Welcome Home?

“Going home” implies the return to a safe, familiar place. I don’t know where home is in this country. I have spent 23 out of the past 27 years outside the US. When I return after 3-4 years, nothing has stayed the same. People move, marry, grow up, get old, change. Places change. I change. I no longer understand cultural cues. I think differently. When I greet someone, I don’t know whether to kiss, hug, shake hands, or just smile from a distance. I am not like the people in this country.

Where is home? Maybe when I accepted the call to be a missionary, I gave up the right to feel at home in my birth country. As I write this, I’m sitting in a comfortable church as the praise team leads songs in English. My mind wanders to a small group of believers in Riobamba, Ecuador. Right now, they are praising God in Spanish. I want to be there. They are the people with whom I share, pray, laugh, play and cry. When we return to Ecuador in 6 months, I will feel more at home than I feel at this moment.

If you have an opportunity to greet a missionary as she returns to the US, please do not say “Welcome home!”.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Phil. 3:20

Meet Our Family

We recently took a 3 week vacation in the US. For the first time since 1998, I experienced spring! It was beautiful. We were able to spend time with our college age son and our parents. Andrew, our 17 year old son, visited some universities to help with his decisions about his future. We saw many friends, spent hours shopping for things we can't buy in Ecuador. We came home relaxed and refreshed.

We spent Easter Sunday with my mother, Ollie Wilson, in Reeves, Louisiana. In the photo, you can see her with our 3 children. John Mark is 21 and has just finished his junior year at the University of New Orleans. His major is International Studies with a concentration in Diplomacy. He is the president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on campus and leads a weekly Bible study. Andrew is 17, and will graduate from high school in 2010. He plays bass in the church praise band. He loves animals and is planning to study Wildlife Conservation. Hannah is 15 and is finishing her freshman year in high school. She loves to help people and works with the children on Wednesday nights at church. Both Andrew and Hannah study through NorthStar Academy, an online acredited high school.

We also enjoyed time with Johnny's parents, John and Betty Maust, in south Alabama. Johnny's great-aunt Freda Maust was visiting them, also, and our children loved getting to know her.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Psalm 127:4

Our Daughter's Quinceañera

In Latin America, a young girl's 15th birthday marks her passage from child to young woman. She becomes a señorita. Our daughter, Hannah, and two friends from church, Jennifer and Deysi, turned 15 this spring and we celebrated with a special church service. A quinceañera is a very important event in this culture.




Hannah's quinceañera blended tradition with Christian meanings. Hannah, Jennifer, and Deysi wore identical pink dresses. The women of the church did a wonderful job decorating the church. They used an arch, fresh roses, balloons, ribbons, and more, all pink, of course. A man from the church served as chauffer to bring the girls to the church, although we only live 3 blocks away. Each mother escorted her daughter down the aisle. The service included verses dedicated to the girls by their friends and family, a Bible presentation, a prayer of dedication, a devotional and special music by the church praise group. One of the girls, Deysi, is the only Christian in her family. Her mother is a widow. Their guests were not believers and heard the message of salvation that night.

Following tradition, Hannah, Jennifer and Deysi entered the church in flat shoes. During the service, the fathers (or a father substitute) changed their shoes to heels. Johnny shared the hope that these young women's feet would be used to spread the Gospel. Johnny had not practiced much, and had some trouble with the straps on Hannah's shoes. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." Isaiah 52:7


After the service, we served a meal to the guests and played games.

It was a beautiful, special event, and we are blessed that God has given us a daughter that loves and wants to serve Him.

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.1 Timothy 4:12

Christmas parades in Ecuador

A man in a monkey costume led the parade that passed in front of the church. He represented the sacharuna, or the legendary bigfoot/mountain spirit of the Andes. He shook my hand right after I took the picture.









Dancing ladies and men followed him. The men wore flesh-colored mesh masks. One man, dressed in a military uniform, carried a doll and a drink.



What was the purpose of this elaborate parade? The people were honoring baby Jesus in an effort to earn grace and mercy from God. After all the dancers, a group of men in business suits marched, with one carrying a doll representing baby Jesus. People in Ecuador will pray to baby Jesus because they think he is more likely to be merciful and kind than an adult Jesus.

