August 2008 Update

Dear friends and family,

Here we are nearing the end of August and a little behind on our update. Here's a brief summary of what we have done this Summer here in Ecuador.

June: The pastor that we were working with resigned for personal reasons in the month of June.
As a result, I am now interim pastor of the Christian and Missionary Alliance church here in Archidona.

July: A group from our sending church, Cable Road Alliance Church, in Lima , Ohio, visited for a week. We worked on some construction projects here at the house (mixing lots of concrete), and painted the church. We also did Vacation Bible School(VBS) at our church. At VBS, we had an average of 80 kids per day, as it was quite a novelty to have a group of gringos here. We had a great time with our friends and especially enjoyed the fellowship with friends from home.
Also in July and August we worked at the Jungle Bible Institute, which is an intensive 4 week program for mostly indigenous believers from churches throughout the Oriente, the eastern region of Ecuador. The students study 8 hours a days, 5 days a week for 4 weeks. There are 4 levels and after completing all of the levels, the students graduate. This year, we had 35 students participate and 3 graduate from the 4 year program. I taught classes, Beka helped out in the kitchen, and the kids played and played.

August: After finishing the Jungle Bible Insitute, we spent 3 days in a mountain town called Baños, which is about 3 hours from here. It was a relaxing time with lots of good food, family time, hiking, and we were even able to catch some of the olympics while there. USA! Right now, we are in the process of building a block security wall along the street. Also, our neighborhood has been putting in a new sewage system and we have been called upon to help with that project as well.
This week, we are experimenting with an extension campus of the Jungle Bible Institute here at our church in Archidona. We have had an average of 10 students per evening. This week's class has been on "How to study the Bible."

Bug Bits
Of course, being in Archidona, we have seen our share of bugs. Someone ought to do a documentary the variety of ants that we see right here in our front yard. Red ants, big black ants, biting ants, etc. Just ask Joe and Tessa about the biting ants. Also, another many legged creature that is very common to see here is the tarantula. Whenever it rains a lot, they seek refuge on our ceiling and on our walls. They are supposedly harmless, but it's still hard to get used to seeing them crawling around. On our trip to Baños 2 weeks ago, I was wearing jeans and they felt very itchy, sort of like insulation. After driving for 45 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore so I pulled over to change into shorts. While changing, we realized that the itch was caused by a tarantula who made its way into my pants. No harm done, just a little rattled.

Baby Bits
The kids are doing well. Ezra is a big soccer fan now and when he's not in school or helping me, he plays with whomever is willing. Joe likes soccer, but also likes to climb and pretend to be a soldier, mountain climber and alpine skier. Tessa is a typical little girl who enjoys pretty things and loves to be with her brothers. And in case you haven't heard, Tessa will soon be a big sister. Yes, we are expecting "numero cuatro."


Well, that sums up what has gone on here for the last few months. We appreciate all of your prayers, support, and correspondence.

Kevin

Deitering Update June 2008

Dear friends and family,

It is a drippy wet Monday morning here. Ezra is out in the driveway mixing concrete with one of our workers. Kevin is spraying lacquer on the porch ceiling, and another worker is staining the walls in the living room. So Joe, Tessie, and I are in the bedroom trying to stay out from under foot. J It is exciting to see the changes made to the house daily. Last week the men stained the entire outside, and we really like how it turned out, a rich dark brown. This feels like a “last step” to having a finished house. The concrete Ezra is helping with will be used to pour the footer for the floor in our garage. The extra shade our garage roof provides has been greatly appreciated. Kevin welds out there now, and soon we will be able to park our truck out of the rain. He is welding brackets so that we can hang gutters and collect rain water. We have decided to try to make the best of all this precipitation and use the rain water for all our household needs. Gutters will also help prevent the mud holes that occur whenever we have a downpour. So that is an update on the house projects. We’ll try to have recent pictures posted soon!

Our kids are doing very well. The highlight of the week for Ezra is Monday night soccer at our church. A group of us get together and play for a couple of hours, and Kevin and I like to think that we are improving our game some. J It is always pleasant to play with the folks from church and has been a good way to make new friends. Joe is spending a lot of time with a new friend too these days. We have a new puppy, a sweet little golden retriever. She is very quiet and affectionate which is perfect for our kids. We like to take her on outings to the river. She loves to swim! I found Joe singing “Jesus Loves Me” to her one night before going to bed. Tessie celebrated birthday number three in May. One of her favorite gifts was a little tricycle, and she likes to whiz around my kitchen on the concrete floor. We found out recently that the people in town identify our church as the one where the little “gringita” attends.

