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To our fellow soldiers in the Spiritual War;

Greetings from Cuenca , Ecuador! Yes, we made it here on May 31st late at night. What a blessing it was to step on Ecuadorian soil, see the sights, smell the smells and best of all hug our friends and loved ones and begin ministering to them. Furthermore we have had the tremendous opportunity to meet new people and share the Gospel message with them. What a joy!

We are here and this is such a blessing. We have had allot of financial strain, but many of you have come alongside us and have made this possible. (THANK YOU!!!!!) As I always say-we cannot do this without you!

What a reception! As we arrived in Guayaquil, Sonia’s sister, Alexandra, and their great Aunt, Enriqueta, received us. As you may remember, Enriqueta is very special to us because we were able to lead her to the Lord over a year ago. (Her husband Cesar is only about 4 feet tall and maybe 90 pounds but he is described as a stick of dynamite! You will soon be able to see their pictures on our website.) We needed them very badly there in Guayaquil, as they helped us by renting a van to transport our many duffle bags full of supplies to our hotel room. We really received the run around by customs too, and so her family helped us escape their greedy clutches.

The next morning, my brother in law Paul arrived in Guayaquil to help. He is always a major support for us. By nightfall we had accomplished a few things: we had traversed over the breathtaking Cajas (See pics on website soon) mountains, I had witnessed to and debated with the very receptive van driver for two hours, and we had arrived at the front door of the house we rent. Minutes later a very happy grandfather showed up to embrace his now older and bigger grandchildren.

After putting our supplies in the house, we headed over to Sonia’s parents house for dinner where we were able to reunite with the entire family and many of our dear brothers and sisters in Christ. The next night we were invited to reunite with some of the believers from our church plant. What a tremendous time of fellowship and discussing the future!

The following night more believers from our church plant (Sylvia and Qui-Que, Fernando and Doris) invited us out to a restaurant. It was a wonderful time as God has crafted deep relationships for us as brothers.

Terrible News: That first evening in Cuenca, we headed to our house and learned of a terrible tragedy. My inlaws’ “compadres” had already lost one young daughter (20 years old) to a heart attack just 5 years ago. Our two families have a long-standing close relationship with one another. Our first night in Cuenca we received the news that yet another or their offspring had died of a heart attack-their 34 year old son had just succumbed. He was in apparently good shape when he died. Nobody but our Lord knew this was coming. We have witnessed to this family over and over again for the past few years. It seems like the more we share the saving Gospel message with them, the harder they become. God is certainly trying to get their attention. The following day (Our first day in Cuenca) we attended this young man’s funeral. He left a wife and two children behind. What a sad event it was in that his family had absolutely NO hope at all. His wife was beside herself crying out to his coffin “Come back to me, love of my life! I await you at home! Your children await you at home! We can’t go on without you!” She fainted twice. It was a horrible scene-too much to bear.

Oh! How we desire that this family and many others here in Cuenca might be saved through placing their full trust in Jesus Christ as their one and only Savior! Oh how we aspire to effectively communicate the hope we have through Christ’s shed blood, death, and resurrection! We must share this message before the tragedies occur- for then it is way too late!

Please pray for the Ochoa-Figueroa family during this tragic time. Please pray that we will be able to share the Gospel with them once again. We have already taken the opportunity to share with some of their extended family since the tragedy. (See Next paragraph)


Repairing Tremendous Spiritual Damage:

The whole family has been witnessing to Sonia’s Aunt and Uncle (Lucho and Blanca) and their children (Suzi, and Pablo) for years. Suzi had married a young man whom everybody had thought was an honest Christian. We were shocked that although he claimed to have a real relationship with Jesus Christ, he agreed to be married in the Catholic church. Even more shocked we were that she was already pregnant. But we were even more shocked when he insisted that they live with his mother as a newly wed couple, and he started to completely ignore his new, pregnant wife. She ended up leaving him, and so Pastor Diego, our family and I called him to her house to reconcile the situation. He promised before all of us that he would return the next day for his wife and begin their marriage over again in an apartment away from his overbearing mother. But the next day he called, claiming that he was in Quito (13 hours away) and that Suzi would have to come to him if she really wanted to continue the marriage. They have only seen each other in court since. He has never voluntarily sent even one dollar for their precious new baby who is approaching one year of age. It was a joy to hold the little one and to see all the love that he is receiving from his grandparents and mother. (Again, pictures to post on website soon)

This hypocrite who calls himself a Christian continues to wreak havoc on the ground we have gained in witnessing to this family. He has a new fiance’ and he makes sure that Suzi sees them together.

