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May 11, 2005



Headed Back Into Battle


Dear Prayer Soldiers and Supporters;

We have some big news for you! Here are some of the headlines!

The Ecua-Murrays Cleared for return to the Field!

Murrays Make friends and witness to soon returning Cuencano Family in Lafayette

Fabian may have become a Christian

Path Cleared for Starting Biblical Counseling Ministry in Ecuador

Strategic Field Planning Meeting to take place May 24th

Contacts/Plan set for Constructing a Church Building




The Ecua-Murrays Cleared for return to the Field!

The tickets have been purchased! The clearance has been granted. We can hardly sleep. We are so glad that the Lord has provided most of the necessary, required support. After blazing the deputation/furlough trail, while working 45 hours a week (to pay rent), and taking classes, the Lord has seen fit to provide support through our supporting churches raising their commitment, new individuals starting a partnership with us, and possibly a new church committing to help us. What a wonderful thought-when God calls, God provides!

As one might imagine, we are completely thrilled to be able to get back to our people and our ministry. The need for sharing the Gospel and making disciples is so great in Cuenca, Ecuador that we have committed the rest of our lives to carrying out the great commission in Ecuador’s third largest and one of her most neglected areas.

We have been very busy getting ready. This weekend we will be moving up to Maine and will fly out of Boston on the big day, May 31st. After we move up there, we will go to a meeting in Cleveland on May 23-24th. Needless to say, it will be a bittersweet time of busyness mixed with saying goodbye to family and friends as we prepare to make that happy journey to Ecuador.

Murrays Make friends and witness to soon returning Cuencano Family in Lafayette

We were introduced (by a former missionary to Ecuador) to a Cuencano family who has been in the USA for two years. He (Vladimiro) is just now finishing up his Master’s degree as a statistician at the famous Purdue University here in Lafayette. (He is an Ecuadorian Boilermaker!) His wife, Mireya is a wonderful housewife who has enjoyed being with her husband one out of his two years at Purdue. They have two beautiful little girls.

The day we were introduced to them our two families became immediate friends! We have had them over to our house on various occasions and they have had us over just as much. We went to the Passion Play which Faith Baptist performed in downtown Lafayette, and we have invited them out to eat a couple of times. He has helped me look for slightly used electronic equipment Purdue students have outgrown. They have cared for our children in their home when we have gone to classes a few times. What I am trying to say is that we have become good friends. And we have shared the Gospel with them on various occasions!

Ironically they are leaving May 28th for Ecuador, and we are leaving May 31st. We will live (in this huge city of 500,000 people) just two blocks from each other! They have already told us that they wish to attend our classes on the Christian Family and Creation v.Evolution (Answers in Genesis). We are excited about this couple! Please pray for their souls. May God save them, and may He use them greatly in Cuenca.

Fabian may have become a Christian!

You may remember in our previous letters over the last two years my friend Fabian. We have been witnessing to him, inviting him to church and other evangelistic meetings along with our End Times Bible Study in our home, for years. Sonia’s sister, Alexandra has been a close friend to him even longer. They have gone to La Fe (Faith Baptist Church) ,where my brother in law Diego serves, for the last few weeks. He was invited to go to one of those “secret” retreats other religions hold. Surprisingly he replied “I don’t want to have anything to do with this foolishness, I attend Faith Baptist”. Wow! But the most significant thing is that he attended La Fe’s evangelistic outreach service and filed out a card which said that indeed he had accepted Christ as his Savior. I am cautious before I rejoice. I have shared with him and he has said “yes, I have accepted Christ as my personal Savior.” He has even prayed with me. But afterwards he has told me that he still believes in the Virgin Mary, and insists that she has something to do with his salvation.

Leading people to Christ and discipling them is complicated in Cuenca. As Satan has had his grip on the city for centuries-since the beginning-he has used doublespeak, deception and confusion to dupe people into an eternity apart from God.

Please pray for Fabian. If my pharmacist friend is confused, may God give him clarity in his theology. If he is truly saved, may that be evidenced his verbal testimony and by real , vital changes in his life.


