Dear friends,
This last month has gone by quicker than any of the other previous months. At the beginning of this month we started the school year for the Bible Institute, IBCI, we partnered with Acts 29 for a church planting conference, and in the middle of the month I spent a week in El Oriente (the eastern jungle of Ecuador) fellowshipping and encouraging the Christians there. Also at the end of this blog I will share a big change coming in the next few months concerning an open door to begin training to effectively reach oral cultures with the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
This coming Saturday, the 7th, the students will return with their work that they were given in the class last month. I have been in the process of working myself out of a job as Quito administrator. We knew when I started that it was an interim position for me. Our desire is to have an Ecuadorian fill that role. We recently asked one of the graduates to take on the role and we should hear her response this Saturday!
The church planting conference went great! We had almost 100 people there from all over Ecuador. We had three days of preaching from different Acts 29 pastors. What was wonderful is that there was a large emphasis at the conference concerning a man’s character and family life as a pastor. A huge, and sadly frequent, sin in many congregations is infidelity. This was really addressed. There were several men there that are now pursuing to partner with Acts 29 to be church planters here in Ecuador! Here is a translated letter from one of the participants:
“Brother Steve (Steve Youngren), it is a pleasure to be part of this ministry. It was very profitable to participate in Acts29 International. It filled all my expectations about being used by the Lord in the work of His mission. As soon as I finish the questionnaire (A29 application) I will give it immediately waiting upon the Lord that He will have mercy on this insignificant servant to be accepted in this organization. Greetings to all in Christ.”
I was able to visit with Laura and her family in Babahoyo (in El Oriente) for a little less than a week. This is the same area that I stayed in last year when I was here. We have two IBCI graduates who live there. This trip I wanted to connect again with my friend and we discussed the area in which she lived. Their colony is in the middle of several Quichua villages lining the Napo River. We visited the nearest village and talked about how she and the Christians in the area could begin speaking to the few Quichua Christians that are there about reaching out to the other Quichua’s in the area with the Gospel.
As many of you know, and as I have written in previous emails, my desire for working here with Compassion Connection is to help them develop discipleship teachings to oral cultures (cultures that have no written language or are largely illiterate.) We have been waiting on the Lord to see how He would work out the training and where that would be. Last month I visited Shell Mera to meet some people working with Gospel Recordings. We were able to talk about training and what that would look like. I shared this information with Steve and Sandi Youngren and we prayerfully felt that this was an open door to be walked through.
What it will look like (Lord willing…)
After my visit to the NW for Christmas I will leave for Culiacan, MX to be involved in a training/outreach. Thousands of Indians and Spanish speakers from all over Mexico come to Culiacan each year representing over 130 ethnic groups. Thousands of migrant workers are drawn to the fertile fields of Culiacan. Gospel Recordings comes together and ministers to these people in the migrant camps when they have all come from miles and miles around for the harvest. Around 6000 cassettes or CD’s or whatever format they can listen to (there are even manual wind-up devices for those with no electricity) are given out in the month. They receive these recordings and after the harvest they return to their villages where others of their same ethnic group may listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ!
After Culiacan I would continue training in Mexico for a few months and later in the year go through a recordists training possibly in Columbia.
For most of next year I will be out of Ecuador training and working to distribute gospel tracks to various people groups in their own language. The following year I would split my time 50/50 between GRN and Compassion Connection. For GRN I would commit to making 8-10 gospel tracks a year and for CC I would be developing discipleship training for oral cultures of Ecuador (Primarily the lowland Quichua – Babahoyo, the area I visited in this last month would be an area of focus)
During my training I will learn and be involved in distribution of materials to oral cultures and I will also learn and be involved in the recording process. We would use native speakers on the tracks to then be given to others of their language and people group. GRN is simply a part of the Church’s assignment to make disciples of all nations. Often these materials are the first Christian resources on the scene in an unevangelized environment. Later there are other organizations that specialize in translating the language into writing so that these people groups can receive the written Bible in their own idiom. GRN seeks to be in partnership with the Church as a piece of the puzzle.
We had no idea what training would look like, and still we walk through this door humbly knowing that God sees things far more clearly than we do. I am very excited for these next few years. Please continue in prayer and support during this time. With this type of change it is more needed than ever. I admit I am nervous but very excited!