Many thanks to all of you who have been praying for our work here. We continue with the Bible study on Tuesday nights and have enjoyed singing hymns in Quichua with the families who attend. We are picking up phrases here and there. This week, Kevin is doing the paper work necessary in order to conduct a Bible study in the local prison. One of the guards he met is a Christian. It is always exciting to see where there are fellow believers working, raising families, and being testimonies of God’s grace. We have started teaching the young people at church on Sunday mornings. They are an excellent group of kids, and it has really brought us pleasure to get to know them. Recently, we were reminded that our greatest testimony is with the men who work at our house each week. One especially has been asking lots of questions about the Lord. He seems to have a tender heart at times and we are praying that the Lord will draw him to Himself. We hope and pray that our testimony as a family will be clear and strong and that we will always be ready to answer the questions that come.

Once again, thank you so very much for all the prayers you offer on our behalf and for the support so many of you generously give. We hope you are all doing well!

April Update

April 4, 2008
Dear family and friends,

Hello from our very own home in Archidona! Yes, we have been in our house for three weeks now. It feels like an accomplishment to have come this far, and we are enjoying settling in. Of course, there is still work to be done, but we are tackling it at a more “normal” pace. Kevin is welding window protectors this week- the last thing to be done to make our house secure. I have been painting in the kitchen and bathrooms and trying to remember in which footlocker I packed what and wishing (once again) that I were a little more organized. J The boys seem to be in their natural habitat. They love to play soldiers in the yard, climb the fruit trees, and race to rescue their little sister from bugs. Tessie got stung one day while eating lunch and ever since has been terrified by bugs. Thank heavens for big brothers! Something we all love to do these days is plant things. We have missed having our own yard, and now we are making up for lost time. We have three banana trees, two coconut trees, several sugar cane starts, a vine that produces loofa sponges, and flowers planted so far. Another favorite pastime is watching birds from our porch. There are so many beautiful varieties, and we really would like to find a book to identify them. The river is a half-mile walk down the road, and it is always a treat to take a dip on a hot afternoon. So that is a little glimpse of our new environment!

As we have worked on the house over the past four months and lived in Archidona, we have observed quite a bit. We had often heard that drinking was a vice in the jungle communities, but we hadn’t realized to what extent. We see now how it controls their lives and their families. Often, men work a few days a week and earn just enough to get by, then they go off with their friends and drink away the rest. The wives, meanwhile, are home washing clothes and feeding children and trying to maintain the home with insufficient means. It is very clear to us that the problem is not a lack of jobs or money. The problem is sin. There are jobs. Men can provide well for their families by working hard and faithfully. But they choose what is easiest and seems most satisfying at the moment. We saw this with the men working on the house. Sometimes they would simply not show up because they had been drunk the night before. Sometimes they would come asking for an advance in pay so that they could keep on drinking. One of them was hospitalized because he had drunk so long that he was near death. A few of them have come and asked for forgiveness and Kevin has been gracious and given them work again. They have all noticed that Kevin is different- that he is not controlled by drink, that he provides for his family, and that he works faithfully.

From Kevin

We've been staying busy on the teaching and preaching front. We continue with the two Bible studies and one discipleship class. I was also given the opportunity to preach on the Second Coming of Christ at a revival service in Pano, a community 40 minutes from Archidona. We are grateful for the opportunities to share God’s Word, but realize that equally important is how we live on a daily basis, that being a Christian isn’t just a Sunday and Wednesday thing. It ought to show in every area of our lives-in how we work, play, and in how we interact with one another. Pray that the Lord would use us here as Ambassadors for Him and that people will see that the difference isn't necessarily cultural, but Christ working in us.

We finally have put some more pictures on our Flickr site. Click here and check them out.

Kevin

February Update

Dear Friends and Family,

Greeting from Archidona, Ecuador. We hope your new year has been going well for you and your family. We have enjoyed 2008 and have felt loved because of all of the gifts, e-mails, and cards. Thanks for remembering us and making Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries special for us and our kids.

The house project continues. It rains a lot here anyway, but it has been particularly rainy here the last 3 weeks or so. We try to work through, but some days it's just not possible anymore. We hope to be living in the house by the end of March.

