The Plane Facts
A great group of guys
from the International
Pentecostal Holiness
Church, a denomination we
hadn't previously met, came last month to do a short term missions project.
There were 9 of them in all; a missionary, a dairy farmer, a pastor, an airline
pilot, and a builder with his 12 year old son, among others! They pushed out
the plane and invaded our little hangar with drills, welders, cut-off saws and
other noise making tools. They then began to pre-fabricate a steel water tower
to be taken out to the Indigenous Atschuar village of Chinkianentza.
It all had to be flown in sections, not more than 8 feet long.
In the 80's, long
before his village had running water, we had met Guillermo Chinkiam (the chief)
while walking on the trail with his wife and family. Although he couldn't speak
Spanish, somehow we communicated that we would go and show the "Jesus Film"
to his people. Our son Freddie, who was only about 11 at the time, was with us on
that trip and I remember him crying; "Dad, I can't do this anymore!"(as
I poured the water out of his boots and wrung out his socks for the umpteenth
time!). Chinkianentza now has a strong church with a number of believers and a
nice long runway! Praise the Lord!!
The response to last
month's mention of possibly returning to the US to recruit missionaries was
overwhelming! One dear brother even wrote
and said, "If you can use me, please count me in. I'm ready to go to Ecuador."
So it seems to me that the dots are beginning to line up for us to move to a
grass strip somewhere in the States. I'm almost ready to put out the "For Sale" sign, but Sharon
doesn't feel peace about my sign idea. She believes that we should do
everything in our power to see that this little operation stays in the Lord's
service. Of course she's right! The opportunity for ministry here is
incredible!
In
years gone by you used to get a family picture from us yearly…back in the days
when we could dress the kids up, comb their hair and tell them to stand up
straight and smile, but that was a while ago.
We recently sent a "hard copy" snapshot to some of you who
still receive a paper copy of our prayer letter. Above you'll see one of us taken at our 45th Wedding Anniversary Celebration last July. The kids
are in order of age from left to right: Ricky, Jon, Christina, Freddie, Joshua
and Joel. We could all use your
prayers…especially the couple sitting in the front row. And btw we really appreciate those prayers. Prayer is the best investment any of us can
make. Thank you soo much!
Love like Jesus,
Rick and Sharon
PFC-PO Box 3298
Paradise, CA 95967
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