Fishing for lunch

On Boxing Day, we decided to do something different and fish for our lunch. You didn't need to have any talent to catch these guys but it was fun anyway. Joel didn't like the idea of having the fish killed and so didn't want to fish. Joshua caught 2, Grandpa 3, Grandma 2, Marlene 2 and I caught 3 (1 without using bait).

With the 12 fish we caught, they weighed in at 3.8 Kg. The restaurant prepared the fish and of course, when they serve the plate with the fish, it is the whole fish, head and tail included! The trout were very tasty!

Grandma had brought a couple of Gospel tracts about being "Fishers of men" and it was very appropriate to present them to the workers there.

Baptism of Joshua and Joel

We had the joy of seeing both Joshua and Joel be baptized on December 6. Both of them had been asking about baptism for more than a year now. The children's ministry pastor had mentioned that he was giving baptism classes to teach the kids what it means to be baptized and that Joshua and Joel could be a part of it. Both of them have expressed many times over the past couple of years that Jesus is their Lord and Saviour. They both wanted to follow Jesus in obedience by being baptized.

In the service that we normally attend Pastor Conto baptized our boys (and a fair number of other young people). It was a joy to see these young people following Jesus in baptism.

Quito Day

December 4 we celebrated Quito Day (which actually occurs December 6) on the campus of Reach Beyond.

This year they had a competition in sweets and typical foods as well. Delicious!

Joshua was the Chulla Quiteno at school and he did an encore here at the office. The gal from the Region didn't have an escort (Chulla Quiteno) and as Joshua was dressed as one he stood in. The regional office won 2nd place when all the events were added up.

Crash corner

The corner where we now live has its fair share of accidents. I think we just didn't hear them all from where we used to live. But this week a car ran the Stop and collided with a vehicle coming down the hill. After bouncing off of a tree the car coming down the hill was stopped by the gate-posts where we lived. As you can see the posts were built well!

Then just this morning a taxi didn't see a motorcycle coming down the hill. The motorcyclist almost managed to get stopped, but not quite. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

New home

We had begun to look for a new place to live as the apartment we have had for the past year has mold and is quite dark. The darkness was not going to get any better with an 8-floor building going up next door. Marlene spotted this place a mere 1/2 block from where we have been and after looking at it we decided that it would be a good fit for us.

It's a bit smaller but has no mold and is very bright and warm. The rent is a more but we'll be paying less in utilities (both lights and water).

Last weekend we moved the majority of our stuff. Marlene has been doing a terrific job of getting the place organized.

We have the bottom floor in the photo.

The talk...

We were privileged to be able to have an open door to share our ADHD talk with some of the teachers at the school Joshua and Joel attend. It went quite well and a couple of them were wanting to ask us questions. Unfortunately, we had less than one hour so we will need to follow-up with the teachers at a later time.

It truly is amazing how God continues to open paths for us to share with others.

This week we have another opportunity to share with more teachers. Pray with us that it would be a benefit to them.

Tungurahua activity - Orange alert

Due to an increase in activity of the volcano Tungurahua (near Banos, on the way to Shell), the government has increased the alert level to Orange. Currently there are almost continuous explosive eruptions creating ash plumes rising 3 km. An area 10-20 km west of the volcano has received up to 2 mm of ash. Incandescent rocks have also been thrown out of the crater during the explosions.