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As we haven't really updated you much lately (sometimes things were changing so quickly it was hard to know what to write), here will be a summary of what has been happening.
Last summer we were transferred from Quito to Shell, Ecuador, at the edge of the Amazon Jungle (where Nate Saint had his base when the five missionaries were killed in 1956). The original job description was that Steve would split his time between Information Systems and Community Development. When we finally moved down to Shell, the job had been changed to working primarily in Information Systems and helping out in Hospital Administration.
This started out with the changing of the hospital software system almost right after arriving in Shell. The remote connection to the system in Quito with the difference in requirements along with the problem of bad data in the database made Steve the point man for all the complaints from the doctors and employees. Additionally, Steve was the acting Administrator when the Administrator was away from the hospital taking calls at all hours when someone needed authorization to admit someone who couldn't pay or the like.
While Steve was busy doing this, Pauli, besides caring for the house and kids, took on the job of managing the Guest House for the hospital. It wasn't necessarily a hard job, but one that she had to constantly keep on top of. She also was helping out the Spanish learning in the missionary school by reading to the kids in Spanish and teaching them about the different Ecuadorian holidays. Toward the end of our time there, she was also asked to be part of the housing committee that managed all the housing for the mission in Shell and to be part of the Charity Fund committee that helped decide to whom and how much to disburse to help out those that couldn't pay their hospital bills.
We had planned to come to the United States for the summer for our Home Ministry Assignment (“HMA”or furlough), but about six weeks before we were to leave, we heard that Steve's position would be filled by an Ecuadorian national employee. The thought was that we would still return to Ecuador in another position either in Quito or Shell, but as things changed almost daily we finally made the decision to sell all our things in Ecuador and pack up our whole lives in about 24 suitcases (four of which are still in Ecuador) and change organizations to work along the US/Mexico border.
The transition
has had its difficulties—From one moment almost to the next our position in the organization was filled with a national and we had to pack all of our lives into 24 suitcases. We were left with our plane tickets, and our contacts with churches in the United States. Our kids didn't understand what was happening—only that they wouldn't be seeing their friends and family in Ecuador and had to sell their things. The one bright spot for them is that they would be able to see their Grandparents and cousins in the US and God had showed his hand in some of the situations of the last couple of months in Ecuador. We knew that he was with us in the midst of everything.
Now, after a few months in the States we continue to trust God in the midst of the transition. We are living in Green Valley, Arizona close to the support of Steve's parents and friends we had made last HMA about 3-4 years ago. Keilah and Kendra have started school (it started on August 5th here in Arizona!), have begun to reconnect with their friends from before and to make new friends, and, along with Kyle, are having fun with their Grandparents.
As for the next steps for our ministry, we are currently on our last home assignment reconnecting with friends and churches while we recuperate from our last—somewhat difficult—year. On January first of 2010 we will be officially with World Radio Network (WRN) also known in Spanish as Radio Cadena Manantial (RCM). This ministry is a partner ministry with HCJB Global that has its focus the border region between the United States and Mexico and has radio stations from the southern tip of Texas through Yuma, Arizona. Steve will be in charge of Information Systems in the western half of the region from El Paso, Texas through Yuma. Pauli will be in charge of the home and kids while waiting to see how the Lord might use her in ministry in this new location.
We ask you to keep us in your prayers while we recuperate and that we would be sensitive to the leading of God in how he would lead our family to minister in this area. Please pray also for any hurts that the transition might have caused to be healed.
Thank you so much for faithfully praying for us and for your support of our ministry, financially and otherwise. We thank God for you and your desire to serve with us in this ministry of the only God and Almighty Lord.
Steve, Pauli, Keilah, Kendra, & Kyle
P.S. We want to thank God for his working in finding housing for us. Please thank God with us in the sale of our townhouse in Quito. Please pray with us as we apply for a loan for a home here in the United States.
