Monday, February 9, 2009

Pray for Santi as he travels . . .

We appreciate your prayers as Santi leaves tomorrow (Feb 10) to travel to Australia with his co-worker, Brent. They go first to Melbourne, Australia to visit HCJB's World Office there. We are very aware of the fires they have had and the danger and destruction. We are praying that God will provide safety for Brent and Santi and the other HCJB staff members who are in Melbourne.

Then Brent and Santi head to the Sun Coast of Australia, landing in Brisbane. This is where the week-long summit, hosted by CVC Network (a Christian media organization), will be held. They will be trained on a special software developed by CVC, which helps radio stations such as HCJB to more effectively provide listener follow-up. The cool thing is that the software is being given to HCJB free of charge by CVC; however, they required that Santi and Brent attend the training.

They are looking forward to implementing the software upon their return to Ecuador.

We thank you for your prayers while they travel and spend time in intensive training. Pray also for the HCJB staff in Melbourne during this difficult time.

We so appreciate your prayers and encouragement to us - it means a lot!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Finally a February Update!

It's been a while since I have posted anything. I'm not sure where the month of January went to, but it's now gone! I think we spent most of the month recovering from the busy holidays! But we seem to be on track again now.

Some highlights for you:
1) Nathan is now a walking 13 month old! He prefers walking over crawling and is doing a great job with it.

2) Ruth is staying busy with Nathan (even more so now), the Kids Club at the dump on Wednesday afternoon, and teaching English on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She also works on various projects for Extreme Response from home. One of her main projects in January was gathering 2008 Ministry Reports from ER's partners from around the world. These reports were compiled and given to the ER board that just met in Atlanta. What a blessing to be a part of how God is working in lives around the world! There aren't words to explain it.

3) Santi has been working diligently in the Information Systems Department at HCJB. It seems like there is never an end to the projects that he has. Thankfully, he enjoys computers and working with people, so it's a great combination for him.

4) Santi is still taking the trip to Australia with his co-worker Brent Weeks, this month (Feb. 10 - 22). Please pray as they prepare. They were able to work their ticket to include a vital visit to HCJB's radio station/office in Melbourne. Santi will have a chance to meet many of the people that he works with via "email" - he helps to manage the FTP site which sends many Christian programs around the world via satellite. It will be great for Santi to make these connections and have a better idea of how things work there in the Australian office.

Then they will travel to Brisbane for the week-long summit on the new software that they will be implementing for HCJB Radio. . . . a software that will help with listener follow-up and hopefully, ultimately bring more people to Christ.

5) Finances for the trip - several people have asked about the finances for the trip and if all of them have come in. Funds are still needed for the trip. Both men have committed to raising the funds needed for the trip since HCJB (like many organizations right now) is without budget funds for this trip (due to a shortage of donations). I usually don't like to use this blog to raise funds, but since so many have asked about this, I've decided to include this information.

If you're interested in helping with the funding for the trip ($3,000 still needed), please send your donation to:
HCJB Global - Receipting
1065 Garden of the Gods Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80907

Make checks payable to: HCJB Global. Please note that it is for ACCOUNT #371810 (for the RDS Summit). If you'd like more information about this, please let us know.

We thank you for your prayers and continued encouragement to us as a family! Without you all, it would be difficult for us to continue here, ministering with HCJB Global and Extreme Response International!

I will post more information and photos soon!
Blessings!