Hello from Ecuador,
This is Andy writing, while Priscilla and the kids are in Batesville, IN living with my in-laws. Just to update everyone on what is going on, we were in the U.S. staying at a friend’s house in West Harrison, IN for around 4 months while trying to take care of Jude and Sam’s medical stuff and visiting and preaching in our supporting churches. That was the goal. To get Samuel (mostly, but also Jude) the treatment he needs for his cleft due to lack of teeth and bone in the front of his mouth.
Over the years, we have started to realize that living with another person or family isn’t healthy for our family, or for the people who graciously host us in their homes. People have different expectations, different sleeping schedules, different eating habits and schedules, different levels of cleanliness, different ideas of discipline for misbehaving children, different ideas about what kind of media is appropriate for kids to watch, etc. When we are already away from home and our normal routines and thus under a lot of stress, it is extremely difficult (to put it lightly) for us to add to that stress by living with other people. On top of that it's virtually impossible for one not to feel like they are imposing (because we are). This has not just been difficult, but we believe unwise going forward. Another issue, our kids are getting bigger and physically our family just needs more space, which is rarely an option while living with other families. During the 4 months at a friend’s home our 3 kids were basically living in one room, which was becoming more and more of a problem the longer we lived there having 2 boys and 1 growing girl. Priscilla and the kids are currently living in one bedroom all together at my in-law’s house. We knew all these things going in, but what do you do? Some might say “Rent a house.” My answer: “Then you have to furnish it, put the house together, pay the monthly rent, electric, water, sewage and trash pick up and Internet, and then get rid of all the stuff because you have nowhere to put it once you leave.” This doesn’t seem like a feasible or good option to me. Another option, “Rent an Airbnb or Vrbo.” My answer: “That is WAY too expensive for the time we need to be there. Ultimately, I decided that a lot of it has been a lack of faith on my part. A lack of resources and the immediate need made the situation very difficult. But after 4 months of being stateside, we decided it made the most sense for me to stay in Ecuador while Cilla and the kids stayed in the U.S. and continued to deal with the medical stuff. The problem is we still don’t know how much longer the rest of the family needs to be stateside. The most likely scenario is a minimum of six to 8 months or longer. I'm sure a lot of you are asking why so long? The answer is, the problems little Samuel are facing with his mouth and all the malformation he was born with is simply that big of a problem to rectify. It’s NOT just cosmetic stuff for which he has already had successful surgeries. In a normal situation for a kid like him in the United States it would take years and years to deal with his problems. It may, and likely will, take years for him, but at the least he needs this time right now to deal with his lack of bone and teeth problems.
So this is the dilemma that we have been in. We have tried looking for a house to buy and just throw in every bit of retirement that we have, but the housing market is just so out of whack right now and we have so little to throw at it, that it is virtually impossible to wisely invest with what we have. So, we keep looking, but there are no good prospects yet! Adding to the complexity of finding a house is the fact that I am handicapped, and cannot do stairs. Of course, I can walk up and down stairs, but to live in a home with stairs, means having to carry things up and down them, which becomes extremely difficult, and will likely worsen as I age. So, as if finding the house wasn't hard enough, we are limited to finding a ranch/single story.
As things stand currently I've been in Ecuador for just over two weeks and will not be returning unless we find a permanent housing solution. All this means is that me and my family may be separated for quite a long time going forward. You can imagine how hard this has been and will be on us. I just ask first for your prayers and second, if you have any solution or ideas we haven’t thought of, we are open. I get that a lot of people will find this situation difficult to understand and relate to. The fact is, we feel called to be working in Ecuador and the help Samuel needs is in the United States. So for now, this is the situation we are in. The good news is, the church here in San Pedro seems to have fared rather well in our absence. Things are going well here and I have jumped right into where we left off. Please pray for us. For wisdom, long-suffering, joy in serving Jesus, and strength to keep going when discouragement comes.
In Christ, Andy
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.
Comments