Trish is going to have surgery on Monday morning at 9am to remove a kidney stone, widen the tube that runs from the kidney, and take out a section of the tube.

Some on our email list are asking about what is going on with the situation with Colombia and how we are doing in Quito right now.

In January we, and particularly Chris, started in earnest preparing for one of three annual meetings that the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church has. The February 2008 meeting was held here in Quito.

Thanks to the purchase of a pickup truck last month we have had more flexibility in traveling to visit congregations that are not in Quito and more overall opportunity to continue the work that we are doing.

Much has happened since we sent out our last update in early May, which is why it has taken us 3 months to get this one together instead of the usual month-and-a-half. Here are some of the highlights:

We read in Acts today that when the followers of Jesus are persecuted, so is Jesus himself.

The work here continues to be full and busy. Chris has starting to write pieces for the CLAI monthly paper, Nuevo Siglo. Two new responsibilities also started in March and April. Trish started teaching English at the Episcopal elementary school in March, a school serving lower income students.

In an effort to increase dialogue and relationship between the churches and organizations in Latin America and those in the English-speaking world, we seek to share information that links people and churches in the English-speaking world to the reality of the church in Latin America. 

This letter finds us winding down after an extremely busy month, as we helped prepare for and then participate in the annual Diocesan Convention for the Diocese of Central Ecuador, in Quito, and the 5th General Assembly of CLAI (which happens once every six years), in Buenos Aires.