May Prayer letter

Dearest friends and family,

It has been a few months since we sent out our last communication.  We would like to first of all ask for your continued prayers and support.  Ecuador continues to be in a very precarious situation. Currently Ecuador has the highest recorded murder rate in Latin America, as compared to where it was only about 4 years ago as the second safest country in Latin America behind Uruguay.  The Mennonite churches here have been in prayer together and working to come up with different project and initiatives to promote peace.  Please continue to pray for the different Mennonite congregations so that they can have testimonies of peace in their communities.  We pray that the different Ecuadorian faith communities can build up their theology of peace amidst these new realities of violence.

This changing reality of the situation in Ecuador has been very discouraging but we continue to feel God’s call to walk alongside our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters.  We remember this Bible verse from Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” This call from God is when Joshua takes over leadership after the death of Moses, and God tells him to be ready to cross the Jordan and to move into the promised land.  We know that God is very present here in Ecuador and in the different church communities.  God is with us during this difficult time. But we ask for your prayers of encouragement for us as we shift into this new reality and also these new spaces of work with the different church communities.  Over the next few months we have several peace building classes and workshops planned in different parts of the country, here in the highlands and also down on the coast.

We know that God is walking with us and even in these difficult times we will not be dismayed.  Thank you all for continuing with us in this journey even now through more turbulent waters.

Blessings,

Delicia, Peter, Aliyah and Ariana