We are thankful!

Our entire family wants to say Happy Thanksgiving to you, our family and friends! We are so thankful for the way you have stood faithfully behind us through the 9 years we have been in Ecuador. We wouldn't be here without you and all the prayers and financial support you faithfully give! Thank-you from the bottom of our hearts.

Scott

Above all, I am thankful for God's marvelous plan for this world. In spite of the fact that there are often difficult things in our lives, I am thankful that our God is all-wise and that everything is purposely designed to give us joy as we see His glory shine through the darkest of circumstances. I am thankful that we can have this confidence because of the scriptures that God gave us.

I am also immeasurably grateful for the blessing of my family. God has given me a wife that supports me in so many ways, helping to make me a much better person and making me more effective in ministry. He knew we were well suited for each other and I am thankful for His good plan in bringing us together.

I am thankful for each one of my children and how they are displaying godly character and growing in maturity weekly. Children truly are a blessing from the Lord.

I am thankful for the amazing priviledge it is to be involved in God's global work of calling a people to himself even if I just have a very small part of it here in Ecuador.

I am extremely thankful for each one of our supporters who have a part in our ministry through prayer and financial giving to make our work possible.

Kristi

I am so thankful for so many blessings from God! My husband of 22 years, who is always there for me, loving me unconditionally. My children who make me laugh and cry. What would I do without them! They bring so much life to our home. Right now we are counting down the days till David comes home for 3 weeks at Christmas. Only 22 days to go. Thankful he loves school and has adjusted so well.

I am thankful for health. The last years have been very difficult for me as I have dealt with so many health issues. I am celebrating 1 year without surgery this month after having 3 major surgeries within 18 months. A year ago I was recovering from surgery and just lay on the couch watching my family decorate the Christmas tree.

I am so thankful to God that he has my life planned out! "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future". I feel overwhelmed by the way God has provided a place of ministry this year. I love the opportunity to be a full time teachers aid for the 6th grade class! I love the co-workers I have and my 35 6th graders. After staying home with my children for 19 years, I didn't know how I would adjust to this huge change in my life. But I wake up in the mornings looking forward to my days! So thankful to see how God is still working in my life and molding me into who he wants me to be.

Joel

I be thankful for my family and the opportunity to have a wonderful house to live in. I am also thankful that David gets to come back for Christmas this year. This is not to mention the fact that I am very thankful to have a wonderful home to go to. This is Kansas of course.

Luke

I am thankful for GOD because of all the wonderful things he gives me. I am also greatful for AAI (my school) not just because of the education but the friends. I love my family so much, so in that case I am definitely thankful for them. I'm also very happy for all the little things in life like the pretty view from our house, a bed, blanket and pillow, a house, food, water, plants, my older brother Joel, and a yard. :P There are so many more things but they would not fit on this page.

Lindsey

Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for my family. And I am thankful for the world. And I am thankful for my house that keeps me safe. And for God who made me.

Prayer Update

It has been a BUSY month but a good one. Scott has been trying to keep up with a variety of things. The biggest news is that we have an offer on the Avant office and apartments. Please pray that things go smoothly, for all the paperwork to be in place, for understanding with the real estate agent as she has been rather difficult to work with, and for all the other details required.

The other side of the property was originally supposed to be turned over to the new buyers in July but still hasn't actually happened. We finished up the paperwork on our end the end of September and now the buyers are doing some on their end. Please pray that this will all get finalized quickly with no further problems.

Thanks for praying for Kristi's transition to working at Alliance Academy this school year. The transition has been much easier than we would have imagined. Kristi wasn't sure whether she would really like going back to work outside of the home, but now she says she loves her job! We are overwhelmed by God's loving guidance in providing this job as it allows our 3 children to continue attending Alliance Academy. In the past Avant has had teachers at the school giving credit for our children to attend at a reduced rate. This year we are thankful for the credit Kristi receives going towards the tuition.

