Our ministry here in Loja has NEVER, ever, EVER been easy. Anyone associated or who knows El Sendero well would laugh at the thought of it being easy.

At one point I burst into tears and asked God, "When will these ministry crisis ever end?" The only response I heard was, "Never."

It's funny, but it was that moment that I found peace with this tumultuous task God put before us. If it was never going to end, and I could just stop working so hard to make it end. It seems oxymoronic to me to have found peace in this knowledge that it was always going to be hard, but it's the truth.

It's not easy. No way, no how. Our ministry doubles as a business.

You know all the problems that businesses have? We have those. (and some of those are HUGE- as in make you want to hide your head in a rock and never ever, ever, ever, come out huge) (In fact, it might be good if you would all take a moment and pray for the current massive, mountain size crisis)

You know all the problems that ministries have? Oh, boy, do we have those too (In fact, it might be a good idea if you would all take a moment and pray for our current ministry problems)

It's like double the trouble.

But you see, I have learned that where there is trouble, there is God. Where the earth seems to shatter and fall apart- God holds our hands while we clean up the pieces. (Sometimes He cleans up the pieces while we sit huddled in a corner crying).

So, I learned this lesson once. It was big, I taught it to others too.

And then, the new crisis came along.
It wasn't ministry related.
It wasn't business related.
It is heart related

A life changer made me forget that big lesson that I can have peace in knowing that I can't fix everything.

I can NOT fix diabetes 1. Despite everyone who wants to give me a miracle on a silver platter (or rather in a pill bottle, plant, or miracle chant), the exhaustion I feel after checking blood sugars every hour through the night is not going to go away. I am always going to have a heart thumping experience every time Marcus is slow to respond to my, "Wake up, it's time to get ready for school."
It's not going away. I can't fix his pancreas. It's broken beyond my repair.

The question I have is, "What happened to my peace?"
Why do I forget so easily how wonderful it is to rest in the knowledge that God is on control?
How do I re-learn?
Why am I so afraid for my son's life when I so firmly say, that the worst that can happen to any of us (death) is actually the best thing that can happen to us (eternal life with Jesus)?

I have a heart problem. All heart problems are serious. So is mine. (It might be a good idea if you took a moment to pray about my heart problem) (Thank you)

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Esfuérzate y se valiente- levántate y predica

A TODOS LAS NACIONES

Que Cristo es la vida!

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Life in missions has been described as constantly adjusting to a new normal. This description is so accurate to our lives. Normal has changed for us.

It is now normal for us to walk 30 minutes from one place to another.

It is now normal for us to consume gallons of rice in a week.

It is now normal for us to answer the phone with "Halo?" and continue the conversation in Spanish.

It is now normal to hear fireworks on any given day even at 8 in the morning.

It is now normal to show up to parties an hour late.

It is now normal to eat guata, mote, and batidos de mora.

It is now normal to travel 5 hours by bus to get to an airport.

It is now normal to avoid rabid dogs in the street.

It is now normal to praise God, talk to God, and teach the word of God all in Spanish.

One time it was all new. Now it is normal.

But what was normal Wed. 15 days ago is all new now.

Marcus was sick. We didn't know it but his body was making a new normal for him.

Two Wednesdays ago we mentioned some non bothersome symptoms to a dr friend of ours.

4 hours later our lives changed.

Marcus was immediately admitted to the hospital where he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is different than type 2 which creates its own new normal. Type 1 is not temporary. It can not be cured with diet and exercise. It is a auto immune disease that has killed off the beta cells in his pancreas. The beta cells are what makes insulin for the body. Without insulin, he will die. He will never have new beta cells.

This newness is for life.

It's not normal yet. Not quite yet.

4 shots of insulin a day.
4 blood checks (sometimes more).
Not sleeping through the nights.
Changed vision.
Shakey lows.
Bad mood highs.
A severely restricted diet, carefully proportioned and measured, eaten six time a day.
Multiple dr's visits. (a lifetime relationship with a team of specialists)
Fear and anxiety.
Hovering.
A whole new vocabulary.

