Strong winds

We had a couple of very strong gusts of wind which are uncommon for this time of year. According to the guard at HCJB, he saw one gust coming up the street and jumped into his guard shack.

He watched it past and then saw another gust come down the side-street. Where the two crosswinds met it created a small cyclone and plucked this tree from its' roots.

Now I have some firewood for next year.
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Change the battery?

Joshua told Marlene this morning, "Mommy, I'm going to pray to Jesus that He teaches you to speak English. Maybe Jesus needs to change a battery in you so you can speak English."

"Why do you want me to speak English?" asked Marlene.

"Because English is nice." was his response.

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I thought you might need a bit more context for this to make more sense (plus, it sounds funnier in Spanish). Marlene only speaks to the boys in Spanish and I only speak to them in English. Joshua speaks mostly Spanish at home. If I don't catch myself, I'll listen to him explain things to me in Spanish. It costs him more to explain things in English.

For those of you who understand Spanish, here is the original version.
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Joshua le dijo a Marlene esta mañana, "Mamá, voy a orar a Jesús que te enseñe hablar inglés. Talvez Jesús necesita cambiarte una pila para que puedas hablar inglés."

"Por que quieres que hable inglés?" preguntó a Marlene.

"Porque inglés es bonito." le respondió.

Merry Christmas

Our desire is that this Christmas may be a time of joy as we worship our Lord and Saviour whose birth we celebrate during this time.

Emmanuel, God with us. What a wonderful truth to celebrate! Our God is one who takes a very active interest in our lives and didn't just create us and then leave us to make our way in this lost world.

May you know Him  this year.

Barry
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Happy New Year

We want to wish all of you a very happy New Year and that it may be a year where we focus on Jesus and how we can better know Him, and grow in Him.
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Joshua's at church

This was the first year that Joshua participated in a Christmas presentation at church. He was a sheperd and had a line to say about the true meaning of Christmas.

Joshua is amazing for memorizing things and didn't have much problem to remember his line. Unfortuantely, not all the children showed up the morning of the presentation and so the teacher read the text instead of each child reciting their part.

It was exciting for us to see him participating in this. I still find it hard to believe that he is almost five years old (in April).

Mision Compartida (Shared Mission)

Mision Compartida 2008 is the radiothon that HCJB holds every year from our facilities in Quito, Ecuador. It allows a chance for our listeners to come to the station and see what we do here. It's also a fun time for the kids to play, sing, and hear about Jesus' love for them.

The program ran from December 11 through 13 (Thursday - Saturday). There was around $140,000 pledged to help the station operate through the coming year.

These three days are an opportunity to hear many testimonies from listeners of how God has impacted their lives through the ministry of HCJB.

Improvement in police visibility

We have seen an increase in the number of police patrols through our neighbourhood over the past couple of weeks. This is fantastic as there have been a number of muggings in the area.

Last week a friend stepped into my office to show me a couple of photos he had just taken on his way back to the office.

A few undercover police officers had three young people in handcuffs on the ground...right in front of the street gate to our home!

We give God thanks for the increased patrols by the police and that nobody was in the way when these three people were taken into custody.
Barry
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