Alliance Academy is a missionary kids school that has been here in Quito for more than 80 years. This year the school has a near record enrollment of over 600 students. Kristi is working as a teachers aide in 6th grade along with the math and science teacher. There are 34 6th graders this year, Luke being one of them. They are a wonderful group of kids. She spends her days grading papers, making copies, answering questions, or anything to help out the teacher. Please pray for Kristi as she develops relationships with the kids and strives to meet the many needs represented among them.

Scott recently took a trip to Chimborazo to teach a one-day workshop on one portion of our declaration of faith. It was well appreciated and they are asking for more workshops to be offered to a wider group of people. Pray that we could reach some churches where there is doctrinal confusion about where they stand and help them to be more firm in their acceptance of Biblical truth.

Scott took another trip to Babahoyo about a week ago to help connect some pastors in that area with a group of retired pastors who are hoping to begin a discipleship program for younger pastors. It was exciting to see Ecuadorians initiate this ministry and to be a part of helping make the necessary connections. Pray that much good would come out of this in the lives and ministries of the pastors in the Babahoyo area.

Pray for details related to sale of the Avant property.

Praise the Lord for a good experience for Kristi at her new job.

Pray for good use of opportunities to share Biblical doctrine.

Praise the Lord for a new discipleship ministry in Babahoyo.

Pray for pastors in this area to make good use of the opportunity.

New Routine

We are thankful for the 8 weeks we were able to be back in the US this summer. Here are some of the the things we will remember from our summer:

• Getting to spend these weeks with David. He stayed busy painting and took 2 classes at a local junior college.
• Being able to care for Kristi's mom following her knee surgery. We are always thankful for the room she has for us and for her putting up with all the extra noise, etc.
• Being able to visit nearly all of our family. The kids e
  njoyed some fun times with cousins.
• Joel was able to join the youth group from our home church and go to Denver on a missions trip. They were able to do a VBS for some inner city kids and some work projects at a World Impact camp.
• Luke was able to attend a basketball camp with his cousin. The camp was put on by a former Jayhawk player, Wayne Simeon, who is a Christian.
• A record setting hot summer with nearly every day being over 100 degrees.
• Being able to visit many of our supporting churches and individual supporters and share about our work in Ecuador. And it always is such an encouragement to us being able to spend time with you our family, friends and supporters.

We have now been back in Quito for almost 3 weeks. It is good to be home again. On the way home from the airport, Luke commented how good it was to be back home in Quito with the busy stop and go of traffic. We don't all enjoy that but it is good to have our spring like weather back. It is also good to be back with friends here. And it is good to be getting back into a routine again.

It is a new routine for us. Kristi is working full time at Alliance Academy this year. She is working as a teacher's aide in 6th grade. She has enjoyed her first two weeks of work, even thought it is a new challenge after being home with the kids the past 19 years. Pray for her as she tries to get everything done at home and also as she works in the classroom.

Lindsey is in 1st grade this year. She is reading more and more. Luke is in 6th grade and gets to be in the classroom with his mom part of the day. Joel is a Junior. Pray for him as the homework can get a bit heavy at times. David also is back at Wheaton for his 2nd year. He is getting a start to some of his engineering classes.

One of the biggest issues we are facing here in Quito is the sale of mission property. The guesthouse has been sold but hasn't been turned over to the new owners yet, because of some legal issues we are working through. To make a long story short, our mission needs to be registered with a new government agency before we can renew the registration of the Executive Board and then deal with the Land Titles Office. Meanwhile, the sale of our other property with the office building and apartments fell through. We are the only Avant missionaries in Quito for 2 months, so for now Scott is the one working through these issues and maintaining the properties.

Peniel Seminary is beginning a new year of classes the end of this week. Scott will not be teaching for now because of his responsibilities in Quito. Nevertheless, continue to pray for growth for the students and further development of the seminary program.

