So, for nearly a year now we've been living on the campus of the South American Nazarene Theological Seminary, and while we talked during our first week here about how we wanted to get some video of the campus to show everyone back home so y'all can visualize where we live... we're just getting around to that! Oops. Hope you enjoy this brief video tour of our campus; it truly is quite beautiful....
Monday, June 17, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Work & Witness Projects
Work & Witness is the great short-term missions branch of the Church of the Nazarene. The Work & Witness program brings teams to places of need all across the world to participate in construction projects for churches and communities, to minister to kids and the poor of those areas, and to give members of the church an opportunity to see how the church functions outside of their own culture.
Ecuador regularly brings in Work & Witness teams, usually from North America, to work on such projects in this country. Lately, Ian has been blessed with the opportunity to do quite a bit of work for and alongside of the Work & Witness Coordinators for the North Andean Field, Jon & Shirley Fischer. The work has been diverse, rewarding, and often outside of Ian's comfort zone. Here are some of the highlights!
Part of the work Ian was assigned included helping to construct and paint a mobile chapel building for a church plant here in Quito. There are over 20 of these simple metal structures being used by Nazarene church plants and small churches throughout the country who have, for whatever reasons, been unable to build a permanent church building for their congregations.
At times, Ian has just been handed tools he's never worked with--including this plasma cutter--and been asked, "Wanna learn how to use this?"
While this shot makes it look like he is doing hard work, Ian is in fact simply cutting his name into a piece of scrap metal for the purpose of learning how to use this new contraption.
Recently, there's been quite a bit of welding that has needed to be done around the Work & Witness shop on the seminary campus (actually, to prepare the support structures for the building the Point Loma team was constructing in the Shuar Village near Palora). One day Ian was asked, "Do you wanna learn how to weld?" He said, "sure!"
The work Ian has been asked to do as of late has been very rewarding. It's a blessing to be able to serve, not only in the ways we thought we would, but in exciting unexpected ways as well. Working alongside Work & Witness here in Ecuador--being on the receiving end of short term volunteer teams--has given us a more complete picture of how our church works around the world. The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed... a mustard seed that includes a 26-year old learning how to weld in an Ecuadorian workshop.
Ecuador regularly brings in Work & Witness teams, usually from North America, to work on such projects in this country. Lately, Ian has been blessed with the opportunity to do quite a bit of work for and alongside of the Work & Witness Coordinators for the North Andean Field, Jon & Shirley Fischer. The work has been diverse, rewarding, and often outside of Ian's comfort zone. Here are some of the highlights!
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| Painting the walls of a mobile chapel. |
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| A picture of the outside of the mobile chapel structure. |
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| The inside of the mobile chapel structure (no roof yet). |
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| A view of the front door, from inside the mobile chapel. |
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| The plasma cutter is awesome! |
At times, Ian has just been handed tools he's never worked with--including this plasma cutter--and been asked, "Wanna learn how to use this?"
While this shot makes it look like he is doing hard work, Ian is in fact simply cutting his name into a piece of scrap metal for the purpose of learning how to use this new contraption.
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| A couple of the Point Loma girls and Jon Fischer, the W&W Coordinator, gathered around a 5 ft. hole we dug by hand for cement footers. |
A couple weeks back, Ian actually traveled to a Shuar Indian village near the town of Palora, Ecuador to work alongside of a Work & Witness team from Point Loma Nazarene University. This group of about a dozen Californian college girls worked harder than many men digging holes for footers and pouring the concrete for the foundation of two buildings the Church of the Nazarene has partnered with Compassion International to build in this remote community. Ian worked with part of the team on the construction efforts, while others ministered to the children of the village.
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| Two Ecuadorian men, Harrison (a friend from the seminary) and David, mix cement while a few of our Point Loma girls prepare to wheel it over to the holes we dug for footers. |
Recently, there's been quite a bit of welding that has needed to be done around the Work & Witness shop on the seminary campus (actually, to prepare the support structures for the building the Point Loma team was constructing in the Shuar Village near Palora). One day Ian was asked, "Do you wanna learn how to weld?" He said, "sure!"
