Singing in the choir

 This fall we decided to do something different and sing in the choir at our church. What a joy to participate in the Christmas season drama with choir. We met new people and enjoyed worshiping our Lord and Saviour. We also sang at the transition service for Pastor Luis Estevez, stepping down after 23 years as senior pastor. An event of mixed emotions for a much loved pastor.

Strange weather

 

This is downtown Quito. Rain can be a common occurrence, but hail is quite rare. This afternoon was cool and saw a fair bit of hail fall. The rain didn't stop that afternoon. For a Canuck, it was "cool" to see the white stuff again (even if it was hail).

Made in the image of God...

One must always stop and observe the beauty that is around us. Sometimes, I just look for different things which look different, bright, unique and beautiful. I am then reminded of how each of us is made, unique, but in the image of God. It lets me see things with a different perspective, from the view of eternity spent with our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Matthew 6:27-33 (ESV)

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

 

A photo of flowers from my in-laws' garden.

Christmas Carolling 2020

 We went Christmas caroling this year! This past Sunday, with the help of some musical friends from our local church, we went around the block singing some well-known Christmas songs.

Unfortunately, our time was cut short due to some serious rainfall. But we did enjoy singing in four different areas of our block. Several people greeted us and thanked us for bringing a bit of energy to the neighbourhood.

Hail in Quito

April 16 we had a torrential downpour in the afternoon here in Quito. It only lasted about 20 minutes, but we ended up with a bit of hail which in turn, caused a Volkswagon Beetle to have problems going up the street. He ended up spinning out and needing to backup a bit to try again.

Hail in Quito is very rare, maybe 10 times in the past 18 years.

The BIG 13!

Joshua turned 13 years-old this month. The boys were out of school Monday which worked out well for us. The Presidential Palace has a changing of the guard every Monday at 11am and we had been wanting to take the boys to see it without missing a day of school.

It was something special for both of them as they have never seen it and President Correa was there for the ceremony.

For lunch we went to Rusty's, a hamburger place here which even has Root Beer! The owner of the chain, Rusty, was also there and when he heard that it was Joshua's birthday, he gave Joshua an ice cream. So, it was a very good day!

Joshua and Joel did a doodle for the event. (This is very common. The walls are covered with napkin doodles by customers.)

Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Schools and blessings

It is so neat how God continues to open doors to give our talk. At the end of August we had the director of a school call us to request that we give our hyperactive children talk to the teachers. It was a bit strange for us to receive the request, but when we asked how he had heard about us, he mentioned that a family member of his had been at a church where we had given the talk and had called him to indicate that it would be of interest to the school. Praise God!

Broken window

We were with family at Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World), when the 4.6 magnitude earthquake hit. Where we were it felt like a series of waves moving across the earth. It seemed to go on for about 35 seconds. What we heard of the quake from those in Quito was that it was very sharp and short. I suspect it has a lot to do with type of soil and what type of building you happen to be in.


When we got home, our dog was very nervous, probably in part because where she normally sleeps is directly below the window that broke and there was bits of glass all over the area. It must have been terrifying for her. The next day I went to find some glass to replace the window.

 

Closer to home

Last night at 11:23 pm we had a rude awakening. I woke up to the sound of glass smashing and then I realized that the building was shaking. Just 10 Km north-east of Quito was the epicenter for a 4.7 magnitude earthquake. It was quite shallow at a depth of 8 Km.

Joshua woke up and shouted earthquake and Joel slept through it all.

Marlene told me that the window in Joshua's room was broken and when we looked out through the curtains in our room we noticed that we didn't have much glass in our window either.

I went to find some plastic and tape to cover the windows. Before stepping too close to the building to put the plastic up, I was examining the windows and walls to make sure nothing was going to fall me.

There were two broken windows from the owner's apartment as well.

An hour later the lights came back on and we could try to get back to sleep.

From the reports we've seen this morning there was light damage, mostly broken windows and a couple of slight injuries as a result.

Food allergies

Last week we gave our talk on very active children to a group of teachers and staff at a small daycare facility. Once again one of the attendees came up to talk with us afterwards. It turns out that her own son was describing to her the same symptoms that we had been describing in the talk when someone has an intolerance of lactose.

She felt terrible because she had made her son drink milk because of her concern that he not suffer malnutrition without realizing that the very thing which she thought was best for him, caused him the most trouble.

The responses we have been receiving from people who hear us, encourage us to carry on. The more people who understand how food allergies affect children the better.

