Back Home Again

Greetings from a sunny Quito. We have had three days of no sun, so the bright sunshine today is most welcome! We have finally entered the rainy season which was much needed because everything was looking brown. Pretty soon, things will be looking green and lush. I guess it's just the opposite of what you all are experiencing in the states.

Thank you for your prayers for us over the last month. Our missionary-pastor retreat went well. We had a wonderful time of fellowship. We were a little disappointed because there weren't many pastors there, but it was a good beginning to what we hope will be an annual event. We had a wonderful speaker who talked to us about dealing with change. God sent just the right man to speak to us at just the right time, as we all seemed to be going through some real changes in our lives. We were able to pray and worship together for two days, and even found time to fit in some volleyball. It was a great time together with our Ecuadorian co-laborers in Christ.

After the retreat, we headed off to La Libertad to help with a medical team. We had an amazing week! The Ecuadorian brothers and sisters that we partnered with were so great. They had everything organized and ready for us to go when we arrived. They served us all week with such love, and they truly ministered to the team of doctors and nurses who came from the states. We saw close to 700 patients throughout the week. The best part is that 213 people made decisions to accept Christ for the first time. Praise the Lord! Now comes the huge task of following up on each person. Please pray for Pastor Gerardo and the members of the church as they begin the process of getting those new believers plugged into churches.


After some much needed days of vacation in Guayaquil (thank you Pablo and Rebecca), we are now back in Quito getting ready for our next event which is tomorrow. We are hosting a Pastor Appreciation Day for the pastors in the North District. The pastors and their families have been invited for a day of fun and fellowship. We are busy getting ready for 50+ people. We have been able to put together gift bags for each of the pastors and their families, as well as gift bags for each church's Sunday school program. We want to say thank you to the many teams that brought down boxes of crayons, scissors, glue, paints, markers, stickers, etc...Because of you, there are 14 churches who now have supplies for their Sunday school classes. MUCHAS GRACIAS! Please pray for us tomorrow. Most of the pastors will be traveling by bus to get here, so pray for their safe travel. Pray that our time of fellowship will be sweet, and pray for Tom Bowen, who will be our guest speaker for the event.



We currently have a group of 16 in the guest house. They arrived last night and will be here for a week. Please pray for them as they spend this week ministering in Quito and Salcedo.

We would also ask that you be in prayer for my dad, Mike Shrode, this week. He has had a biopsy of a lymph node done and should go in this Friday for the results. Please join us in praying that the doctors will find him cancer free.

We love you and appreciate your partnership. We pray that God will richly bless you and keep you this coming week.

Serving the King,
Kelly (for the Chambers)

We're Alive!!!

Wow...June 11th seems like forever ago! I have sent out several prayer updates since then, but I had kind of given up on this blog idea. We weren't sure that there was much interest in it, so I decided to quit adding posts. However, a couple of weeks ago, we received an email from a fellow missionary who works at our headquarters in Indiana. He had been in contact with a man who had shown interest in bringing a team to Ecuador to work with us. When he contacted the man to find out how he knew us, he said that he surfed the web looking for missionaries to pray for and found our blog site. God just never ceases to amaze me. Just when we think about giving up on something, He sends someone along to encourage us to keep on doing what we are doing.

Since our last blog update, we have had some absolutely wonderful teams and opportunities for ministry here. We had an awesome group of youth come down from Iowa to paint our huge (or so they thought when they started painting it) house. We also had the chance to partner with some former street boys to witness to people in a park near our house. It was a great experience, and 8 people were led to the Lord in one afternoon! It was amazing to watch the Lord build the language gap between these U.S. and Ecuadorian brothers and sisters in Christ. It was also especially touching to us to watch these teenage boys, who had been rescued from a life on the streets, share their testimonies with strangers in the park of how God had saved them. The Iowa team also had an opportunity to do a kids' program during a "Gran Celebracion", which is gathering of several churches for a corporate worship service. They led in some games, arts and crafts and face painting. It was a fun day and the kids had a wonderful time.

In July we had a group from the Second Baptist Church of Houston, Texas come down to give away freee wheelchairs. It was amazing to be a part of helping to change people's lives just by giving them the gift of mobility. We saw people who were brought to us in the backs of pick-ups and people who were carried in on the backs of family members. I can't even put into words the gratitude that was shown to us as families left the churches. We were hugged, kissed and thanked so deeply as tears streamed down all of our faces. Each wheelchair recipient was given a Bible and was prayed for before he/she left. Not only were physical needs met, but each person was presented with an opportunity to make a life-changing decision for Christ. Many accepted Christ for the first time. It was an amazing week!

