Juan Diego

The first school that two groups of Gideons went to was in Azogues.  The students were taking exams that day but the headmaster was excited for us to be there.  He asked us to wait and distribute the testaments when the children changed classes and took their recess.

A young boy named, Juan Diego, was one of children who received a testament that day.  While I continued to distribute testaments to many of the other youth, Juan hovered around my distribution point.  When Carolos, the translator, came by Juan ran over to the him and asked him a question.

Juan wanted to know where I was from.  Carlos motioned Juan to come back over.  I replied back in Spanish that I was from the United States and the state of Tennessee.  Juan smiled and laughed.  He ran off with his friends, happy that I spoke to him in Spanish.

A while later, after we had distributed testaments to almost the entire school, we went to the courtyard where the basketball and soccer areas were.  We had more time to tell the youth to write their names in the front of the testaments and were able to share scriptures with them, including the plan of salvation.  Many of them began to ask the Gideons to write their names in the front of the Bible under their own name.  

There was a tug on my coat.  It was Juan.  He tugged on my coat and the translator relayed that he wanted me to sign my name in his testament below his.  I sat down with him, wrote my name in his testament and took several photographs with him.  Then I was able to show him the helps in the front and opened the testament to the plan of salvation in the back.  I especially pointed out the section to show him that God loved him.  I told Juan to be sure and read the back and pointed to the scriptures.

I pray that someday Juan will sign his name in the back.

Praise Report from Home

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” - Matthew 19:26 NKJV

Over 55,000 Scriptures placed in a week by a team of 10 International men and a local team of 30-40. These were mostly new Gideons and Auxiliary members, with the assistance of more experineced Gideons that drove about 3 hours each way to assist. A rough estimate of population coverage in the area was roughly one in eight, based on population estimates for Cuenca and Azogues.

Since I am a numbers guy, I played around with some of the statistics. If we could scale what happened this week this to the United States, roughly, we would:

1) Place approximately 37.5 million Scriptures a year in the US- (300 million / 8 );

2) Have Church Services in over half or more of our churches;

3) Our average church service offering would go to about $1,150;

4) We would have three men per church per year recommended to become Gideons;

5) All portions of the ministry would be covered with the manpower needed sacrifically, so that souls are reached for Jesus

5) If the Lord would bless us in this way, our Vision 2020 could become reality!

How many people could be reached for Christ if in a year we could scale what we did in one medium and one small city in a week will a little effort?

O Lord, we praise you and thank you for using us this past week for your Kingdom work. Please use your Word and your Spirit to draw more of the souls of Ecuador, and all those in contact with your Word today into that eternal relationship with you, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

For our friends, forgive us if we are a little tired and somewhat changed. We left a little of ourselves in Ecuador for the sake of Jesus, and it was an honor to serve.

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel - Philippians 1:27

We thank you for the prayers. May God receive all glory, honor, and praise!


Chris Icenhour - the scribe



The photos are so you can know the other nine people for whom you have prayed this past week, along with those whom we reached with the Good News. May the amigos in the pictures all come to know Jesus, if they have not already!


Mike S - Team Leader

Bill D

Bob R

Chuck J

Chris I

Doug M

Jimmy H

Leif B

Patrick N

Steve W



Friday's Update from Chris

Buenes Noches!

This will be the last full report from the International Team in Ecuador.  We may have a few more for you, but this is the last big day for us.  And what a day it was!

A few ways you can understand just how powerful your prayers can be... Group 1 report - Today, we had a team go to a school outside of Azogues, a city about 15-20 miles from Cuenca.  When the team went into the school, we prayed, pleaded our case, but were told no, the Catholic priest would not allow it.  Outside the school, another Gideon found a torn up copy of a Testament someone had somehow brought up from either the city or from Cuenca.  A personal witness with pleading for 15 minutes also was unsuccessful.  But we prayed and went to the next school only about 300 meters down the road, equivelent to a high school.  And praise the Lord, we were able to distribute in the classrooms!  Keep those prayers coming!

A Jail Report from Group 2 - Four of us had the privilege of going to the prison in Azogues to meet with the inmates and pass out Testaments.  We had one interpreter with us who was a non believer.  There were 200 inmates and 96 came to take testaments and we were able to stand around in the quad and talk to them.  Two of them could speak English and helped us talk to the other men.  I was able to tell some of them that 3 of the 4  greatest men in the Bible has committed murder and God forgave them and was still able to use them in a mighty way.(Moses,David,Paul and Jesus)  So whatever they had done, that God could forgive them and use them for His glory too.  My non believing interpreter was saying all this to them and we had been witnessing to him all day.  I believe the seed has been planted in him and God will water and bring him to know Jesus soon.

