Amanda and Lukas Translate in the Jungle!
We value your prayer as we serve the Lord by church planting and pastoral leadership training in Ecuador.
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
A "Courageous" Turnout in Cumbaya!
For the past 3 years we have been praying, "Lord give us this Valley." I “just gotta” share what God is doing!
We asked you to pray this past weekend as we had a showing of "Reto de Valientes" (The video “Courageous” in English) in our urbanization this Saturday. We invited many people. Lukas and I went door-to-door in our urbanization of 180 homes, posted fliers in public places and prayed.
There we 92 men and boys in attendance and a few women snuck in also! We saw 60 first time visitors. We cooked 20 racks of ribs, 25 lbs of potatoes and 5 gallons of coleslaw. We praise the Lord that the next day in our church we had 1 new family from the film and 9 first time visitors in all. Several who attended the video are ones we have been praying for, making contacts and building relationships with over the past 3 years. We praise the Lord for one more touch with the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation.
One of the greatest blessings I received was a call on Thursday before the presentation from a police officer in our area. He asked to meet with me at 9 AM to hear of our plans. Someone had given another officer an invitation in Tumbaco, our neighboring town. The officer brought the invitation to the police chief and the chief sent the officer to speak to me. They are asking us to provide 2 more showings of the video to more than 500 officers in our valley…PLUS their families! When each of my children heard that they said… “That’s a lot of ribs!”
In further discussion, he is part of a task force of officers from Quito that want to take the movie to ALL OF THE PRECINTS IN ECUADOR! He is asking for our help! They have plans in the works now for...get this CUENCA and Loja! We currently have 3 partnering churches in Cuenca and 2 missionary families arriving here in Ecuador in July to work in Cuenca. He stated they needed the spiritual connection also! I shared with the officer the need to connect each precinct with a local Bible believing/preaching church for continued follow-up and care with the officers and their families. We talked about my vision for starting a chaplaincy ministry here in Ecuador which we currently do not have. He stated that there is a great need and I suggested we start right here in Tumbaco. He mentioned the officers need help because daily they are faced with prostitution, drugs, and alcoholism and many of them fall.
There is another showing of the movie here in Quito with the Captain of police for the entire country, on July 7. He is trying to get me an invite!
More open doors! I just found out one of my neighbors in the urbanization (180 houses in a walled, guarded community) is the Ministro de Defence of Ecuador! Also found out the Ministro del Interior is a Christian. He is responsible for more than 40,000 police officers in the country. We invited the Ministro of Defense to the movie on Saturday! He did not attend, but he knows we are here!
Revelation 3:8 - "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name."
We have no idea how long the door is open, but please pray with us as we serve!
For the past 3 years we have been praying, "Lord give us this Valley." I “just gotta” share what God is doing!
We asked you to pray this past weekend as we had a showing of "Reto de Valientes" (The video “Courageous” in English) in our urbanization this Saturday. We invited many people. Lukas and I went door-to-door in our urbanization of 180 homes, posted fliers in public places and prayed.
There we 92 men and boys in attendance and a few women snuck in also! We saw 60 first time visitors. We cooked 20 racks of ribs, 25 lbs of potatoes and 5 gallons of coleslaw. We praise the Lord that the next day in our church we had 1 new family from the film and 9 first time visitors in all. Several who attended the video are ones we have been praying for, making contacts and building relationships with over the past 3 years. We praise the Lord for one more touch with the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation.
One of the greatest blessings I received was a call on Thursday before the presentation from a police officer in our area. He asked to meet with me at 9 AM to hear of our plans. Someone had given another officer an invitation in Tumbaco, our neighboring town. The officer brought the invitation to the police chief and the chief sent the officer to speak to me. They are asking us to provide 2 more showings of the video to more than 500 officers in our valley…PLUS their families! When each of my children heard that they said… “That’s a lot of ribs!”
