Christmas Parties!

It's been a busy few days - between Thanksgiving and birthday celebrations and guests arriving from the states, we haven't have much time to write anything on our blog!

And we're getting ready for the Annual Extreme Response Christmas party events here in Ecuador! Seventy-five people are arriving from the US to help us with five days of parties in various communities! We are so excited to see what God will do during these days.

As you probably already know, Extreme Response hosts Christmas parties for a number of our partners and projects around the world. These parties are thrown for poor people who have never had the opportunity to just enjoy a day away from the difficult lives that they live. Children receive gifts, adults receive basic food items to take home and everyone has a chance to play some games, do crafts and enjoy a snack or meal prepared for them.

Many have never heard the reason why Christmas is celebrated nor have they had the opportunity to hear about Jesus coming as a baby to bring us salvation. These parties open the door to share the Gospel! Extreme Response and teams from the US, working alongside our partners, will host parties in Ecuador, South Africa, Ivory Coast, The Philippines, Nepal and India.

In Ecuador, from December 3 to December 7, we will host parties in eight different locations. Pray for the ER staff as there are many details to take care of and pray for the team of 75 coming to help us out this year! These parties could not happen without the willing team members who come to help and who also bring POUNDS of supplies, games, toys, and gifts for these parties!

May this be a wonderful time to ring in the season of celebrating Christ's birth!

There is hope for every man . . . .

. . . the start of the chorus of a song by the Christian group, Casting Crowns ("Every Man"). As I was listening to it in the car on the way home from the dump yesterday tears were just streaming down my face. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to walk away from the Wednesday afternoon activities at the dump an unchanged person. . . . God is just doing way too much out there!

I'm thinking mostly of Ivan Chango . . . a man who was once broken and bound by the chains of alcoholism, a man who was often in a drunken stupor at the dump, a man who ran the "mafia" of dump miners (those who dig through the garbage to find anything valuable), a man who beat his kids and wife.

But as the song says:

There is hope for every man
a solid place where we can stand
in this dry and weary land
There is hope for every man
There is Love that never dies
There is peace in troubled times
Will we help them understand?
Jesus is hope for every man

I couldn't help but think about the only thing that made a difference in Ivan's life - JESUS! Let me explain. . .

Two weeks ago I was standing outside the door to the Day Care Center watching the kids come in for the Kids Club and a man came up to me - I barely recognized him as he was all clean shaven, dressed nicely and had a smile on his face! Could this be the Ivan Chango that I used to know - the one who was always unbathed, drunk and unable to say a decent word?

But then I remembered that his nephew, Mateo, used to come to the Kids Club, along with his sister, Margarita. So I asked him about Mateo and Margarita. And that got a great conversation started - one that changed my life and gave me hope once again that yes, these needy people at the dump can change - only through the power of God's Word.

Ivan said - "Do you want to see the great gift that Pastor Jose (our director of dump ministries) gave me?" Of course, I said yes. Very proudly, he pulled off his backpack, unzipped it and pulled out the only thing inside - a large print, black Bible! He quickly started showing me the various passages that he had been reading - all of Exodus 20 was highlighted and marked up. He had several passages in John highlighted as well. He said that he just "can't get enough of God's Word!" That knowing Jesus has changed his life completely! And that Fridays are his favorite day now as he and 24 other members of his family have a Bible study out at the dump with Pastor Jose and his wife Teresa and that God's Word is changing his family too!


With tears in my eyes, I asked him if I could take a picture of him with his Bible. He said sure, but that he wanted his wife María to be there too - so he called her over. Here are the photos taken that day - 2 weeks ago when all doubt was erased from my mind that God and His Word can make a difference on someone's life . . . if you're doubting today - maybe you don't have hope for tomorrow, maybe things just aren't going your way, maybe sin has a hold on you. Remember that there is a man named Ivan at the garbage dump in Quito who was in the depths of filth and sin, more than any of us could imagine, but God pulled him out through many years of faithful ministry to these people and showed him that yes, "There is hope for every man. . . ."


Pray for the Bible study going on each Friday with Ivan and his family. Jose has explained to me that many of them don't know how to read so we're trying to find CD's with scripture on them so that they can hear the Word. Another neat connection with this is that Vicki, a fellow adult sponsor for the Kids Club has a special ministry where she teaches church leaders like Pastor Jose to teach the Bible to people who can't read - a special method that works well. So we're trying to connect Vicki and Jose and some others to work on this. And Vicki has Bible stories on CD as well that she's going to help us with! What a blessing that God already had Vicki in place as one of our adult sponsors so that she could be here to help with this project. We are truly blessed.

