From the first day Victor and Teresa attended a meeting of the Arenillas house churches, Victor had that friendly smile that made you want to get acquainted. He immediately manifested interest in the teaching of the Word. Teresa was more reserved, and she seldom smiled. Victor committed his life to Christ first. Teresa has told me that she would awaken at night and hear Victor praying for her out in the living room, asking God to help her surrender her heart to Him. In September 2008, they were one of four couples who got married in the third wedding ceremony held by the Arenillas house church.
At their baptism the following day, Teresa gave a short, honest testimony. She said, "I can't testify to God changing my life radically since I began to follow Him. I have not changed very much, but I want to. I am trusting God to change me." Clayton encouraged her that God was at work and would continue to transform her as she yielded to Him.
Today Victor is the main house church leader in Arenillas. In the following photo he stands beside his son Hoover who is leading the evening singing at a monthly joint service that all the area house church groups attend. Hoover has only been playing guitar for two years ago.
Teresa has been a strong support to Victor. Together they have visited acquaintances and unsaved family members, witnessing to their new life in Christ and doing home Bible studies. Their home is the scene of weekly meetings for the house church in La Libertad, their area of the city. Victor has a shepherd's heart and is willing to go wherever he senses someone wants to know God.
Teresa's personal mission field is the neighborhood children. Though she first thought she could not teach a class (she struggles to read), she decided she would do what she could to spread the Gospel to others. She visited the parents of families living nearby, and invited the children to come for Bible class on Saturday mornings.
Victor and Teresa purchased Bibles so the children could read from the Bible together and learn God's truth right out of The Book.
Though some parents did not want their children to receive religious training, their children slip over at meeting time and attend the study anyway. Teresa says, "I can't send them away if they come hungry to learn."
The class begins at 9:00. At our last visit to Arenillas, the children were beginning to arrive soon after 8:00. Teresa invited them in, and they sat quietly on the chairs, waiting for the time to begin. Teresa is willing to give the best she can, even though she has no fancy Sunday School materials or colorful books. And these days I see her smile often! Her whole face lights up and it is easy to see God's joy shining through.
The first Saturday of January, 2012 Victor and Teresa accompanied us for the first time to the annual assembly of the Mennonite churches of Ecuador. Here Teresa gives a brief testimony of what God is doing in Arenillas through the house church movement.
New Year's Day, 2012. The learning continues and challenges will always arise, but we are happy to see Victor and Teresa growing in their relationship with God and eagerly and joyfully serving Him as best they understand to do. And God is blessing them. We delight to call them brother and sister and work together with them in the special harvest field of Arenillas.
Sorry - this post has no photos. Hopefully these "thousand words" will paint a vivid picture for you!
Would an angel ride a motorcycle?
I cannot verify that for certain, but one night as we drove back from Arenillas, we had strong suspicions that an angel was guarding us. We had left Arenillas later than we usually like to. There were various relationships and church issues that needed attention, and we just did not get away. So the trip found us after dark, making our way back home over the mountains. We came to the now familiar dirt road detour that took us over one part of the mountains. It had begun to rain. With four wheel drive engaged, we drove up the road and came to the corner where we usually took a sharp right, continuing up the mountain. Just as we came to the sharp turn, we could see the headlight of an approaching motorcycle, coming down the steep incline. As we paused to wait for him to pass, he came to a stop and hollered over to us through the noise of pounding rain, "Don't go up that way, it is impassible. Take the road straight ahead. It will get you to the same place." We did not wait to converse longer. The rain was coming down steadily. So with a hollered, "Thank you!" we headed on up the mountain road. "Could that have been an angel?" I asked. We often saw no traffic on that part of the detour, and to meet a motorcycle after dark, in the rain, seemed like a long stretch from the "usual" traffic on that road.
A few weeks later when we again passed through detour land on the way to Arenillas, we took our usual route, and sure enough, the hill we would have climbed that night was rutted with deep gullies and not a pleasant descent, even in dry weather. A rainy night would have been a nightmare on that hillside. We remembered the "angel" on the motorcycle.
A dog named Bear.
Several years ago we went weekly to the home of a lower income family, high on a hill just outside of Cuenca. We had to park the car down by the main road and walk up to their house, passing other dwellings on the way. Every home had a dog, it seemed, and we heard lots of barking announcing our arrival each time. The family we visited had a black dog named Oso (Bear). He would watch for our arrival, and accompany us to the door. After Bible study one evening, the neighborhood dogs seemed especially agitated as we made our way back down the dimly lit hill. Dogs barked and growled all around us, and I hoped that none would break loose from whatever was holding them back from outright attack. How would we ward off that pack if they came after us? We made it past the first house, the second house and though the growling and fierce barking continued unabated, we still seemed to be safe. One more short stretch and then the dogs would be left behind as we finished the descent to our parked car. Suddenly, out of the shadows, I saw a flash of black dog, and realized that Bear had been accompanying us down the hill -- seemingly aware that we needed some extra bodyguards that night. Had God prompted Bear to go with us, or was an angel following us dressed in "Bear's clothing"? As we passed the last danger point, Bear silently disappeared and we finished our evening's mission safe again from the threatening pack of watchdogs.
Border crossing angels.
Last week we were attending to some paperwork having to do with visa renewal. An official from Cuenca told us to cross over the border into Peru and then return to Ecuador, thus obtaining a 30 day tourist visa to give us extended time to work on some additional paperwork. So, trusting the advice given, we headed to Peru as part of our trip to Arenillas. Peru is another 45 minutes up the road and this would be a simple addition to our weekend trip. We drove confidently to the border crossing immigration buildings. A large complex of offices and vehicle examination areas greeted our eyes. But everything seemed to be asleep. A few slow-moving guards were all we saw. We were told that the computer systems were "down" and we would need to return to Huaquillas, two kilometers back into Ecuador, in order to do any kind of official paperwork.
So we made our way back to the border city of Huaquillas and a small immigration office. To our amazement, we were told that the instructions given to us in Cuenca were flawed -- that for us to leave Ecuador, stamp our passports with an exit stamp, and then try to reenter would have left us sitting in Peru. Some quirk in immigration law would have denied us reentry! The immigration official was very gracious and explained the mystery glitch in the visa system that would have kept us stranded in Peru (it's still a mystery to us!). His gracious patience and help as he and we tried to figure out our options was a gentleman's best. After paying the required fees and having our passports stamped with a 90-day visa, we left the immigration office, grateful to be in Ecuador. We were awed at God's precise protection: He had blocked us from following through on what we thought was accurate counsel -- the Peru officials at the border sent us back to the immigration office in the city where we learned of the difficulties we would have faced if we had not been barred from proceeding. Were there angels protecting us from our own well-intentioned efforts? Was the immigration officer an angel whom God appointed to keep us out of trouble? We both know we were very grateful for God's 24/7 - Psalm 121 care: "The LORD will keep (protect) your going out and your coming in from this time forth and even forevermore." Amen!
Angels? Oh yes! They are real. It's impossible to give a head count on how many we have seen or been protected by along the way. I doubt that we recognized most of them, but I have no doubt they have been part of the "picture" more than once. (I suspect they are somewhat camera shy...)
Teresa has been a strong support to Victor. Together they have visited acquaintances and unsaved family members, witnessing to their new life in Christ and doing home Bible studies. Their home is the scene of weekly meetings for the house church in La Libertad, their area of the city. Victor has a shepherd's heart and is willing to go wherever he senses someone wants to know God.
Though some parents did not want their children to receive religious training, their children slip over at meeting time and attend the study anyway. Teresa says, "I can't send them away if they come hungry to learn."
