I am going to attach some pictures
God bless
Matthew
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
I know i know...
Hey i know i know it's been really long time but at least i am writing again! We have had the opportunity to move to a new parish one province over. We are no longer in Napo we are in Orellana.
I am going to attach some pictures
God bless
Matthew
I am going to attach some pictures
God bless
Matthew
Sunday, December 7, 2014
New Post!
Hey all, so yeah it has been a while! Finally here again to set aside time you write it feels good!
So lots of changes are happening and we have decided / felt the call to move to a different mission post, we are still in Ecuador we are in the parish of Loreto. If you are looking on the Ecuador map it is just below Coca.
The weather is nice here the sun is very strong, the main river is very wide and incredibly strong as well as very clear you feel like you are in paradise!
The nights are very fresh, and it is even a little cold at nighttime which is a nice change from the all day sun! When it rains it definitely pours Loreto gets soaked when it rains here it rains very hard it's pretty much a thunder storm each time it rains here.
Loreto has 73 communities mainly indigenous, some rang to two or three hours away. Many of the Kichwa people do not even speak Spanish here, so conversations can be very short so it is what you make it!
Myself i have a small grasp on the language but i lack so much knowledge in the language but i can converse, and understand more than i do speak as it usually goes with a new language. I will hopefully in the month of February have the opportunity to take a course on the Kichwa language and be able to have more knowledge of it!
We are very content here and we have the grace and blessing to be under a very good and spirit led priest as well as the privilege to have the presence of three nuns as well as one novice! We are currently living the parish house, we are hoping to live apart soon but it seems to be taking some time!
Our desire and wish is to fix up a older class room not currently being used. We are currently trying to raise funds for the renovation of this small class room.
I ask you to pray about helping us with some contribution of this small project of our own. Pray about it, and i will hopefully be able to post some pictures of the class room!
Pray always!
Mark 1:6-7
So lots of changes are happening and we have decided / felt the call to move to a different mission post, we are still in Ecuador we are in the parish of Loreto. If you are looking on the Ecuador map it is just below Coca.
The weather is nice here the sun is very strong, the main river is very wide and incredibly strong as well as very clear you feel like you are in paradise!
The nights are very fresh, and it is even a little cold at nighttime which is a nice change from the all day sun! When it rains it definitely pours Loreto gets soaked when it rains here it rains very hard it's pretty much a thunder storm each time it rains here.
Loreto has 73 communities mainly indigenous, some rang to two or three hours away. Many of the Kichwa people do not even speak Spanish here, so conversations can be very short so it is what you make it!
Myself i have a small grasp on the language but i lack so much knowledge in the language but i can converse, and understand more than i do speak as it usually goes with a new language. I will hopefully in the month of February have the opportunity to take a course on the Kichwa language and be able to have more knowledge of it!
We are very content here and we have the grace and blessing to be under a very good and spirit led priest as well as the privilege to have the presence of three nuns as well as one novice! We are currently living the parish house, we are hoping to live apart soon but it seems to be taking some time!
Our desire and wish is to fix up a older class room not currently being used. We are currently trying to raise funds for the renovation of this small class room.
I ask you to pray about helping us with some contribution of this small project of our own. Pray about it, and i will hopefully be able to post some pictures of the class room!
Pray always!
Mark 1:6-7
John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey.
In the course of his preaching he said, 'After me is coming someone who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals
Friday, September 12, 2014
Water, more water
Hey all!
Hope this finds you well, i have been up to a lot, some of the most recent news is we are now in summertime here in the Amazon forest, which is basically less rain and more sun, and more sun!
We hadn't received anything besides a light sun-shower in two weeks, we had left to go into the jungle to visit some communities, Mango Playa, Chonta Punta, La Florida & Selva Amazonica. We went and spent the night in Mango Playa the very next day we split up and half of us went to Chonta Punta while the other half went to La Florida and Selva Amazonica we spent the night in both communities and that night it rained from 9:00 pm through to midday.
We hopped on the 7:30 am bus to return to Ahuano, and about halfway through the drive to Ahauno we round a slight turn we feel the bus swerve and then a giant crash and the bus jumped into the air then we slid to the side, and to finish off we had a final thud!
The big noises turned out to be our half axle of the bus complete with all four wheels had come lose somehow and we had then slid to the side on nothing except the bus frame!
It was still continuing to rain, so everyone got out of the bus and began to walk, eventually different vehicles began to pick the passengers and when we were picked up by a truck and when we got to a bridge a little bit before where we live the river was almost touching the top part of the bridge. As well the very next strip of road was full of water and no trucks, buses, or cars could cross the gap created by the water. So eventually someone grabbed a canoe and began to transport the forty passengers across the gap.
