Saved by Grace Alone

A while ago Oswaldo asked me to share at his church on the topic of Salvation by Grace. Wow, what a theme to teach, there is so much to say and he said I had forty minutes to do it in. By the end of the night, an hour and a half later, we were done and they were a little bit more aware of what their friends here in Loja and what people in times past believed about Grace and we finished off with what salvation by grace is from a reformed perspective. What a great night.

I started off thinking that I would spend ten minutes explaining other positions and then presenting what their church believed. I wasn't ready for all their questions regarding other positions, but they were great questions, and thankfully my Bruce Demarest purchase (The Cross and Salvation)  many years ago helped me to get a good grasp on this area and provided the much needed background for the many questions.

I love these opportunities to teach and I think nowadays it is much easier than we first started here. Mainly because my spanish is much better and I am able to clearly understand the questions, or I'm able to say that I don't understand the question. I find that the more you understand a language the more you are able to say that you don't understand, you can understand all the words, but the idea or what they are actually trying to say is beyond you.

Thankfully this didn't happen too much during the night, and with the use of a T-shirt I managed to explain all these different positions of grace and they understood and were encouraged.

Let me know if you work out how the T-shirt was used for my explanations.

Walking up a mountain

Once again we managed to get out and into the Andean mountains with the kids. We had done this walk twice before with the kids and the first time was with Annalise on John's back nearly the whole walk. Not this time.
The kids were marvellous with Mattias running at every small stretch of walk that wasn't a climb and Evie singing and talkingth e whole way, and Annalise jumping and walking with the odd carry here and there.
We do love getting out into the mountains to see some of nature and hear the things that the kids are learning at school, especially as they are learning all this in Spanish and therefore find it easier to explain in Spanish rather than English. Who would have thought family outings turn into Spanish lessons for us parents!
We are back at home now, have filled the outdoor pool with warm water for them to have a relax and play for a while.
Here are some photos of the journey, Mattias helped by taking some as well.

Eight years to go

If you knew that you only had 8 years left in ministry, what would you spend it doing? Preaching to your friends? Training potential leaders? Building a library? Creating a trust portfolio that would leave scholarships for years to come? Or just going crazy in your neighbourhood evangelising anyone and everyone, because for you, the end is near!

When I think of people involved in missions and their longevity, I have to say that it is like we only have 8 years left to live. The average life span of a long term missionary in SIM at the moment is roughly 8 years. That means you have 8 years to learn language, build some sort of ministry, maintain a family at high stress levels and give glowing reports to your supporters, and then..... Dead! Well at least you're gone.

Stated so bluntly, this may sound a bit crude, but I think the point is clear, there is a massive investment in creating and supporting a missionary to get onto the field and if we are not thinking strategically about the roles we take and the legacy we leave then we might as well only have 8 years to live!

There is often a lot of flexibility in the way a missionary structures their time and what their ministry looks like. And so there is a need to think carefully about the activities we get involved in and the reason for doing it....how is it bringing glory to God? Is this a sustainable ministry for local believers to continue or I am creating something beyond their reach? Is this an appropriate activity for a season with a specific goal, or is it better not to pursue a particular idea? There needs to be some sort of framework for decision making.

For me personally, I like to have my plan sorted out, I have my vision and I have a few strategies to help me get there. Sometimes I need to stop and wait on God for an answer, in fact, if I'm honest I have to chain myself down, but as time goes on depending and waiting on God is getting easier and easier.

I would say to fellow and potential missionaries to explore the options for a few years, get some good friends and then send roots down that will leave a lasting legacy. Get the local church on board, if there is one, and help them with their goals, if they let you. If there is no church, plant one and let them take over sooner rather than later. And whilst doing all this, wait on God and learn to wait on God, because he will bring his purposes to fruition.

For His glory.

Kids song in spanish

Want to see a funny song being sung by Evie and Tijs? Check this out....Evie says it´s called 'me subo a la mesa' What a hoot!

A new license

I started yesterday to get a new license, well really I tried to start last week by going to the transit police to see what was needed. I had my list! I went to pay at a place close to our house and at didn't work so had to go back up to the police and pay there, however the system didn't let me give them my passport number as it includes a letter, so I had to go to a bank in the middle of town and pay. I got to that yesterday.
Today I got in the line and thought all was good, however there were around 45 people in front of me, a long wait. I was two people away from being served and their system went down, and it went down another 4 times before I finished the process.
I got to the place where they revise all paperwork and say that everything is fine, and that's when they said I had unpaid fines. Woops. So had to go to another bank in order to continue on with the process. I didn't know about the fines as they never gave me a ticket and they also never send reminders. They were from 2009 and 2011!! So a late fee was necessary.
With the payment done, I went and took the exam that is compulsory for every renewal, and managed without studying to get 95%, one error was because I had to say what the vehicle classes D and F were, but had to guess them both!! At least I got one right!!!
Here is a copy of the license...

The one thing I am glad about is that it is for five years, which means I don't have to do this process for a long time. Talk about a happy boy.

New group for Equipping Servants (ESI)

So far three groups have started ESI, two men's groups (have completed one year) and one women's group (just finished 6 months). It has been wonderful to see the relationships that have been formed in this time, not just for us, but for all in the group making life-long relationships with people they can visit just around the corner. It has been a pleasure to watch them grow and learn to read their bible with an increased understanding and be able to read a theological book and interact with it at a deeper level than prior to starting the course.

We have recently received a donation which has enabled us to open another group and this is wonderful news for us. In the photos below you will see a number of men keen to start this course after the introduction night.

This week coming all four groups will be commencing after a break of about 4 weeks.
Pray for continued energy for Tomas who will be leading them and for those who attend that they will continue to have the energy to go deeper into God's word.