Misión Compartida

This coming weekend (Dec 10 - 13) Radio HCJB will host our annual radio-thon fund-raiser called "Misión Compartida" (or Shared Mission).

Last year over $260,000 came in from local listeners in Quito and Guayaquil. During Misión Compartida we also host thousands of listeners who visit the our radio station in order to donate or meet their favorite radio personalities. This is the most significant "touch" we have each year with our listeners.

Santi will be working very long hours during the radio-thon. Please pray for him as he has been very busy with the team here for the Extreme Response Christmas parties Dec 1 - 8 (they return to the US and Canada early tomorrow morning) and on Thursday, the radio-thon begins. He will be providing technical support for the HCJB radio staff, receiving the donations via telephone, email and individuals who come to the station. He will also be helping with the website and keeping it updated as dontations come in.

And please be in prayer for the radio teams who will be hosting this great event.

I know I keep saying that I will post photos soon - I will do so - I promise (probably during the radio-thon during the long evenings here at home while Santi is working)!

a little tidbit from Ecuador

somehow blogging doesn't make it to the top of my list of things to do each day - instead I find myself keeping up with Isabella's feedings, changing diapers, doing a little bit of toilet training with Nathan and just trying to keep up with life in general!

But . . . . just because I haven't been blogging, it doesn't mean that life has been boring - it's been anything but that!

The end of October, we had the privilege of receiving a team from PA, Calvary Church, who provided funds and lots of hard labor to help with the construction of a little church in a little community high up on Mt. Pichincha over-looking Quito. The community is called La Paz and the church is a plant from our own church, El Inca. This is the fifth church plant out of our church and we are proud to be part of what God is doing in La Paz. AND we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the team members from Calvary Church. What a blessing they were to us!

We enjoyed a Thanksgiving celebration on Thanksgiving Day with several families at our home. So fun to enjoy time together. Geoff & Tammy Kooistra came with their three children - Geoff is head of the radio ministry at HCJB Global and is one of Santi's bosses. Ruth knows them from about 12 years ago when they first arrived and she was their "big sister" - she also enjoyed babysitting their children when they were younger. Tim & Amy Dawson came with their three little ones. . . . ages 5, 3 and 2. Lots of playmates for Nathan. Tim works in HCJB Radio (doing radio training) and Amy is a medical doctor. Mike & Carol Bishop are good friends from Extreme Response. And Jeremy and Teresa Hing, Extreme Response missionaries still doing deputation in the US, came down to Ecuador early to get ready for the ER Christmas parties. And finally, we invited one of Santi's college friends, Beto and his wife, Ysenia who is from Russa. They have a little girl who just turned one. We were blessed to share our home and hearts with all of these people. And so much to be THANKFUL for.

And we are really thankful for the Christmas parties going on this week! As most of you know, Extreme Response is hosting a team of 70+ people from the US and Canada who have come to Ecuador to help provide a week-long celebration of Jesus in 8 communities. Today is the party at the Quito dump - over 2,500 people came to enjoy games, fun, music, crafts, photos with Santa and a Christmas message. Here on earth, we will never the impact these parties are having for eternity.

Nathan and Isabella are both doing well - Isabella is 2 1/2 months. Where has the time gone! She is growing and always has a smile for anyone who pays attention to her. A very sweet little lady, indeed. Nathan seems to have adjusted to his new sister and is working on not pinching her and learning to give her kisses! He is also starting to potty train (aleluja!) and his vocabulary is growing (favorite word right now - apple). He is also a joy to have around (most of the time!). We are blessed with two beautiful children.

I hope to post some photos later on this weekend! Thank you for your patience in hearing from us! And we do appreciate your prayers for us! We are looking forward to what God is going to do in this holiday season and into 2010!

Blessings from the Arteaga Family!

more photos . . .

okay - I've been really bad about posting on our blog! I guess I'm realizing how busy life is with two little ones in the house! there's lots to update you all on, but for now, we have some recent photos posted in an album in Facebook - if you'd like to take a look, please click here!

And I promise that sometime soon I will post a better update! We appreciate your prayers for us and your encouragement to us.