In August, Darryl took a group from New Jersey and Illinois to Cuenca to do construction on our seminary and to hold a VBS. The construction group laid the drain lines and did electrical work. The VBS group worked with about 50-60 kids during the week. Darryl said that after the first day of VBS, he had a hard time keeping people at the construction site because they were so blessed by the kids! I took that week to spend time with my brothers and sisters who were here in Ecuador visiting. We went to the beach for the week.

In September, we went to our camp in Pallatanga to work with a team from Pennsylvania who came down to work on one of the dorms. We spent the first day painting our local OMS church in Pallatanga, and the rest of the week painting, pouring cement and remodelling the bathrooms of one dorm. It was a tiring, but wonderful week of hard work and fellowship. We enjoyed getting to know the group and seeing their their desire to serve the Lord and the missionaries at camp Pallatanga. We felt truly blessed to be able to join them for the week. We also found out that we will be in charge of all of the groups that come to work at the camp from now on, so we are excited about the new opportunities that will bring.

On Sunday, we traveled to Salcedo to celebrate AIEE's 31st anniversary with the churches of the North District. AIEE is one of the associations that OMS works with in Ecuador. It is always very exciting for us to get together with the churches of the district and see the growth. We have taken teams to most of the churches in our district, so it is always great to reunite with the friends that we have made in the various churches. Once again, Cindy, my mom and me were asked to sing. This time I attempted to play the guitar as we sang. I have been taking lessons and this was my debut. Fortunately, one of the pastors accompanied us on the keyboard, so I didn't have to play

solo!

Now we are getting ready for October. We have a pastor-missionary retreat at Camp Pallatanga from the 8th-10th. We will leave straight from there to meet a medical team in Guayaquil. We will be working with that team in a coastal town called La Libertad from October 10th-17th. Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for the upcoming events. Pray that the Lord would really bless our time with the pastors from the AIEE association. Pray that there would be a wonderful sense of unity experienced between the missionaries, the pastors and their spouses. Pray also that the Lord will already be preparing the hearts of the people that we will treat and minister to during the medical clinic at La Libertad. Pray for the team as they are preparing to come, and pray for Susan Stiles as she is doing the last minute things to get everything organized.

We love you all, and we are always blessed by your faithfulness to us and our ministry! We pray that you all will continue to see the blessings of the Lord in your lives as you walk faithfully with Him.

Serving the King,

Kelly, for the Chambers

Well, we knew it was coming, and it's just around the corner---the empty nest. Waaaahhhhh! (That would be me crying!) Tomorrow Courtney will graduate from high school. We have such mixed emotions. We are so proud of Courtney and the wonderful young woman that she has become, and we are so excited to see where the Lord will take her. Yet, it seems like there is a tear just on the verge of falling anytime we think of her leaving. She has one final exam that she will take tomorrow morning, and then she will finally (as she says) be done with high school. She will be returning to Texas on June 17th where she will work as a waitress for the summer--her first job, by the way. Then, on August 5th she will begin the next phase of her life--college. She will be going to Wayland Baptist University where she plans on playing soccer and majoring in sports and exercise science. We want to thank you so much for praying for our children over the years. Please pray for Courtney during this time of transition in her life.

We have had a special blessing this week. Three of Courtney's friends from the states are here for her graduation. Courtney has spent the week showing them around Quito. Yesterday we were able to go to a soccer game between Ecuador and Argentina, which was quite an experience. Ecuadorians are extremely passionate about their soccer team! We were relieved that Ecuador won, as we could forsee a riot coming if they didn't. Courtney and her friends are planning on taking a trip on Saturday to a town about four hours from Quito to go canyoning and white-water rafting. Please pray for their safety as they travel and as they participate in some adventurous activities over the next couple of days. They will be returning on Monday just in time for Courtney to pack and leave on Wednesday.

We had an unfortunate event happen at the soccer game. At the end of the game, as we were leaving, Darryl got his wallet stolen. He knew exactly when it happened, but there were so many people crowding around us that there was no way of knowing who had taken it. We weren't as concerned about losing the money as we were the documents that were in it. Replacing documents here is no easy task. Darryl is going to have to get a new driver's license, and we both lost our documents that show we are legal to live here. Please pray for us as we begin the process of renewing the stolen documents.

We currently have 22 guests at the house. They will be here through the 18th, and then we have a team coming to work on the guest house from the 20th-30th. We will be painting the outside of the house and replacing the rain gutters, as well as whatever other jobs we might be able to accomplish. We also will be taking a little time out to do some evangelizing while they are here. Please pray that we will be able to get everything ready this week.