Thursday Evening Outreach at the DUMP!

Tonight I got to leave Nathan home with a baby sitter and head out to the dump to help with the Thursday Night Outreach for the workers who dig through the garbage every night. . . .all night long.

It was a great experience. I drove to the dump and met Jose and his wife, Teresa there . . . .along with their kids. Jose and Teresa are Extreme Response's directors of the dump ministries. Mike Bishop and Dan Maloy (Extreme Response staffers) came too - loaded down with the supplies needed to make hot chocolate and ham & cheese sandwiches.

We had a great time in the kitchen at the Day Care, heating up the hot chocolate and putting together the sandwiches. . . . a good time to work and fellowship together!

We then headed out to a large shed/maintenance building there at the dump and set up our goods, waiting for the workers to come up for their break. . . . and they were so excited to get a hot cup of chocolate (it's really chilly tonight) and a sandwich. We enjoyed meeting them and having a chance to share with them.

Some weeks, Jose has shared the Gospel with them and talked to them about knowing Christ as their personal Savior - several times people have made professions of faith.

Pray for this on-going ministry . . . we keep seeking ways to show Jesus' love to these needy people (not just physically, but spiritually!). We try to do the Evening Outreach every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month. We currently don't have funds to do this outreach (we have all been pitching in to make it possible) . . . if you'd like to become involved with this outreach, please let me know.

You can see more photos by clicking HERE.

Wednesday Afternoons . . . .

. . . . are getting crazy! We can hardly believe how much the Kids Club at the Quito dump has grown and developed and there is so much exciting news to share! Every week, I come back from Kids Club so excited about what God is doing and I intend to do a post here and then I seem to get distracted by daily life - so here we go!

Last Weds as I watched everything going on around me, I prayed in thanksgiving and awe to God for such an incredible journey . . . . what started out as a simple little kids club for children who lived near the dump several years ago has now turned into a full-grown ministry, involving so many people - youth, other missionaries, Ecuadorians, etc. God is working in lives and you are all a part of this through your prayers, encouragement and giving!

Here's a synopsis. First, we have the Kids Club . . . this is mostly run by a group of 18 high schoolers from Alliance Academy - this year we have Koreans, Ecuadorians and North Americans in our group. We also have a staff of adult sponsors - all respresenting four different mission organizations. We typically have 40 - 50 children come to the Kids Club. . . .they include children from the neighborhood as well as the children in the Extreme Response Day Care Center at the dump.

We have noticed in approvement in everyone's attitude as we have changed locations this year to the Day Care Center at the dump - we have electricity, bathrooms and a clean place to hold the Kids Club (compared to the run-down shack we have been using for several years).


Then we have the MOM'S CLUB! This was started last year, but only ran sporadically. This year, it's a weekly thing! And it's GROWING! Last week we had 12 people sitting around the one table (time for another table). We have three high school girls who do the preparation and presentation each week - we are very proud of them. The music group (again, high schoolers) comes in and shares worship music. There's a time for prayer and prayer requests. Moms are inviting their friends and relatives. It's growing and lives are being changed! We are amazed.



Then we have a SIGN LANGUAGE class. This was recently started because of a handsome little boy by the name of Jeramy - he and his sister attend Extreme Response's day care center. He is deaf, but that doesn't seem to stop him at all! He's smart and intelligent and keeps us all on our toes. One of our adult leaders mentioned that there is a missionary in her mission who knows sign language and maybe it would be good for her to come and communicate with Jeramy. Well, she did come and before we knew it, she was doing a Sign Language class with Jeramy's mom and dad. What an incredible opportunity to reach this family!


Soon we may start a DAD'S CLUB! You'll notice in the photo above of the mom's club that there is one dad sitting there - the men have shown interest in what is going on at the Day Care Center on Wednesday afternoon. . . .pray with us about this possibility! We're starting to run out of room . . . . but God is working in hearts and lives.

We covet your prayers on Wednesday afternoons . . . there is so much need, opportunity and ministry available to us that we need the eyes, ears and hands of Jesus to reach out to this community of dump workers and their families.

PRAY FOR US ON WEDNESDAY!