Our Legal Documents

Yeah! Here are pictures of our legal documents to stay in Ecuador – our visas, carnets (IDs), and censos (census, proof that we are legally residing in Ec)! Sensitive numbers have been blocked out for security sake.

This is also proof of God’s hand at work. They’ll last for 2 years, PTL. Prayerfully, we’ll have them renewed after two years, or we’ll have other avenues of staying in Ecuador (other types of visas).

The whole process was extremely smooth, amazingly, only by the grace of God!

Our ATM Cards have not yet been done. This is one of the first experiences that we’ve had with the ’slow’ or ‘inefficient’ S. American culture. Here’s our account:

Last Tuesday, we tried to open a bank account and we arrived at the counter around 3.50pm. The lady told us that the whole process takes 20mins and she ends work at 4pm, so she couldn’t serve us. In any case, she said we didn’t have all the needed documents so we left. We made copies of everything they could possibly need – phone bills to prove our address, visas, passports, carnets.. etc. and arrived at the bank again on Wednesday.

Last Wednesday – with our limited spanish, and the help of a pretty friendly security and bank attendant, we managed to open a bank account! Apparently, we didn’t really need so many copies of what the lady on the previous day said we needed. But after depositing our money, the cashier said we could come back to get our ATM Cards done on Monday (3 working days required.)

This Monday, we braved the rain and arrived at the bank drenched from the ankles through to our shoes and queued for our turn. At the counter, a service attendant (different from Wednesday) checked our account and said it had not yet been approved so we couldn’t make our ATM cards. It’s to take 3 working days – Thursday, Friday and Monday, and Monday was the THIRD day, we should go back on Tuesday, AFTER 3 working days. Hmmmmmmmmm…. ok, we decided we’d go back after 2 days, on Wednesday, just in case.

Wednesday, a week since us opening our account – we went back to the bank and queued again. This time the queue was short, thank God. A new lady at the counter helped us, was patient with our limited spanish, thank God. However, the transaction was much faster than we expected. We only handed in our forms because she told us we could come back and get the actual cards NEXT Wednesday. To speed things up, we asked her if we could apply for our Internet banking PIN at the same time and guess what? She told us we could only apply for one thing at a time. So we’d have to submit the IBanking PIN application next Wednesday, after we get our ATM cards.

I wonder how long that process will take, but for the moment, thank God none of them asked for any bribes.
All these would probably have taken just an afternoon in SG! Looks like S. America is going to test our patience. “Welcome to Ecuador! ” said WL and WP when we told them what happened… haha.. Yes, a warm welcome to Ecuador! The not-so-beautiful-side, that is. hehehe… I have a feeling this is going to be ‘fun’, for a choleric person like me. :p

~PR

One month in Ecuador

We have been in Ecuador for one month as of today!

Thank God for the following:

1) Providing our Visas so smoothly! Not only that, we also have our carnet (our ID in Ecuador), our censo ( a census, certifying you are going to stay in Ecuador), and our new bank accounts with ATM cards! Praise the Lord!

2) Spanish lessons that have helped us alot this month!

3) Work! Both of us have started work (English classes at the moment) – ST teaches 1 class and starting next month, I’ll have 3 classes in total. It’s probably going to be a little challenging for me because classes start very early and all my 3 classes are different levels, so I have to prepare all three classes anew. Good to start preparing now though, so that in the future I’ll be fluent in teaching all these levels. Good to have more income and the opportunity to meet more locals too!

4) Church! Both of us have preached/translated our first sermon in church service and the people have received it well so far! PTL! And service attendance has gone up the past 2 weeks! Pray it stays that way as the regulars start returning to church and getting their lives in order by the grace of God!

5) Cooking! We have started learning to cook and have cooked a few meals for the family by ourselves! Though there were a few booboos here and there (for e.g. PR spilled water all over the floor because the vege basin dropped! and ST was so bored with frying fish in small pieces that he looked unhappy enough to never cook again), we have cooked pretty yummy meals! SluRpz~

Thank God for our first month past without missing Singapore too much! There have been many learnings and answered prayers. A wonderful month. PTL!