We have been so blessed over the past couple of months to see God doing amazing things through the teams we have worked with. Over 300 people have come to know the Lord. Two foundations have been laid for a church and a pastoral training center. We have given medical attention to more than 1300 people. We hosted a vision clinic in the women's prison that lead to an increase in our Bible study attendance from 35 to 60 women. Wow--just reading this gives me goose bumps! We hope that you don't think that your prayers and financial support aren't making a difference here in Ecuador. You are a huge part of our team, and you share in each victory. We love and appreciate each one of you!

Serving the King,

Kelly, for the Chambers

What an amazing two weeks we have had! The Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to work with so many wonderful teams. These last two weeks were no exception.

On March 21-28, I had the privilege of hosting the Dynamic Women in Missions team. This group of women came down to spend a week in three different areas of the country to get a better understanding of just how women across the world are involved in ministry. Their desire was to get to know personally women who are involved in building God's kingdom in Ecuador. We visited Guayaquil, Cuenca and Quito. During this time they were able to get to know the pastors' wives, other women with leadership roles in various churches and the OMS missionaries in each area. The ladies had several opportunities to minister to their Ecuadorian sisters in Christ despite the language differences. In one of the meetings we had, Patricia, a pastor's wife, had been going through several months of difficult trials in her ministry. We were able to have a wonderful time of prayer with her. Before she left she said that there were a few events in her life that she considered treasures, and that the time of prayer we had for her was one of those treasured events. The funny thing was that she was not even going to attend the meeting because she didn't know what to expect. It was a wonderul week in which the ladies got a better understanding of how to pray for and to partner with women in ministries here in Ecuador.

On March 27th through April 4th, a team from Ovid Community Church arrived to do a week of ministry in two different towns. Part of the group went to Riobamba to help with the construction of a new church. Darryl and I spent the week with them. We were able to build the frames for the columns of the church. During the week we were also able to attend two cell groups. The members of the group shared their testimonies and sang songs (in English) for each group. Darryl and I were blessed, as we always are, to see how cultural and language differences are overcome and two complete groups of strangers quickly become brothers and sisters in Christ. The second group went to Salcedo to spend the week working with the members of our OMS church there to do evangelizing. They did a drama in the market and visited door to door presenting the gospel in several different ways. Doug Tankersley went with this team and reported to us that they lost track of how many people accepted the Lord as their Savior during the week. It was a wonderful week of ministry in both towns.

Tonight we attended the spring sports' banquet at Courtney's school. Courtney fractured her right hand and had to miss the last two weeks of her basketball season, but she still received the Most Valuable Player and Best Offensive Player awards. She is done with sports for the rest of the school year, and now is just waiting to graduate. She has 8 weeks left of school. Please pray that she will finish her senior year well. Pray also that she will be able to find a job for the summer. She has been accepted to Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas. She is hoping to get a job in our home town for the summer before she heads to school.

Josh is looking for a job as well. He quit his job thinking that he would be living in Austin by now, but his plans have changed, so now he is looking for another job until he moves. Please pray that something will come his way soon. He is wanting to come down for Courtney's graduation, but without a job, it will be very difficult.

We are so thankful for your faithful prayers for our ministry. We have seen God working in amazing ways over the past several weeks, and we feel so privileged to be a part of it. Through your prayers and your faithful financial support, you are a huge part of it as well. We are praying that God will richly bless you as you remain faithful to his call on your lives to support missions around the world.

Serving the King,

Kelly, for the Chambers

March 20, 2009

Well, for those of you who receive our prayer updates and were expecting this a week ago--sorry. Life in the guest house is hopping these days which keeps us quite busy. I did want to catch you up on life here in Ecuador before I leave for the week.

The women's day we planned for February 14th went very well. My mom, Cindy and I were

somewhat concerned when we saw the ladies coming in for the day, because, at first glance, it looked like we didn't have much in common. Our theme for the day was "Extravagant Love", and these ladies had no idea what the word extravagant meant. Most of them knew only poverty and very hard work their whole lives. As we watched them coming in we just had to stop and pray--once again--giving the day to the Lord and asking him to bridge the differences between us. That was exactly what he did. It was amazing to watch how the Lord moved throughout the day. My favorite part of the day was when we asked the women to pray in partners. We gave them some hand lotion and asked them to massage each other's hands as they prayed. At first they were unsure what to do, so my mom partnered with one of the women to give an example. It was so moving to see each couple praying for each other, crying, sharing burdens with each other and pampering each other with a hand massage--many receiving this kind of pampering for the first time in their lives. The whole day was just amazing!