The first day welding, I (Ian) remember turning to Harrison, an Ecuadorian friend who was teaching me how to weld, and I told him, "You know, if we were in the States right now, I wouldn't be able to touch this machine on my first day. In fact, we'd probably have to have people with special certifications talking to me about welding for several weeks before I ever picked up the electrode and started to weld." I remember that he looked at me, and with one word he summarized the difference between North American and Ecuadorian culture: With a perfectly straight face he asked me, "Why?"
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| Some of the welds Ian has made. |
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| Ian welding... yeah, for real. |
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| To a professional welder, these are probably not pretty welds. But they've held together! |
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| Ready to weld. |
The work Ian has been asked to do as of late has been very rewarding. It's a blessing to be able to serve, not only in the ways we thought we would, but in exciting unexpected ways as well. Working alongside Work & Witness here in Ecuador--being on the receiving end of short term volunteer teams--has given us a more complete picture of how our church works around the world. The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed... a mustard seed that includes a 26-year old learning how to weld in an Ecuadorian workshop.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Next Chapter...
So on our previous post, Hillary mentioned that we have some exciting news about our next chapter of life after we return to the States in about 10 weeks. We're thrilled to announce that Ian has been accepted into Asbury Theological Seminary on a full tuition paid "Kern Scholarship," so we will be moving to the small community of Wilmore, Kentucky when we return.
When we originally accepted the call to come to Ecuador, returning to begin seminary was not what we had in mind after our year of volunteer service. Last August, however, just a few weeks before we left to come to Ecuador, Ian received an unexpected, though very clear, call into pastoral ministry. As we discussed as a couple what this would mean for us, both of us were led to the conclusion that Ian should attend seminary in preparation to fulfill this call. We had actually just visited Asbury a few days prior to Ian receiving this call; at that time, Ian was investigating their Ph.D. in Biblical Studies program. The funny thing was, as we left that campus visit I (Ian) specifically remember turning to Hillary and saying, "I'm not sure I'd pursue a Ph.D. here, but if I were someone looking to pursue a Masters of Divinity seminary degree this is certainly the place I would do it."
As the Lord led us through a series of confirmations when we were considering our move to Ecuador, he also led us through a series of confirmations concerning Ian's call and our decision to move to Wilmore, KY in order to attend seminary. This sense of confirmation has only grown even as we've been on the mission field here in Ecuador, and the Lord made his intentions for us very clear just a couple of months back when Ian was interviewed for and received a full-tuition scholarship to attend Asbury. The scholarship even includes a small stipend to cover some of the cost of our housing--a brand new 2-bedroom townhome that the seminary has set aside specifically for us. We're not sure how else we could have made it happen without this financial support, so we give thanks to the Lord for his clear call and provision.
So, as we return to the States at the end of July, after this final NILI semester comes to a close, we'll be packing up all our stuff (still all stashed in a bedroom in Ian's parents' home) into a moving truck and heading to a very small town (about 3,000 people) in central Kentucky to begin a very different kind of chapter of life than the one we're currently living. We're very excited, as are our parents--both sets living only about 3.5 hrs. away from Wilmore. The community at Asbury truly seems to be a beautiful one, and we look forward to forming new relationships with the neighbors in our community who come from some 30 different countries, growing fruits and veggies in the community garden there, and finding new ways to more deeply plug into the ministry of the church.
Pray for us as we pass through the culture shock that most certainly comes with any move back to one's homeland after a year abroad, but especially as we transition from a Spanish-speaking, South American city of 2 million to a predominately white, English-speaking small, rural Kentucky town of 3,000. :-) We have done our best to follow our Lord and Master, Jesus, as a couple these past 5 years of marriage (June 21st is our anniversary!), and doing so has always proved exciting, interesting, if not also often unexpected. As our time in Ecuador wraps up, we are preparing to follow him into this next exciting chapter. Thank you all for your prayers and support!