In further discussion, he is part of a task force of officers from Quito that want to take the movie to ALL OF THE PRECINTS IN ECUADOR! He is asking for our help! They have plans in the works now for...get this CUENCA and Loja! We currently have 3 partnering churches in Cuenca and 2 missionary families arriving here in Ecuador in July to work in Cuenca. He stated they needed the spiritual connection also! I shared with the officer the need to connect each precinct with a local Bible believing/preaching church for continued follow-up and care with the officers and their families. We talked about my vision for starting a chaplaincy ministry here in Ecuador which we currently do not have. He stated that there is a great need and I suggested we start right here in Tumbaco. He mentioned the officers need help because daily they are faced with prostitution, drugs, and alcoholism and many of them fall.
There is another showing of the movie here in Quito with the Captain of police for the entire country, on July 7. He is trying to get me an invite!
More open doors! I just found out one of my neighbors in the urbanization (180 houses in a walled, guarded community) is the Ministro de Defence of Ecuador! Also found out the Ministro del Interior is a Christian. He is responsible for more than 40,000 police officers in the country. We invited the Ministro of Defense to the movie on Saturday! He did not attend, but he knows we are here!
Revelation 3:8 - "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name."
We have no idea how long the door is open, but please pray with us as we serve!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Evangelistic Basketball Camp in Guapulo
What an incredible opportunity to go into a little town called Guapulo, a town without a single gospel witness, and share God's word through basketball. Jeff, Jordan and Lukas were invited in June to play a basketball game with their team in this little neighborhood. It was the FIRST game ever played on the brand new court. We started praying about how God might use this. In July, we were invited back to the inauguration of all the basketball teams - there were over 300 people present that day. We invited the town to come to a free basketball clinic where we would also share God's Word.
For the week, we were privileged to run daily clinics with 3 different age groups. We had a children's clinic and an adult clinic with more than 89 students. We are grateful for the help in this ministry that we have received from Pastor Eric May and his group Ira Baptist Church, Ira, VT. Our teammate Jason Maynard and his church, Willo-Hill Baptist Church, Willoughby, Oh, raised funds to help with purchasing materials and ongoing equipment for these camps. These churches both have a great heartbeat for reaching people for Christ. Ira Baptist were here on the ground helping us to conduct the basketball camp. Willo-Hill is a church that has a passion for sports ministry in their "Jerusalem" so they were behind us praying, encouraging, and providing us with funds so that we can do more of this ministry in the future.
Please pray for continued follow-up. We stop and visit from time to time. Our heartbeat is to open up a Bible study with some of the families and eventually see a church planted.
What an incredible opportunity to go into a little town called Guapulo, a town without a single gospel witness, and share God's word through basketball. Jeff, Jordan and Lukas were invited in June to play a basketball game with their team in this little neighborhood. It was the FIRST game ever played on the brand new court. We started praying about how God might use this. In July, we were invited back to the inauguration of all the basketball teams - there were over 300 people present that day. We invited the town to come to a free basketball clinic where we would also share God's Word.
For the week, we were privileged to run daily clinics with 3 different age groups. We had a children's clinic and an adult clinic with more than 89 students. We are grateful for the help in this ministry that we have received from Pastor Eric May and his group Ira Baptist Church, Ira, VT. Our teammate Jason Maynard and his church, Willo-Hill Baptist Church, Willoughby, Oh, raised funds to help with purchasing materials and ongoing equipment for these camps. These churches both have a great heartbeat for reaching people for Christ. Ira Baptist were here on the ground helping us to conduct the basketball camp. Willo-Hill is a church that has a passion for sports ministry in their "Jerusalem" so they were behind us praying, encouraging, and providing us with funds so that we can do more of this ministry in the future.
Please pray for continued follow-up. We stop and visit from time to time. Our heartbeat is to open up a Bible study with some of the families and eventually see a church planted.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Meetings in the Park
In July we were privileged to have Pastor Mike Keeton from Faith Bible Church, Vineland, NJ, with us for vacation Bible School. FBC helped with Pastor David Vasconez at La Iglesia Bautista El Calvario. During the mornings we held meetings in the parks with puppets, music, singing and a gospel presentation. What a beautiful image captured as even little hearts desire to talk to God. We sent the team out to invite kids to the puppet show and Deanne came over the hill like the Pied Piper with 50 kids in tow! We met one family praying for their sister who lives in NJ! What a small world it is!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Our son, Jordan Jeffrey Davoll has completed his high school education. We praise the Lord for him, his testimony, and for this important step in his life. This is a great time of celebration in our lives as a family.