For our friends - know that the pictures we share are downsized to low resolution for email so everyone can receive on the list.  Once we get back home, within a reasonable time, we will have the photos available to the team members for sharing at full resolution

Pray for the Philippines ISB Team.  Reports are that they are doing very well on their distributions, but until each and every person knows the Lord Jesus Christ, we must be ever faithful to share the Word!  Sldo Also for safe travels for the team back home, especially brother Leif Backman as he travels separately on a much longer journey. 

Here are some pictures of the day, including the local Cuenca Gideons and Auxiliary members.  While the ISB team was in Azogues today with the local camp, they continued to distribute today.  The faithfulness of these people, and some of the ones that accompanied us to Azogues today is a reflection of Jesus that we do not see often.  Tireless, selfless, dedicated to the Lord service, giving up sleep and personal gain to reach the lost.  This, friends, is why we must strive to live our team's team verse,  Philippians 1:27 -  Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,

Jail = see the story above.

Classroom = Yes!  These are either 5th or 6th graders!  And they all received a copy of God's Word because of your prayers and faithful support!

Filipe = Our bus driver today.  He started the day as just a bus driver, but just after this picture, based on conversations with 8-10 people today, and watching us work, he wanted follow Christ, and he signed his name in the back of the Testament!  Praise the Lord!

CuencaGideons = The picture was after a wonderful Pastors Appreciation Banquet that was excellent. Please continue to pray for these men and women that have shown so much love to us this week, and worked so hard to share the Word of God to their city.  If you knew them the way we do, you would see Jesus in them by how they serve Him.   To God be the Glory! Great things He has Done!

Tomorrow we will be packing, traveling, and personally witnessing. 

Chris and Jimmy
On behalf of the 2011 Ecuador ISB team

Thursday's Update from Chris

This report will be different from most. 

Here are some of the regular report facts. 

• Some have wondered, how many?  We are around 50,000 so far.
• How many placement locations - several hundred, not sure, but we could probably drive around the city now.
• What are doing tomorrow?  Cuenca Gideons will work on continued wrap-up and rescheduled placements all over the city.  The International team will head to Azogues. meet with local and regional Gideons for  Distributions in the town, and work our way back.  We will also have a Pastors Appreciation Banquet tomorrow night.
• Prayers - Sleep deprived Gideons and Auxiliary members in Ecuador who are pouring their hearts and souls into this Scripture Blitz; safe travels, open doors, good attendance at the banquet, a top quality banquets for the pastors, and for the salvation of souls from Scriptures distributed

Now, for pictures and the stories behind them...

Closed Door - First distribution this morning, we rush across town to what is found to be the largest private girl's school in Cuenca.  The compound is gated and only cars and busses are allowed to enter.  Notice in the picture you can see the beauty of the mountains, three school buses, the one in the far back is the size of a Greyhound bus, and the brand new brick walled compound. We prayed, asked for the headmistress, and tried to get an appointment to reschedule later with the Auxiliary.  She was not it, and we were not allowed to do anything.  This is why we ask for your prayers for open doors.

Dedicated - In this picture, you see Carlos and Franciso, both from Loja, about a three hour drive away.  We met them at 7:30am to prepare for a 9:00am and 9:30am distribution for the Ecuadorian Army.  This is the second day they have taken off of work to do so.  After the 9 & 9:30 distributions were rescheduled until 2:30pm, they found other Gideons and worked on other distributions, then met us at this school at 12:00.  We then found out we would have to do a sidewalk distribution at 1:45pm.  This would make us late for the Army, since the base was an hour away, so they agreed to wait and take care of the school.  We asked what they would do in the meantime - they said they would pray for the ministry, school, and youth receiving Testaments.  We stayed as long as we could, prayed, and split into two teams to cover both distributions. They also worked on at least two other distributions, not finishing until after 6:15pm.  Then they drove home.  Three hours.  And to do it again tomorrow, just like today and yesterday.  Pray for strength, protection, and blessings on men that give like Christ gave - and yes, I see Jesus in them so much, it makes me glad to be a Gideon.