We have not gotten used to it yet. But we will. We can tell that was was once a shock is wearing off and becoming a part of our lives.
A life with Type 1 diabetes.

Already it has become normal to:
Talking with others who have this or have children with it.
Praying daily for health.
Praying daily for the scientists who are looking for a cure.
Praying daily for God to provide what we need financially and physically.
Scouring the internet for recipes.
Eating a bucketload of veggies everyday.

The rest of it will come. And with it we will have our new normal. One that includes a new ministry. One that includes a special kind of dependance on God. This same God who created my son has been caring for him (and for us) through all of this. He protected my son. He gave us the skills to understand this new disease all in a new language. He gave us skilled doctors and professionals to work with us.

He has grown us and molded us.
Two weeks ago we were different.

Now we are different.
Now we are, in spite of all this newness, BECAUSE of IT,
more like the image of our Savior.

It's true.
Our new normal looks a lot like strength, persistence, character, trust, bravery, and dependance on God. Our new normal looks a lot more like Christ than our old normal did.

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1. We celebrated New Years Eve with a fire to burn the New Year (and our figure of the new year which we had made out of busted old wooden chairs.


2. Weston celebrated his birthday with friends from school.

3. We traveled to the equator and had a friendly tug of war game right at the middle of the earth.

4. We took a walk through Ecuador's incredible rainforest and had our faces painted.

5. Becka taught a class by lantern light in Portete

6. We celebrated Carnival with more water than Noah's flood.

7. Esther celebrated her birthday with her very first sleepover.

8. We had an El Sendero Jenga tournament. It was fierce! Dustan won!

9. Estelamarise and Becka continued to study God's word together.

10. We said goodbye to our co-workers, Doug and Kim.

11. Becka's cousin Michael came to visit for a few months to work at Sendero.

12. Former missionary to Loja, Colin Bacon, came back for a visit and hosted an Australian Bush dance for the English Club.

13. Dustan continued studying the Bible with Edgar and was joined by Becka's Dad.

14. The family spent a little time resting in Vilcabamba.

15. Marcus took Tennis lessons

16. El Sendero held a ping pong tournament.

17. Dustan's parents came to visit and learned about all our ministries.

18. Becka and esther continued to build a friendship with two girls who came to the house each weekend to play. Becka read to them from a Bible story book.

19. Dustan and Becka celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows on the roof of the Loja Ministry Center.

20. We moved into a new apartment and Dustan and his dad worked hard to get us a safe functioning hot water supply. It doesn't look great but it works wonderfully.

21. Becka and Janeen planned, wrote, and then taught the material for Vacation Bible School. We held a teacher's training and had three churches come for the VBS teacher's clinic.

22. Our Ecuador SIM missionary team held their annual Spiritual Life Conference.

23. VBS was wonderful. Our church had over 30 children most of whom were not already attending church. Becka now has many of those children in her Sunday School class.

24. Weston's cat, Lilly, gave us some excitement with a litter of kittens. Violeta, Tigre, and Nimrod were a fun distraction for a while and we were happy that they all found good homes.

25. El Sendero celebrated Christmas and Weston had the honor of drawing our Christmas board. he did a fantastic job!

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This is part four in a series that discusses how God is using a small cafe in the Andes mountains to further His Kingdom.

Before going any further, I want to tell about how God has used El Sendero to disciple me and to grow my own faith. You see, Dustan and I arrived in Loja as green as a missionary can come. Although I had experience in US based missions Dustan had none and neither of us had done any missions work internationally, not even a week long missions trip.

Furthermore, we could not speak the language past “Hola” and “Gracias”. Practically speaking we were pretty unusable! We were untrained, inexperienced, and without a lick of language skills. The only thing we DID have was desire and El Sendero is a unique ministry in that it can use missionaries just like us.

