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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye Guam, Alii Palau!

Image
Here is a recap of the final days of our friends Hiob and Leah and their children Micah and Jireh in Guam. They have returned to Palau where Hiob will serve as senior pastor of the Koror Evangelical Church. We all started together at PIBC back in fall 2006 and we have worked together, laughed together, cried together, prayed together, and grown together. Although it is hard to say goodbye, we know that they will be a blessing to the Church in Palau, and we find comfort in the words of the Michael W. Smith song "Friends": friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord of them. Amen! We had a BBQ in their honor on campus at the beginning of June before the Thai mission team left. Delight posed with Micah and Hiob during a break from barbecuing. He is a fantastic barbecuer. Notice he's even holding the tongs, to a barbecuer what a hammer is to a carpenter. As always, everyone enjoyed the food, the centerpiece of any Micronesian celebration. Before our friends left,
Read more

Amelia says, "Goodbye, Long Hair!"

Image
Amelia finally had her hair cut after six years of no cutting. She likes her new haircut and enjoys combing her own hair for the first time ever. She wants to donate her hair for child cancer patients, and we are pleased that she wants to share with others. Here are some pictures before and after.
Read more

GOOD THINGS HAPPENING 3

Image
 A little background to this story.  I have been a fan of The Waltons from the beginning of the series.  In 2017 I attended the 45th anniversary celebration of the show in Schuyler, Virginia, the small hamlet where the series' creator Earl Hamner, Jr., was born and raised.  Perhaps I can share a bit more about that in a future post. During that weekend in March 2017 I met Reen Christie Bula (a/k/a Tammi Bula), who played John-Boy's love interest Marcia Woolery in the early seasons. Here is a shot of Reen and me, As well as a shot of all the cast member in attendance at the reunion with the exception of Michael Learned who went to bed early due to a play appearance the following day. During the weekend Reen, her husband Gordon and I shared time together, and she shared with me her testimony, how she came to the Lord through the witness of friends (she was working as an RN at the time) and how she saw the sign of Pi in the sky one day which prompted her to check out John 3:14-16
Read more