Jordan graduated here in Cumbaya in our new church, La Iglesia bautista de La Conexion de la Esperanza on Sunday afternoon June 5. It was a great day with our church family encouraging Jordan as he transitions from high school to college, from Ecuador to US, from home to away. We had 74 people present to celebrate with Jordan on his special day
The Pastor of our home sending church, Latham Bible Baptist, Pastor Dean Walter called to inivte Jordan to participate in the graduation ceremony of Latham Christian Academy on June 10. It was a real blessing as he had attended this school from second to eighth grade before we went into missions. He was able to reconnect with so many people. He thoroughly enjoyed the graduation with his grandparents and sister Bethany there with him, and we watched LIVE via skype.
Deanne's dad, Pastor Roger Ellison is working at Perth Bible Church and Jordan was able to be apart of their baccalaureate service on Sunday pm June 12, 2011. It was wonderful for this supporting church to include him in their ceremony. Thank you Pastor Appel and Pastor Ellison for this opportunity. Jordan enjoyed having cake at all three celebrations as well.
God has called Jordan into future ministry, and he will begin his preparation for ministry at the Word of LIfe Bible Institute this fall. He is working at a Christian camp this summer in NY.
Jordan's life verse is I Peter 5:7 "Cast all your cares upon him for he careth for you."
We praise the Lord for His work in Jordan's life.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Enjoy the Journey!
Our family made a trip south in Ecuador to the small town of Patate to get the needed paperwork for our visas and for the visas of our BRAND new teammates Laura Fouser and Lynell Smith. We were able to stay at the ministry property of some other missionaries. It was a blessing to see a new part of the country. The paperwork process is incredible. A dear friend called it a "remarkable process,” and it is truly an accurate expression. We praise the Lord that the paperwork is done and on to the next step. We started the paperwork process October 27. After 3 days in Patate, we received the papers on December 23! Except…they were not notarized correctly. We submitted the papers on December 27, received them back on Wednesday, December 29, and happily headed over to DHL to mail to Sao Paulo Brazil. “Sorry, our computers are down until Monday.” Oops. Unfortunately Quito has a driving restriction and Wednesday is my day to stay out of the city after 4 PM…therefore we went back to Quito on Thursday, found a different location and mailed them… What? $49 to mail a stack of papers? Remarkable process!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Merry Christmas From our Family to Yours!
Christmas time was a real joy for our family. We enjoyed our time together as a family, reunited as Bethany was home from the Word of Life Bible Institute. We also really enjoyed opening all of our familiar Christmas ornaments and decorations. It had been 5 years since we were able to decorate with our own special treasures. The kids analyzed all of their ornaments that they receive each year, looking at each one as if it were the very first time. This year's ornaments seemed to be centered around FOOD - Jordan got a donut, Bethany a cute little cupcake, Amanda a ball covered with glittery things, and Lukas, well, he had to get an ice-cream ornament of course. Jeff and Deanne got ornaments this year as well. Jeff's was a handmade llama, and he made Deanne a COFFEE themed ornament by filling a glass ball with Coffee beans, a mini spoon and a packet of sugar! So fun!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Visitors From Texas
Mr and Mrs Mossman came to Ecuador for their Christmas vacation. This was a great opportunity for us to meet our advisor with Lighthouse Academy. Mrs. Mossman helps missionaries all over the world with their curriculum and grades for their children's education. It has been a great blessing to meet them in person. We are praying for them as they look to the future of what the Lord is directing in their lives. It was their first visit to Ecuador and we shared a great day together. We did some shopping in the artesan market, had lunch in a Ecuadorian restaurant, and showed them our new church property. Our kids were so excited as they brought a WHOLE bag of American candy treats. Jeff and Deanne enjoyed the Starbucks coffee they brought! One of our traditions here to to take people to this picturesque photo spot. We call this our "prayer spot" as it is overlooking Cumbaya and the whole Tumbaco Valley. We ask our visitors to pray for the ministry and for the people of the Valley we have claimed for Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers!