I will be returning to the NW from the 14th of December to the 30th of January when I depart for Mexico. Some friends are hosting a dessert party on the 15th of December in Everett, WA. If you would like to attend and hear more about this last year and the year to come I would love to see you there! RSVP by email: holygroundhere@yahoo.com
In conclusion here is a letter from Steve and Sandi Youngren sharing about these next few years:
This last month has gone by quicker than any of the other previous months. At the beginning of this month we started the school year for the Bible Institute, IBCI, we partnered with Acts 29 for a church planting conference, and in the middle of the month I spent a week in El Oriente (the eastern jungle of Ecuador) fellowshipping and encouraging the Christians there. Also at the end of this blog I will share a big change coming in the next few months concerning an open door to begin training to effectively reach oral cultures with the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
This coming Saturday, the 7th, the students will return with their work that they were given in the class last month. I have been in the process of working myself out of a job as Quito administrator. We knew when I started that it was an interim position for me. Our desire is to have an Ecuadorian fill that role. We recently asked one of the graduates to take on the role and we should hear her response this Saturday!
The church planting conference went great! We had almost 100 people there from all over Ecuador. We had three days of preaching from different Acts 29 pastors. What was wonderful is that there was a large emphasis at the conference concerning a man’s character and family life as a pastor. A huge, and sadly frequent, sin in many congregations is infidelity. This was really addressed. There were several men there that are now pursuing to partner with Acts 29 to be church planters here in Ecuador! Here is a translated letter from one of the participants:
“Brother Steve (Steve Youngren), it is a pleasure to be part of this ministry. It was very profitable to participate in Acts29 International. It filled all my expectations about being used by the Lord in the work of His mission. As soon as I finish the questionnaire (A29 application) I will give it immediately waiting upon the Lord that He will have mercy on this insignificant servant to be accepted in this organization. Greetings to all in Christ.”
I was able to visit with Laura and her family in Babahoyo (in El Oriente) for a little less than a week. This is the same area that I stayed in last year when I was here. We have two IBCI graduates who live there. This trip I wanted to connect again with my friend and we discussed the area in which she lived. Their colony is in the middle of several Quichua villages lining the Napo River. We visited the nearest village and talked about how she and the Christians in the area could begin speaking to the few Quichua Christians that are there about reaching out to the other Quichua’s in the area with the Gospel.
As many of you know, and as I have written in previous emails, my desire for working here with Compassion Connection is to help them develop discipleship teachings to oral cultures (cultures that have no written language or are largely illiterate.) We have been waiting on the Lord to see how He would work out the training and where that would be. Last month I visited Shell Mera to meet some people working with Gospel Recordings. We were able to talk about training and what that would look like. I shared this information with Steve and Sandi Youngren and we prayerfully felt that this was an open door to be walked through.
What it will look like (Lord willing…)
After my visit to the NW for Christmas I will leave for Culiacan, MX to be involved in a training/outreach. Thousands of Indians and Spanish speakers from all over Mexico come to Culiacan each year representing over 130 ethnic groups. Thousands of migrant workers are drawn to the fertile fields of Culiacan. Gospel Recordings comes together and ministers to these people in the migrant camps when they have all come from miles and miles around for the harvest. Around 6000 cassettes or CD’s or whatever format they can listen to (there are even manual wind-up devices for those with no electricity) are given out in the month. They receive these recordings and after the harvest they return to their villages where others of their same ethnic group may listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ!
After Culiacan I would continue training in Mexico for a few months and later in the year go through a recordists training possibly in Columbia.
For most of next year I will be out of Ecuador training and working to distribute gospel tracks to various people groups in their own language. The following year I would split my time 50/50 between GRN and Compassion Connection. For GRN I would commit to making 8-10 gospel tracks a year and for CC I would be developing discipleship training for oral cultures of Ecuador (Primarily the lowland Quichua – Babahoyo, the area I visited in this last month would be an area of focus)
During my training I will learn and be involved in distribution of materials to oral cultures and I will also learn and be involved in the recording process. We would use native speakers on the tracks to then be given to others of their language and people group. GRN is simply a part of the Church’s assignment to make disciples of all nations. Often these materials are the first Christian resources on the scene in an unevangelized environment. Later there are other organizations that specialize in translating the language into writing so that these people groups can receive the written Bible in their own idiom. GRN seeks to be in partnership with the Church as a piece of the puzzle.
We had no idea what training would look like, and still we walk through this door humbly knowing that God sees things far more clearly than we do. I am very excited for these next few years. Please continue in prayer and support during this time. With this type of change it is more needed than ever. I admit I am nervous but very excited!
