad del Mundo, spent several days at the beach, visited the Quito Zoo, and visited other family members. It’s rainy season here, so we had some overcast days, but the kids enjoyed running around in t-shirts, shorts and going barefoot – different weather than back in Washington state this time of year! We made many wonderful memories together and hated to see our time end on February 4th.

Our next big event was the Cofan Church Leader’s Course that was held February 9th – 14th. Four men came down from the States to help with the teaching and it was held in the village of Zabalo this time. There was good attendance, questions, and feedback as they went over topics like: Understanding God’s Redemptive Story, The Fear of the Lord, and Law and Grace. Everyone came away encouraged. Ron was busy doing a lot of translating for the sessions and enjoyed seeing our Zabalo friends.

Upcoming things to pray for:

• Our Homeschool Teen Fellowship Retreat scheduled for March 26th – 29th at a local camp. We have Taylor Hollingsworth coming to speak to the teens this year and many fun games and activities reflecting our theme. Pray for hearts ready to hear God’s Word, safety for all, and a time for friendships to grow.
• Pray for Ron’s jungle trips planned for Dureno the last week of February and then again the second week in March. Those will be trips he meets in person with the Bible translation team.
• For Gabriel, Marta and their baby Grace from Sinangue, who has been having monthly appointments here in Quito since last November. They are working towards getting a cleft lip and palate repair for her. At first the healthcare system was saying they might need to go to the coast of Ecuador for the surgery, but last week they were told there is a possibility the surgery can be done closer to Quito. We are praying for the Lord to work out the details and for a successful surgery for little Grace.