We are enjoying the many opportunities for preaching/teaching that we have here. We are studying the book of John in two home Bible studies and I will be leading a Discipleship class beginning this Thursday at our church in Archidona. One Bible study is at a bakery/home of Marcelo and Mercedes. They are young believers and we have had a great time with them. The other Bible Study is outside of Archidona with the Grefa family. Please pray that the Lord will give the people we are working with a hunger for His Word.

The family is doing very well. The boys continue to be big helpers and Tessie continues to speak "Spanglish."

That's it for now.

Kevin

Click here to see some pictures.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Dear friends and family,

“Saludos” or “Feliz Navidad” to all of you up in North America. We are experiencing our second Christmas in Ecuador and our first in Archidona. I have to admit, I wasn’t in much of the Christmas spirit, considering that it hardly looks like the Christmas season here on the equator. On Thursday, we bought a Christmas tree in Quito. I expected the Christmas tree (a small cedar) to be needle-less and covered with mud after the 4.5 hour journey from Quito to Archidona, but I decided to give it my best effort anyway. To our pleasant surprise, the tree remained intact and relatively spotless.

On Friday night, we decorated the tree as we listened to Handel’s Messiah and other Christmas favorites. It was a wonderful time as the kids were literally jumping for joy as they decorated the tree and put out a nativity scene. It seemed a little odd sweating as we decorated the tree, so we just pretended that grandpa put one too many logs on the fire. We are grateful that we can continue our little family traditions no matter where we are in the world.

The building project is going well. The house is all framed up and we will resume construction in a couple weeks when we have the metal roofing. I continue to work with Paul and Polico on the project. This will be the base of operations for The Master’s Mission (TMM) here in Ecuador. Pray for safety and a solid testimony at work and in the community.

In the month of December, I was given an added boost from Andy Jamieson, who came to visit us along with his wife, Rachel, and their two children, Timothy and Danika. Andy and Rachel graduated from TMM in 2006. Besides the house project, we enjoyed some great times of fellowship and did some site-seeing as well. We also visited some areas of the country where we would like to see TMM begin a work one day.

Besides the house, we’ve been busy at our church in Archidona as well as helping out at a church in Ahuano once a month. Our church here in Archidona has a pastor and is a relatively healthy church. The church in Ahuano, however, has neither a pastor nor a teaching elder. When going to Ahuano, we leave Archidona at 5:00 AM. When we get to the river, we cross in a canoe for 25 cents each. Church service in Ahuano begins at 6:30 AM to accommodate those who sell at the market on Sundays. We’ve been there three times, and there are usually around 5 adults. At the children’s Sunday school after service, we had around 15 children. Please pray for the church in Ahuano.

On the family front, we are all doing well and staying relatively healthy. Ez and Joe “work” with me at the house nearly every day. They spend most of the time hammering already bent nails (bent by daddy) in scrap boards. They also like climbing trees and eating guayaba, a small fruit common here in the jungle. Tessa continues to be the princess and likes to follow her big brothers around the house-sometimes causing problems. We are grateful for each of our children and are grateful that we can do ministry as a family.

We would like to thank you for your faithful prayer and support. If you would like to send support or a one time gift, please send a check to:

The Master’s Mission
PO Box 547
Robbinsville, NC 28771

Have a great 2008

Kevin

November Update-a long one

Dear friends and family,

Hello! We would like to thank you all so much for your prayers over the past month. Our move to Archidona went very smoothly. Though it rained almost the whole way, the roads were in decent shape and the truck made it safely. We are getting all settled into our new home and surroundings. We are renting a small place across from the Alliance church while our house is being built. It’s wonderful to be able to walk to church on Sunday mornings, though we are not always on time even being so close! J Possibly the hardest adjustment so far has been the roosters that crow from five to six o’clock every morning, but we are learning to sleep through them. Our end of town is very quiet. We have a bread store one block away (excellent, fresh bread every morning!), a gym across the street, and the river just a five minute walk down the road. The power goes out often, so we like to have lots of candles handy, and the boys use it as an excuse to wear their flashlights on their belts.

