“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.”  Proverbs 17:22

After several weeks of bouts with parasites and worries about the safety of family members during Hurricane Ivan, I wrote this to family and friends on October 10, 2004.

It’s such a nice surprise when things actually work out according to a plan around here, and this morning was one of those times. Last Thursday night we had our Quichua guys over for a training session — Eduardo, Daniel, and Ignacio.  They participated well and were very enthusiastic — and that Spanish just flew out of Steve’s mouth as if it actually belonged there!  🙂 🙂 So, this morning (Sunday) those 3 went with us to San Marcos (about 45 minutes north of Cuenca) and did most of the teaching. There were 7 young people ready and waiting to learn, and the guys did a great job.  On the way out there and back, we helped each other with language. Ignacio is studying English, and Steve and I are constantly trying to improve our Spanish, so the camaraderie in correcting each other’s mistakes created a lot of laughter.  Ignacio is the only single person in the group, so he has to endure quite a bit of teasing. All three are dirt-poor but have such genuine hearts. They are a real blessing to us.

When we got back to Cuenca, Steve stopped at a chicken restaurant to get the guys some lunch. Now, they are headed to Molleturo (about an hour and a half west of Cuenca) to visit a man who is studying to be a veterinary technician and wants Steve’s help.  They are hoping to persuade him to allow a Bible study to begin in his home in the near future. We think he’s going to be our “man of peace” in that area (Luke 10:1-11).

I have a lot of work to do preparing for a group of volunteers coming soon from Washington State, so I opted to let the guys go on without me.  However, they “casually” mentioned that Ecuador is playing Chile in a very important soccer game this afternoon at 4:00 and were ecstatic when we invited them to watch it on the television in our apartment (none of them has a television), so I’ve got snacks waiting for their return.

As we’ve explained to y’all before, our job is to train and empower the Ecuadorian Christians to reach their OWN people, so we feel that today has been a very successful step in that direction.  It feels good.

Thanks for being such faithful prayer warriors.