April 2009

April 2009

Dear friends and family,

Three months has passed since our last update, and it’s been quite a busy time since the New Year.  In the beginning of February the Diocese had a visit from a delegation from the Diocese of New Jersey who sought to begin a companion relationship with the Diocese of Central Ecuador.  Chris traveled for four days with two members of the group to different communities around Ambato and Riobamba, and they were then joined by four others who visited churches and projects around Quito.  Then on the 13th and 14th of February, in the Diocesan Convention, the voting members of the convention voted to have the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church, in a meeting in March, vote for the next bishop of Central Ecuador.  Since the process of seeking a bishop here in Ecuador had to be annulled, this moved the vote to the House of Bishops.  In March when they met, they voted for one of three candidates, Rev. Luis Fernando Ruiz, who is presently a priest in Colombia.  Pending approval of the House of Deputies for the Episcopal Church, this new bishop will be consecrated on August 1.  We are looking forward to getting to know and work with when he arrives here in Ecuador. www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_105989_ENG_HTM.htm



In March Chris spent about a week in Lima, Peru, with the Board of Directors and other leadership staff of CLAI, where they also voted for the new General Secretary.  The Board voted for the interim General Secretary, Rev. Nilton Giese, who also has been the Director of Communications and with whom we have worked most closely since we arrived (www.claiweb.org).  We look forward to continuing our relationship with him. Chris has also continued facilitating workshops with FEINE, the Ecuadorian Indigenous Evangelical Council of Churches.



Chris has been busy with responsibilities in Cristo Liberador, the church where he’s been working as a candidate to the priesthood.  Holy Week is also very busy, with a service each night, the Viacrucis on Saturday afternoon, and the Easter Vigil Saturday night.  On April 15 he also has his canonical exams, where he has to prepare four sermons, have written exams from 9:00-5:00, and an oral exam thereafter.  On April 16-18 Chris will also participate in the Diocese-wide clergy retreat.  We have also both been occupied with the Companionship and Mission Committee where we are in the process of developing materials and a process for groups who have an interest in visiting and working with the Diocese.



Trish continues to work in the Diocesan library, which is now lending books out and is presently setting up a virtual classroom, in which the library catalogue will be available.  The work with the refugee project is going very well.  We have just finished a series of workshops on business administration and home economics and have presented the first two microloans, one to a beauty salon and one to a couple who are ambulatory vendors.  The workshop presenter is an Episcopal lay minister who specializes in this topic and has been an extremely enthusiastic and invaluable participant in this ministry.  The project has also distributed to families food (rice, beans, cracked corn, powdered milk, and the like) and to families with students foods for nutritious breakfasts (corn for arepas, yogurt, quinoa flakes, etc.).  After Easter the project will start a weekly lunch program at the La Reconciliación Episcopal church, where the families will be able to have lunch in community with others, and the priest and other laypeople wish to have a Bible reflection for the adults and a Bible school time with the children.  It is exciting to see Ecuadorians enthusiastic in this ministry, and the church also hopes that its participation in this will bring more visibility to their church.  The lunch program will also help provide a little income for women from the church who will prepare the meals.



And on a health note, at Trish’s one-year post-surgical check-up the urologist said everything looks very good – no stones, her blood work is perfect, and the basic ultrasound shows that everything is the way it should be.  Nevertheless, to be on the safe side he has ordered a special x-ray to see how fluids are passing through her kidney to make sure that the opening is as wide as it should be and that the kidney and ureter are functioning properly.  It’s a procedure that lasts half the day, so we’ll have to look at our calendars and see when it can be done.



The girls are doing very well.  Claire turned 7 in February and is loving school, reading and writing extremely well in Spanish, and now learning to read in English.  Her linguistic abilities are astonishing to us – she can speak better Spanish than us, with a completely authentic Quiteño accent.  And Isabel is less than three months away from turning 3.  She too speaks better every day, and continues to mix English and Spanish together.  At least we can now understand almost everything she says.



Please keep Chris and the canonical exams in your prayers, that the refugee ministry continues to go well, and that Trish’s x-ray comes out well.  Thank you for all your invaluable and continued prayers and support for our life and work here in Ecuador.



Much peace,

Trish, Chris, Claire, and Isabel





p.s. For those interested, Chris wrote an article about an intercommunion agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ecuador and the Episcopal Diocese: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_106724_ENG_HTM.htm