Mr and Mrs Mossman came to Ecuador for their Christmas vacation. This was a great opportunity for us to meet our advisor with Lighthouse Academy. Mrs. Mossman helps missionaries all over the world with their curriculum and grades for their children's education. It has been a great blessing to meet them in person. We are praying for them as they look to the future of what the Lord is directing in their lives. It was their first visit to Ecuador and we shared a great day together. We did some shopping in the artesan market, had lunch in a Ecuadorian restaurant, and showed them our new church property. Our kids were so excited as they brought a WHOLE bag of American candy treats. Jeff and Deanne enjoyed the Starbucks coffee they brought! One of our traditions here to to take people to this picturesque photo spot. We call this our "prayer spot" as it is overlooking Cumbaya and the whole Tumbaco Valley. We ask our visitors to pray for the ministry and for the people of the Valley we have claimed for Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
La Conexión Jóvenes - Youth Bible Study
Tonight began our first meeting of the youth from La Conexión. It was a great blessing as Jordan taught the lesson, Amanda led the singing, and Lukas held the dog! I think our dog, Waffles, is an atheist as she does not like being caged during meeting times…and lets us know it! They began with a time to get to know one another, music and then the lesson. They are studying the “Story of Hope,” an evangelistic tool we use as an evangelistic and discipleship Bible study. There were 13 in all. What an open door! One special blessing, one family brought 3 visitors with them and said on Sunday their parents are attending also. God is good as He builds His church.
Friday, November 05, 2010
Bethany Davoll - Missionary to Guatemala
Bethany just wrote us last week and told us she was approved for a short term missions trip to Guatemala, march 19-27, 2011. This is a blessing to me, as Dad, as I had promised each of the kids we would work for them to take a missions trip for their graduation from high school. I am not sure why, but NONE of them think that traveling to Colombia for a missionary conference, living in Costa Rica for a year, and now moving to Ecuador counts! They say, "Dad, that's not a missionary trip. We live there!" I praise the Lord for their hearts.
Bethany will be traveling during her spring break with the Word of Life Bible Institute, where she is attending for this year. She will have the opportunity to minister in public schools alongside the WOL staff through an evangelistic drama called “Born Again to A Living Hope”. She will also be ministering in local churches, Bible Clubs, work projects, one on one witnessing opportunities, getting to know the missionaries, of course some sight-seeing and much more!!! This will be a great time of encouragement for her and for the missionaries on the field as she has opportunity to interact with them on a daily basis.
I ask you to consider participating with her in sending her, she needs to raise $1702 in all; $851 by January 4 and the balance by March 1. We are praying and are confident that the Lord will supply all of her needs.
Bethany just wrote us last week and told us she was approved for a short term missions trip to Guatemala, march 19-27, 2011. This is a blessing to me, as Dad, as I had promised each of the kids we would work for them to take a missions trip for their graduation from high school. I am not sure why, but NONE of them think that traveling to Colombia for a missionary conference, living in Costa Rica for a year, and now moving to Ecuador counts! They say, "Dad, that's not a missionary trip. We live there!" I praise the Lord for their hearts.
Bethany will be traveling during her spring break with the Word of Life Bible Institute, where she is attending for this year. She will have the opportunity to minister in public schools alongside the WOL staff through an evangelistic drama called “Born Again to A Living Hope”. She will also be ministering in local churches, Bible Clubs, work projects, one on one witnessing opportunities, getting to know the missionaries, of course some sight-seeing and much more!!! This will be a great time of encouragement for her and for the missionaries on the field as she has opportunity to interact with them on a daily basis.
