Hello dear friends! I’m always shocked by how quickly time is passing here in the land without winter or fall. Has it really already been over two months since we last wrote? How is that possible!? I’m embarrassed to say, but I put up fall decorations in the house in November and just took them down two weeks ago. Yikes! When everyday is spring/summer-like, the days just seem to run together and I guess I couldn’t get by with having pretend fall in my house anymore. I never even got the house decorated for Christmas, haha! I’ve been going through a lot with my health lately and have had a lot of heart-to-heart talks with the Lord about it all. Because of that, I’ve been meditating more than normal on the sovereignty of God, and how nothing happens without his consent. When speaking of Jesus, John says in John 1:3, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” And we see in Daniel, “[God] He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” Daniel 4:35. So with that in mind, I’ve just been considering how God uses everything to accomplish His will in even the most minor of details. Here are a few ways we’ve seen this truth in the last couple months, and some areas that we need prayer to recognize God’s purpose in.
We’ve been getting more involved with a congregation in the city of Loja (Andy has committed to preaching there once monthly), and we were on our way to church on a Sunday two weeks ago. We had just gone through the first roundabout heading into the city when we went over a huge pothole. Within moments we realized our back tire had gone completely and utterly flat. Andy pulled to the side of the road and proceeded to take the tire off. It was inevitable that we would be late to church at this point, so he decided that with the tire already off, he would hail a taxi and just take the tire to one of the dozens of tire repair guys throughout town. The problem was that it was Sunday morning and not many places were open yet. While the kids and I waited with the truck, the taxi had managed to take Andy halfway across the city to the first tire repair shop he could find that was open. As it would happen, Andy ended up being attended by a man who had been released from Loja prison a few months before and had accepted Christ under the ministry while he was incarcerated there. Praise God, he seems to be growing, attending a good church, and doing really well now that he’s back to normal life! Had we not had that flat tire, we would have never gotten the encouraging update about our brother in Christ from the prison ministry. It brings to mind Romans 8:28 which says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God uses these seemingly annoying moments to bring us encouragement when we need them most. With all that happened that morning we managed to make it to church for the majority of the message and the Lord gave us a blessed day together as a family :)
We’ve had some issues with Jude’s health lately that have been discouraging; lots of moments that make us believe he may be having undetected seizures again. While we are so thankful that we haven’t had any of the big life threatening seizures since December, it’s been a tough few months with more dietary changes for him, more medicine increases, and a lot of emotional swings because of those adjustments. His neurology team in Cincinnati has decided that it’s best to add a second medication to his regimen and eventually wean him off the meds he has been on, so please pray with us. This medication is known for causing rage and personality changes in some kids, so please help us lift up Jude in prayer. We know that God does work all things together for the good, so we pray that what the enemy means for evil, God will use for good in Jude’s life and in our family and ministry.
Along those same lines, we really all need to go to the USA this year for much needed medical appointments. Andy and Jude both need new orthotics to help them walk, Jude needs a full workup for future foot and leg surgery and for his epilepsy, Sam needs a few checkups for his cleft palate, and I have some unresolved health concerns as well that the doctors here can’t seem to figure out. Thank the Lord, at least little Ellie is uncomplicated… ha! The kids are so excited about the prospect of us visiting in the fall but one major thing stands in our way… Ecuadorian bureaucracy. Andy began the process of his Ecuadorian citizenship in 2018 and he was finally fully approved in August of 2019. We want to become citizens for a few reasons but the biggest one is government instability. There have been numerous times over the years that missionaries have been found and kicked out of the country, and we really don’t want that to happen to our ministry here! Unfortunately there is a super long waiting list of people in line in front of him to be sworn in as new citizens, and we have had no word on when his swearing-in will be. We have been trying repeatedly to contact the people in charge in Quito, but no one ever answers the phone of course. We fear that if we come to the USA for 3 months, that they’ll finally call while we’re gone and 2 years of efforts will be in vain! Please pray with us that this annoyance would turn into a blessing and that we would be able to make plans for these necessary medical appointments!
Quickly I want to mention something that recently happened and ask for your earnest prayers. An older Ecuadorian believer approached Andy with the proposal of donating land in San Pedro (where we live) to our mission with the idea of building a church and outreach building. It is not a cultural norm for aging Ecuadorians to donate land rather than giving it as an inheritance to their children and we are really excited by what this could mean to our work here. These kinds of transactions are always complicated and much more so when trying to put this property in the name of a foreign entity (Acts 1:8 Mission Society). Please pray with us!!!
As always, please pray for the souls of San Pedro de la Bendita, for the growing ministry in the towns surrounding us, for the work in the city of Loja and the prison there, and for the work going on in this mostly unreached province. We are asking anyone who will join us, to consider fasting and praying every Tuesday for the work in Loja Province. Pray for workers to come and help us! But mostly, pray that God’s name would be glorified in this isolated place and people would come to know the freedom they can find in a saving faith in Jesus.
Love always from Ecuador,
Priscilla, Andy, and kids
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
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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.
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