Farnsworth Family Forum, May 2020


It has been strange to see Otavalo’s empty streets  and long lines at the bank and grocery store since March 17 when the quarantine in Ecuador began.  Ned ventures out one day a week for errands and food shopping; the rest of the time we have been holed up in our house and yard, the curfew currently being enforced from 2 pm to 5 am.



Like so many of you, big changes arrived to our lives and ministry.  Joel and Amelia receive online classes from their local public schools.  We have supplemented this with English language learning.  Jacob and Elias’ normal home school regimen has not changed.  Recently they assembled a puzzle of the human skeleton in health class.


We also enjoy regular times of worship with the Farnsworth Family Trio (Amelia, Jacob and Elias) on the roof, the upstairs porch and the living room.  Praise music sounds more beautiful now than ever.

Zona de Vida Church meets on Wednesday nights via Zoom for Bible study, fellowship and prayer.  Ned sends a daily Bible verse through WhatsApp to the church people and a sermon audio each Sunday afternoon.  He recently called the 21 mothers from our congregation to pray with them for Mother’s Day.  Leading a church plant in Ecuador has been a challenge as not everyone has the ability to join online meetings.  It appears that it will be quite some time before we can resume regular church meetings.  Please pray for creativity in reaching out to people during this health crisis.

Sadly, our mission faced the difficult decision to suspend the leases of the churches who rent their buildings.  Currently we have no offerings nor income to pay our rent or other expenses until the restrictions are lifted.  We ask for prayer for wisdom to make good decisions for the future.  Although uncertain, we know that God has a perfect plan for our church and us.


 
Thanks for praying for our parents.  Marisol’s parents, Zulema and Wilson, are housebound.  Due to their age they are prohibited from leaving the house at this time.  Ned’s mother Marilyn also finds herself on quarantine at her retirement community in PA.  We trust God to take care of them as He always has.



Please pray for Marisol’s brother Hugo (wearing the white hard hat).  As an architect he left this week to continue supervising a construction site in city of Loja in southern Ecuador.  You can see that they are practicing social distancing on the worksite!


We appreciate your support in prayer.  God bless you!  Ned, Marisol, Joel, Amelia, Jacob and Elias

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