“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7

Thank you so much for all your prayers for us during this busy season. These past months have been full of so many things and we have seen God working in wonderful ways.

March

This month started out with Gabriel, Marta and little Grace receiving the news that they were to take her to Riobamba to prepare for her cleft lip operation. We realized we had some acquaintances that live in Riobamba (about 4 hours from where we live) that sometimes send their homeschooled son to our Homeschool Teen Fellowship group. We contacted them and they graciously desired to help and host this Cofan family from Sinangue for the duration of little Grace’s surgery and recuperation. What a blessing! Little Grace’s surgery was successful and her family were truly blessed by the actions of this sweet Christian family that reached out to them in their time of need.

Also during this time, Ron decided he better have another check up on his knee. It had been three years since his last one and though his knee didn’t seem any worse, it also hadn’t improved. We saw a new doctor this time and they were able to access his previous tests and took a new one to compare. Right away the doctor ordered some therapy for Ron’s legs and wanted a follow up. At the follow up, the doc said he was a definite candidate for knee replacement surgery, but was only a “3” on a scale of 1 – 4, with “4” needing surgery. He will continue with what we have been doing and praying about God’s timing for anything to be done in the future. We do appreciate your prayers.

Other events this month were two Friday Teen Nights for our homeschool group, hosting some missionary friends that passed through, and preparing for the annual Homeschool Teen Fellowship Retreat March 26 – 29.

This year our retreat was at Bellevue Camp in Tabacundo. Our theme was “Prepare your Minds for Action” from 1 Peter and we introduced our topic – The Persecuted Church. Taylor Hollingsworth, a missionary down in Tena, was our speaker for four sessions bringing God’s Word from 1 Peter. We had six teams that were “churches” that competed in events, but also supported each other. We had individual Bible memorization and team memorization, with one team working together to memorize the whole book of 1 Peter! Ron and Sarah did such an amazing job with all the planning, especially all the activities. We had a lot of prayer, talking about different countries Christians live in with persecution and then spending time praying for them. It was a time filled with fun, team building, and learning. We had great feedback from both our team of amazing helpers and leaders and from the teens. God is so good!

April

This month saw us continue with our regular activities of Monday teen Bible study, Tuesday afternoon ladies Bible study and our twice monthly Friday Teen Nights. Ron also continued with his knee therapy, which caused us to postpone (both in March and April) his usual jungle trips. Instead of those jungle trips, he was able to meet with Aurelio, our Cofan friend that lives near us. They spent many evenings working on some of the tough chapters in Exodus. Some of the hardest are the chapters on the Tabernacle furnishings – there are just no Cofan words for what is being described. Pray for wisdom as they finish this book of the Old Testament and the team continues on with first drafts of other books. We also had Martin and his wife Sandra up from the jungle one weekend to work with Ron on the OT Cofan Bible translation project. We hosted other missionary families passing through, enjoyed the graduation of one of our homeschooled youth, attended the 65th wedding anniversary of Lloyd and Linda Rogers, went to a women’s retreat, and helped a friend working on her dissertation paper update. Whew!

May

May started off with Ron and the men from our church heading out for a Men’s Retreat at Bellevue Camp in Tabacundo, the 1st to the 3rd of the month. Their theme was about Postmodernism and the Church from a Biblical viewpoint and only proved there is “nothing new under the sun!” They had a good group of guys from the church and many friendships were built up and walks with Christ continued and nourished.

We have been winding down ministry here in Ecuador this month before some travel. Esther wrapped up the ladies Bible study in the book of Mark chapter 7 on the 5th; our last Friday Teen Night was on the 8th; and the last Monday teen Bible study was on the 11th. Ron is currently down in the jungle visiting the villages of Sinangue and Dureno this week. Monday night the 17th, we start our travels to the States – Ron, Esther and Sarah – for a couple months of visiting churches, family and friends. Sarah will meet up with our oldest daughter, Lydia, and they will be heading to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky to work their ninth summer at the Ararat Ridge Zoo. Ron and Esther will be spending most of their time in Washington state and Oregon, and speaking at several churches. We appreciate your prayers for us as we travel, visit and welcome a new grand baby!

(Photos of our last Teen Night of the season – the annual Ping-Pong Tournament!)

Prayer Concerns

• For our time in the States from May 18th – July 23rd (Sarah doesn’t return to Ecuador until the end of August). We will be sharing at churches on May 24th, 31st, and June 7th before heading to the Spokane area to spend some time with some of our other kids. New grandchild is due around June 20th.
• Pray for our Ecuador property caretakers while we are gone – Nataly, Diana and the boys.
• Remember to pray for the Cofan Old Testament Bible translation project. It will continue while we are gone and with technology, Ron will be able to check in with the guys regularly while we are in the States.
• Pray for the project Sarah and Esther have been working on – Dad Borman’s autobiography. We hope to complete it this year. Not sure how to publish it yet, so if you have ideas, let us know!

If you would like to contact us about a visit, you can email us at: mdelmbormans@gmail.com, or message us on our US cellphone at: (541)990-7707. We also post more frequent updates and current prayer items on our Facebook page: Borman’s Broadcast.

Serving the Lord,

Ron and Esther Borman