Jude, Elena, and Samuel enjoying the installations of the Loja live arts festival. They had fun looking at all the cool stuff in the city!
Felíz Navidad everyone! It is hard to believe that we are getting ready to go into 2018, but here we are just a few weeks away! We just want to say thanks for all your love, prayers, and support over the 2017 calendar year. We are blown away by God’s faithfulness and goodness through you (His people) and for His gospel going forth here in Ecuador. I must say we have felt particularly cared for and loved this year and we want you each to know how much we appreciate all you have done. Forgive us for never feeling as if we can adequately communicate how blessed we feel to have you all standing beside us!
We have pretty big news to share. We have plane tickets to come to the U.S.A.!!! A beloved of ours found out that we wanted to take Jude and Sam to the United States for medical check-ups in 2018 and said he would buy us tickets, so Priscilla and the kids are due to arrive on March 10th (because Priscilla wanted a few more weeks there than I was willing to be away from the work here) and I am due to arrive on April 2nd. Just a few months away at the time of writing this!
Andy preaching at a church in Loja city.
As we told you in our last letter our close friends are here from the U.S. the entire month of December to work beside us and seek God’s will and see whether they are called to come to labor full-time beside us. We have felt so blessed and it has been such a relief to have someone here to do visits with, go to the jail with, and talk to in English. It is also really nice not to worry about all the cultural differences that come up while hanging out with our Ecuadorian friends. One short story: We visited this very strong Catholic family on one of our visits and the mother said “I was born Catholic and I will die Catholic.” Her daughter invited us into the home because she said she felt empty and had seen a lot from the Catholic church that obviously wasn’t right. As we sat and shared we noticed all of 3 women lower their defenses and their curiosity grow! At one point a brother with us said to the mother “I just have one question, has the Catholic Church taught you how to be saved after being baptized, going through 1st communion, and completing your confirmation and going to church your whole life in their church?” She laughed nervously and responded sheepishly “no, no I have no idea what the Bible says about how to be saved.” At the end they were very welcoming and one of her daughters said “I can’t wait until you guys come back next week, because I have a million more questions.” Please pray for this family and for us as we go sowing the gospel!
Andy and Steve preaching in the prison.
Real quick I want to clarify to everyone who sees my Facebook posts, that we are NOT planning on working in Venezuela full-time. I saw a video of the terrible situation in Venezuela and felt I should try to do a relief trip just as one of you would visit a country hit by a horrible earthquake for a week, so please pray that God’s will would be done as I attempt to get a visa to go. Just please understand that we are NOT planning to spend regular Ecuadorian financial support for this trip (if it happens) to Venezuela and we are fully dedicated to staying here in San Pedro where we live until a strong church is planted with strong mature believers in leadership in place or until God is VERY clear that we need to leave. We are feeling that it will be for a minimum of 10 years at this point. If you want your givings to go to this trip or a particular fund just write Venezuelan trip, DVarga house, or the specific desire in the memo section on the check. Please continue to pray about all these needs! May the Lord bless each of you and may He fill you each with His Spirit as we go through this holiday season!
With much love from Ecuador,
Andy, Priscilla, Jude, Samuel, & Elena
- 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.