Dear Fondly-Remembered Central Plains Friends,

          May the Lord bless you abundantly!  May your time and gifts give birth to wonderful service in the church.

          We have had a very full schedule lately—writing the theology teaching booklets, giving short courses, preaching in the Quito Mennonite Church, helping refugee families in the city, and recently traveling to Paraguay and Argentina for a consultation on Mennonite work with indigenous evangelical churches.  Sometimes we feel a great weight of responsibility because the members of the Quito congregation don’t have time to help very much with local church needs due to their jobs, or their priorities.  But better times are coming; we continue to pray for God to raise up leaders with vision and action.

          We’ve finished writing the 12 theology teaching booklets that we had projected for 2007 together with FEINE, the Council of Indigenous Evangelical Peoples & Organiza- tions. This is just the first edition, simply photocopied so they can be used on a trial basis in the first courses.  A final edition with diagrams is still pending since it will be more expensive and will need more time and personnel.  But the courses we offered using these materials have been very useful for the churches in the rural areas of the southern mountains and the Amazon lowlands.

          We also gave some Bible and theology courses at the intermediate level, in the northern and central mountain region Protestant churches.  Last weekend 50 students attended a course César taught on how to study the Bible. There were various pastors and young leaders who were very enthusiastic, learning things they never had the chance to learn before, since this was an intermediate rather than a basic level course.  Ten of the 50 participants were women, and we continue to support the equality of the genders.

          In the local church, the attendance fell when 22 refugees were able to leave for other countries.  This is a big adjustment for a small congregation.   We have drawn up a new membership list, arriving at 25 members plus 10 who signed as having intentions to become members.  (They still need to take a course on Anabaptism and believers’ baptism, but almost all have already been in discipleship training.)  Sometimes, looking at numbers so small, one doesn’t see reflected the time and energy dedicated to nurturing the people, but God is the one who gives growth, and will in the right time.

          In the ministry to refugees we are now working with the Anglican Church which is supporting the ministry with a U.S. missionary.  She is dedicating about 40% of her time to making contacts with refugees, hunting social services for them,  helping them with appointments, etc.  She is just starting and we are guiding her as she gets oriented. 

          The Peace Education Workshops in the neighborhood around the church meeting house continue one Saturday every month, with an attendance of between 50 and 85 children. Several church women have been helping with the event, though not trained formally, and last month took the responsibility of the workshops alone, since we were in Argentina .  The idea is to teach these women leaders more about the psychology of children and the treatment children should receive.

           We’ve continued to maintain warm relations with the “ Inca Gardens ” neighborhood, a very poor barrio where several of our church members live. César was invited by the barrio president to attend the last meeting of the neighborhood assembly, to speak about the church.  Around 150 persons attended and expressed gratitude for the things the church has done there, such as the health clinics and the sale of used clothing for 10c to 50c per item. The community is very eager for us to help them with a project for teenagers to use their free time constructively, since several of them have become drug addicts. The barrio has many needs.  Since several of our church members live there perhaps we’ll begin to hold worship services there once a month.

          The two families from Riobamba who are interested in Anabaptism returned from their visits with you Mennonites in the USA very enthusiastic.  They would like to begin a church in Riobamba (four hours south of Quito ) and we are planning for the first formal worship services in January, 2008.  We are hoping that a new couple of workers from the U.S. could come and be involved in planting that church.  We must also pray earnestly for the Escobar family in Riobamba —Raúl and Ivét—as their business is in a tough crisis. 

         We were in Asunción, Paraguay , the 26th of September, giving a workshop on gender balance in church leadership. César presented a simple booklet he wrote: “Women and Formal Church Leadership, With Regard to First Timothy”. Later we traveled to Argentina to meet with the Mennonite mission workers in the Chaco and Linda Shelly of MMN, to share experiences in ministry among indigenous peoples.  We were there till October 5.

           Then César went to Colombia to visit his father who was again in heart surgery. We give thanks to God that he is recuperating, but we pray earnestly for his health because he has several severe lesions on his arteries which put his life at great risk.

         Patricia’s health, thanks be to God, has been better of late. In the coming days she will see the gynecologist again to find out if surgery is necessary or can be postponed.  A continuing problem however, is her almost constant migraine headaches, which rob her of much energy.  Thank you for your prayers.

         Our children are well, and we thank God.  Juan (17) and Andrea(16)are in sports and are enjoying their school friends. Daniel is happy at Hesston College and wants to continue his studies at a Mennonite institution, but everything depends on receiving a scholarship.  He loves both music and psychology.

         Greetings to all the people who remember us.  Thank you for your support in every way, but especially thank you for your prayers.

With appreciation,

César y Patricia