This week we had the privilege of visiting with our Brothers and Sisters in Tonsupa. There are two works of the Church of God near Tonsupa. One is the Church whose building was destroyed during a very large earthquake in 2016. We had the honor of joining them for a baptism service. The following video gives a good look at the temporary Church building and the Church in a bus waiting to go to the Esmeraldas river for a baptism service.
The other work is a Children’s outreach in nearby Piedra Fina (fine rocks). We taught the youth group on their Saturday meeting at Piedra Fina. We spoke about the Baptism of Jesus. We muddled our way through our Spanish language lesson but we were blessed for having the opportunity. (Are you looking for a way to pray for us specifically? You can pray for our language learning. We need to speak better Spanish).
After our class time with the young people at Piedra Fina we had the opportunity to spend some good quality time with Pastor Deila and Sister Susana. Pastor Deila is a dear Sister in Christ whom we have admired over the years from afar. We are now very excited to admire her from up close!
Later on Saturday we drove to the beachfront in nearby Atacames to find a place to eat dinner. Many people have asked us about driving in Ecuador so here is a video of a short typical city drive. The highways are better but have different obstacles. We will post some more diving videos in future updates for those who are interested.
The worship service was beautiful in every way. One of Timothy’s Seminary students preached and she gave a fantastic sermon!
The Church gave us tunics and invited us to the river.
The Baptism of Marco Sr.
The Baptism of Marco Jr. This year Marco Jr. will attend his first year of Seminary.
The Baptism of Abraham. You might recognize him from earlier pictures at Piedra Fina.
After the Baptisms the Church began to play together!
Then we ate together!
A Church that plays together stays together!
Friends, as always we want to communicate to you how joyful we are to be an extension of your ministry in Ecuador. We know that some of you who are avid readers of our updates will someday visit us, but for those who will not have that opportunity we are blessed to be your hands and feet here in Ecuador. If you are already a prayer supporter and you keep up with our posts and you would like to help us financially please click here. We just received our updated budget from Global Strategy and we need several additional supporters to keep us on the field. Would you please consider supporting us at $15, $25, $50 or $75 per month? Your help is greatly needed and appreciated.
Love,
The Downings