We passed eventually and then got on another bus, just five minutes into the drive we were passing through a different community and the water had gotten up to some of the houses and had entered the first floor of many of the houses, as well as flooding the various farm lands which the surrounding land consisted of. We got to the next biggest bridge and the water was incredibly high, and you could see the numerous whirlpools, we were informed that a small child had been reported taken by the water, and had not survived.
I am going to post some pictures, but continue to keep these people and their homes, and the deceased child in your prayers.
Hope this finds you well, i have been up to a lot, some of the most recent news is we are now in summertime here in the Amazon forest, which is basically less rain and more sun, and more sun!
We hadn't received anything besides a light sun-shower in two weeks, we had left to go into the jungle to visit some communities, Mango Playa, Chonta Punta, La Florida & Selva Amazonica. We went and spent the night in Mango Playa the very next day we split up and half of us went to Chonta Punta while the other half went to La Florida and Selva Amazonica we spent the night in both communities and that night it rained from 9:00 pm through to midday.
We hopped on the 7:30 am bus to return to Ahuano, and about halfway through the drive to Ahauno we round a slight turn we feel the bus swerve and then a giant crash and the bus jumped into the air then we slid to the side, and to finish off we had a final thud!
The big noises turned out to be our half axle of the bus complete with all four wheels had come lose somehow and we had then slid to the side on nothing except the bus frame!
It was still continuing to rain, so everyone got out of the bus and began to walk, eventually different vehicles began to pick the passengers and when we were picked up by a truck and when we got to a bridge a little bit before where we live the river was almost touching the top part of the bridge. As well the very next strip of road was full of water and no trucks, buses, or cars could cross the gap created by the water. So eventually someone grabbed a canoe and began to transport the forty passengers across the gap.
We passed eventually and then got on another bus, just five minutes into the drive we were passing through a different community and the water had gotten up to some of the houses and had entered the first floor of many of the houses, as well as flooding the various farm lands which the surrounding land consisted of. We got to the next biggest bridge and the water was incredibly high, and you could see the numerous whirlpools, we were informed that a small child had been reported taken by the water, and had not survived.
I am going to post some pictures, but continue to keep these people and their homes, and the deceased child in your prayers.
Friday, September 5, 2014
The Simple Things, the smallest of these.
This Thursday we had mass here in Ahuano and it was scheduled for 7:00 PM, and come 7:00 no one was there. We have been struggling with having people come to mass for some time now, it is always a struggle to convince the people that they need to come to mass. Why they should, how they could benefit from the mass and the list goes on and on.
So one of the two priests here in Ahuano decided that we would say a rosary and offer the rosary for the people of Ahuano. It seemed like the biggest cliche on the Catholic earth to me at the time, but as we started to just pray the rosary i found myself just engrossed in the prayer itself, and really not just saying the words but praying the prayer.
A specific family who i have gotten particularly close with (a single mother of five daughters) came in and finished praying the rosary with us. No one else came in, we were not swarmed with people as if we had just witnessed a miracle, but afterwards i realized what i had witnessed.
I had witness the faith of not hundreds of people but of a simple family a mother and her daughters, and knowing that we may not have been many but we were united in that moment of prayer, and community. That moment really touched me how a rosary united us, a simple prayer with so much power. Our lady -the virgin Mary- is here to intercede for us and to help bring us closer to her son, why not use thatas often as we can? I asked myself and thought why do i not use this awesome simple prayer more often?
I am left with these unanswered questions but i am sure that i will be using this weapon more often in the future, growing closer to Jesus through Mary.
We had the chance to go visit a close friend of ours in the hospital her five month baby who has been having random seizures,so they had to take her in to the hospital. So we had the opportunity to go visit them, and say the divine mercy chaplet! It was so peaceful, they are going to be taking the baby to do more tests in Quito (Ecuador's capital) so pray that everything goes smoothly.
Continue to pray for Mishel the five month year old baby, as well for our Ahuano. Blessings!
So one of the two priests here in Ahuano decided that we would say a rosary and offer the rosary for the people of Ahuano. It seemed like the biggest cliche on the Catholic earth to me at the time, but as we started to just pray the rosary i found myself just engrossed in the prayer itself, and really not just saying the words but praying the prayer.
A specific family who i have gotten particularly close with (a single mother of five daughters) came in and finished praying the rosary with us. No one else came in, we were not swarmed with people as if we had just witnessed a miracle, but afterwards i realized what i had witnessed.
