Educating, modelling, releasing, equipping, supporting…..the value of a MK teacher is priceless!

Annie as 'la niña profesora' - the child teaches!

Since preschool we have had our kids in a local Spanish school, about half an hour out of town, on the side of the mountain. It has been such a unique schooling experience, with great things like hikes up the mountain for a science class or to the little stream, seeing new born baby calves, breathing the mountain air, learning about local plants and animals and everything in-between. I am so glad they have had their early school years in such a stimulating, relaxed and fun environment!

As our kids are getting older, we decided it would be helpful to get them up to speed in learning in English. Evie this year has been studying at our little SIM school for MKs (missionary kids) and Mattias will join her in September for the new school year. 

MK School hike in Poducarpus National Park

We have a great team of teachers to take on the task of teaching our crew of Aussies, American, Irish/Ecuadorian, Mexican/Ecuadorian kids. They flex between farenheit, celcius, metric, spelling….the list goes on, they love on our kids, and encourage them in Lord. 

Nolan and Terry Purtell have been here for a number of years, Jensine arrived in August last year to come and teach for one year. We are really thankful that the Lord has put it on Jensine’s heart to return for the next school year (if not longer!). 

As Jensine transitions from short to long term, she will need to raise her support significantly. Will you pray with us that the Lord will raise up prayer and financial supporters so that she can return hopefully by September? If that doesn’t happen, we will be short a teacher in the MK school and parents will be filling in. 

Here’s a link to an article Jensine wrote about her time so far in Ecuador - https://www.simusa.org/prayforteachers/for-the-first-time-in-my-teaching-career-i-am-able-to-freely-share

Let us know if you would be interested in partnering with Jensine in any way!

Some good bike rides

Over the past few months, I’ve taken the opportunity to take some visitors on bike rides. It’s been a great way to talk and also a great way to get the blood flowing.

With Chris

Chris is the SIM Zonal coordinator for East Africa and was the South Sudan Director for a good number of years before that. He and his wife Bev, have been our mentors the past two years as part of SIM's Leadership Development program. This two year program pairs up mentors with new leaders within the mission, to walk with them as they grow into their new role and responsibilities. It has been such a blessing to us, and especially John, to come to grips with 'being director' and all that it entails!  In May we will graduate from this program and then Karine and I will be appointed two new leaders from within the SIM community to mentor and develop over the next two years. It is great to work with an organisation that helps it's leaders grow in such a tangible way!

With Bruce

Bruce is the current SIM USA Director. Bruce came with a small team late last year to visit our SIM USA missionaries and also work on promotions material for use in the USA. We were really glad he could also invest into our leadership team with excellent teaching on strategy development for SIM Ecuador. 

With Phil

Phil, a fellow Aussie, was part of the team that came for the review of SIM Ecuador in March. Phil and his family were missionaries in Peru for many years and he and his wife are now based in SE Asia. We are trying to work on strategy for the next number of years and this review process, mandated through an initiative of SIM International every 10-15 years, will help guide us for years to come. 

Mattias

Mattias loves to get on the bike for an adventure, even better when we get all muddy. At nine, he is funny, mischievous, inquisitive and good fun to be around. We love to watch Star Wars together, build Lego together and I occasionally still win a board game against him.