At the end of February, we had the privilege of working with a team from Pennsylvania. They were here for two weeks. During that time we hosted several medical and vision clinics. Because the team had 28 members, we were able to hold VBS activities for children and the distribution of new shoes during the medical and vision clinics. We had an evangelism day at a local park and worked one evening at Opcion de Vida (Option of Life), sharing with several 12 to 17 year old homeless boys. We were amazed at how inhibited they were in sharing the gospel, even though none of them spoke much Spanish. We were also touched by the youth on the team. They did several puppet shows, worked with the VBS activities and washed countless numbers of little, dirty feet as they gave out new shoes.

We took Courtney in on the day before her 18th birthday to the emergency room to have her hand checked out. She was playing around during basketball practice on Friday evening and hit a pole. It had padding around it, but the padding was deceiving, and she ended up fracturing her hand. She will have to keep in bandaged and ina sling for the next 4 to 6 weeks. The doctor told us that if the bone does not reconnect in the next four weeks, she will need to have surgery to put a pin in it. That injury put an end to her basketball season two weeks early. She will have to miss the final tournament this next week. Please keep her in your prayers. She has had a good attitude about the whole thing, but I know she was bummed about missing the end of her basketball season--especially since it is her senior year.

I'm leaving tomorrow for Guayaquil to meet a group of 7 women who are coming to Ecuador to minister to women in ministry and to get a feel for what we do as missionaries here. The program is called Dynamic Women and this will be their second mission trip. We will be in Guayaquil, Cuenca and end up in Quito. This is the first group that I am responsible for by myself. Please pray for us as we travel and minister. We will be sharing with several missionary women and several pastors' wives as well.

On Monday, Darryl will be traveling to Riobamba to meet with the church leadership there. We have a team that will be arriving on March 27th. Part of that team will be working at the construction site for the new church building in Riobamba. Please pray for traveling safety and for a productive meeting. This will be the last meeting before the team arrives.

Dear Praying Partners,

I told Darryl yesterday, before our area prayer meeting, to please not let me go to bed without sending out an update. Obviously he did! I told myself this morning that I would not let this day get by without sending out an update. It is 11:00 P.M., so I still have an hour left. However, if I ramble, or don't make any sense in this update, I am going to blame it on the hour.

We were looking at our calendar this weekend and noticed that from now until August we only have a couple of weeks where we aren't working with any teams or keeping guests at the guest house. Needless to say, we are entering a very busy time of the year! We have guests in the house until February 26th, and then we have three mission teams that we are coordinating right in a row. As time gets closer, we will send out more specific prayer requests, but for now we just ask that we would see the Lord's guidance as we put the finishing touches on the three teams that are coming. Pray also for good time management in the next two weeks as we get things finalized for these three teams.

We just got our downstairs bathroom remodeled, and now we are in the process of repainting it and trying to get it ready by Wednesday when we have the next wave of guests coming. Please pray that all will go smoothly and that we will get everything done in time to facilitate our guests.

We had a serious incident happen in the prison several weeks ago that involved three of the girls that attend our Bible study and are also a part of the card making ministry. The incident involved a dispute between two girls who are in a lesbian relationship. One of the girls is married and there was an altercation between her husband and the girl that she is involved with in prison. The altercation resulted in the husband getting stabbed by a friend of the two girls during a time when the prisoner was open to visitors. The saddest part is that there has been no remorse shown by any of the three girls, so we felt that we had to suspend them from making cards for a period of time until they had undergone some discipleship. They were not willing to do that, and as of last week none of them are even attending the Bible study anymore. My heart was broken over the situation because I have come to have a very good relationship with all three of the girls involved. This is a tough ministry. and I sometimes wonder what we are doing there. I have to believe that seeds are being planted in El Inca each week, and we just have to trust God to take care of the rest. Please pray for Juana, Nelcy, Andrea and Maryorie. The first three were the ones involved. Maryorie is a good friend of theirs who is just mad and has quit attending Bible study to support her friends. Pray that through this situation, these four girls will see the unconditional love of Christ and be drawn back to him. Pray also for our ministry team. We are meeting tomorrow from 9 until 4 here at the guest house to discuss this issue, pray and plan for the upcoming months.