I had witness the faith of not hundreds of people but of a simple family a mother and her daughters, and knowing that we may not have been many but we were united in that moment of prayer, and community. That moment really touched me how a rosary united us, a simple prayer with so much power. Our lady -the virgin Mary- is here to intercede for us and to help bring us closer to her son, why not use thatas often as we can? I asked myself and thought why do i not use this awesome simple prayer more often?
I am left with these unanswered questions but i am sure that i will be using this weapon more often in the future, growing closer to Jesus through Mary.
We had the chance to go visit a close friend of ours in the hospital her five month baby who has been having random seizures,so they had to take her in to the hospital. So we had the opportunity to go visit them, and say the divine mercy chaplet! It was so peaceful, they are going to be taking the baby to do more tests in Quito (Ecuador's capital) so pray that everything goes smoothly.
Continue to pray for Mishel the five month year old baby, as well for our Ahuano. Blessings!
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Ahuano, mission life, adventures in the jungle!
I appologize for the delay in blog updates / posts we have been very busy these past months and praise the LORD we have had so many blessed encounters so we continually thank HIM for that!
We have had the chance to lead two different 'short term mission trips' both consisting of college kids, and we have hosted the groups in Mishaualli. They have both been extremely participational with the people of Ecuador.
We have had the chance to visit far out communities walking through mud, and through streams. Giving the groups the true "Ecuador" experience, as well as having different work projects constructing chapels in various communities, and over all building relationships with the native people who we serve.
We have had time to start different ministries, in one of our ministries we go to a community named "Chonta Punta" we visit families and share from the word of GOD, we build these relationships that help to build trust and in building these 'relationships' we grow to understand the needs of the people. We have had the opportunity to help construct the church project that has been going on in Chonta Punta, and is now almost finished. Continue to pray for Chonta Punta and for the faith of that community that they will, and can be strong in their lives in leading others to CHRIST.
I have had the chance last year to grow different products here in Ahuano, on some of the land that we live on. These plants have been growing some of them take, six months others a year, these products consist of; Yuca, Plantains, corn, and papaya. I have been harvesting some of these different plants over the new year, 2014.
An important sliver of each missionaries life, a most crucial one at that is called in-culturation.
In-culturation is basically becoming 'one of the people' partaking in their culture which is food, drink,language, work, and authenticity. Of course being friendly, and talkative with all whom you meet is important part as well.
Of course one of the motives to growing all of the plants is being a part of the community, and showing th people that you are willing to live like they live, work how they work.
We have been blessed with great health, and vigor so we thank the LORD for that gift, keep in mind, and prayer that three of the new missionaries that are now living with
myself and Ryan Lawless here in Ahuano are currently in Quito studying in language school.
I am going to attach some pictures at the end of this update, GOD bless you all!
We have had the chance to lead two different 'short term mission trips' both consisting of college kids, and we have hosted the groups in Mishaualli. They have both been extremely participational with the people of Ecuador.
We have had the chance to visit far out communities walking through mud, and through streams. Giving the groups the true "Ecuador" experience, as well as having different work projects constructing chapels in various communities, and over all building relationships with the native people who we serve.
We have had time to start different ministries, in one of our ministries we go to a community named "Chonta Punta" we visit families and share from the word of GOD, we build these relationships that help to build trust and in building these 'relationships' we grow to understand the needs of the people. We have had the opportunity to help construct the church project that has been going on in Chonta Punta, and is now almost finished. Continue to pray for Chonta Punta and for the faith of that community that they will, and can be strong in their lives in leading others to CHRIST.
I have had the chance last year to grow different products here in Ahuano, on some of the land that we live on. These plants have been growing some of them take, six months others a year, these products consist of; Yuca, Plantains, corn, and papaya. I have been harvesting some of these different plants over the new year, 2014.
An important sliver of each missionaries life, a most crucial one at that is called in-culturation.
In-culturation is basically becoming 'one of the people' partaking in their culture which is food, drink,language, work, and authenticity. Of course being friendly, and talkative with all whom you meet is important part as well.
Of course one of the motives to growing all of the plants is being a part of the community, and showing th people that you are willing to live like they live, work how they work.
We have been blessed with great health, and vigor so we thank the LORD for that gift, keep in mind, and prayer that three of the new missionaries that are now living with
myself and Ryan Lawless here in Ahuano are currently in Quito studying in language school.
I am going to attach some pictures at the end of this update, GOD bless you all!
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