Because of our English ministry, young missionaries can get involved right away and inexperienced missionaries can get on the job missions training. The cafe provides the perfect environment to learn mission strategy and gain practical experience.

In the year 2011 El Sendero welcomed 5 short term missionaries as well as several volunteers. These young people worked hard to keep the cafe functioning as well as share the gospel. All of them left changed by God and encouraged to share the gospel no matter where God sends them next!

One of our volunteers was a gal named Stephanie. She did not come to Loja as a missionary but rather as a student/volunteer at Loja’s University. She was busy doing research on the Andean Bear when she heard about El Sendero. She had a deeply rooted faith in Jesus and took the opportunity to join many of our ministries. She had the following things to say:

About El Sendero’s Global role in the body of Christ:
“I'm learning that no matter where I go, the Church will always be my home and family. My friends/time at Semilla de Mostaza and El Sendero in Loja and the Compassion staff in Colombia have made my time in those places a jillion times richer than they would have been otherwise and I am super thankful to be a part of a global loving welcoming awesome body of peeps.”

About an experience at Spotlight Club:
I don't know what portion of the guys in my group were already Christian- one obviously was, maybe a couple more.. We talked about it a little, and then the guy on one side of me straight up asked why, 2000 years later, Jesus is so important. So with encouragement from the Christian guy on the other side of me, I directly shared the gospel with a new person for probably the first time in my life- about how we're sinful and deserve punishment, but God sent Jesus to live a perfect life and take our punishment so we could live free from fear and live in God's love instead. The guy seemed receptive, commenting that it was a good example of sacrifice. I have no idea how much else the guy knows or what his background is, but I hope I was able to accurately express what we're all about and please join me in praying for him and the other students too!

About how God used El Sendero to provide her with an opportunity to share her faith:
It's funny because at the end of my freshman year in college, I was terrified at the thought of an English-teaching mission trip to Japan (which got cancelled anyways), but here I am in Ecuador as a student, not even on a mission trip, but just trying to live my life in line with God's mission, and I've ended up teaching English and sharing Jesus. And it was easy and fun. Yay!”


God is using this coffee shop. He is working. He is changing not only the lives of unbelievers as He pulls them to Him, but He is changing the lives of His children as He strengthens our faith, gives us opportunities to share the gospel, and teaches us to rely on Him.

Here are some photos of some of the missionaries and volunteers that God has blessed us with.

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English Teaching and Gospel Sharing:
How one helps us do the other...

El Sendero hosts a Spotlight club every Wednesday night. Spotlight is an international program that helps students of English practice their listening and speaking skills.

It also allows us to share with them truths from the Bible in a non-confrontative manner.

So, I thought I would walk you through one of our meetings to give you a glimpse into how the club works, and how God is using it to reach into the lives and hearts of young people in Loja.

We start each of our meetings with a short introduction and a simple question.
This gets the students warmed up with English sentence structure.

This particular meeting we asked them to introduce themselves and say how long they have studied English
“Hi, my name is Becka, and I have been studying English my whole life. I am a native speaker.”
“Hi my name is Cesar, and I have been studying English for 5 years. I am an advanced student.”
“Hola, me llamo Carlos, y no puedo hablar ingles.”

After we introduced ourselves, the group of students listened to a Spotlight broadcast about the miners in Chili, and what had become of their lives after they had been rescued. Many of the Chilean miners are traveling around the world to spread a message of hope.

After a time of discussing new vocabulary words, we broke into small groups.

I had three ladies in my group. We talked about what we had heard and read through some discussion questions. Including one that asked which of the following was more important, world unity or faith in God.