Courtney has entered basketball season. She is a co-captain of the team, and we have been very proud of her leadership on the court. She is playing with a very inexperienced group of girls, so please pray that she will not only be a good example for them, but that she will be filled with patience as she helps the members of her team get better. Alliance Academy is hosting the American schools tournament this week on Thursday and Friday. We will be keeping five players from Guayaquil during the tournament. Alliance is the only Christian school out of the five American schools, so pray that the kids from Alliance will reflect Christ well during the tournament.

It has been a while since we have heard from Josh. One of the hardest things about being a missionary is being so far away from your college-age kids. Please continue to pray for Josh and his walk with the Lord. I know he is struggling with that area of his life. Pray also that we will be able to find a way to get in touch with him to make sure he is alright.

This Saturday Cindy Tankersly, my mom and I are hosting a special day for the women of five churches. Most of the women attending will be Indian women who come from very poor situations. The theme is "Extravagant Love". We will have some praise and worship, a short message, some prayer time and an arts and crafts activity. I got "voted" on to give the message, which as you know, is a big stresser for me. How I keep getting picked to speak in public is totally beyond me! Please keep us in your prayers this Saturday. Pray for our travel safety as well as our time with the women. Please pray that they will understand and experience God's extravagant love for them and that they will leave feeling encouraged and motivated to go out and show that love to others.

Well, it is now almost midnight, and I have an exercise date with my mom tomorrow at 6:45 A.M. Yuck! (to the time, not the activity) I will close for now, but not without wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day on Saturday. Our prayer for each of you is that you, too, will experience God's extravagant love, and that you will pass it on to others!

Serving the King,
Kelly, for the Chambers

January 21, 2009

Happy New Year! Yes, we know it's a little late, well, maybe a lot late, but we wanted to wish you one all the same. We rang in the new year on the beach with several other missionary families. We had a wonderful time of praise and worship where each family shared how the Lord had blessed them in 2008. We began 2009 by speaking blessings over each other. It was a great way to start the year!

Last week we had our annual business meetings in Pallatanga. We had a great time of fellowship with our fellow OMS missionaries. We were able to hear reports of this past year's ministries and of the work that was done to advance God's kingdom here in Ecuador. I came out of the meetings with a new ministry. I am the new Ecuador Member Care contact. I am responsible for helping prepare the new missionaries who are coming to Ecuador, which basically means I will be the one they contact with any questions as they prepare to come to Ecuador. I am excited about this new, much needed ministry. Please pray for me as I begin the process of setting this ministry up.

Courtney is enjoying a week off from school. This is first semester finals week, and she only had to take one final on Tuesday. She doesn't have to be back at school until next Wednesday! Please pray for her as she begins her last semester of high school (Oh how it pains me to say that!). She has been accepted to the two universities she applied to, so now all she has to do is decide what she wants to do. She also is considering taking a year off and working at a Christian sports camp in New Zealand. I know she would appreciate your prayers as she decides what to do next year.

Josh has decided to leave school for a while. He has had a desire to pursue a music career for quite some time now, and feels like this is his time to do that. He is working in Canyon right now, trying to save some money so that he can move to Austin in May. Please keep him in your prayers as he makes this change in his life.

Darryl left today for Pallatanga once again. One of the team members who is there working on a building project fell and cut his head open and broke his hip. This has caused the couple running the camp to have to be with him in Guayaquil. Darryl is going to Pallatanga to help facilitate the team that is at the camp while the other couple attends to this man. Please pray for him. The doctors in Guayaquil have recommended a hip replacement surgery. His family in the states is now trying to decide what is the best thing to do.

Praise the Lord, we finally have a van! In fact, we drove it to Pallatanga for a test run to see how it handled these rough, mountain roads. We were able to take all of the Quito missionaries with us to Pallatanga, which made the trip very enjoyable. This brings us to an urgent prayer request. We have been raising money over the last year for this van, however, we lack $5000 in funds to complete our goal. We bought this van in faith, trusting that the money will come in soon. We are asking you to join us in prayer for the last $5000. This van will be an important assett to both our guest house ministry and our ministry of coordinating teams that come into Ecuador. If you would like to make a contribution to the van, or know of a Sunday school class or group who is looking to take on a mission project, here is the information you need:

Make checks payable to OMS International.
Mail to P.O. Box 1648, Monument, CO 80132-1648

Put the project number 40630 on the memo line.

I must apologize for my lack of correspondence. I saw that our last update was posted on December 26th. We know that you continue to pray for us, but I will try to do better about sending out these updates. It is important for us that you know what is going on so you will better know how to pray for us. Thank you for your patience and your continued prayers. We love you bunches!

Serving the King,
Kelly, for the Chambers