Dear Praying Friends,

We hope that you had a great Christmas and New Years season! We were blessed to have Wendy here with us, and enjoyed our time together as a family. Thanks so much for your prayers and gifts. We could not be here without them. Please continue to pray for us as we develop ministry and plan for growth.

We are looking forward to the beginning of several savings groups in the coming weeks. Please pray for our diligence in preparation, not just of the groups, but also of the spiritual application lessons for each group. All groups are not equal, and we need great wisdom in working with each one. Pray that this ministry would be a beacon for Christ in each of the churches involved. At the present time, most of the churches with whom we are working want to begin groups only with members or regular attenders, so that they can see faithfulness on the part of their own people. Please pray that the discipline of group participation will be a blessing in the lives of those involved, as well as in the church as a whole.

Please also pray for our personal spiritual disciplines. Time in the Word refreshes us, and fills us so that we can prepare for other ministry. Please pray specifically for Mike as he integrates spiritual lessons into a handbook on managing business money. Please also pray specifically for Robin as she prepares a study for the team women on the book of Mark.

It has been a tough week for Whitney and Waverly and their schoolmates. One of the sophomores died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning last Thursday while taking a shower. Because Alliance Academy is such a close-knit group, the whole high school has been affected. It has been encouraging to know that he was a believer, but it has been even harder for his family who do not know Christ as Savior. Please pray for them as well.

We would also ask your prayers for the girls as next week they take first semester exams. They have been very stressed about cumulative exams. Pray that God would help them study, and that they would remember all that they have learned. They are also playing basketball, and are trying to improve their skills- which can be exhausting.

Please also pray for Ecuador in general. We have a new president, who took office yesterday. As with any “change of power” there are questions in the minds of many about what this means. Please pray for peaceful change, and for God’s continued hand to guide the government.

Lastly, we ask that you pray for our team as we try to do 2-5 year planning. Our team is diverse in its directions- church planting among Hispanics, church revitalization among Hispanics, and Theological training in Quichua communities- and yet we have one vision-

By God’s grace and in close partnership with the national church we seek to promote a church planting movement of healthy, Christ-centered, Reformed churches among the Quichua and Spanish-speaking peoples of Ecuador.