We recently spoke with a man who was surprised that we had not moved to Ecuador yet. “I thought you would have raised enough money to go by now.” He said. This began a discussion about timetables and funding that was quit illuminating to both us and our friend. You see we have been breathing, eating, and sleeping missions since we applied to become missionaries. We have been processing all kinds of new information. We are learning about cultural differences, missiology, and linguistics. We are trying to wrap our minds around saying goodbye to family, friends, and our dog. We are making decisions about our possessions about what goes, what stays, what is sold and what is thrown away. We are juggling school, bills, no income, speaking engagements and travel. And we are fundraising. We sometimes forget to explain the details of our fundraising. In the video below Timothy explains our budget and the Living Link Network we are building.
If you would like to join us please call 765-648-2129 and ask for Debbie Taylor or visit our donation site by clicking here.
Your help is needed as we gear up to make a significant difference in the lives of those we love.
God Bless,
The Downings
Bonus missionary exercise: One of the interesting aspects of gearing up to move out of the country is investigating different modes of transportation and the cost of each. We usually explore questions like this late at night when we are too excited to sleep.
When we move to Ecuador we will need to buy a good vehicle to travel to the different churches we will be working with. We of course will used public transportation from time to time but we will need to go where the public transport will not go.
We could buy a Llama but then we would have to feed it.
We have a big family, so how about a Station Wagon (1977 Ddoge Aspen for $4500.00)
But we will need a 4X4 to go all the places we need to go. Here is a 1995 Ford Bronco for nearly $20,000.00
We don’t want to break down along our mission path so perhaps we need a newer 4X4. But eight years in the Andes is a long time so maybe we should get something newer.
Here is a nice 2014 Ford Explorer but it costs $66,000.00 used. The Llama is beginning to look like a good way to get around!
(If you can’t sleep check out a good Ecuadorian auto site by clicking here.)
