New photo

Hi

Just in case you haven't see our photos lately, we've put some new ones up on our Flickr site. We hope you drop by and take a look!

And here is a thumbnail of our latest family photo.



Have a great week,

Graham, Sharon, Stacey and Erin

Volcanic Erruption

Hi!

Our friendly neighbourhood volcano (OK, not our neighbour, but it is close to Shell) has errupted today. Here is a link to the story.

We don't have any other details at this point, but we will keep you up to date!

Thanks for praying,

Graham, Sharon, Stacey and Erin

A fine start to April

Hi!

Sounds like spring is arriving in Ontario - finally!!!

Just an FYI on a couple of events in our lives.

First, Stacey is recovering from having her wisdom teeth pulled yesterday. Yuck. She is doing well. The Alliance Academy is on Easter break until Tuesday, so hopefully she will be back to almost normal (whatever that is for a teenaged girl!) by then.

We are working on our summer plans - but nothing is clear yet . . . there are huge administrative issues here that will need addressing this summer. This is mostly due to changes in law and our need to quickly adjust. So we aren't sure when/if/for how long we'll be able to make it home, but we are working on some ideas. It sure would be a lot more convenient if someone would open a Tim Horton's down here!

Finally, please rejoice with us as God has provided a new Director of Finance for the ministry here. This has been a need that we have filled in a piece-meal style for the last year. God graciously provided some wonderful people to help us out, but it was not a long term solution. Finally we have been able to find an experienced woman who is familiar with both US and Ecuadorian tax and charity laws - a very rare combination! Graham think his stress level went down 50 points just by hiring her!!! She starts in May (we can't share her name because her current employer doesn't know she is leaving).

Have a great day, enjoy the spring! Have a Tims for us. We are kinda guessing the Leafs won't make the playoffs this year - would that be a correct assessment? But alas, it wouldn't be spring if the Leafs were in the playoffs!

Thanks so much for your love, support, encouragement and prayers. We appreciate you so very, very much.

Graham, Sharon, Toothless-Stacey and Erin

(We can truly say her bark IS worse than her bite now!)

Great day hike!

One thing Ecuador has in abundance is natural beauty. Yesterday, Sharon and I went to Quilotoa - a volcanic crater lake guesstimated to have been formed 800 years ago. Along with some friends we hiked down the 300m to the lake, and back up again. Doesn't sound like much, but the altitude is almost 4000 m (almost 13000 feet!).

The scenery is stunning. You can click here for pictures. I also recommend you click here for more photos from others. Words do not do it justice.

The lake is 2 miles across - so that gives you some sense of scale.

Just like home . . .

Yup, we get those little irritants too. In this case, a leak in a hot water pipe. We arranged for some guys to come and hammer through the concrete floor to find the leak, but then they got into a discussion with the landlord on the best way to fix it. So it won't be fixed until tomorrow. We can turn the hot water on for showers in the AM, but it is off for now to try and allow the hole and surrounding floor to dry.

Fun, eh?

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!).

Getting ready for Christmas

Sharon and I headed out to do some last minute Christmas shopping this AM. We noticed several things that make the Ecuadorian experience very distinct to the Canadian experience.

1. No sales - yeah, forget about even 10% off. It just doesn't happen here.

2. Buying paper - check out these photos. You can by wrapping paper in the mall, but it is more expensive. This was on the sidewalk outside a hardware store.


3. Temperature - according to the sign at the mall, it was 18 degrees C. Nice warm sunny day here right now, but dark rain clouds are forming. I see on the Weather Network that southern Ontario is about -16 right now . . .

4. Greater emphasis on the Nativity and birth of Jesus. He is at least, if not more, as prominent as Santa.

So, there are lots of bonuses of not having the white Christmas we are used to!

The gifts of God

At Christmas we often think of God's gift, especially that of Jesus whose birth we celebrate in just a little bit more than a week. But there are other gifts for which we need to be thankful.

This past Thursday through Saturday, our local radio station here in Quito (and the one on the coast in Guayaquil) celebrated "Mision Compartida" (Shared Mission). The purpose of this is to strengthen the relationship between the ministry and the listeners, to raise funds for the coming year, and to call the local church into greater participation in the Great Commission.

As we ask our listeners to donate to the radio ministry, we often get very unusual gifts. The video shows one such gift. We received about 500 donated chics, and they were consequently sold with the proceeds going to the radio ministry.

We thought you'd enjoy seeing this to help give a little bit better perspecive of some of our reality, and because it is so cute.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just dropping in to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. OK, a Happy US Thanksgiving (us Canucks celebrated in October, but I never turn down an opportunity to be thankful and eat turkey - and take a couple of vacation days!). And I know, for most Americans, Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, so we are late. But I think it is a general Canadian mindset for our Thanksgiving that it is the whole weekend, not just the Monday.

Regardless, and albeit late, Happy Thanksgiving. Now, let's break out the Christmas tunes!

Update on shooting incident

According to the Ecuadorian newspaper "El Comercio," the four men involved in the excitement on Monday (two of whom we saw arrested, two escaped) are now all in custody. Apparently they had robbed a store manager making a deposit of $21,500. So now we know the rest of the story!

Exciting trip! (too exciting)

On Monday, Graham and two colleagues (Doug, Director of Media Ministries and Barry, Director of Information Systems Ministries) headed off to Shell to visit with the team there (HCJB Global has a hospital in Shell, on the edge of the jungle). While coming to the end of a bypass around the city of Ambato, they were suddenly passed by four guys on two motorcycles. Suddenly, around the corner, the police threw up a barricade. Graham came to a stop, one of the motorcycles went around the barricade, and the other motorcycle went down sliding into the barricade. Police immediately converged on the down bike and it's two occupants, and waved Graham and the others on. Meanwhile a couple of police on motorcycles and in a pickup truck pursued the motorcycle that had not stopped. "Wow, that was exciting."

A hundred yards later they suddenly heard gunshots (see video) and were ordered by the police out of the van and to lie down on the road. It seems the police caught up with the other motorcyle on the bridge you see in the video and they were exchanging gunfire with the guys who refused to stop. Approximately 8 shots were fired in all. In the video - at the very beginning - you hear one ricochet and police sirens. This was the end of the shooting (by the time Graham and the others were ordered out of the van it was almost over). But you can clearly see a white pickup (police truck) going across the bridge while the guys are scrambling to get out of the van (and you will hear Graham putting the parking brake on - safety first!).

We never did hear what the cause of the chase was or the eventual outcome. But God clearly protected us; a few seconds sooner and we would have been on that bridge when the shooting was happening. Life is never boring . . . .

HNIC and Thanksgiving

Wow. I was reading the news on cbc.ca and discovered there is a new theme for Hockey Night in Canada (not that it actually helped the Leafs on Saturday night . . . ). I did watch with interest as the great Canadian debate ensued last spring with the loss of the old theme. I don't understand why another network would pay so much $$$ for it when it will - for at least one generation of hockey fans - be associated with the CBC HNIC. Oh well, what do I know.

I'm curious - what do you think of the new theme? I listened to it several times and, well, it's not the same, but it is kinda catchy. Do you like it? What are people at Tim's (ah, Tim's . . . hmmm I could go for one right now!) saying?

Like I said, I'm just curious and we are soooo out of the loop. And, oh yeah, HAPPY CANADIAN THANKSGIVING, EH!