God's Plan - We get to the Army base, wait until the appointed time and go to the gate.  We are announced, and expect to distribute 500 - 600 Testaments. We have been looking forward to this all day, since this part of the team has ZERO regular distributions, only Personal Workers Testaments so far.  They promised that they would be in parade formation and we could talk to them.  And we do!  One squad - 44 total Testaments by the time we include all the guard shack men.  All the others received theirs earlier in the day the commander at the gate declares.  I am somewhat disappointed, as is the other  Gideon, and the driver/translator as well.  What we did not know is that based on God's perfect timing, one of our other teams DID give all but this squad their testaments earlier.  If any of us had missed our timing by 5 minutes today, we would not have gotten them all.  Praise the Lord! - All local Army soldiers have a copy of God's Word.  And they received it with great joy! 

Sharing the Word - We arrive at the Catholic University expecting only 300 in our distribution numbers.  We take 455 with us.  We are them met by Carlos and Francisco, so we have two Gideons per entrance/exit.  A fifth Gideon arrives so we have time to take a few pictures.  The school administration came out once to complain about the Testaments, but we were on a public sidewalk.  At least two students were reading theirs for at least 10-15 minutes, and I talked to them as best I could.   They did not want to talk, but at this point, pray for them that the Word they read will touch their souls and make a life changing difference in them in Jesus name!  For all receiving Testaments, we ask for the Holy Spirit to work on them to until Jesus is Lord of their lives.

I hope that gives you a flavor of a single team's experience for a day and how you are ministering to us through your prayers to God.

Gloria a Dios!

Wednesday Update from Chris

Hola!

Today was a big day for the Auxiliary of Ecuador.  The focus of the day was on places the Auxiliary could distribute Scriptures.  The men help to carry the Testaments and the Auxiliary went to the Hospitals, Clinics and All Girl Schools( which is an authorized distribution area in the International Outreach Ministry).  It was a joy to help the ladies and to watch their smiling faces.  They were so proud to be able to place these Scriptures. If the health of a Gideon Camp can be judged by the support of the Auxiliary, then the Ecuadorian camps are strong.  I would say 75% of the men had their wives with them this week.

Well, it was bound to happen.  Rain!  We are grateful that the Lord held it off until very late in the day, so almost all distributions were completed before it started.  And, it did not impact our ability to distribute Scriptures today.  We got a little wet, kept the Scriptures dry, moved fast, and the students remained receptive. 

It has been the third long day of starting at before sunrise, and completing well after the sun goes down.  Many of the local Gideons and Auxiliary members continue to work to adjust the schedule for new or changed opportunities each evening, and sacrifice their personal time and some significant sleep to make sure that they give their best to the Lord.  Please lift up special prayers for them, both Gideons and Auxiliary.

Pray for our new traffic lanes of distribution tomorrow, which include military and police distributions, in addition to wrapping up other areas that we have started during the week that needed rescheduling.  We also have hotel/motel distributions to work in the area.  It will be another busy day starting in just a few hours.

The fruit of the blitz is contained in a few more pictures...  And yes, we have one that makes us remember that it is important that each person make that decision that will place them in the Lamb's Book of Life.  Praise the Lord for the security guard that after a few minutes of discussion and questions, was able to decide that he needed Jesus as Lord and Savior!

Praise the Lord, and please touch the hearts of the people of Cuenca that do not know you yet with Your Word and by our testimony for Jesus Christ!

Tuesday's Update from Chris

Greetings Prayer team!

If I recall correctly, most "letters from the road" usually state something like "we are starting to get settled in" or the like.  I respectfully report that we are not settled in whatsoever, but are fully accelerating, led by the local Gideons, to place God's Word in multiple locations around this beautiful city.  Our local brothers are tireless, in a way that could only come from the Lord,  in their efforts to accomplish the goal of reaching each and every distribution point.

The prayers for holding the rain back have been successful.  However, the sun at the equator is strong, so it has been warm, even for our local Gideons. But most importantly, this has also made it possible to do the distributions without getting wet or the Scriptures wet and have maximum numbers of youth outside.  So, all in all, we are getting what we need to accomplish God's work!

Now for the real blessing - today we had numerous distributions where the middle and high school aged kids could not wait to get their hands on a Testament.  We have also had several occasions for classroom distributions, and one chance for a lengthy testimony in class for the Lord Jesus since our last report.  It is like the last 36 hours has had the youth have their spirits touched to have a Scripture.  Keep praying!

Each of us has seen specific answers to prayers, great and small.  I could write for hours on how God made a way for something to happen that only He could provide.  Brief examples -  A Christian mother at a school at the right time today, a college student returning to pick up a Scripture after saying no once, and several instances of open doors and time to share the Gospel to people as best we can using the Testaments, helps, and short plan of salvation.

