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!