Mision Compartida

Every year our radio station has a "share-a-thon" to help raise money, make listeners more aware of our ministries, and to offer spiritual counsel and prayer to those who want to come and visit with us. Today is the last day of the four day event.

Donations don't always come in the form of money: check this out:

Also, we've had a sheep and rabbits donated (yes, those are guinea pigs . . . and not intended to be pets :-)).

Believe it or not, these are hot items, sold quickly and the proceeds donated to the ministry.

Fun!

UPDATE:

We can now include 3 ducks and 3 puppies in the "live" donation category :-)

Further UPDATE:

We had several people accept Christ over these last few days. We also had a visit from a young boy, probably 11, named "Israel." Both his parents live in Spain and he lives in the city with his grandmother. He wandered into Mision Compartida out of boredom, just wandering the streets. He asked that we pray for him because he is looking for something to help him with his life. So we did!

I don't know how the rest of the conversation with him went, but as you think of it, please pray for Israel.

Success!

Yup, we were finally successful obtaining our censos yesterday. We got there shortly after the office opened after its lunch break, and there were only a couple of families in line in front of us. After about 15 minutes it was our turn, and 10 minutes later we had the censos.

I gave the official who served us all the extra paperwork we did not have the day before, and he replied - "You don't need that." So, go figure. Just one of those goofy things you run into from time to time.

And today - today's challenge is to go to the beach for US Thanksgiving (any excuse for a holiday).

Sometimes it is the little things

Hi

Every two years (used to be every year) we have to renew our Censos (ID cards that are connected to our Visas). It seems like everytime we need to do this we run into some kind of snafu. This time is no exception. We went last week and Graham forgot one of the documents we needed to have, so we were unsuccessful. We went again yesterday and they had changed the list of documents we need to have. So we were unsuccessful. We are trying again today, hopefully with EVERYTHING we need.

Sometimes the hard part of doing ministry is the little things - the little pricks that like a swarm of mosquitos, irritate you with the incessant sound and pricks, even though for the most part they are harmless, just annoying.

So, pray that our responses will be appropriate and reflect our faith. Sharon has had to get a sub teacher (this has to be done during business hours), we have to pull the kids from class and Graham has to clear his calendar. So this can be an annoyance - the challenge is keeping in the right perspective.

We hope you are having a great week! We've had a few rains, but things are still really dry, and there is NO rain where the hydro electric generation plants are. So rationing continues, but down to two hours a day.

Rain!

We awoke this morning to the gentle sound of rain - wow. As you know, it is incredibly dry here and we have had electricity rationed (4-6 hours a day without, on a rotating basis; sometimes in the morning, sometimes the afternoon, sometimes the evening). So this first hint of a rainy season is a beautiful thing.

Ecuador's main hydro electric generation plant in Paute has had to reduce it's operations due to the dry conditions, with only 2 of 10 generators working. Water levels in the resevoir above the dam are down 20m. Power has been purchased from Peru and Colombia to offset the short fall.

In the dark

We would have written sooner, but there's been a small problem. This should be the rainy season here in Ecuador, but it is a dry as a bone. As a result, the hydro-electric generation stations have reduced output, and that means electricity rationing.

Yup.

Rationing electricity (read: rolling blackouts). For the last couple of nights we've lost power between 5-7 PM and have had it restored a few hours later. Right now the novelty of evenings by candlelight is still fun, but if this keeps up . . .

Just one of those adventures that you get to tell stories about later. But we do need rain - desperately! So would you pray about that with us?

Thanks - have a super day.

-Graham, Sharon, Stacey and Erin

Long Weekend, sort of

In theory, Monday and Tuesday are holidays here in Ecuador. The "Day of the Dead" and "Cuenca Day" are being celebrated. But for some of us, we just gotta work :-).

Actually, it is a good thing that Graham is working this long weekend because a new team member has joined us in the role of Director of Finance. This is a HUGE asset to the team and we are thankful that God has brought Paul K to us. Paul is retired from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and brings a world of international financial management experience with him!

Be in prayer for Paul as he jumps into the fray, builds relationships, and gets his head around our accounting procedures.

Forest fire in Quito

The city of Quito is located at the base of a mountain, Pichincha. A forest fire is currently burning up on the mountain, half way between our AM/FM towers, and a cable car ride up the mountain. In the video you can't seem much but the orange lights at the top is the fire. We took this from the roof of our apartment building so you can see we aren't that far away. We'll let you know how things progress - if it gets any worse or when/if it goes out. We've not had any rain here for several weeks so it is bone dry. But rainy season should start soon. A couple of photos are also on our Flickr page.

School's out!

Yup, Friday was the last day and so we are starting to enjoy the first week of vacation (at least for Sharon and the girls). So what is up with the Bulmer family this summer? Sharon's parents will be visiting us, we hope to spend some time at the beach, and the girls have a list of projects to work on over the summer.

One of the challenges of living away from home is the lack of opportunities for the kids during the summer, especially the lack of summer jobs. But we hope they'll keep themselves busy and if not, we'll find things for them to do.

We know we are ahead of schedule for most of you, but hang in there - summer holidays will come there too!

Have a great day.

In the community

One of our passions is to be involved in the lives of people at the everyday level. This past week Graham's assistant, Hermann Schirmacher and a couple of others, headed out to a little village called Pichan to lead in some Bible studies and teach basic electrical wiring skills to the people there. HCJB Global has worked in this area for a while, providing clean water systems and discipleship. If you want to see more pictures of Hermann's trip click on the link on the right of this page (the text will be in German, but the pictures are in English!).