Pray for Scott as he prepares a one-day conference on October 4 in San Bernardo concerning biblical doctrine.

We received some difficult news just over a month ago regarding our brother-in-law, Dan Penner (Scott's sister's husband). He has liver cancer and things are looking very serious for him. He will soon begin chemotherapy and radiation treatments, hopefully followed by a liver transplant. Please pray for his health and for strength for Cheryl and their four children, ages 5 to 15.

Praise the Lord for a good summer in the US.

Praise the Lord for our return home to a normal routine.

Praise the Lord for Kristi's teacher's aide position.

Pray for adjustment to her new responsibilities.

Pray for each of the kids in their educational needs.

Pray for Scott as he maintains the Quito properties.

Pray for legal issues to be resolved in the sale of property.

Pray for the new school year at Peniel Seminary.

Pray for Scott's conference on Oct. 4.

Pray for health for Dan Penner and strength for his family.

Greetings from the US

Since we last wrote you we have been busy with settling in to our new home in Quito and coming back to the US for a short home assignment. We have been in the US for almost a month now. We've been so busy traveling and visiting people that it has been hard to keep all of you updated with email. It has been good to reconnect with several of you and we are still looking forward to seeing many more before we go back to Ecuador next month. Pray that we will be able to visit many supporters this summer and increase our support level a little.

One extra challenge was an unexpected trip to Houston where we had to renew Lindsey's Ecuadorian passport. Since she is a citizen of Ecuador she actually carries two passports. Unfortunately during our trip home we realized that her Ecuadorian passport had expired and we would need to renew it before our trip back to Quito. Scott and Lindsey took the trip alone. Things went smoothly at the consulate and now we are hoping to receive it in the mail later this week. Pray that there won't be any snags in this matter.

One of Lindsey’s favorite moments was

a little stop to see Sam Houston!

Kristi's mom had knee replacement surgery a couple of weeks ago. We are helping her with her recovery process. Her recovery was complicated a little since her shin bone broke during surgery. Nevertheless we are seeing improvement. Please pray for her continued healing.

Pray that God would maximize our efforts at connecting with people this summer.

Pray for an increase in financial support.

Praise the Lord for an easy renewal of Lindsey's passport.

Pray that her passport would arrive as expected.

Praise the Lord for his help for Kristi's mom.

Pray that she would be encouraged by continued healing.

Transitions

So much has happened since we last wrote to all of you. The mission property is sold. An insurance company bought all of it and has plans on tearing down the buildings and building a large new building. The papers are signed and they will take possession July 5th.

So we spent much of March looking for a house to rent. It was rather discouraging at times but Saturday Scott bought a newspaper and we went to look at a house that was advertised and loved it.

The owner didn't want to wait till May and asked us to start paying rent by the 10th, less than a week from now. The house is mostly ready to just move into. Scott will be painting the walls in the kitchen and will work on that this week. Then the following week we will start moving things in. We feel mixed emotions as our home for the past nearly 9 years is going to be torn down, but are excited for the house God has provided for us.

View from the Backyard

March also was a time of celebrating the work God has done here in Ecuador. About 50 former missionaries to Ecuador as well as several from the Avant home office were able to join us for these celebrations. It truly was a great time as we heard testimonies of lives changed through the years. It also was a time of encouraging the church to continue on. Personally we were encouraged with the time of fellowship with some former colleagues whom we hadn't seen in a long time. Here are links to two videos of the celebrations that were held in Quito and in Colta.

Pray for us to have wisdom for our work during this transitional period as 115 years of missionary presence in Ecuador winds down.

Another change we are anticipating is that Kristi will begin working at Alliance Academy International in the next school year. She still is waiting to hear the final word but is being considered for a teacher's aid job in one of the elementary classrooms. In the past we have always had help with tuition from Avant teachers working at the school, but that is no longer happening. So Kristi working at the school will be a way to make it possible for our kids to continue attending AAI.