I ask you to consider participating with her in sending her, she needs to raise $1702 in all; $851 by January 4 and the balance by March 1. We are praying and are confident that the Lord will supply all of her needs.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
"Shawarming" up to the people in Cumbaya
We enjoy trying new things in our culture. When we see a new restaurant open up in Cumbaya, we are anxious to see what it will serve. Recently there have been several "SHAWARMA" restaurants open up! Shawarma is traditional Turkish food in a sandwich wrap which is filled with meat which has been roasted on a spit. It is served with a creamy garlic yogurt sauce and a very spicy sauce. There is a very nice little Shawarma shop that is the middle of downtown Cumbaya; it was the first one we tried and it quickly hit the our top of our families favorite list.
We have made friends with the owner and the staff. They have photos of famous Ecuadorian soccer players from the most popular national team in Ecuador eating in the restaurant. The day we took this picture with the owner, we told him now we feel famous because we have a picture with him like the LIGA team members do. Please pray for him as we seek to reach him with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We enjoy trying new things in our culture. When we see a new restaurant open up in Cumbaya, we are anxious to see what it will serve. Recently there have been several "SHAWARMA" restaurants open up! Shawarma is traditional Turkish food in a sandwich wrap which is filled with meat which has been roasted on a spit. It is served with a creamy garlic yogurt sauce and a very spicy sauce. There is a very nice little Shawarma shop that is the middle of downtown Cumbaya; it was the first one we tried and it quickly hit the our top of our families favorite list.
We have made friends with the owner and the staff. They have photos of famous Ecuadorian soccer players from the most popular national team in Ecuador eating in the restaurant. The day we took this picture with the owner, we told him now we feel famous because we have a picture with him like the LIGA team members do. Please pray for him as we seek to reach him with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
New Teamates on the Way!
September brought us some special guests; Laura Fouser and Lynell Smith came to Ecuador for the very first time. These two women are veteran missionaries with ABWE. It was a special time together as they saw our vision for the Tumbaco Valley. They called us on October 20th to share that the Lord has led them to join ABWE TEAM ECUADOR. We are praising the Lord for these new teammates. We are in the process of getting all the paperwork needed for their visas. They desire to be here early in 2011. God is so good! They will be a great asset to our team. Laura and Lynell are gifted in evangelism and discipleship and training others to do the same, and they are anxious to get to work here in Cumbaya. Please pray for them as they transition to our ministry.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Off to College!
It is a great blessing to see Bethany transitioning this year from Ecuador back to her home country of the USA. It has been a great transition for all of us as our first child/first sibling has left home. In June, Bethany worked for the summer at Word of Life Family campground in the children's ministry. This was a great blessing for her as children are a part of her heart and her DNA. She loves children...all children. She had many great opportunities to meet people and to see many friends from all over.
In September, Deanne was able to visit with Bethany and to be with her during yet another big transition as she began the Word of Life Bible Institute. Both Jeff and Deanne are alumni of the Bible Institute, and we are pleased for her to be studying God's Word this year under godly care. It is a concentrated 1 yr Bible study program.
It was a special visit for mother and daughter. Deanne participated in Parent's Weekend, helped Bethany move into the dorm, and even visited with both sets of grandparents with Bethany. We even had time for special treats like Dunkin Donuts and a Starbucks coffee together. Family is a special gift that we carry with us our whole lives. We love you Bethany, and we can’t wait till you get home for your winter break!
I love you Bethany Lynae Davoll!
In September, Deanne was able to visit with Bethany and to be with her during yet another big transition as she began the Word of Life Bible Institute. Both Jeff and Deanne are alumni of the Bible Institute, and we are pleased for her to be studying God's Word this year under godly care. It is a concentrated 1 yr Bible study program.
It was a special visit for mother and daughter. Deanne participated in Parent's Weekend, helped Bethany move into the dorm, and even visited with both sets of grandparents with Bethany. We even had time for special treats like Dunkin Donuts and a Starbucks coffee together. Family is a special gift that we carry with us our whole lives. We love you Bethany, and we can’t wait till you get home for your winter break!
I love you Bethany Lynae Davoll!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
ECUADOR – COLOMBIA Field Team Conference.