Prayer Points:
1) Pray for protection. Some members have sudden illnesses, or have been facing sudden strange situations recently. And also recently there have been cases of Chinese being kidnapped and foreigners being stabbed (as in ST’s previous blog). Pray for us for spiritual protection agnst the devil’s plot to discourage us and stop us from growing. We’ll put on the armor of God and stand firm! Pray for physical protection and health as well.

2) Pray for our spanish to continue to improve speedily so that we can really connect with the people. Now we can make simple conversation, but it’s still important to be able to connect deeply. Pray for ST especially!

3) Pray for our jobs:
ST’s chinese classes – As the economy and political situation here is not very stable yet, many foreign firms are unsure whether to spend money on classes. Pray for the companies to be assured, stable and willing to invest in Mandarin classes so ST can start teaching Mandarin next year! It brings a better income and fits ST’s giftings more.
PR’s English classes – As mentioned above, I have 3 different levels to prepare, and for the two new classes, I’m taking over another teacher. Pray that the students will find favor with me and my style of teaching, and that I’ll be able to prepare my lessons well and impact the students. These are professionals, pray that they will be good contacts that we can sow on too!

4) Pray that as we take on more roles in church and more classes, we will have good time management and will be able to cope well with the transitions. We will be doing more in service next month, such as chairing, praise and worship and leading offering and announcements. Pray that the Lord will anoint us with more of His spirit to bring His people into His presence, and also that we will be discerning and humble to learn and evaluate! Pray that ST who is starting to teach CG sessions and DMM sessions soon, will be able to impart well and share the WoG clearly!

5) Pray for the service and the people to continue to grow in Christ. As some of the people who did not come for service for a while, start to come back, pray for them to be convicted and commited to growing in God. Pray also that as the Christmas season draws near, we will gain momentum as a church to bring others not just for one Christmas service, but many services to come where they will hear the Word of God and experience a changed life!

6) Pray for the other South American teams – Peru and Brazil to have their visas approved quickly and surely. Pray for the new sanctuary that Peru has to be a blessed place of birth for many more new committed Christians, and for God to provide for their rental of the place. Pray for Chile, they are embarking to Chile this month, pray for the new team to gel together and have a safe trip and transition!

Fundación Remar

Here are some photos from our community service at Fundación Remar on Saturday!

These children stay at the home because their parents are either too busy to take care of them or are unable to take care of them… One little boy had such dry skin, his whole face was peeling and the other kids were afraid of him. But I think he should be fine after putting some cream, moisturizer. The next time we go, we’ll bring a bottle for him.

They are really a bunch of lovely, active, fun-loving and adorable children. They may not come from a very safe and secure family, but their simple faith and child-like spirit really rubbed off on us.

We taught them a few English words this saturday and also sang some christian songs with actions together. They taught me some games – like this catching game where you run around in circles and keep asking the ‘monster’ what he/she is doing until he/she says “I’m coming to eat you now!” and then we all go “Ahhhhhhh!!!!” and run off in different directions to avoid the monster. Another one is similar to our pepsi-cola-1-2-3 where you try to step on each others’ shoes. I was quite tired from the running.. out of breath, perhaps due to lack of exercise and also due to the thin air in Quito. haha..  We also gave them biscuits and sweets. Boy do these kids love SWEETS. Many of them kept asking for more lollipops and cookies. I kept looking at them in shock and reminding them that they will have no more teeth soon. haha..

They are really very lovable and some when they hugged me, told us not to go.. “We’ll see you very very soon!!!” I said. It was an enjoyable experience. It’s a privilege to be able to bless them, and I think they bless us too, with their joy, laughter and friendship. I look forward to our next meeting. Nos vemos pronto, niños!!

attentive as they match the correct puzzles

they love drawing and coloring!

Luis the radio carrier!

action songs!

the tiring but fun Monster’Catching game

doggie fun!

Doggie 2 called Beethoven or Beto in short!

