David and Sonia Murray - Missionaries to Ecuador

Preparing for More Spiritual Combat

August 2004

To our wonderful Supporters and Prayer Partners;

Let me share with you the exciting headlines of what God has been doing through our ministry!

Trinity Baptist of Cuenca, Ecuador meets the challenge of self managing!

Young man from Trinity Baptist prepares to preach!

Murrays return to US soil for Sonia’s citizenship!

Two Ecuador-Murray websites ready to serve you!

Trinity Cristians ready to use their spiritual gifts!

Baby Cristians committed to the work!

Here’s the details:

Trinity Baptist of Cuenca, Ecuador meets the challenge of self managing!

The church God started through us has received the challenge well. Trinity Baptist (As you know it used to be Palabra de Vida {or Word of Life Baptist}until we found a small , unlisted charismatic/Pentecostal church which was named almost identical) has been under this shepherd’s care for over a year. But Sonia’s citizenship requirements dictate my temporary leave at this point.
I had been preparing them for the last year to take the reigns themselves, to really be responsible in their own church. One man I have lead in to song leading. Others I ushered in to accounting, visitation, maintenance, and other necessary aspects. As you will read below, Jairo has accepted the call to preach and is preparing to do so! I am still reeling from the thrill of seeing God’s people take responsibility and serve in their church!
My brother in law, Diego, who is pastoring Faith Baptist (La Fe), is preaching three out of the four weeks per month while I am gone. And Trinity people are going to La Fe one week per month. Wednesdays nights are led by a deacon from La Fe, and by people from Trinity.
I trust you will pray with us for Trinity’s patience and faithfulness during this trying time.

Baby Cristians committed to the work!

The above has come about as a result of my challenge to the Trinity Baptist people. And obviously it has been realized through much prayer. I gave them three options: 1.) go to other churches, 2.) all go to one particular church, or 3.) stick together as an assembly. They voted with all eyes closed, all heads bowed. The vote was unanimous to stick together! They made a sacred vow to the Lord to be committed to Him, to each other, and to their church and missionary pastor. I praise God for the tremendous work He has done! And as one may read above, they are carrying out their commitment!
I have all of the key email addresses and I maintain contact with them through this medium faithfully; to give instructions, receive their news, and to share and receive prayer requests. It is a blessing to have this opportunity to be involved with them without “holding their hands” during this trial.
Frankly, I believe that my absence was “the shot in the arm” that Trinity people needed to motivate them to take ownership and responsibility for the work! God works things out as He knows best!

Young man from Trinity Baptist prepares to preach!

Yes, our joint prayer efforts have been answered! We have been praying for God to raise up spiritual leadership for our new work since way before we even reached the field. I have been discipling a young man named Jairo who is new in the faith. He is only 23 years old. But he has shown a desire to grow and even serve the Lord in his local church. One day I presented him with the idea of becoming a spiritual leader. (I thought he might end up giving the announcements and discipling others in his home.) However he showed me God was working way beyond my expectations! He communicated to me that God was calling him and giving him that “intense desire” to be a pastor which I Timothy speaks about! We have spoken about it numerous times. And I have been training and discipling this young go-getter for the Gospel Ministry!
He has shown a strong desire to share the Gospel with those around him and has even gone on short mission trips with me to the poorest areas.
He is now starting homiletics classes and has prepared a sermon! I am excited to imagine all God will do through His servant, Jairo. Please keep him constantly in your prayers. May God raise up a leader through whom He will perform great and mighty works!

Murrays return to US soil for Sonia’s citizenship!

As you have read before, we were in need of returning to US soil to meet Sonia’s citizenship requirements. We have met that requirement, arriving in NYC August 30th at 1:20 AM. From there we traveled to my parents’ house (My father drove a van for us) and arrived at 10:15 am that same day. It was a long haul seeing that we started our journey from Cuenca Thursday the 29th at 4:00 AM!
We have since been able to report to some extent at three supporting churches and to be with my parents for a few days.
Our furlough will cover of three areas:

    Sonia’s citizenship requirements: We are applying for expediency to be able to get back to the field
    Marriage counseling training: A great need! We will strengthen our marriage and receive training to be able to help others more effectively.
    Gain needed support: BMM is taking a very necessary strong stand with all missionaries. We will not be allowed to return to Ecuador without earning 100% support. We have $500 to go. We will also need outfit and passage support at 100% before returning to the field.
    Eliminate the deficit: We have a deficit with the mission. It has been raised because we borrowed from the mission to pay for our traveling expenses.

We have allot of ground to cover quickly if we are to return to the field in six months. With God ALL things are possible.
Please prayerfully consider if you can be part of the solution. We desperately desire to return to our work, our people as soon as possible.

Two Ecuador-Murray websites ready to serve you!

I want you to have the opportunity to be up to date and intimately involved in our ministry. Do you want to really get the feel for what church planting in Ecuador is like? Did you know that Cuenca is cool as opposed to hot & humid?
A particular way in which we have prepared to meet your possible desire (to be intimately involved and informed) is through informative websites for you. We have been working in conjunction with two different supporters who have sacrificed their time and energy to help us design them to serve you. These will both be updated and improved periodically.
www.ecuamurray.org is almost finished. It will have information on different members of Trinity Baptist and all of our prayer letters. It also has a prayer request section, an “our family” section, and other interactive buttons to explore- like a guest-book and a “contact us” button. It has allot of pictures, and I trust you will periodically check it out. We will update it regularly and will inform you when we do it.
www.cyberpaws.com/murray was started a while back by a brother in Plymouth, MA. He has had physical problems with his hands which have hindered the progress of the website. Please pray for David Ochoa. You can find 40 photos of Ecuador we have posted on this site. Please check it out! (This may transform itself into Trinity Baptist Church’s website)

Trinity Cristians ready to use their spiritual gifts!

I have preached on the biblical passages pertaining to the fact that all Christians should serve the Lord faithfully in their local church. As you have read above, many have gotten involved! Recently Christians have come to me and said “Pastor, you preach on using our spiritual gifts. I want to get involved. Can you direct me in this?” (I think I heard somewhere that this is every pastor’s dream!) So I have directed some of them to serve in certain areas. One particular young lady (Veronica) has decided to help in an emergency pre-natal center, which missionary Carlene Piper started not too long ago. I praise God for the way He is working amongst us!
Please continue to pray for Iglesia Bautista Trinidad (Trinity Baptist Church) and for your faithful co-servants the Murrays. (Please check out and become mentally and prayerfully involved with the websites, and read their many prayer requests too!)
Please contact us at ecuamurray@juno.com for any questions or comments. You can use the ecuamurray website contact button too!

Serving the Lord as we partner together with you;

The Murrays: David, Sonia, Dave, Andrea, and Joshua

*Important note! The cuyman@cue.satnet.net email address was prematurely shut down! This was due to circumstances beyond our control. So, if you sent a message to us after the 20th of July, it was not received. Please be so kind as to resend your message to our ecuamurray@juno.com address.