We had the privilege of hosting the ABWE COLOMBIA field team for our annual team conference Sept 5-11. We were delighted to show off our country and all that GOD is doing here in the Tumbaco Valley. We took the majority of the group to our "lookout spot" over Cumbaya where we can see the whole valley. It is a great place to get a vision of what God is doing and will do in the future. It was a special time for us to have the team here for prayer and encouragement.
The conference was held in the small charming town of Mindo, two hours from Quito. It is famous for birdwatching-- especially hummingbirds! The theme of the conference was "The 5 Dysfunctions of a team", and we had a lot of hands on sessions interacting with each other, attempting to avoid the 5 Dysfunctions! We enjoyed great fellowship, sharing in God's Word, ministry updates, and encouraging one another. It was a blessing for us to get to know our teammates in Colombia better. God has blessed us with a group of co-workers passionate about Jesus Christ and His church.
One special blessing we received…Eduardo, our breakfast cook, just “happens” to live in Cumbaya! Isn’t God good! After Jeff enjoyed a “cafecito” with them, they have been attending our church the last 3 weeks! What a blessing to serve our great Savior!
The conference was held in the small charming town of Mindo, two hours from Quito. It is famous for birdwatching-- especially hummingbirds! The theme of the conference was "The 5 Dysfunctions of a team", and we had a lot of hands on sessions interacting with each other, attempting to avoid the 5 Dysfunctions! We enjoyed great fellowship, sharing in God's Word, ministry updates, and encouraging one another. It was a blessing for us to get to know our teammates in Colombia better. God has blessed us with a group of co-workers passionate about Jesus Christ and His church.
One special blessing we received…Eduardo, our breakfast cook, just “happens” to live in Cumbaya! Isn’t God good! After Jeff enjoyed a “cafecito” with them, they have been attending our church the last 3 weeks! What a blessing to serve our great Savior!
Saturday, August 07, 2010
NORMAL DAY IN ECUADOR
People often ask -- what is a your normal day like in Ecuador......Well, honestly I dont know that there is such a thing as a "Normal day," not yet anyway. So, I will just tell you what TODAY was like. Some days you pour cement..... We have a church that is near us, and today we were driving by and we found out that they were doing some cement work. So, the three men in our family came home, changed their clothes, and went right back to help work. The church members had been there all morning loading buckets of cement by hand and pouring them. In the 4 hours they were there they were only able to get about one-quarter of the floor poured and there was a storm that was coming. Our men quickly jumped in and helped. They talked with the men about trying a new way, an assembly line, and in just 3 hour, they were able to get the other three-quarters of the floor poured just in time before the rain came. Praise the Lord. It was a great blessing to the church to get that done and especially to have it done before the storm came.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Missionary Team—La Iglesia Bautista El Calvario
In 1984, Jeff and Deanne first went on mission trips as teenagers to Portugal which impacted their lives to serve the Lord both in our local church and around the world. In 1995 and 1998, we were able to take young people out of our youth group to the Spanish-speaking country of Mexico to help with a church plant outside of Mexico city. Here we are in 2010, praising God as we have hosted our first missions team from Pennsville Baptist Church in PA.
The team was such a blessing as they saw God provide many supplies for the vacation Bible school at El Calvario, where we have been working this year. They came together as a team long before they arrived in Quito to ask God to work. When you ask -- GOD provides in amazing ways. There were Beanie Babies and Hershey kisses. There were about 1800 pencils before we stopped counting. There were erasers and rulers and school zipper bags all as prizes for the over 175 children who came to VBS throughout the week. They brought medical supplies for Dr David Vasconez, the pastor and medical doctor who has clinics each week in the church building. God provided clothing and Spanish New Testaments and tracts. Our children were not so thrilled as they brought our school books and some needed supplies. They filled ALL of their suitcases using only their carry- on luggage for their personal luggage. What a blessing to the church and to our new ministry here in Ecuador.
We saw God open doors during our week of Vacation Bible School. We praise the Lord for many hands to work. As a team, we spent two days cleaning, decorating, practicing and advertising in the neighborhood with the church family in preparation for the week. There was a lot of prayer paving the way for this week of ministry.
