It is so hard to believe it is already fall time in the U.S. as we move into the rainy season here. We have been really busy getting prepared and starting to build out on the property the Lord has given us. Yes, we have broken ground on the land and started with a fence to protect from thieves (which pretty much every house has here). We received a few donations a few months ago specifically for constructing a fence and garage so that we can have a safe place to put all the materials and tools in order to build a house and ministry center (a place to host travelers and do discipleship). It is hard to believe we have already started and we will go forward little by little as the Lord provides. Thank you all who have continued to pray and support us in this long and difficult journey! Please keep this huge project in your prayers as we go forward.
Left: Tire -based retaining wall along the edge of the property. Can't beat free tires!
Right: Posts going in for the chain-link fence!
In case you missed it on Facebook, here is a youtube video of the day we dedicated the land to the work! Have mercy on us, it was our first time doing this, ha!
On another note, our very close friends and ministry partners (Steve and Dawn Heinen, and their little daughter Madisyn) have bought plane tickets to come down and spend some time with us soon. They are feeling the Lord tug at their hearts and are considering long-term service in Ecuador! Please pray for us and for them as they keep moving forward and seek the Lord’s will in their walk.
Steve, Dawn, & Madisyn Heinen
It seems more and more apparent every day that ministry in San Pedro is going to be a marathon instead of a sprint. We always knew there would be difficulties because of how closed the town is to outsiders but I think we (at least, I, Priscilla) envisioned things happening a bit more quickly than they have. Or maybe we at least anticipated seeing more fruit after nearly a year here. I anticipated more relationships, and more friendships for the kids. Instead, we had a man threaten us and ask us to leave because we want to build a Christian school (one particular person first sought out to be friends on Facebook and it seems they did so just to stalk us and use any information they found against us). He told Andy that if we aren’t going to conform and accept their ways, we should pack our bags because this town belongs to the Roman Church and to that culture. Let me just emphasize that we have NEVER tried to shove our beliefs down anyone’s throat, and only shared with people who were open and interested (usually they ask us). This is just a by-product of being in a place that is totally controlled by religion.
Our babies getting to hang out with other missionary kids at a monthly meeting in the big city of Loja, about an hour and a half away from San Pedro. They loved it!
Before we moved to San Pedro we prayed long and hard about where God wanted us to be. We felt like He wanted us in a place where there was no Gospel presence and where people had no access to the truth. After lots of prayer we found this town where there is one Roman Catholic church and literally no other options. Even the Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses don’t come here (thank God!) because they aren’t welcome in this place dominated by the statue of the Virgin of El Cisne. When people are faced with excommunication and rejection by their families, they tend to avoid being seen with the known Christians who would make them “guilty by association.” We’ve had people tell us that because our children aren’t baptized in the Catholic church, they are heathens, that we are atheists because we aren’t Catholic, that we are demons… it is truly a spiritual battleground. In spite of that, there are people here who have shown us a lot of friendliness and have been willing to speak to us. I take the children to the little park here a few days out of every week and am slowly building relationships with the women who frequent there. It’s hard to build friendships when people are told not to trust you, but these women have shown me great kindness and I’m finally developing relationships here.
Some trinkets for sale in Catamayo (just $5 for your own personal shrine) as the statue of the virgin comes back through on its way to El Cisne.
I’ve said all this to ask you to please pray for us. It is not easy to live in a place where you are instantly rejected based on your faith. It isn’t easy to be where people avoid you and don’t want to sell you eggs because the local priest and nuns say you are a demon. It is incredibly hard to show people the love of Jesus when they are afraid to interact with you. It is really hard when you are insulted for following Christ. I’ve never experienced this kind of rejection before and really need Jesus to sustain me! We desperately want to see people give their hearts to the Lord, and to see San Pedro be like a city on a hill, shining the light of Jesus to all those around. But, we don’t want to do this in our own power and we know we can’t. We want Jesus to do it, and frankly, He’s going to have to be the one to do it because it is simply not possible for us as humans to make a difference here. This prayer letter probably sounds pretty depressing! It’s really not! We are just brutally aware of how much we need Jesus to work in this place, and to work in the hearts and minds of the people! Please pray for the ministry… that we would see a breakthrough and that many would come to know Jesus as their Savior. "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Gal. 6:9
Pray for:
San Pedro – beginning a local church, our current cell group, salvations, relationships.
The continued weekly ministry at the Jail in Loja
The weekly home visits, cell groups, and discipleship in and around Catamayo
Construction project at the land (fence and garage area and future home and discipleship/training center)
Love,
The D'Varga family
- Please send all monetary contributions to: Acts 1:8 Mission Society 123 Burk Ln. Harrison, OH 45030. And make all checks payable to: “Acts 1:8 Mission Society” with“DVarga” in the memo section (All funds donated in this way will continue to go entirely to the DVarga family AND our mission work in Ecuador and are tax-deductible). If you need a quarterly tax statement or just want to contact us, please just write to the address above or call. Our phone #:(513) 334-8281
To donate through PayPal electronically please scroll to the top of the page and click the "Donate" tab.
Phone: Magicjack#: 513-334-8281 Our local Cincinnati phone number that we are able to receive in Ecuador. It works through the Internet and is just like calling any Cincinnati phone number.