I will be returning to the NW from the 14th of December to the 30th of January when I depart for Mexico. Some friends are hosting a dessert party on the 15th of December in Everett, WA. If you would like to attend and hear more about this last year and the year to come I would love to see you there! RSVP by email: holygroundhere@yahoo.com
In conclusion here is a letter from Steve and Sandi Youngren sharing about these next few years:
Dear friends and supporters of Tiffany,
Greetings from Ecuador!
For the past five months we have had such a wonderful time seeing what a wonderful “fit” the Lord has blessed us with by sending Tiffany to work alongside of Compassion Connection. Thank you all for making that possible!
As most of you are aware, Tiffany came to Compassion Connection with a desire to help with a long-term vision that we have had to see discipleship and bible training materials recorded in the Quichua dialect of the Napo river region (as well as the other indigenous languages here in Ecuador). Ever since her internship in Brazil she has had a desire to pursue recordings in indigenous dialects as well. Again, the way God brings things together the desires of one person with the vision of another is His amazing work of sovereignty.
Over the past couple of months we have been in dialogue with Gospel Recordings to see if there is a way for Tiffany to gain the needed training in recording oral materials. This again has been fun for us to see God’s hand, because our own journey in missions allowed us to view firsthand the work of Gospel Recordings and also to know personally the directors of GR in Latin America—Dave and Linda Gutierrez.
What has come out of this dialogue is an agreement in which Tiffany, beginning in February of 2010 will begin a track of training with GR starting in Culiacan, Mexico and then continuing on through the year in Colombia and Ecuador. Over the next two years she will share her time between Gospel Recordings and Compassion Connection, working both on recording of GR materials in the indigenous languages of Ecuador, as well as the recording of discipleship and training materials in the Quichua dialect of the Napo River region.
We are very excited for this phase of Tiffany’s (and Compassion Connection’s) missions’ journey. Our prayer is that all of you who love and support Tiffany will catch this excitement with us and be a support to Tiffany throughout all her transitions, living in other countries, working between two organizations, purchasing her recording equipment, etc. God’s grace is abundant and yet prayer is the way that many times we, on the field, are sustained by this abundant grace.
Thanks so much for your faithful support of Tiffany. May God bless you as you continue partnering with Him in His mission to this world!
In Christ, in Ecuador
Steve and Sandi Youngren
Founders/Directors Compassion Connection
Greetings from Ecuador!
For the past five months we have had such a wonderful time seeing what a wonderful “fit” the Lord has blessed us with by sending Tiffany to work alongside of Compassion Connection. Thank you all for making that possible!
As most of you are aware, Tiffany came to Compassion Connection with a desire to help with a long-term vision that we have had to see discipleship and bible training materials recorded in the Quichua dialect of the Napo river region (as well as the other indigenous languages here in Ecuador). Ever since her internship in Brazil she has had a desire to pursue recordings in indigenous dialects as well. Again, the way God brings things together the desires of one person with the vision of another is His amazing work of sovereignty.
Over the past couple of months we have been in dialogue with Gospel Recordings to see if there is a way for Tiffany to gain the needed training in recording oral materials. This again has been fun for us to see God’s hand, because our own journey in missions allowed us to view firsthand the work of Gospel Recordings and also to know personally the directors of GR in Latin America—Dave and Linda Gutierrez.
What has come out of this dialogue is an agreement in which Tiffany, beginning in February of 2010 will begin a track of training with GR starting in Culiacan, Mexico and then continuing on through the year in Colombia and Ecuador. Over the next two years she will share her time between Gospel Recordings and Compassion Connection, working both on recording of GR materials in the indigenous languages of Ecuador, as well as the recording of discipleship and training materials in the Quichua dialect of the Napo River region.
We are very excited for this phase of Tiffany’s (and Compassion Connection’s) missions’ journey. Our prayer is that all of you who love and support Tiffany will catch this excitement with us and be a support to Tiffany throughout all her transitions, living in other countries, working between two organizations, purchasing her recording equipment, etc. God’s grace is abundant and yet prayer is the way that many times we, on the field, are sustained by this abundant grace.
Thanks so much for your faithful support of Tiffany. May God bless you as you continue partnering with Him in His mission to this world!
In Christ, in Ecuador
Steve and Sandi Youngren
Founders/Directors Compassion Connection