Pray for the upcoming Extreme Response Christmas Parties, December 1- 8. Over 70 people from the US and Canada are coming to share the love of Jesus in seven very poor communities in this week-long event. Pray for changed lives because of Jesus!!!

new photos

it's been a busy few weeks, getting used to having a new little one in the house. soon I will post about our adventures in parenthood. in the meantime, if you'd like to see new photos, please click here.

Isabella Sophia has arrived!

Dear Friends and Family -

Isabella Sophia arrived on Tuesday, September 22 at 2:25 p.m. via c-section. Both mom and baby are healthy and are now home recuperating and trying to rest.

She weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 49 cm long (probably around 19 inches). She has dark hair like her daddy and light skin like her mommy. She's sleeping and eating well and doing all the other things new born babies should do (which really isn't much!).

Nathan likes to touch her feet and then giggle. At first, he cried when he saw mommy and Isabella, but now he's enjoying the novelty of having a baby in the house (for the most part!). He's going to be a good big brother. Santi has some time off from the office and is a great help in taking care of all of us!

We are very grateful to have a healthy baby girl and feel very blessed. We thank you for your prayers, words of encouragement and notes during this time. . . . we still need to take the time to read through all of them, but we do appreciate them. We apologize for not posting the news earlier but we weren't able to connect to the wireless at the hospital!

Feeling very blessed -
The Arteaga Family

Moving along . . .

Where did the past month go? Kids are back in school (all schools started on Sept 7 here in the mountains of Ecuador), from what I hear, some trees are even starting to turn colors up in the US and fall is just around the corner.

We have a few things going on here too:
1) C-section for Isabella's birth is still scheduled for Tuesday! We can hardly wait. We need to be at the hospital at 11 a.m. and surgery is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. We appreciate your prayers. All has been going well at our appointments and Ruth is trying to take it as easy as possible.

2) with school starting, we have a new group of high school students who will be coordinating the Kids Club at the dump. We accepted a great group of 18 students - representing a number of different nationalities/countries. We are excited what God has in store for them this year. Ruth will be taking a break during the first semester, but hopes to get back into the swing of things soon.

3) As part of taking that break, Ruth's goal was to have all the crafts lined up for the first semester (all 18 weeks of them!). She is very grateful for a group of ladies who came from Nebraska on a short-term team this summer who organized most of those crafts for her. What a HUGE blessing!

4) Santi has various projects lined up in the computer department at HCJB. They will be upgrading all the HCJB computers for the radio and hospital (400 or so) to a new system, newer version of Microsoft Office, among other things (Santi tried to explain it all to me, but I either don't remember it well, or just didn't understand but you get the idea - lots of work!)

5) We are helping to host a short-term team from Calvary Church in PA the last week of October. Santi will be helping every day at the construction site. The team is coming through Extreme Response and will be adding on to a small church building in a very poor community called La Paz. This church was started by the church we attend regularly (El Inca). They need more space and have a small plot of land to expand on. We hope that this church building will help. This is about the sixth daughter church that our church has started in the past 10 years or so. What a blessing to be a part of a church that is reaching out.

6) We are also gearing up for the Annual Christmas Outreach with Extreme Response . . . .this year it will be December 1 - 8. There's still room on the team if you want to come and help. We are expecting around 70 volunteers from various places in the US and Canada to come and help with this week-long outreach to poor communities. It's a wonderful way to start the holiday season! And we look forward to a number supporting churches and individuals coming on this team!

We appreciate everyone's emails, prayers, words of encouragement and excitement about Isabella's arrival. We will post info and photos as soon as possible! We are so grateful for modern technology that allows us to do that.

In the meantime, we continue to move along . . . waiting anxiously for Tuesday!

Good report at the doctor's today . . .

. . . all is going well with the expected arrival of Baby #2 - Isabella Sophia. The doctor said this pregnancy has gone really well and things are . . . well, just perfect! We were so blessed to hear those words! It looks like we have around 4 more weeks to go . . . with a c-section planned for around Sept 22. We appreciate everyone's encouragement and prayers. We're getting Isabella's room ready and trying to prepare Nathan as best as we can. And we are excited, of course!