Saturday we went on a hike into a jungle waterfall. The air was heavy with jungle humidity and earthy aromas, our peripheral was filled with shades of green indescribable and our feelings were those of 'smallness' amongst such canyon rocks.

Here's one of the projects we've been working on. When these portable HF radio units are completed they will be flown out to various jungle stations, enabling communication with the MAF base in Shell including emergency flight requests and weather reporting.

There are two compartments in these boxes. The lower one, which you can see in the closest box, is where the battery is mounted. When these are finished, this compartment will not be easily accessible as there is a strong temptation in remote locations to "borrow" the battery for other purposes, rendering the radio useless. The upper compartment is where the radio itself is mounted and a lid over the radio completes the unit, making it essentially weather-tight. These radios will be solar-powered and connect to an external antenna.

Sixty of the approx. 200 airstrips MAF services from Shell currently have radios. The seven radios we're working on will either replace worn-out units or be placed in new locations.

~Pictures from the Weekend~

A view of the Rio Pastaza from the road to Shell.

Taking a well-deserved rest after a long, hard Sunday afternoon of volleyball at the hangar.
(We're in the back row, Nate on the left, Bill and Jeremy in the middle)

Brilliant colors are a big part of life here, this tablecloth being one of many examples.

Again with the brilliant colors. This picture was taken in a town about an hour north of Shell, on the way back from Salasaca Friday evening.

Me (Jeremy) with a Salasacan man at the mercado. (Can you tell which one is me?)

A school boy from Ambato in Salasaca. There was a whole bus load of these kiddos and they were NOT shy!

More kids from Ambato.

Salasaca, Ecuador - Friday 1/23

The group from Ambato (with Nate sitting next to "el profesor" in the center)

Shedd and Kris Waskosky (just left of center) tell the kids at the local, government-run school the story of Noah in their own language. Note the traditional dress of the Salasacan kids.

Yesterday, we had the privilege of traveling with a local Bible translator couple (the Waskoskys) to the Quechua mountain town of Salasaca, about an hour and a half drive northwest of here, back towards Quito. The Waskoskys have been working with the Salasacan Quechua, laboring to translate the Scriptures into their dialect of Quechua for over twenty years. They speak the language fluently have translated much of the New Testament. We, along with five students from CLBI in Alberta, Canada and several other missionaries put on a puppet show for the kids at two schools and at a Compassion International after school program. Nate and I (Jeremy) got to be stage hands (we held up the stage because the wind kept trying to blow it down) as well as helping the missionary kids who were manning the puppets with their queues. It was a great experience to see the Quechua kids hear the story of Noah and of God's justice, love and faithfulness in their language for the first time. They were very attentive. Now we pray that the power of Scripture would transform lives, bringing a thirst to know more about God and His salvation through Christ. Pray for Shedd and Kris as they continue to minister to the Salasacans, bringing God's Word with its transforming power into their language.

~Jeremy for the crew

Nate, Bill and Jeremy

~We're standing on the edge of an overlook in the heart

of the Andes Mts. on our way to Shell. Active volcanoes

lurk in the clouds above the valley.~

It's been a dynamic experience of smells, weather, food and language. We arrived in Quito late Monday night a week ago and stayed at the Roger Youderian guest house run by Avant ministries. The next morning, one of the MAF pilots drove us on the long, and winding road through the white-capped volcanoes of the Andes mountains to Shell-Mera. We got there late that afternoon, in time to quickly get settled into a small apartment behind the Irwin's (an MAF family) house. That evening we had dinner with the Whiteheads (another MAF family) before crawling into bed for our first night in Shell.

We'd like to give you a brief synopsis of the past week, with a highlight from each day.

Day 1 - Tuesday, Jan 13: We experienced the most gorgeous drive through the valleys, tunnels and canyons of the Andes Mountains. This was our first evening in Shell-Mera, the historic MAF base started by Nate Saint over sixty years ago. We discovered that RAINforest is not a misnomer (Shell gets an average of about 20 feet of rainfall a year, and I think we must have already gotten about a third of that since we got here).

