Backpacker of Life

Hello everyone,

Just taking a minute to ask for your prayers.

This past Monday I received a short shocking call from my aunt in which I was informed that my parent's house in the valley was flooding and that my mom was alone at home. My wife and I live in the city, so it took us some time to get out there, but on our way we called some beloved friends that went to check on the situation. When we got there the sight was horrible, as 1 ft of freezing cold mud water sat all over the first floor of the house's wooden floors. The house was built about a foot and half higher than ground level so the outside was worst. I was told by neighbors that the car (an SUV) that was parked outside had water passed the hood of the car. Inside, the sight was horrible. My mom was crying and soaked by the cold water. The walls had a mud water line at around 3.5ft. Everything in the house had some water damage. Telephone, computer, sofas, carpets, furtniture and other things and appliances all were either floating or sunk inside the house. The fridge had tilted and was on the ground, and my mom's decorations that she had taken to decorate the house were spread all over. The cleaning and survey of household items is a tedious and exhausting process. Today, 4 days later we still can't assess the damage.
Thank you for your time and we covet your prayers. Please pray for the Lord's comfort through it all. Pray for God's provision and strength as my family works hard to bring the house back to the place of hospitality and blessing that it has been known for.

In Christ,
Juan Fernando

Prayer Request:

Dear friends and family,

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Being back in Ecuador has brought me back to basics and being reminded on how the Lord brought me to himself.

If you haven't heard the story the Lord used my desire to learn English to bring me to his feet in 98. On the Summer of 98 I went on a Summer Student Exchange program to the US with the sole desire to become fluent in English. Little did I know that God had planned to make my textbook his very own Word. As I was wrestling with understanding the Bible Lessons and sermons that my host family took me to.. God's word was breaking my stony heart. The best way to summarize what happened that summer is a my prayer in tears in Indio California the night before I came to Ecuador. " Dear Lord I thought I came to learn English, yet I see that I go back with a lot more... I learned truly who You are.. and now I am yours". That summer changed my life forever.

The story is really similar for a group of people from my church that has been praying to start an evangelistic English Class. My church is launching tomorrow a program in which we hope to utilize the strong desire of Ecuadorian people to learn English to expose people to the power of the Bible.

Specific prayer requests.
-The program is being started from the ground up so pray for the planning, administration, teaching.
-Pray for the teachers to find grace in the eyes of the students so that lasting relationships can be started.
-Pray for students to experience something different interacting with the believers of the church.
-Pray for the Lord to give the students endurance. Learning a language is not easy and the devil can use that frustration to pull people from the program.
-Pray for qualified WORKERS!
-Pray for attendance. Not numbers but to have the perfect amount of people for the leaders that we have.
-Pray for me (Juan) as I am in charge of the Children's program. I have to admit that sometimes it looks like a monumental task considering that my church always gets A LOT of kids for any events.
NOTE: If you have or know of someone that has teaching background, and has material or experience on teaching Psalms... Please let us know!


Alright friends... Thank you for your time and there is nothing better than being working to find those lost sheep.

IN Christ
Juan