At the close we were able to pray with the group of teachers and care-givers who look after a number of children during the day and evening when their parent or parents are out working as street vendors. What a challenge to help these young lives and we pray that many of them would come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

The flower lady

Marlene with the "Flower lady". This lady is out selling flowers almost every day to support her family and put her children through school.

We buy flowers from her when we can. She shows such a great work-ethic.

Smoking volcano

This morning we got a nice view of Cotopaxi as it was spewing some vapour and ash upto 1.5 Km high. You'll need to put up with my photos as it took me a few seconds to get my camera out to take a picture.

The instruments indicate the the crater is becoming incandescent which indicates that magma is nearing the surface. We could have fresh lava being expelled from the volcano.

The photo at the bottom is from a site which explains the current status of the volcano (in English).

Click here if you want to read about the latest activity.

Conferences

We had the opportunity to share our experience in helping active children with a number of teachers at a public school. It was interesting how God opened the door for this time.

A friend of ours in Vancouver asked us to bring down a couple of things for her sister in Quito. When she came to pick them up, Marlene and her began talking and it turns out she was able to get us into this school to share our experiences.

A number of the teachers expressed their appreciation for our time with them and giving them some ideas to use, not only with the hyper-active children but also for use in conversations with the parents of the children.

We thank God for this opportunity and for other opportunities which are on the horizon.

60 Years

It has been a week of festivities for the Hospital Vozandes Quito (HVQ) as it celebrates 60 years of service to Quito and Ecuador to the glory of God.

During its 60 years, the hospital has gone through several expansions and continues to improve the number of services it offers as well as the quality of service it provides.

One thing that hasn't changed much is the desire to provide spiritual care in addition to physical care. There is still a heart for the patients and families that pass through the doors, to show them the love of Christ.

October 12th there was a formal ceremony of remembrance and thanksgiving for God's faithfulness in the ministry of this hospital.

 

The National Police Band gave a mini-concert for everyone within earshot.

After thanksgiving prayers to God for his protection and provision during the past decades, balloons were released to commemorate the occasion.

Several doctors whom have had instrumental roles in the hospital over the years were on-hand to participate in the celebrations.

Changes, changes, changes...

We came back to changes in Quito.

One of the first things I noticed going back to the office was, I had to find my office. During the summer the whole administration area of the Latin America Region had moved to another building on campus and I found that my office had all of my things in it, just not in the same order that I had left them. :-) I also needed to have my budgets done this week, and my PC was having fits.

The building next door had been torn down before we moved into our current apartment and we knew that they would be constructing a new building, we just weren't sure when the construction would start. It turns out they started this week! Part of the process involved taking out the wall that was built on the neighbours lot. Of course, when two walls are built together, taking one down usually does some damage to the second one.

Even with adventure and inconvenience, it is still very good to be back home!

Interesting signs...

We were walking around our neighbourhood one morning and came across this sign which caused us to break out laughing.

"Peque en la puerta de este lado, gracias."

"Sin at the door on this side. Thanks."

We suspect that they made a spelling error, and the sign should have read "Knock at the door on this side."

Safe driving in Quito

I finally found the perfect example of safe driving here in Quito.

While at first glance, the photo may tend to indicate "un-safe" driving habits, don't be fooled.

I know that going the wrong way up a one-way street, or driving a vehicle without a license plate, or even having someone sitting out front so that if there is an accident they are sure to be hurt may not be safe.

But what IS important is what this person is sitting on...a 500 pound safe.

Another eruption?

It certainly looks like another eruption. But looks can be deceiving. The mountain that we could normally see in this direction is Chimborazo and it is snow-covered, but you can't see it from this location. It is actually behind the hill which you just see.

The way the clouds are formed in this photo it certainly looks like a BIG mountain and an erupting one as well. Or, maybe it's just my imagination!

Unusual sight

This was kind of neat to see. We turned a corner and a taxi pulled out from the curb with the Canadian flag displayed where the license plate normally is. We don't see many Canadian flags here in Quito, so they sort of stand out!

Hot weather

We've been having a fairly lengthy time of hot, dry weather with a lot of wind. Perfect conditions for fires.

Sunday, we came out from church and saw this big blaze in Metropolitan Park. By the time they had it mostly under control, late into the night, it had burned about 20 hecters.

They were commenting on the news last night that the blazes keep popping up.

Unfortunately, it appears that this fire was deliberately started.

First photo is taken from HCJB. The second is from the roof of our house.