Cycling adventures

Always good to get out on the bike, it usually means going up a mountain or along a river, both rather beautiful in these parts of the Andes...

Sauces Norte, the northern part of the valley of Loja

With Alejandra, I can go riding with her at 8:30am which I find so much easier than getting up at 5:30am!

Adventures to Zamora with Angeles

Incredibly beautiful as we head into what is the beginning of the Amazon!

Sometimes a ride ends up as a ride in an ambulance (nothing too, too major with my friend in the end, phew)

I can even fit in a ride with John, once the kids are in school

Out with my big girl, the non-stop talking cyclist

Christmas time in Loja

Christmas in Loja, a sweet time to remember the birth of Jesus, Saviour, Lord and King.

Nativity scene preparation....

Bags of lollies and biscuits to be bought and assembled
(that is a stack of sacks of little animal biscuits, its a serious business here)

Christmas trees to be put up

Christmas lights on

Christmas Eve service with narration of the birth of Christ

Celebrating the birth of Christ, along with Toño's birthday

Cricket on the equator

We inherited some cricket bats from some former Aussie missionaries so John and Mattias have been have a bit of a (small) hit in the (small) back yard.

The other week we had a BBQ with our team mates, so took the opportunity to introduce cricket to them. It was fun to see Bolivians, Germans, Canadians and Australians have a go at hitting with this 'funny' bat.

Earlier this year our SIM 'team' divided up into smaller, ministry focused teams. We are part of the Equipping group, which is aimed at working with pastors and leaders to be able to be better equipped in the task that God has called them to. This means we will continue with what we have been doing up till now with our 'Growing Pastors' focus, but amongst other things we'll be adding another dimension to seeing how we can equip leaders a bit further afield in province areas.

We are a group that brings different life experience, skills, language and cultural understanding to our team, and we all are learning from each other, including how to play cricket!