Greetings friends!
It has been a beautiful time in southern Ecuador at our base here in San Pedro. It’s the windy dry season and we have been blessed with strong winds that carry all the pesky mosquitos away that plague us in the wet “winter” months. The last month and a half since arriving back in Ecuador has truly been a whirlwind, and I apologize for not sending out an update sooner!
Andy working with the excavator at our land (Left) Jude and Sam on their first day of school this year (right)
Family-wise, we’ve all been doing okay! The kids have all started school for the year (we homeschool) and we’re steadily getting into the groove of being on a schedule. We’ve been busy getting our land ready to build a garage and actually broke ground a few days ago! We are planning on living in this garage until we have the means to build a full blown house. You might think this is crazy, but it will be WAY better than any living situation we have been in, in the last 3 years! It will be the first time in over 8 years we can truly call a place home! We're praying we will be in the garage before the end of the year. Andy has been doing all of the work with a friend of ours, Luis, who specializes in construction work. If you know Andy, you know that he is disabled from a motorcycle accident 22 years ago, so you can imagine the difficulty of the intense physical labor for him. Please pray for him and for God to provide the right people for this work, for the right price, as it is taking a huge toll on him to be working so hard, physically. Also, help us pray for God’s will and provision to build a house out there!
After the land had been partially leveled with an excavator
We’ve seen a pretty big shift in the ministry since our return. We really felt like it was time to begin having church services at our house, so 5 weeks ago we had our first little service outside under our carport. We felt like this was the best place because people walk by all evening and with the garage door open they can feel free to come in if they wish or listen at a distance. Our first service had two visitors (both intoxicated men), and two weeks ago we had two christian visitors from Catamayo as well as two more men pop in (again, intoxicated—obviously a pretty big problem here) who were VERY interested in what was being said, and had lots of questions. Right now it’s just us and one other family faithfully attending, but we know God is in it and will do the work if He wants it to grow. Pray God helps us to be faithful with what He has called us to do.
Our very first Sunday evening church service in the carport!
Andy also went to our town square after church one evening and preached for about 10 minutes in the open air. There were LOTS of people listening, and the Catholic church across the square began blaring music over their loudspeaker (this is NOT a normal occurrence). Everyone knew they were trying to drown out Andy, so the crowd just got closer to listen more clearly! Lots of people wanted to talk and ask questions afterward, so we know people are paying attention to what we are doing, and it’s just a matter of people opening their hearts and being willing to lay down the fear of losing the Catholic community they come from! This is not because following Christ requires them to do this, but because the Catholic culture here requires all the “faithful” to reject those that reject this deeply entrenched religion. Andy plans on doing the preaching in the square pretty regularly, as it’s a culturally acceptable thing to do in Ecuador unlike in the USA. Please keep praying for this huge outreach!
Juan David reciting his Bible verse during at our church service.
The prison ministry has been pretty interesting lately as well. We found out that there are some issues going on with some men in the church on the inside, and they desperately need prayer. We can’t go into much detail here, just know that there are some major issues that Andy and another leader are trying to deal with correctly, and they need God to do a work in the hearts of the men there.
Thank you all so much for sticking with us and praying for the work going on in our little corner of the world. We are very aware that we couldn't do this without our brothers and sisters lifting us up before the Lord!
Much love from Ecuador,
Priscilla, Andy, and kids
Note this is a NEW ADDRESS!!!
Please send all monetary contributions to: Acts 1:8 Mission Society PO Box 212. Harrison, OH 45030. You can continue to 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). You can also write checks to Priscilla or Andy DVarga with "gift" in the memo section, but you will NOT receive a tax-deductible receipt at the end of the year for funds given this way. 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.