The Great Adventure

Early one cool Monday morning last August, Jeff was meeting with a small group of men for discipleship. One man named Horley asked for prayer for his nephew named Marco. He said, “Marco is not a believer, but I believe he is seeking. I have been sharing the gospel with him and encouraging him to read the Bible.” That day the men’s discipleship group began to pray regularly for Marco.

About two weeks later, we had the privilege of meeting Marco. Jeff took advantage of the opportunity to tell him he wanted to join with his uncle in encouraging him to read the Bible. He also told Marco he would like to hear his thoughts about what he was reading. During that period of time, Jeff had been discouraged by how slow the progress had been in ministry. So Jeff was curious to see how Marco would respond to his challenge.

Not long after we met Marco, he returned to the university where he is studying in Cuenca. It was a pleasant surprise for Jeff that Marco stayed in touch regularly. Every time they talked, Marco had a list of thought-provoking questions that made it clear that he was reading regularly and reflecting on the truth of God’s word. In February, Marco came by our house to talk with Jeff. He said, “I want to thank you for encouraging me to read the Bible. I now understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and I want to follow him and be baptized.”

During this same period of time, Terri was studying the Bible with Marco’s mother, Auria. It was exciting to see how each of them discovered the truth of the gospel and made the decision to follow Christ on their own. It was a joy to see them both baptized on February 19^th.

This experience reminded us of 2 Corinthians 4:6  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  It is true that there is a lot of resistance to the gospel in Loja. However, it is worth all the time, energy and resources we are investing to see God make light shine out of darkness. Thank you for partnering with us in the harvest through your prayers and financial support!

Jeff and Terri

Last week I had the privilege to share the important works of C. S. Lewis with University Students. Pray that the significance of these words will penetrate their hearts and minds producing spiritual fruit.

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
                                                                                                            ― C. S. Lewis

I continue to have opportunities to share with people about nutrition and the importance of taking responsability for our own health.  I was invited to travel to Quito 12 hours from Loja to do three conferences in three different cities in and around Quito.  We had a total of 60 people enrolled in the conferences and we met in homes, and in one case, we met in a restaurant kitchen.  That was really nice!

The first day I shared about vegetable juices and smoothies.  The second day we talked about how to make our cooked food more nutritious and what oils and salts are healthy. The third day we made raw tacos and raw spaghetti..and you guessed it… we talked about the importance of raw food for health and vitality.

Many of the people who attended the conferences form part of several small home churches in the Quito area.  We had a Sunday service together in a beautiful restaurant and the worship was fantastic.  I feel so blessed to have met so many new friends and had the opportunity to pray with some who are struggling with serious illnesses.  I traveled back to Loja feeling blessed and filled to the brim with new ideas for ministry in the future and a great appreciation for small home churches.  Jeff and I feel like that might be a great option in Loja to reach more people with the Gospel.

If you have never tried raw tacos or raw spaghetti, check out the recipes below.  You will be plesantly surprised!

Raw Tacos

These tacos are made by filling romaine lettuce leaves with a sesame cheese sauce and chopped salad bar ingredients.  The sesame cheese recipe is below but you can try these tacos with homemade guacmole instead of the chesse sause.  Mmmmm delicious!

Sesame Cheese Sauce

1/2 pound of hulled sesame seeds
2 pieces of fresh garlic
the juice of 2 limes
3/4 of a teaspoon of cumin
3/4 of a teaspoon of sea salt
Blend all the ingredients in a blender with minimal water stiring to help the blender chop up the sesame seeds.  Cilantro is optional.

Raw Spaghetti

Make zucchini noodles with a spiralizer or flat wide noodles with a vegetable peeler and top with your favorite marinara sauce or spaghetti sauce.  Mmmm!  Don’t forget to use lots of garlic and basil in your sauce.