These parades will be repeated many time during the month of December. As I write this, I can hear the music of another parade. I want to stop the parades and shout, "Jesus Christ is no longer a baby! He grew into a man, died and rose again. He paid the penalty for your sins, so you don't have to."

When I share the gospel here, people have difficulty understanding God's grace. The fact that He paid it all, and they owe nothing is hard to comprehend. They spend their entire lives paying for a debt that has already been canceled on the cross.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2 :13-14 (ESV)

Snow Days, Andean Style

Severe winter weather is passing across the US. Even my mother in south Louisiana and my son in New Orleans have had snow recently. Here, in the Ecuadorian Andes, we don't have a winter season. It will probably never snow at our house.


However, we had a day of snow last month. The day after Thanksgiving, our family went with another missionary family up Mount Chimborazo, the mountain in the banner at the top of this page. Chimborazo is home to vicuñas, a cousin of the camel and the llama. (Some visitors from Oklahoma called them "long-necked deer"!) We saw several groups of this graceful mountain animal. We drove to the first refuge, a building located at about 15,000 feet above sea level. Mountain climbers stay there and at the second refuge to acclimatize to the altitude before ascending to the peak at 20,565 feet. Patches of snow surrounded the first refuge building.

We hiked to the second refuge (16,500 ft) through snow. The altitude and dry air caused us to stop and rest frequently. As we neared the refuge, snow began to fall. We played in the snow and threw snowballs. The teens made snow angels. At the second refuge, we were greeted by a man who offered hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and the traditional remedy for altitude illness, coca leaf tea. After a rest, we hiked back down to the cars. We drove back to Riobamba, leaving the cold and snow behind us.

We don't have winter, but we can experience snow and ice with a 45 minute drive.

Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the soul of his masters. Proverbs 25:13 (ESV)

SLAM! That door closed

Tonight, one of the daughters from my Sunday afternoon study went to the Thursday study and asked Johnny to tell me not to come back. The mother is afraid that the landlady will kick them out if they have a Bible study. They have lived and worked in this rented building for years.

I am discouraged, frustrated, and literally, in tears. On Sunday, they were eager for the Word, and asked me to come earlier next Sunday so we could have more time to study. Now- SLAM! The door is closed. Their fear is real. When the local believers were looking for a place to rent to meet, they had difficulty because many people refused to rent to them. Many people in Guano are hostile to Christians.

This family is hungry for the Word. They want to follow Christ. I know that God is faithful and He will finish the work He began in them. Some of them can attend the Thursday night study, but several can't.

Right now, all I can do is pray for Anita, Yolanda, Marta, Rosa, Luis, Freddy, and Fanny.

God surprised me!

The people of Guano have long been closed to the Gospel. We have been working there for 9 years, and no group has lasted. On Sunday afternoons, Johnny and other believers meet at a house in Guano for Bible study. Sunday is a big day for the businesses that depend on tourism, so the owners and workers are not free then. Instead of attending the study, I spend that time visiting the businesses and building relationships.

The small shop had rugs and tapestries on display. Large wooden looms were set up against the walls. The owners, like many families in the town of Guano, made their living making and selling hand-knotted rugs. I greeted the wife and her two adult daughters and invited them to the film and Bible study on Thursday. One daughter began to ask me questions about God and the Bible. I sat down, opened a Bible and we had an unplanned Bible study right there! During the study, a daughter-in-law came in and joined us. They asked me to come back the next Sunday afternoon. That Thursday, the mother, Anita, and a daughter, Yolanda, came to the film.

I went to the shop yesterday expecting to lead a Bible study with three women. The mother, her two daughters, and a nephew were waiting for me. We sat beside the loom and I taught about salvation and grace. Later, the daughter-in-law came in. Then, a son and his wife joined us. I love to see people’s faces light up when they understand what Christ has done for them! They asked me to come every Sunday.

We’ve been praying that God would work in people’s hearts in Guano. Why was I surprised to see seven people gathered to study His Word with me?

to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Acts 26:18 (ESV)