John's parents in Loja

Having arrived back from Quito on Sunday morning we looked back and thought about the wonderful time we had while John's parents were here. While Karine was off in Thailand my parents arrived and then they stayed for a week and a half after Karine came back. We certainly had some good times for them and they too realised the dificulty of getting around for Dad, as Loja is not very wheelchair friendly.

It was great to see both Mattias and Evie enjoy having Opa and Oma here for a while to spoil their grandkids.

Mum became the adventurer with regular visits to the shops on her own and catching taxis when she was far enough away and didn't want to walk back. At $1 for a taxi, who can blame her.

Dad was certainly pleased with the television as being in South America means that there is football (Soccer) on nearly every waking moment. Thankfully there were times that he turned the TV off.

Storm hits Loja

Saturday morning was lovely, sunny and warm. Slowly, clouds began to form, and the sky darkened. Soon there was thunder and lightening. I was relishing the sound and feel of a good thunderstorm as they are few and far between here in Loja. Then the heavens opened and it bucketed down, what a great feeling.

However, the next morning driving to church along the river we were amazed to see how much damage the torrential downpour had created. The river burst its banks in a few places, ripped out trees, damaged a few bridges, swept one completely away and all in all made a big mess.

So, the men in green are currently out in force for the big clean up operation. Not quite the scale of a big Sydney storm but impressive all the same.

Preach it brother

Well, how a few days can change your life. Many of the people who came to the preaching conference were asking, "When is the next one?" Something must have turned out alright. When I think about Monday before the conference and the lack of enrollments, my mind wonders how I even coped. By the grace of God, and the prayers of many. Thank you!

We ended up have 58 people enrolled, and I was glad that a number of people decided to go home at night, as the place where we stayed only had space for 50 people to sleep. 

It was a real blessing to have Morgan and Anna up here from Language school in Arequipa to help out and get to meet people they will hopefully be ministering to in the near future. I think as a networking tool, the conference worked a treat and has opened many doors for future ministry. One of the doors it opened was for me (John) is to go to a small town this weekend to give evangelistic talks to a youth group. Another door that has been talked about is to start a preaching group within Loja. As we think and pray for direction for where we go from here, we are sure that more doors will open. 

I have included some pics from the conference, some regular shots, plus the extra one of Morgan and I trying to work out the best location for the group photo.