Greetings to all our loved ones stateside! Thanks to the Lord, we made it safely home to Ecuador, and we are getting settled into things here as we start a new chapter of ministry. For whatever reason, this trip was particularly hard on all of us (in different ways) but was also amazingly blessed in so many ways! Thanks to each of you that made our time in the USA special and meaningful! Thanks for being a blessing to our kids, our ministry, and encouraging us to keep going! As I said in our last letter, it doesn’t get easier just because we have been doing this a long time. I think it may get harder in a lot of ways. A LOT of people start well and end poorly. I have made it my goal to end better than I started, and we couldn’t do it without each of you! I do want to say that I am really sorry to those of you I would have loved to see or to spend more time with. I don’t know what it is about America that seems to suck us into a rat race and makes it so hard to keep the important things first, but the challenge is real.
The kids are adjusting well and have started the new school year already. They are growing so fast that we can hardly keep up, but they are doing well in their studies. Pray for them to regain the Spanish they lost during our long trip in the U.S. and to readjust to the culture here. We are so thankful they were born here and adjust WAY faster and easier than other missionary kids who were born in the U.S. Take time to pray for us and for the other missionaries out in the world serving Jesus away from family and friends! This is the first trip leaving America that our children were really deeply affected by the sacrifice of leaving family and friends behind to go out into the world and share Jesus with those who do not know Him! Please pray for them!
Many of you know that we have been striving to build a church building here for quite a while. In our absence, it has been nearly impossible to keep moving forward with the steps necessary to complete the paperwork and other requirements in order to break ground. However, during my time here while the family was in the U.S., I was able to get some crucial tasks done. All that to say, we appear to be VERY close to being able to start building. It is all by faith, but we do have enough funds to start, and we believe the Lord will provide for us to finish! Please help us pray that the government workers in charge of approving the paperwork and blueprints are reasonable, that everything is approved in a timely manner, that we get the right contractor and workers for the job, that we find good deals as we shop for materials, and that we have the energy to complete it all!
It is that time of year for us (August) when the biggest idol worship procession of the year comes through our little town and our streets become FULL of people seeking. We always plan various outreaches and this year is no different. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before, but I visited a church in the next town over (about 20 to 30 minutes away) while I was in Ecuador alone in August through October 2023 and in January and February 2024. While I was in Ecuador and the family was in the U.S., I went to this church almost every Sunday. The church was started by a South Korean missionary and is one of the healthiest churches in this province. They have around 35 kids in the youth group, around 75 members, and have a prayer meeting 5 days a week! They started helping at our church in San Pedro while we were in the U.S. and want to continue helping us. This is considered a mega church for this area of Ecuador… lol. To put it into perspective, we know of a few churches that started over 15 years ago and only have 5 to 10 members. All that to say that they are helping us in our outreaches this month and want to help us start a youth group! This is monumental! We have a couple of young ladies that got saved during Covid (24 and 26 years old) in our church that have a huge heart to reach out to the youth in our town, and I ask for prayers over these plans and the work of God among the youth! It seems to us that the Lord is putting an amazing team of people together and we need the Lord to continue to move and lead as we go forward with plans for our first outreach to the youth in September of this year… only a few weeks away if you can believe that! Please pray for our general outreach this Saturday (Aug 17th) as well! Please pray that the Lord would continue to use this partnership for His glory!
May the Lord bless and thanks again for all your prayers and support for the ministry!
In Christ, Andy, Priscilla, Jude, Sam, and Ellie
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 homepage at www.dvargamission.org and click the "Donate" tab.
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