Somehow we got off track and the girls began to discuss self-faith. One girl boldly stated that without having faith in ones self, you would be doomed in any crisis. She gave an example of when she had been in an earthquake and was frantic and not thinking clearly. “I had no faith in myself” she declared. “I could have died from my crazy behavior”. She continued on, “In Japan, so many people survived because they were calm. They had such great faith in themselves.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but am so glad that I was interrupted by another young girl in the group. Carmita has been attending a Bible Study at El Sendero with Ruth, another SIM missionary and the Spotlight leader. Carmita replied, “I have suffered before. I know that there is a suffering that is so bad it makes death seem good. I have suffered so badly that I have wanted to die. Faith in myself meant nothing. Because, if you suffer and do not have faith in God, there is no peace. Not even in death.”

And that is how the gospel of Jesus Christ was heard on that one Wednesday night as I helped a group of students study English.

It’s just one story. Every time we meet the gospel is heard, shared, and discussed. Once a week. At least 3 groups sometimes more. Between 10 and 30 students. Every week.
God’s great news of salvation is told and many times received.

From these discussions, Bible studies are formed. Students begin to ask questions, they ask for books to read, and they begin to meet with us one-on-one to seek further what the Bible has to say to them.

Helping them to learn English is meeting a physical need but by meeting that physical need, God has thrown open the doors for us to meet such a yearning desire to know His Word!

God is working in El Sendero.

Carmita and Kimberly. Carmita began studying the Bible with Kim, a short-term missionary who worked at El Sendero and with the Spotlight ministry. After Kim returned to California, Carmita continued to study with Ruth. She is a strong believer and is bold in sharing her faith during Spotlight Clubs.

Will you pray for Spotlight? Pray that God will continue to provide weekly opportunities to share the gospel. Pray that He sends more volunteers. Pray that the University students will continue to come back even though their contact will be leaving for a short term trip back to the US.

Pray for Mark and Ruth Lans, missionaries from Colorado who are an integral part of the English ministry. They are returning to the states for two months to care for Ruth's mother after a hip replacement surgery.

Pray for Becka as she leads and teaches during these two months (She is normally a small group discussion leader, but will be doing all the leading during this time). Pray that she is guided by the Holy Spirit as she chooses the Scripture to read and as she writes the discussion questions.

Pray that more students will be drawn to studying the scriptures through individual Bible studies.

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"I don't see much ministry going on here."
"How can a business possibly function as a ministry?"
"Are you guys actually sharing the gospel here?"
"What is this place all about?"
"Is there more than eating going on at El Sendero?"

I was asked to share with our Loja missionary team about what kind of things God is doing through El Sendero. I thought maybe you would be interested, so I am going to spend the next few days sharing with you how God is using El Sendero and using it in a mighty, mighty way!

So, what is the second way that God is working in El Sendero?

BIBLE STUDIES!

Right now, there are five active Bible studies meeting in El Sendero. These are small Bible studies with as little as one student and as many as five students.

This Christian cafe provides a nuetral place for missionaries and nationals to meet and teach the Bible.


It provides a place for anyone interested in learning the Bible to meet and to study.

Some of the students are believers.

Some of them are not.

But, five times a week, they meet with Christians who either disciple them in their faith or who share the gospel of Jesus with them.

Every week. Discipleship and evangelism.

Five groups.

Does it make a difference?



Stelamarise is now a believer.

"What makes a person a Christian?" I asked her
"Believing in Jesus. Putting all your faith in Him." she replied.
"But, you go to mass" I said. "Doesn't that make you a Christian?"
And she answered: "No. Going to church does not make me a Christian. What makes me a Christian is that I believe Jesus died for my sins and that He and only He can save me."
"But what about your baptism?" I asked.
"I am saved because of my faith in Jesus Christ." she said.

And God moves. He changes lives. He saves life.

Not because of me, but using me.

Not because of a cafe, but using a cafe.

Yes. God is working in El Sendero.

And He's not done.

Please pray for Stelamarise, for Monica, Carmita, and others as God grows them in their walk with Him.

Pray especially for Ed*** that he will find answers to all his questions and give his life to the only answer. Jesus.

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