Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Vacation and Hard Work


We are enjoying the change summer vacation is bringing to our family! The kids finished up classes on the 7th. The last weeks of school ended up being totally crazy! Here is part of what kept the family busy!

The 6th graders did an excellent job on their musical, Jailhouse Rock. Luke played a part as one of the camp counselors.

We were coaching Luke’s basketball team. Though we had a “learning” season, we really enjoyed working with these kids!

Kristi is one of the junior class sponsors so we enjoyed attending the junior-senior banquet.

On June 6, Luke graduated from 6th grade. In Ecuador the end of 6th grade marks the beginning of high school.

I (Kristi) will never forget this school year! I grew to love these 36 sixth graders! So many highlights to remember. But at the top of my list was being able to have Luke in my classroom every day! He is growing up to be a great young man and I'm so proud to be his mom. I loved having him come in every day and say "Hi, mom"! One of the last days of school, his other teacher told me that when asked the question “where is your favorite place to be at school”, his response was "in Mr. Tuten's room because that is where my mom is!” I will forever be grateful for these memories and for the relationship we have between us as he heads off to middle school!

In May and June, I (Scott) spent 2 weekends teaching Greek II to 4 students. This second level course is one in which the students are getting proficient enough to begin to analyze verses in the Greek New Testament. My highlight from this course came while we were looking at some verses from John 1 in the Greek Bible. One of my students said, “so basically what this is saying is...” and I saw a light come on in his eyes as he understood the text in a whole new way! It's moments like that which make teaching worth every bit of effort that I invest.

So we now are all enjoying summer vacation! Scott’s parents are spending 3 weeks with us this month. They arrived in time to get in on Luke and Lindsey’s field days and Luke’s graduation! We are mostly just hanging out at home, though doing a few other fun things with them as well.

Joel will be leaving Wednesday for the US to spend a couple of months this summer. He actually will be flying to Chicago to spend some time with David. Then he’ll be spending 5 weeks at Camp Witness in Nebraska both as a camper and a junior counselor. He can hardly wait! Please pray for him this summer as he’ll be out on his own. It’s scary as parents sending him off, wondering if he’ll lose his passport, remember to go to bed at night, and so on. But we know that God has some wonderful plans for him this summer and are excited along with him!

Many of Scott’s hours are being spent dealing with the selling of Avant mission property. A year ago we sold the Avant guesthouse here in Quito. The buyers totally paid for the property but we have run into one roadblock after another during the past year trying to get the title deed ready to be put into their name. Because of the time it is taking, they are backing out of the deal and asking for their money back. The past month has been very difficult for Scott as he is dealing through all this. It looks like the money will be returned to them either this week or the beginning of next week. We then need to wait for the city to update our title deed and then go through the process of selling this property again. Our colleagues the Klassen’s have left Ecuador, so this process now falls on Scott. Please pray for wisdom as we walk down this newest adventure.

In our last update, we wrote that Kristi was experiencing pain again. The Dr. diagnosed it as bursitis and tendonitis in the hip. It has been a really slow process of healing but she is improving. Continue to pray for her healing.


Praise the Lord for a good end to the school year and summer vacation.
Praise the Lord for a great experience for Kristi teaching this year.
Praise the Lord for growth in the lives of Scott's Greek students.
Praise the Lord that Scott's parents can visit this month.
Pray for a good summer for Joel visiting family and doing camp ministry.
Pray for details regarding property sales here in Quito.
Pray for healing for Kristi's hip.