We have some distributions with Auxiliary tomorrow, along with some more schools. We also plan to work the hospitals as well.

Rather than spend a lot of words, let a few pictures show you what is happening here, and continue to pray for the team, open doors, the souls receiving Scriptures and that those receiving Scriptures may read and accept Christ as their Savior.  We remember the ISB team in the Philippines in prayer, and we remember you all in our prayers as well.

Gloria a Dios!

Monday's Update from Chris

For many of us, it always amazes us how God answers prayers.  We ask in our human ways, then our Heavenly Father, in infinite mercy and grace, answers in ways we just could never expect.

Yesterday, we asked for prayers for interpreters.  God answered!  He answered by having students translate in classrooms, people on the street offer to assist, and the Lord worked to help the entire team = local and travelling - to communicate without hardly any assigned interpreters.  And no noticeable impact on the distributions occurred.  That is how our mighty God works.  Praise the Lord!

It was a long and blessed day. We had teams leave at 6:00am.  As of 9:55pm, our last team came in from a scheduled distribution.  We do not have the final official count for the day, but over 15,000 is known.  Our focus for today and tomorrow, schools and colleges, have a variety of start times, so we are working to cover them all.  Pray for the school distributions tomorrow, as well, that we have continued open doors and opportunity for witness.

Also, pray for the local Gideons.  They were completing the distribution plan for tomorrow and working in the warehouse and putting them into transport vehicles for tomorrow while we met at 8:30pm tonight.  They are always ready to go!  Pray that they can get good rest and continue for tomorrow,

We will also work on placements in local hotels, which started today,  This is an area that we request prayer.

There were many other instances of specific answers to general prayers, but keep them coming!  The rain has held off, and a humble servant spirit continues to manifest itself among the team.  It is all about reaching Cuenca with God's Word, in the name of Jesus.

We leave you with a picture that reflects just one of the many distributions during the day.

Sunday services update

From Chris:

Today we had 11 services, where Gideons were allowed to share how God is using this ministry around the world with the local churches of Cuenca. These churches were so spirit filled as the people worshiped Jesus. We felt like we were at our local churches (except the language) and the Pastors are so passionate as they preach. So far the churches have had offerings of $659, and we believe more will come in this week.

With an approximate monthly income of $200- $333 per person, they have much less in financial resources to give. However, the heart to reach the lost is great!

Some extraordinary blessings...

Doug Maultsby's church pastor,after he spoke, got up and told everyone that he accepted Jesus by reading a Gideon placed Scripture! We found out later that Chuck Jansen's pastor at one service also was saved via a Gideon placed Scripture.

Pray for our interpreters - for equipping them and us with them the time we are here; for the wonderful work they did for us today at all the services to the glory of God; and that the barrier of language will not impede the distribution of the Word and salvation of many who come across them.
Monday begins a long day of distributions, but there is nothing but excitement and readiness among the team. We have about 30 separate school distributions scheduled all day, from early morning until after 8pm at night. The local Gideons worked hard today to make sure the distribution plan is in place. Praise God for this dedication! We ask for open doors all day and safe travel for all team members.

We have been blessed with no rain so far, and if the Lord could bless us with no rain during the sidewalk distributions, we would be grateful!

The front desk clerk, Cecilia, accepted a Testament, and accepted the Lord today! We close with a photo of a young lady who wanted to accept Jesus at one of our services today, so here is her picture signing her name in the back, while her name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life...

What a day!

He made it!

Through the awesome technology of Skype, I was able to talk to Chris twice yesterday after he arrived in Ecuador.  He made it there safe and sound, but tired!  A red eye flight of 5 hours is definitely not enough time to rest much.

Thankfully yesterday was a rest day for them.  And that's what he and everyone else did.  They rested and got acquainted with the area and hotel they are in.

Chris said that it was very warm there and very green.  The hotel is very nice and hopefully today he's more rested than he was yesteryday.

I wanted to share a picture and the email update I received from Mike, the team leader.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Greetings from Cuenca,


The seed is ready to be planted in the days ahead. Below is a photo of the scriptures in the warehouse.
The team is in place, and praying for many open doors.
Thank you for lifting us up in your thoughts and prayers.

Ecuador Team Update

The team leader, Mike, is already in Ecuador and sent this update today.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Greetings from Cuenca Ecuador!
I arrived here yesterday morning and met with the local Gideons to review their plans for the coming week. They seem to have things in fairly good order, yet there are several loose ends to tie up. We will be working more on that today.