The Clincher: He is now teaching and preaching in a small “Christian” church who’s people have no idea what his life is really like. What a slap in the face for us! We claim to be Christians who give our all for the Lord who graciously saved us from our sins. We need no humanly high priest, or rosary, or confessional. And we do our best to live for God a life which Jesus would live if He were in our shoes. This charlatan claims to be one of us! He has caused so much damage that we can surely claim that Satan has used him to undermine the Gospel Message in peoples’ lives. Do you see what we are working and defending against?

Please pray for wisdom as we attempt to pick up the broken pieces and continue to witness to these dear ones. May God do the impossible in repairing the tremendous damage caused by a completely hypocritical person who claims to be a believer.


Repairing Tremendouse Physical Damage:

A major thing happened with our vehicle. It was a mystery as to why our vehicle was overheating within minutes of starting it up. I thought that perhaps it was because I had it in storage for 10 months. To find parts in Ecuador, one has to run all over the town in search of them both by taxi and on foot. It is quite an adventure! After doing SO much work on the vehicle ( finding and replacing the water pump, having some necessary body work done, overhauling the radiator, replacing the thermostat {We used two different aftermarket parts before purchasing the original, Isuzu part from Japan}, replacing the radiator cap {ditto}, and doing a valve adjustment, timing adjustment, and carburator adjustment) we learned that in addition to overheating, the water had started mixing with the oil in the engine.

This is a TERRIBLE sign anybody with even scarce mechanical skills will recognize. To make a long story short, the cylinder head is plain worn out- destroyed. It is something that has happened over time (This is a 1992 Isuzu Trooper) through years of use.

The bad news: a new original part costs $1,500, imported from Japan.
Less bad news: a refurbished part from the USA is $500. The best news: I am at
this moment getting it welded and planed for around $150 installed! Praise
the Lord that labor here is rather cheap for certain things-especially vehicle
repair!

The big question: Will it last? Or: Will it even work?

Please be in prayer because this is a temporary fix, from what I understand. I have been told that it should only last maybe 6 months. In the meantime I want to be in search of a used cylinder head in good shape or even a new one. I pray that this is the only major part with such wear and tear.

Please pray that this, our major tool, will serve us in our vital, daily ministry to the lost and to believers.

There is so much more I wish to tell you about our daily fighting of the good fight here in Cuenca, Ecuador. I will just list a few of them.

There is allot of work to do as I take on the responsibility of administrating the mission field and the mission’s camp. It will be a challenge to take this on while planting a church, which is the major reason I am here.

We are looking for a rental property for the church.

Our building fund has increased (Please consider contributing)

I preached to a 130 person congregation in La Fe as requested by Pastor Diego.
We were blessed to see a great response.

•I am getting people excited about learning about Biblical Counseling.

•My Mother in Law continues to stand up for the Gospel at her school despite
persecution.

•We were robbed in broad daylight in a highly commercial, busy area. Praise God nobody was hurt! I at first thought they had kidnapped Joshua! I praise God that he is safe!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support as we determine to obey God by serving Him in Cuenca, Ecuador.

More to follow in a few weeks!

Your Missionaries;

The Murrays (David, Sonia, Dave, Joshua, Andrea)


Website: (Check it out!) www.ecuamurray.org

Email Address: ecuamurray1@juno.com

Telephone: 011-593-7-2-856-031

Address: David Murray, Casilla# 01-05-1842 , Cuenca , Ecuador , South
America

Mission: Baptist Mid Missions P.O. Box 308011, Cleveland, OH,
44130-8011