Path Cleared for Starting Biblical Counseling Ministry in Ecuador

We have benefited greatly by the help and training provided to us here by Faith Baptist Counseling Ministries. I (David) have expressed my dream of starting a Trinity Baptist counseling ministry (Our church plant is Trinity Baptist or Iglesia Bautista Trinidad). I have made the contacts, and am on my way, beginning my certification process. Counseling ministries not only are tools, which God uses to transform people’s lives through the Word, they are also extremely evangelistic. Can you imagine your house or parsonage or office filled with unbelievers who are desperate for some biblical guidance from you? Or can you imagine if you had the opportunity to equip various Pastors and Lay leaders to guide their hurting congregation and community with the Bible-the Word which Has all of the answers to life’s “messes”? Con you imagine starting a National Association of Nouthetic Counselors in Ecuador? Oh! What God may do through this ministry just fills me with delight!

I thought I would have to start from scratch in translating the teaching material into Spanish. Thankfully, missionary to Mexico City Sam Hornbrook, his father, and a group of highly educated Mexican professionals have already honed out the trail! He will be handing me a CD-Rom with the translated materials this week! All I have to do is go down to Ecuador, find some students, and begin teaching it! (Ok-the way I write this may be oversimplifying things!)

Please pray that God might draw many souls to Himself as we implement the Biblical principles and teaching which we have learned here at Faith Baptist Counseling Ministries. May He transform lives through the Gospel message and through the sound teaching of the Word!

Strategic Field Planning Meeting to take place May 24th

We are excited about the chance to meet with our administrator, VW Peters, and appointees Fernando & Laura Naranjo, along with a telephone meeting scheduled with missionary Carlene Piper in Cuenca. We will be the new team. Every other missionary family or individual has left and so we are re-designing our plan for the future. We are excited that God still wishes to reach Cuenca with the Gospel. We pray for a harvest of souls in the future and that God will establish 5 more Bible Believing, Gospel Preaching, Sound Doctrine Teaching churches in the years to come. Please pray for wisdom and clarity of thought for this important meeting.

Contacts/Plan set for Constructing a Church Building

It is almost impossible to rent a meeting place, which is adequate for the clear teaching of the Word and concise sharing of the Gospel. (First of all, nobody wants to rent to the “cult”, which is what they are taught Baptists are) You have probably heard my stories of how small, loud, and disruptive our meeting room is. You have hopefully also heard my explanation of how expensive renting a slightly better meeting place is. There is no question in our minds: we need a building. We cannot grow in a small concrete box. We need rooms for Sunday School classes, nursery, sanctuary, and other meeting rooms. A closet wouldn’t hurt either!


We have a building find I am asking you to prayerfully consider donating to. We cannot do it alone-we need you! This will not happen unless God uses His own to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves. The Ecuadorians are contributing faithfully to it. But their income is completely out of proportion with the extremely inflated cost of land and construction (This has skyrocketed with the dollarization of Ecuador, while wages have been completely stagnant.)

Maybe God will use you to make for Himself a church, which will endure until He comes again.
Our plan: 1. Purchase land (Initial Goal is $60k as land is up to $300 per cubic meter)
2. Rely on God’s provision through North American Construction Ministers (I have spoken with a couple of sources who may be able to provide the funding and possibly the manpower once we obtain the land. One church has claimed that they are very interested in providing this ministry for us. The other group has stated “Make no mistake –we will build for you if you purchase the land. Perhaps as we work together we will be used of God to do a vital and lasting work in His Name)

The point is that we are looking actively (I have searched while I was there and people from Trinity have been reporting to me their findings) for land. But we need funding. Once we get the land, God will more than likely provide the building too.

Will you be used to help others who cannot help themselves?

Prayer Briefs:

We hope to get Trinidad People Ministering with us in nearby Indian Villages of Paccha and San Joaquin.

Possible future sister church plant in Gualaceo (1 hour from Cuenca)

Needs:

(Please read website www.ecuamurray.org )

Prayer for traveling mercies as we move to ME, Fly to Cleveland, fly to ME, fly to Ecuador, travel to Cuenca

Funding for shipping books, overhead projector, teaching materials.

Funding for Video Projector

Funding for Music Keyboard ($200)

Funding for Building

Funding for a Digital Camera (Mine fizzled out.)

Funding for Vehicle

The last amount of support (Maybe $150 monthly)

Thank you for your prayers and concerns. May God use us together as we serve Him!

Partnering with you for the Spread of The Gospel in Ecuador;



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

Email: ecuamurray1@juno.com
Website: www.ecuamurray.org
Telephone in ME: 207-676-5857
Mission:BMM www.bmm.org
Sending Church: Merrimack Valley Baptist www.mvbc.org
(Please see mailing address in envelope)