Okay, let me grab this firmly by two corners and give it a good shake -- 'cuz it is covered by dust. I had spent over a year exploring all kinds of other blogs and ignoring ours. A coupla people have nudged me to resuscitate ours...so I'm gonna try to make it a new discipline. I'm actually gonna start fairly simply; using what I had sent out to our "E-Team" last week. So, there is an outside chance that someone will actually drift to this -- and will quickly realize he or she has seen this before. If that is the case, Lord willing, I will make the time to keep this relatively fresh and updated for when you check back next time.

This is the fourth consecutive week I’ve spent at least part of my quiet time shaking my head and smiling about something from the previous Sunday. The amazement this time has been about Lenín. He found his way to EFC about a year ago. He is an Ecuadorian who has lived part of his life in the Middle East, which is one of the reasons he has a huge heart for Jews…and is trying to build the only ministry with them that I know of here in Quito. He is also trying to raise money to plant a church on the coast to reach “African Ecuadorians.” In the meantime, he is leading music at a brand new church plant in one of the “rougher” areas in Quito.
Lenín is a great picture of the kinds of bridges God has been building around and from EFC. He loves to join us when he can “for the English worship.” He is also part of the leadership training (in Spanish) for Celebrate Recovery (CR; “A Christ-centered recovery program” -- www.celebraterecovery.com), driven by Rigo, our newest staff member – a Californian/Mexican married to one of the sweetest and most humble Ecuadorians you’ll ever meet. As far as we know, we’re the only church that provides CR training in Quito – and, as of last Friday, the only home base for people seeking recovery (people had come from five different churches!). Lenín led the music for the opening session – including a song that blended Hebrew and Spanish and magnified an astounding voice. He agreed to bring the song to our service on Sunday morning – and powerfully recaptured the sense of pure awe (which was magnified even further in an increasingly multi-national setting!)

The previous weekend a very different kind of group had met where the CR folks had been. About thirty people (an array of ages and nationalities and from a variety of local churches!) had gathered for “An All-Night Journey through the New Testament” – led by a Korean/Californian. No flashy program; no interactive study; no multi-media presentation…but thirteen hours of the oral reading of the New Testament; seamlessly going back and forth between English and Spanish!

Three Sundays ago Theresa (a Nebraskan; one of the leaders of the women’s prison ministry Alma Libre/Free Soul) tearfully stood to introduce Claudia, a 19-year-old Russian-born woman who had been caught trying to take drugs to Spain. Because she was pregnant, rather than “going directly to jail,” Claudia had been placed in a very small, grimy, windowless cell for four months before being released as the sentencing process continues. She was sent to a home where Kim “just happened” to be. Kim is Vietnamese and has a similar story. She was recently given a four-year sentence…and along with a gorgeous baby boy, is on her way “in” to prison (a process that is far more complicated than you might think!).
Kim also spent time in that tiny, grimy cell – which was where some ladies from Alma Libre met her…and she met The Way to have her soul set free. She speaks very little English or Spanish but has latched on to EFC as she waits to “go in” to the El Inca Prison…thanks in large part to the Sunday we broke out in an acapella version of “Jesus Loves Me” – the song (and The Truth) one Alma Libre lady had taught her! So, catch this: even though they don’t have a shared language, that young Vietnamese woman and her baby (the father was one of the traffickers that apparently found a way for her to “pay” her rent) invited the Russian/Spanish pregnant teen to this increasingly international church!

Then (I’m not doing very well at keeping this brief; sorry!), to round out the month, four Sundays ago we had the hilarious privilege of praying for and “sending” Boris, Fernanda and their precious baby girl. They are midway through two months of intense missionary training on the coast. (It has been just five months since we had prayed for Maria Sol – as the first Latin missionary to be “sent” by this church; she is on a two-year journey on an OM International Ship, currently in India!)
Born in Colombia and abandoned as a child, Boris hopped a truck, crossed the border and headed to Quito where he ended up living on the streets; one of what is a rapidly increasing number of teens making a living with a knife or a gun. A series of miracles saw him taken in and then adopted by a California couple that had recently started an orphanage on the outskirts of Quito. After several years he bolted for the streets again…and before long a fight left him in critical condition at a hospital near EFC. God used the care of one man (a Californian) in particular to catch the attention of Boris’ soul once and for all…and he quickly found himself in what was then a fledgling ministry house for boys and young men seeking freedom from life on the street. Boris was reunited with his adoptive family…and more importantly, his Father!
Now Boris and another “former street kid” are building a ministry focused on girls and young ladies making their living on the streets. The desire is to teach them a trade (specifically making jewelry) while helping them see their own personal versions of the reality that “Yes, Jesus Loves Them!” A percentage of any money that comes in is going to help a young Pastor plant a church in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the far north of Quito. Talk about the kind of bridges between worlds that only God could build!
By the way, I talked to Boris from the missionary training center and he said they still have their dream of going to India to serve one day…but he now realizes his commitment to follow Jesus means he is a missionary now – and he wants to learn what that looks like and means with every step he takes!

That is just a tiny glimpse into why one thing the Apostle Paul wrote continues to blow us away: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” (Eph 3:20)

Soon to be on North American soil (and Canadian soil for the first time in four years!),

Len (for the three gorgeous blondes)