First stop – Ecuador, South America
Soon we head out to the country of Ecuador. Ecuador is named after the equator which runs through the country. We found it interesting that the “Panama hat” is actually from Ecuador. Straw hats were woven in Ecuador and taken to Panama to be sold to canal workers. Spanish is the national language of the country, but there are also 13 recognized indigenous languages. And we are going to write literacy materials with one of them. We’ll also be training literacy consultants from Brazil and Colombia.
After landing in Quito we have about a 7-hour road trip to the mountain village where we will be working with the team. Appreciate your prayer that our tummies will handle the winding roads through the mountains and not get sick.
Then to West Africa
After Ecuador we have only 2 days at home before we leave for Africa where we’ll be training 3 literacy consultants and writing literacy curriculum in 4 languages. Before each trip we do extensive preparation with each language. So we’ll be doing the preparations for Africa while in Ecuador.
Please pray for:
- wisdom with the five languages and writing good literacy materials in each
- for God’s strength to keep up with the travels and work
- great relationships with the team with whom we’ll be working which includes the missionaries, local people, consultants we’ll be training, and each other! We can develop great literacy materials, but if we don’t serve from great relationships, we’ve really gained nothing.
- For health and good rest at night
- That many people will learn to read God’s Word through these materials
So if the Lord ever brings us to mind in these next weeks, please cover us in prayer! We are certain to need them as we are traveling, interacting with many people and languages and adjusting to all kinds of food, water, time zones and climates. We really are seeing good progress made in getting consultants trained and able to serve the teams in their countries. Eventually that will mean less travel for us.
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