Update

A few things have happened since the last update so I'll let yall in on what's current.

1. On Monday the 21st we received the papers we'd been waiting on so we could apply for our visas. So that afternoon we went to the city to spend the night and get up early the next morning to apply at the consulate. We were at the consulate office before it even opened and the whole process went fairly smoothly. The hardest part was actually paying for the visas since they cannot accept ripped or torn bills. It's quite hard to get untarnished money here so we did some trading around hahaha. In the end, we can't actually get the visas until we bring plane tickets. Then we can retrieve our passports which they're holding and get our visas. The big fiasco was that nobody knew who was actually supposed to buy the tickets. Because of this, a process that could have been completed all in one day is delayed until Jan 4th because the consulate office is closed until then for the holidays. It was quite funny actually. First we were told that the tickets couldn't be bought until we had our visas...then we explained that this just wouldn't work since that put us in a bit of a catch 22...then after deciding to buy "dummy" tickets, the person in Richmond that was supposedly going to buy our tickets suddenly decided that they couldn't...it was the job of our "language director". This was interesting to hear since we don't really have a language director and the person closest to that job has a budget of $0 for us. So we had to quickly get on the phone with our logistics coordinator in Ecuador to find out who exactly was going to pay for us to get out of the country. This was all very rushed because we were trying to get the tickets the same day so we could go back to the consulate and get our visas and be done. Oh...and did I mention the consulate office is only open from 9am-1pm? So eventually it became clear that there was just no way we were going to get the tickets that day so we gave up and went home. The good news is we have visas but we just can't pick them up until we come back with our tickets. So we will return to the consulate on the 4th when they reopen and fly out the next day. All this has proved to me what I had heard...that the simplest government/bureaucratic matters are incredibly complicated overseas. Also that while we have been here we have disappeared mysteriously into the Twilight Zone or Bermuda Triangle and nobody knows what to do with us if they even happen to know we're here.

2. Last night (Tuesday, Dec 22) we showed the film "La Esperanza". Against all odds it went great. I was expecting trouble because 5 of us had been in the capital for 2 days applying for visas and so we had no time to test things or prepare. We got to the school an hour early to set up and at 7, when we were supposed to start, nobody had arrived. Not to worry...that's par for course for Latin America. So around 7:20-30 people started to pour in. We had invited all our host families and teachers and their friends and family and anyone we happened to walk by on the street that night. In all, we had about 60 people not including the 10 of us. We projected the film onto the wall outside of the school and about froze to death due to the extraordinarily cold weather that night. But we took a break halfway through for an intermission to eat chuchitos (I don't know how to describe this food) and drink ponche (basically a cider of mixed fruits with the fruit still in it). The movie went very well and people actually stayed for the whole thing and seemed to enjoy it. It clearly presented the Gospel from creation to Christ and gave a personal invitation at the end. All without out being cheesy and hokey which is quite an accomplishment based on some of the films I've seen. We don't know if any decisions were made but I suspect it gave them a lot to think about especially as they go about their celebrations the next few days.

3. Christmas here is nuts. First off they don't really get started until midnight Christmas Eve. In fact, nobody eats all day and they have dinner at 12am. Then it gets rolling with fireworks and music and food and lots and lots of booze. So between all that I don't expect to get a whole lot of sleep. The next day there will be dancing in the streets. The theme this year is pirates....and don't ask why because I don't know. But lots of people will be in the streets dancing dressed in pirate costumes. After that I will be heading to a missionaries' house in Antigua to spend the day there where it will be more quiet and hopefully grab a nap, eat American-style food, watch Christmas movies, relax, and call home. The festivities will then be over...until New Year's of course where I'm sure there's lots more craziness to come.

Prayer request update

I'm now only 4 short weeks away from finishing up language school and moving on to Ecuador. I'm hoping and praying that these last weeks will prove to bear fruit of all the work we've put in in the past 8 weeks here.

1. There is a girl named Cecilie, a Norweigian language student who has been studying with us, who is definitely seeking. I and others have had the opportunity to share testimonies, salvation, and just about every major or controversial subject in Christianity and the Bible. She still clings to the humanist European view that's very trendy these days that inspires the false hope that humanity is good at heart and can accomplish good things if you really put your mind to it. However, I think after seeing the way our beliefs are not just a tradition but a way of life for us has caused her to rethink the traditional, liturgical, forced Christianity she experienced as a child. But with only 4 weeks left there's not too much time for us to see the fruit of all our conversations. It doesn't have to happen while we're still here...but it'd be real nice to see a salvation experience before leaving.

2. Our Wednesday night Bible study has been going quite well. I haven't been in several weeks but they tell me that our national leader (the father of the host family one of the fellow missionaries here is staying with) is really stepping up and leading it. He's starting to see the possibility of the group continuing after we leave and even turning into a church. He's slowly been letting go of one Catholic tradition after another and just reading the Bible and doing what it says. Pray that this would not fall apart after we leave and that he would truly step up to the plate and accept the role of shepherd that God has clearly put him in the unique postition to fulfill. He's not 100% doctrinally sound...but I think when we reach Heaven we'll all have some corrections made too. The most important part is that he's making steady progress and has the big things right and is clearly experiencing God moving in his life.

3. The IMB has a film they produced called "La Esperanza", or "The Hope". It's mainly narrated with CGI graphics in the background, so there's no hokey, low-budget actors to interfere with the message. I'm hoping that we could show it here in our town just before Christmas. At the very least we would invite our host families and teachers and all their friends and family...at best we could promote it to the entire town and show it in the town square. I found out yesterday that we have access to a projector and screen and one of the Guatemala missionaries is gonna come up from the City to talk and see what we can do. Pray that we could get him and some of the other career missionaries behind it as it will be tough to pull off on our own. It's hard to get them out of the work they're already busy enough with and into things that must seem like them to be quite small in the scheme of things. So pray that this would all work out logistically and that many Catholics where we live would here the true Gospel that isn't preached by the Catholic church. As an ironic side not, the town square where we would show the film happens to be right in front of the Catholic church...hahaha what irony.

Thanks so much for your prayers and if I don't update this sooner then I will once I reach Ecuador!