Hannah giving out the lollies, cookies and a drink

Maria, a cheerful gal!

this thoughtful boy shared his cookies with me, on his own accord! :)

Que lindo!

awwwww…

teaching a boy how to cycle

beautiful chica and VERY VERY cute niña

I am so proud of my wife!!!

Wow! Today Peiru did the spanish translation for the entire sermon and she did a great job. There were good compliments on her spanish and people understood her. It was really a breakthrough for her. =)

There are new challenges for us every month and the next one will be for me to teach in spanish to the core team in Nov. Continue to pray for us as we try many new things for God this year. =) We will upload the pictures of our community project at the orphanage soon. Stay tuned!

Need to be more careful and alert… …

Weeleng just emailed us a news article of an American couple who was stabbed in Ecuador recently. It serves as an warning for us to be more careful and alert in this foreign land. Below is the link to the news article:
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_102108_news_ecuador_beating_bend.134388339.html
With the laws allowing more foreigners to enter the country without visa, there could be more social problems in the near future. We really need to pray for God’s protection upon our lives and be as shrewd as serpents.  Keep us in prayers for our safety! Thanks! =)

Promoción! Tarjetas bonitas, hecho a mano!

Hola Todos! Hello all!

Di a sus amigos y familias que siente cariño por ellos con estes tarjetas bonitas, hecho a mano! Hay muchos tipos, para cumpleaños, graduación, dar gracias, Navidad, Año Nuevo y más! Puede personalizar si quieres más botónes o cintas o un dibujo para una especial ocasión!

Here’s a great promotion for hand-made cards. These beautiful cards are made by a friend of ours in Singapore. Each is exquisitely designed and unique! Warm someone’s heart with these hand-made cards and let them know you care enough! You can personalize them for a birthday, a graduation, thanks-giving, Christmas or New Year, with more bottons, ribbons, or a drawing for a special occasion!

Los tarjetas están hecho a mano, por una amiga de nosotros, de la iglesia en Singapur.

Check out her website and place your orders today! Mira los tarjetas a su pagína Web:

http://peanutos.wordpress.com/

Para los que hablan español, puedes me decir si estas interesado! Puedo ordener para ti. Cada tarjeta es más o menos US$3.50 a US$5.00, sin incluir la postal. Puedes me decir también si tienes un presupuesto.

First times for the lady

Shenteng preached his first sermon yesterday and this coming week, I’ll be translating the sermon and doing offering.. woah.. i think it’ll be the first time i speak soooo much spanish at a go. Pray for me that I’ll not just be fluent, but also impactful. It’s a sermon!! I can’t just read from the paper.. need to know my stuff well…so I speak with conviction and more eye-contact… hah.. God help me! Lord, I need a fluent tongue, mega memory and most importantly, more of your spirit!

 

Oh, I realized from the schedule that I’ll be leading offering quite often. Anybody has stories and relevant testimonies or interesting ways to lead offering, do share with me!

 

I just started my first English class today. It’s supposed to be a group class but only 1 student at the moment… haha.. she’s a pilates instructor! She’s from Chile and has been in Ecuador for a long time! cool.. maybe i could learn Pilates from her next time. Interestingly, the administration made a mistake and told me my class was a Business English class when it’s actually a General English class, so i have the wrong textbook.. hahaha.. oh well..

 

Do pray for me so that I will be a good English teacher and even be able to bring my students to church and re-commit to God!

 

Thanks!

 

First Sermon

I woke up early about 730am to pray and prepare my heart for my first sermon in Ecuador. After spending some time with God and reading the bible, God encouraged me with this verse from Proverbs 25:25. It says ” Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land”. God reminded me that I have travelled a long distance from Singapore to share to them the good news of Jesus and that He will encourage His people with His Word today. He spoke to me that people in Ecuador are tired physically and emotionally, and they need to hear His Word to have hope again.