As of now, we will be making distributions at schools, universities, trade and technical schools on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday will be devoted to hospitals, clinics, hotels, fire, police and jails. On Friday, we will travel to the city of Azogues, about 30 min away, for distributions there.

The team is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning from the states, and one from Sweden. There will be a church service for each on Sunday morning, in which we will have the opportunity to inform the congregations of the ministry.

Weather wise, it is just right. About 72 degrees and sunshine. We are trusting that this weather will hold up next week.  The only hitch in the trip thus far is a lack of luggage. Somehow it did not follow me from Miami to Quito. Hopefully it will arrive today.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers; they are much appreciated.

~Mike (Team Leader)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chris' bags are almost packed for his red eye flight tonight!

Ecuador

With Chris' job at The Gideons headquarters he has never traveled.  They don't let their numbers guys out of the office very often!  But since he's been there over five years now (can you believe it) he's finally getting the opportunity to do what the Gideon ministry does best.  Place Bibles in the hands of people overseas.

When you hear about The Gideons most people automatically think "hotel Bibles."  That is great that they are known for that, but most people don't know that most of their ministry is done overseas.  They have a HUGE international outreach.

Tomorrow Chris will get to be a part of that outreach.  Tomorrow night he will get on a plane and meet 10 other men in the airport in Atlanta and they will travel to Ecuador together.  The total number of people on the team is 12.  The team leader is already there making sure things are all lined up and in order.  And one team member is traveling from Sweden.  Chris is so excited about the opportunity to travel overseas to represent The Gideons.

The team will be there from Saturday morning through the following Saturday.  While they are there, they will go out to local hospitals, jails, schools, colleges, and government offices to hand out scriptures.  I say scriptures because some will be full Bibles and others will be New Testaments.

Chris is in charge of communication for the team while they are traveling.  He will send daily updates and photos.  When I receive them I will put them on here to share with you.

Please keep Chris and the other members of the team in your prayers as they start their travels tomorrow.  Thanks!!

PS - Here are a couple of pictures to share with you already.

Wordless Wednesday: Map

Headaches

Several of you have asked me about Chris' headaches so I thought I would post about them here on the blog.

In May Chris started noticing he was having frequent headaches.  By the end of May the headaches were happening almost every day and the intensity was increasing.  After a horrible bout of constant migraines, I finally convinced him to go to the doctor.

The doctor did an MRI which came back clear so he started Chris on some drugs that should help get things under control.  The headaches continued in intensity and he was having them every single day, all day long.  After giving the medicine a month to work, he went back to the doctor.  The doctor immediately referred Chris to an amazing neurologist who used to be the head of neurology for Vanderbilt.  Dr. Zho (pronoundced Zoo).

So Dr. Z ran lots of test on Chris and couldn't find a thing.  Chris likes to joke that so far no one has told him he has a brain in his head.  :)      So after tests and lots of different pills Dr. Z decided that Chris is is just exceptional.  But we knew that didn't we?  Ha ha! Dr. Z was able to rule out that Chris doesn't have a brain tumor.  He hasn't had a stroke.  He doesn't have an aneurysm.  And he doesn't have a vein problem in his brain.  But he doesn't know what he has or why he is having such debilitating headaches.

The way Chris describes them is that if feels like he has a piece of rebar steel rod running through the top of his head and goes all the way out through his jaw.  Some days it's like the rebar has been heated up red hot and other days it's like someone has an electrical current running through it.

So he sent Chris to another specialist.  And this doctor is top notch!  Dr. Brandes was on the clinical trial team for one of the most popular drugs taken to treat chronic migraines.  She's a neuroscientist and runs an amazing headache clinic in Nashville.  We were so blessed to be able to get an appointment for Chris with her!

After a four hour meeting with her in November, she decided that it didn't matter what was causing the headaches, she was determined to get rid of them!!  So she started Chris on all kinds of medications.  He currently takes about eight pills a day to try and keep the headaches at bay.

The good news is that it's finally starting to work.  His pain level every single day used to be around 8 or 9 out of 10.  Now he's down to around a 4.  Which we are thankful for!  He is having a lot of side effects from the medications right now too.  I guess you can't have one without the other.

So now we continue to let the doctor tweak the medications and hope for the right combination to get his headaches gone!

We really do appreciate all of your love, support and prayers for him as he has gone through this.  It's getting better and we have faith that the headaches will go away eventually!

And be sure to mark this blog or sign up to receive email updates.  Chris' next big adventure is his mission trip with the Gideon's to Ecuador on Friday.  I'll be keeping everyone posted on it via this blog.