Day 2 - Wednesday, Jan 14: Dan Whitehead, the program manager, took us on a tour of the base, including the house Nate Saint built (which would probably fall down if it weren't for the termites holding hands). We spent a large part of the remainder of the day working on projects around the hangar.

Day 3 - Thursday, Jan 15: We spent most of the day doing more projects that needed to be done around the hangar (scraping old paint off walls and resealing them for another coat of paint, and throwing rocks around :).

Day 4 - Friday, Jan 16: There's a Bible translation project in Salazaca, a small town a ways north of here, and the translators are putting together a puppet show/outreach for the children there. We, along with some students from CLBI in Alberta, Canada, were asked to help them make props etc. in preparation for the outreach the following Friday. I (Nate) went on a flight out into the jungle. We got out at the three airstrips to unload and pick up passengers before returning to Shell. It was amazing!

Day 5 - Saturday, Jan 17: We had a pancake breakfast! (courtesy of the Irwins) I (Jeremy) had the opportunity to go along on a medical evacuation flight out to a small village in the jungle where a man was bitten by a type of pit viper. Late that afternoon, one of the missionaries took us on a machete-brandishing excursion through the jungle. He took us down to a small river where Nate Saint had constructed a hydroelectric generator to power the MAF base.

Day 6 - Sunday, Jan 18: Our day began with singing songs en espanol at Luz del Evangelico (Evangelical Light) Church. It is very refreshing to worship with other believers even (or maybe especially) when there is a language barrier. A thunder storm came in during the service and the power went out right at the end of the last song, in perfect musical timing. We spent the rest of the day chillin' with the MAF missionaries.

Day 7 - Monday, Jan 19: Today we got to touch an airplane in the shop for the first time since we got here! We helped the Ecuadorian mechanics on staff with a routine inspection, rotating tires, greasing bearings and finding various other creative ways to get our hands dirty :) . To our great surprise, there is a CHINESE restaurant in Shell, so we went there for lunch... and yes, they do have chopsticks! In the afternoon we had our first puppet show practice with the kids, in preparation for this Friday in Salasaca.

Day 8 - Tuesday, Jan 20: We continued working on the inspection from yesterday. Nate was working on the nose wheel while Jeremy serviced the brakes. We ventured out into the town for lunch today. I (Nate) sat down to a scrumptious bowl of cilantro chicken foot soup! Uhh~~ We greatly enjoyed our evening with another missionary family at an Italian restaurant (Yes, the owner was from Italy, no his name was not Mario). We ate under a covered patio sheltered from the deafening torrential downpour!

Day 9 - Wednesday, Jan 21: Today we helped finish the inspection and started a new project. Our task is to complete the assembly of half a dozen, solar-powered radio units for future placement at various jungle airstrips. After lunch we had our second (and final) puppet show practice with the kidos at the neighboring Nate Saint Memorial School before the Salasaca outreach on Friday. An MAF family (the Harceys) has graciously invited us to their home for dinner, so we need to run for now :)

We've been working on a way to load some pictures to the blog with no success as of yet. We'll keep working on it~

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts as we face the unique challenges and joys of each day here in Shell!

Hi everyone!

We are here in Ecuador and doing well. We have had trouble posting to our blog, which is why you haven't heard from us. We are able to get this short note out, and we'll try to add more in the near future.

Thanks for your patience and your prayers!

We're currently enjoying Christmas break from Moody Bible Insititute's missionary aviation program in Spokane, Washington. The logistic details for the internship are coming together for a January 12th departure for Ecuador. We'll be there until the end of February, God willing, working with MAF (called Alas de Socorro in Ecuador) in whatever capacity is needed. Please pray that God would continue to prepare our hearts and minds for the upcoming experience in Ecuador. Our desire is that God would direct our time there for His purpose and glory.