A loooong trip to Germany

The first week of February I was in Mosbach, Germany for a meeting of Reach Beyond's IT managers and then to attend ICCM. The events were at the OM Germany facility which you can see in two of the photos.

Every two years we try to get together the IT team from our various offices for a time of encouragement and planning. This was the first time in four years that we have met face-to-face. There were two long days of our meetings followed by three days of the ICCM conference.

The International Conference on Computing and Mission (ICCM) is a unique conference focused on techies serving mission and ministries organized by these same people. The Reach Beyond IT group attended the ICCM Europe conference as it provided a more central location for our people coming from England, Spain, Malaysia, the U.S. and Ecuador.

What a great time to encourage each other as we serve Jesus as techies!

The train from Frankfurt was fairly high-speed and we hit 200 Kmh.

I purposely didn't include photos of people in this as many work in difficult areas.

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!