We saw over 175 children attend and they heard the Word of God. What a blessing to be Salt and Light in this neighborhood. VBS was followed up with a game day, which we were in put in charge of. More than 120 children attended. On Sunday, the morning included a mini VBS format and the parents were invited to attend for a full Gospel presentation. It was a packed house and we estimated there were more than 200 children and parents there for the services. We praise the Lord for this opportunity to share the Gospel message in the South of Quito.
Thank you Chris and Debbie Harbaugh for all your work and coordination. Thank you Pennsville Baptist Church for standing behind us on bended knee and for sending reinforcements for the battle! You are a blessing.
In 1984, Jeff and Deanne first went on mission trips as teenagers to Portugal which impacted their lives to serve the Lord both in our local church and around the world. In 1995 and 1998, we were able to take young people out of our youth group to the Spanish-speaking country of Mexico to help with a church plant outside of Mexico city. Here we are in 2010, praising God as we have hosted our first missions team from Pennsville Baptist Church in PA.
The team was such a blessing as they saw God provide many supplies for the vacation Bible school at El Calvario, where we have been working this year. They came together as a team long before they arrived in Quito to ask God to work. When you ask -- GOD provides in amazing ways. There were Beanie Babies and Hershey kisses. There were about 1800 pencils before we stopped counting. There were erasers and rulers and school zipper bags all as prizes for the over 175 children who came to VBS throughout the week. They brought medical supplies for Dr David Vasconez, the pastor and medical doctor who has clinics each week in the church building. God provided clothing and Spanish New Testaments and tracts. Our children were not so thrilled as they brought our school books and some needed supplies. They filled ALL of their suitcases using only their carry- on luggage for their personal luggage. What a blessing to the church and to our new ministry here in Ecuador.
We saw God open doors during our week of Vacation Bible School. We praise the Lord for many hands to work. As a team, we spent two days cleaning, decorating, practicing and advertising in the neighborhood with the church family in preparation for the week. There was a lot of prayer paving the way for this week of ministry.
We saw over 175 children attend and they heard the Word of God. What a blessing to be Salt and Light in this neighborhood. VBS was followed up with a game day, which we were in put in charge of. More than 120 children attended. On Sunday, the morning included a mini VBS format and the parents were invited to attend for a full Gospel presentation. It was a packed house and we estimated there were more than 200 children and parents there for the services. We praise the Lord for this opportunity to share the Gospel message in the South of Quito.
Thank you Chris and Debbie Harbaugh for all your work and coordination. Thank you Pennsville Baptist Church for standing behind us on bended knee and for sending reinforcements for the battle! You are a blessing.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Davoll Kids in the Jungle
One of the blessings we have here in Ecuador is to translate for groups that come from the USA on missions trips to serve. This is a blessing to us, not a burden, as we have oportunity to travel to different places, to learn more of our culture and to see how God continues to work in Ecuador.
Our kids were privileged to serve in the jungle translating for a group of teenagers that came to do VBS, painting, and encouragement of the believers in remote towns in the eastern jungles of Ecuador. We were privileged, as a family, to be invited to Shandia, the home of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot, to translate the testimonies of 3 of the men who helped kill Jim Elliot in 1956. What man sees as a tragedy, God sees as an opportunity. It was a blessing to hear Mincaye, Dyuwi and Kimo share that since their lives have been transformed, they now will walk God's trails sharing the gospel whenever, wherever and however possible.
One of the blessings we have here in Ecuador is to translate for groups that come from the USA on missions trips to serve. This is a blessing to us, not a burden, as we have oportunity to travel to different places, to learn more of our culture and to see how God continues to work in Ecuador.
Our kids were privileged to serve in the jungle translating for a group of teenagers that came to do VBS, painting, and encouragement of the believers in remote towns in the eastern jungles of Ecuador. We were privileged, as a family, to be invited to Shandia, the home of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot, to translate the testimonies of 3 of the men who helped kill Jim Elliot in 1956. What man sees as a tragedy, God sees as an opportunity. It was a blessing to hear Mincaye, Dyuwi and Kimo share that since their lives have been transformed, they now will walk God's trails sharing the gospel whenever, wherever and however possible.
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