Transcript

Ecuador ReportC r i s a n d D a n i e l a J o n e s

Pra ise

Youth growing intheir faith

Three new YoungLife clubs

A vehicle!

Prayer

That more youthwill be restored

For newleaders

For provision forvehicleexpenses

A p r i l 2 0 1 4

Greetings friends,from Ecuador!

We have justreturned from ourannual disciple-ship camp and areencouraged to seethe fruit of theministry since lastyear. We have anincreasing numberof youth who areconsistent andgrowing in theirwalk with theLord. I am begin-ning to see sincereexpressions ofrelationship withJesus from manyof them. It is incredi-ble to see how God can heal and restore what has been broken by the enemy. I regularly hearstories here, of parental abuse, that shock me. It's not so much that each story shocks me (I know

plenty of people who have suffered similar abuse in the US) but it’s the sheer regularity of it herethat gets me. It seems like the majority of the youth here have been beaten and/or suffered verbalabuse, on occasion or regularly, by their fathers or stepfathers and sometimes mothers. I realize thatalcohol and poverty are big factors but it remains hard for me to get my head around. (continued…)

Needs

Increased monthlysupport

Pay off vehicle

Support

Send checks to:CornerStone InternationalPO Box 192Wilmore, KY 40390

Note “Unto Life”,“UL-Outreach” or“UL-Vehicle” on thememo of your check.

Automatic monthlydonations are available!Donate by Paypal/creditcard from CI website:

wwwcornerstoneinternational.

org/staff-jones/

Donated Bibles for youth at 2014 Discipleship Camp

2014 Discipleship Camp

P a g e 2

Cris and Daniela

“But God chose thefoolish things of

the world to shamethe wise; God chosethe weak things ofthe world to shame

the strong. Godchose the lowly

things of this worldand the despisedthings—and thethings that are

not—to nullify thethings that are, sothat no one may

boast before him.”

1Cor 1: 27-29

It’s just normal life for many kids here. No wonder so many youth harbor anger, hurt,and unforgiveness. My friend Ivan, director of Young Life in Ecuador, shared hisexperience growing up with a severely abusive father who regularly beat him, hissisters, and his mother. He told me that he hated his father but that somehow, little bylittle, Jesus took all that hatred away years ago. Listening to him talk amazed mebecause I would never guess now that he had gone through those things.

I recently began discipling a young man by the name of Christian. I have known himfor over a year and I could see that he had a lot of potential in the Lord. Some timeago, he accepted Jesus in Young Life and has been involved, on and off, with theministry since. Christian lives with his stepfather and mother who have had threeother children. His stepfather is a typical case. These days he tells me that things arebetter than before but his stepfather has been severely abusive in the past.

I think Christian suffered more being his stepfather’s only non-biological child. On top of thephysical abuse, his stepfather would regularly buy things for his younger brothers but not forhim. He never received gifts for his birthday or Christmas and his stepfather generally ignoredhim, even in public. We study the Bible together twice a week now and he is learning a lot. Ihope that oneday Christianwill grow intothe potential Isee in him andmaybe evenbecome aleader inYoung Life.

We have had agrowth spurt inthe ministry.Just this year,three new clubshave begun andthere are nowfour function-ing Young Lifeclubs inEcuador (Shell,Puyo, Quito,and Cuenca).As is always the case when things grow quickly, there are blessings as well as new challenges.As the interest in Young Life grows quickly around the country, so does the need to train lead-ers and raise funds.

One of our on-going needs has been transportation. With the way thingsare growing, travel has become even more of a necessity. So, we havepurchased a vehicle due to a gracious, zero interest loan! We are thankfulthat God has met this need and believe that He will provide the means topay it off quickly.

Owning a vehicle will raise our monthly budget by about $300. Vehiclesare expensive here but they tend to retain their value, which is a great ad-vantage. We would be so grateful for help to pay off the $10,000 we oweon the car or any amount toward our increased monthly expenses. (see“Support”, pg1)

Cris and Christian

Vehicle!

New Club in Cuenca