When we originally accepted the call to come to Ecuador, returning to begin seminary was not what we had in mind after our year of volunteer service. Last August, however, just a few weeks before we left to come to Ecuador, Ian received an unexpected, though very clear, call into pastoral ministry. As we discussed as a couple what this would mean for us, both of us were led to the conclusion that Ian should attend seminary in preparation to fulfill this call. We had actually just visited Asbury a few days prior to Ian receiving this call; at that time, Ian was investigating their Ph.D. in Biblical Studies program. The funny thing was, as we left that campus visit I (Ian) specifically remember turning to Hillary and saying, "I'm not sure I'd pursue a Ph.D. here, but if I were someone looking to pursue a Masters of Divinity seminary degree this is certainly the place I would do it." 
As the Lord led us through a series of confirmations when we were considering our move to Ecuador, he also led us through a series of confirmations concerning Ian's call and our decision to move to Wilmore, KY in order to attend seminary. This sense of confirmation has only grown even as we've been on the mission field here in Ecuador, and the Lord made his intentions for us very clear just a couple of months back when Ian was interviewed for and received a full-tuition scholarship to attend Asbury. The scholarship even includes a small stipend to cover some of the cost of our housing--a brand new 2-bedroom townhome that the seminary has set aside specifically for us. We're not sure how else we could have made it happen without this financial support, so we give thanks to the Lord for his clear call and provision.So, as we return to the States at the end of July, after this final NILI semester comes to a close, we'll be packing up all our stuff (still all stashed in a bedroom in Ian's parents' home) into a moving truck and heading to a very small town (about 3,000 people) in central Kentucky to begin a very different kind of chapter of life than the one we're currently living. We're very excited, as are our parents--both sets living only about 3.5 hrs. away from Wilmore. The community at Asbury truly seems to be a beautiful one, and we look forward to forming new relationships with the neighbors in our community who come from some 30 different countries, growing fruits and veggies in the community garden there, and finding new ways to more deeply plug into the ministry of the church.
Pray for us as we pass through the culture shock that most certainly comes with any move back to one's homeland after a year abroad, but especially as we transition from a Spanish-speaking, South American city of 2 million to a predominately white, English-speaking small, rural Kentucky town of 3,000. :-) We have done our best to follow our Lord and Master, Jesus, as a couple these past 5 years of marriage (June 21st is our anniversary!), and doing so has always proved exciting, interesting, if not also often unexpected. As our time in Ecuador wraps up, we are preparing to follow him into this next exciting chapter. Thank you all for your prayers and support!
Sunday, May 5, 2013
NILI 16 Highlights Video
Hello dear friends and family! We are so thankful to have just
finished up our second semester with NILI! This past week was jam-packed
with final activities. Monday afternoon we had a "Reverse Culture
Shock" workshop with the students, Monday evening I led our final
women's Bible study with NILI and seminary students, Friday the NILIs
presented their final projects, and just this morning (at 3 AM) we
dropped the NILIs off at the airport, U.S.-bound -- just to name a few.
During our going-away luncheon yesterday with the NILIs and their roommates, Ian shared a video he'd made with highlights from the semester. We thought you might like to see it as well!
As always, thank you so much for your prayers and support! It's been such a blessing to serve with the Church here in Ecuador, but as the time draws nearer for us to return home to the U.S., we're growing more and more excited. And actually we have some great news to share with you all about what we'll be up to next when we return so keep your eyes open for our next post!
Many Blessings,
Ian & Hillary
During our going-away luncheon yesterday with the NILIs and their roommates, Ian shared a video he'd made with highlights from the semester. We thought you might like to see it as well!
As always, thank you so much for your prayers and support! It's been such a blessing to serve with the Church here in Ecuador, but as the time draws nearer for us to return home to the U.S., we're growing more and more excited. And actually we have some great news to share with you all about what we'll be up to next when we return so keep your eyes open for our next post!
Many Blessings,
Ian & Hillary
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