After that, I checked my email and saw a link from an old friend. She shared to me about this beautiful chinese song which I listened and was very encouraged. It is a song about prayer and the first time I heard this song was through Tianlong during the Sunday Service. The lyrics are meaningful and touching. Below is the link to this song: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5hwJL5fCvY

When we arrived in church to practise P&W and prepare for the service, we were glad that quite a number of people had arrived. Wanphing gave English lesson to a few of them at 10am while some of us help set up and prepare for the service. About 11am, the service started with a short game and after that was the P&W. It was a good time praising and worshiping God in Spanish with all the brothers and sisters in church. There were 20 over people in the service.

When it was my turn to preach, I was pretty nervous but I told myself to just do it. On the night before, I had practised the sermon with Weeleng and Peiru respectively, so I just told myself to do the same thing again. Everything went on rather smoothly and Weeleng was a good translator. He helped me a lot by giving me cues. For example, he signalled me to slow down when people were taking down notes. The sermon was about managing anger and people seemed to be able to relate to some parts of the message. I think they enjoyed a few of my personal stories and I was glad that they were rather attentive. I pray that they will be able to apply some of the ways to manage anger in their lives.

After the service, some of the brothers and sisters came up to encourage me that it was a good message for them and I was happy to be able to share life with them through the sermon. One of them came up to ask me how long I have been playing the violin because I mentioned to them that sometimes when I feel stressed, I play the violin. Peiru told me that I could improve by standing more still when I preached. I felt that I need to put in more effort to have more gestures and actions so that the deliverance can be improved. I will continue to work hard on my preaching.

Thank God for the wonderful service today! It’s time to prepare my lessons again. I am going to teach English from Monday to Thursday next week. Pray for me to plan interesting and creative lessons. =)

Granizo y tormentas en Quito

This October, the weather in Quito is rather predictable. In the morning, the sun shines and it’s usually warm. And in the afternoon, it usually rains. It can get quite cold at night or when it rains.

The past few days, it rained a lot! ST and I were caught in the rain with one tiny umbrella on Tuesday. It was difficult to catch a cab so we walked home. The lightning was scary, stretching across the entire sky, and it looked very near to us. We were super drenched by the time we reached home. Drenched from the thighs down! Shoes were soaked in water and till today, Friday, my sports shoes are still wet. Our Spanish teacher, Esthella couldn’t make it for lesson that day because it was raining so heavily!

The next day, she told us that it rained ICE at her area! A hail! She described it to us, that it was quite amazing, you could not see water on the windows because it was ICE. And you could only hear the ice bouncing off the windows and the streets. And after a while of hail, the storm came. Torrential rain. She said the streets and the parks were white with ice, and it looked like snow!

Eramos mojados a miércoles porque llovió muchos y Tim y yo teníamos sólo un paraguas. Hubia muchos rayos y truenos! Nuestra professora de español, Esthella, nos dijo que hay granizo en su área, en Quito! ¡Llovió el hielo! No hemos visto granizo nunca! No hay granizo en Singapur.. jeje.. Ella nos describió que esto se parece el nieve! Las parques y las calles son blancas! Hay granizo a menudo en Quito?? Hmm, es peligroso, si? Espero que puedo ver granizo… jajaja.. pero espero que estoy en mi casa!

Wow, what an experience.. I hope to see hail someday.. though it IS dangerous.. everyone has to hide. I hope I’m in the house if I get to see hail… heh.. :p

~PR

Good teaching experience

Thank God that my first lesson went on well on Tues. My student was friendly and easy to get along with. She seems to be in quite a high position in the company as she is the only one with an office of her own in the whole level. Anyway, we had a good chat before the lesson started. I introduced myself and Singapore to her and after that, she shared to me about her family. I had to speak very slowly because her English is rather weak. But it was encouraging to see my student taking down notes even when I was doing introduction. I also taught her simple past tense and a few questioning techniques through a game. She seemed to enjoy the lesson and I was glad that everything went well.

It was my first time teaching a professional English and I had to admit that I was nervous. By the grace of God, it was a good start and I pray that both my student and I will learn much more about the English language along the way. I also thank God for my wife who woke up earlier to prepare breakfast for me. She walked together with me to work (the company is 10 min walk from my house). How blessed am I!

Continue to pray for me to understand the English language much more and be able to communicate effectively. Thanks! =)