Kevin dove right into work on the house as soon as we got here. He’s working with a carpenter and his assistant, Polico and Paul. This past week they have cleared the land, marked out the dimensions of the house, and poured the concrete bases on which the house will sit. The bases are made of concrete and stand one meter high. They allow air to pass under the house and will keep it off the wet ground. To mix the concrete, they made a sort of “floor” of boards on the ground. They hauled stone and sand from the river and mixed it with shovels on the floor they had made. This is a good example of Ecuadorian construction methods, and it works quite well! Now Kevin is purchasing wood and taking it to a saw mill where they sand the boards to be ready for the house. The boys go with him whenever they can and are adding new words to their vocabulary daily; words like “pala” (shovel), “caratilla” (wheelbarrow), and “martillo” (hammer). The men working with Kevin are so good to them and find all sorts of little jobs they can handle.

Tessie and I walk up town about every other day to buy groceries or run errands. It is a nice way to visit people from our church since many of them have shops or hardware stores in town. We usually make new friends too. We met the butcher last week and he told us when to come so that we are sure to get fresh meat. We buy our water from a truck that comes buy three times a week. And we get fresh milk from a farmer who brings it to town and sells dairy products every morning. Mike and Carol Welty gave us their milk pasteurizer that they used when they first got here 35 years ago, and it serves us well. On Saturdays, we often go to Tena (the capital of this province, about 10 miles away) and buy fresh fruits and vegetables at the market there. We even found a store that carries Corn Flakes!

We thought it would be nice to let Ezra tell you about a typical day in his busy little world. So this next paragraph is from him.

In the morning I have school. I do flashcards for Reading. I read in my Reading book. Then I write sentences to practice my writing. Mommy asks me Math questions and answer them. Then I count by 10’s, 2’s and 5’s. Later in the day, I do History and Science with daddy. Then I play for a while, and daddy stops by and brings me to work. I hammer, mix concrete, shovel sand on the trailer, give stones to Paul and Polico. Some days, Joe and I go swimming in the river.

Comments from Kevin

Geography 101
Now that we live in Archidona, Napo, you’ll be hearing the names of lots of new places. Here are the names and a brief description of places pertaining to this region.

Oriente- The name of the eastern region of Ecuador which is made up of mostly jungle/rain forest.
Napo- The province (like a state) where we live. Napo borders Pinchincha, which is where the capital of the country, Quito, is located.
Tena- The provincial capital of Napo. Tena has around 10,000 people (estimated). Tena is about 15 minutes from where we live. It is THE “major” city of the Napo province, where you can buy just about everything you need.
Archidona-The town we live in. Archidona has around 4,000 people (estimated). You see many mestizos (indigenous/Spanish mix) and indigenous. The downtown is always bustling with activity. The shops vary from hardware stores, to feed stores.

Meteorology 101
A long time Christian and Missionary Alliance worker here in Napo, Ramiro Paez, has commented that there are two seasons here in the jungle: Rainy and Flood. It’s a fairly good observation. I told Beka that in working on the house, I spend most of the day wet-either from sweat or from rain. Due to the heat, the rain feels good when it comes, so I’m not complaining.

Other Observations

In spending just over two weeks here, working with Polico and Paul and driving to surrounding communities, I have seen some very interesting, and at times, disturbing things. A serious vice here, especially for the indigenous or nativos is alcoholism. It is common to see, 7 days a week, at any hour, both men and women stumbling along the streets, or passed out on the sidewalks. Sundays are the worse, as they spend the day that many of us set aside for worship and family, in a drunken stupor.

The mere fact that I and the men who work for me do not spend our days drunk and that we work a full 8 to 10 hour work day without drinking is a strong testimony to some.

Please pray for out testimonies here in this community where the Lord has placed us. Please pray also that over time, people will realize that our lives are different because of Christ, and not culture.

Thank you all for your prayer and support.

Click here to see more photos from the Deiterings

Napo Address

Kevin and Beka Deitering
Casilla Postal 15-01-61
Tena, Napo
Ecuador
Please do not send any packages worth more than $200 or that weigh more than 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds). 

Support Address

The Master’s Mission
PO Box 547
Robbinsville, NC 28771

Moving Day

Hello to everyone. This is a quick note to let you all know that we will be moving to Archidona, Napo, on Tuesday, October 30. Archidona is around 5 hours from Quito. Please pray for safety as we travel and move all of our belongings. We hope to start building next week, so please pray for that as well.

Our new address is:

 Kevin and Beka Deitering
   Casilla Postal 15-01-61
   Tena,  Napo
   Ecuador

Kevin