Hello, friends.  I can't believe tomorrow is March 1st!  Normally, this would be the start of our "busy" season, but we really haven't seen an end of the "busy" season since last year!  We praise the Lord, though, for all of the opportunities for ministry that he places before us every day.

For two years I have had the intention of getting a spot removed from my right arm that I have watched grow for the last 11 years.  Finally, at the insistence of my family, I had that spot and another one like it on my left arm removed on Thursday.  It is amazing just how far down into your arm people can cut!  I am having biopsies done on them, and I should get the results on Wednesday.  Hopefully, that will be the end of all of that mess, as I do not relish having any more digging done on my body!

Thank you all for praying for our trip to Santo Domingo.  Fabian had some "connections" and we were able to take a taxi to Santo Domingo instead of a bus.  It was a little more expensive , but well worth the peace of mind that I had when we travelled.  Actually, I was much calmer than usual when we make that trip in our car.  I certainly knew that people were praying for me.  Our trip went well and we were able to get pretty much everything done in one day, so we got to come home a day earlier.

Now we are gearing up for a team coming from Asbury University.  A team of four college students and two leaders will arrive on March 12th to work on two work projects, one in Nuevo Zapotal and one in El Laurel.  Both projects are on churches in those communities.  We did hear from the pastor today that he would like to change the project from painting and some general improvements to replacing the roof of the church.  We will be discussing the possibility of that when we meet tomorrow with my parents.  The group will be here from March 12th-18th.

In the meantime, we have a house full of people for the next couple of weeks.  The couple who we thought was going to be able to run the guest house while we are with the Asbury team informed us today that the dates don't work out for them.  Wouldn't you know it that just today I was visiting with a lady who said she and her husband would be willing to come during that time!  Praise the Lord!!

Praise Reports:

• I found my document that I asked you to pray about last week in the pocket of a pair of pants the very next day.  Thank you for praying.
• Praise God for leading us to a couple that can run the guest house while we are gone.
• Praise God for guiding us during our trip to Santo Domingo.  Everything fell into place, and the church we will be working with is very excited to have us there!
• We are so grateful to God for good health and for just enough energy to get us through each task he places in front of us.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray that my biopsy reports will come back clean.
• Pray that we will be wise in deciding how to handle Pastor Adolfo's request about replacing the roof on the church in Nuevo Zapotal.
• Pray that I will be able to pass the written driver's test to renew my license.  I will be taking that test on Thursday.
• Pray for my mom as she flies home tomorrow morning from Guayaquil.  She has spent the last several days helping our treasurer with all of her end of the year paperwork which is due in April.
• Pray for the Asbury team and their leaders Paul Cox and Randy Coleman as they prepare to come serve the Lord in a little less than two weeks.
• We have developed a friendship with a man who has stayed at the guest house several times over the last two years.   His four year old son has begun testing to try and find out why he is throwing up every morning and having headaches and double vision for a couple of hours every morning as well.  Tom's son is named Brady.  He is currently here in Ecuador while his son is undergoing the testing, so please pray for his wife Carey as well.
• Continue to pray for Josh and Courtney and their walk with the Lord.

We, as always, thank God so much for the blessing of having each one of you as part of our ministry team.  We pray that God will pour out his blessings in new and fresh ways on you this week.  We love you!

Serving the King,
Kelly, for the Chambers

Greetings from a guest-free house!  This is the first night this year that we do not have anyone in the house.  Darryl has been gone for the weekend and was scheduled to come home tomorrow, but when he realized that we were going to have one night with no guests, he surprised me and came home today.  The Lord has blessed this guest house ministry in such a big way by bringing a constant stream of wonderful people who come to Ecuador to serve God and to bless the Ecuadorians, and we are so thankful to be a part of it.  However, it has been nice to have a quiet night at home with just the two of us before it starts up again tomorrow night.

Today in church we celebrated ten baptisms.  It was a really special time for me, as I have had the privilege of watching several of those who got baptised today grow in their walk with Christ over the last few years.  An extra special blessing was to be there for the baptism of Jeremy Cortez, the son of Fabian and Levis Cortez.  Fabian is the coordinator of our ECC work here.  ECC (Every Community for Christ) is the church planting branch of OMS.  Fabian is currently pastoring Iglesia Biblica Familiar where we attend, so he was able to baptize Jeremy.  It was a very precious time for their family, and I was so glad to be a part of it.

One of the special things about running this guest house is that we often get to see our guests involved in ministry.  Yesterday, Rosa, who often visits our home asking for food, shoes and clothes, came while I was out.  I arrived just in time to see one of our guests taking the time to talk with and pray with Rosa.  She had given her a bag of food that her group had purchased for their meals while they are staying at the guest house, and she was just about to begin praying with her.  I was so touched by Bekah's tender heart towards Rosa, and was reminded of the importance of taking time out of my schedule and busy day to just listen to the people who come to our house in need.  Darryl and I find that we tend to get a little bit cynical of the many people who come to our house with their stories of why they are in need.  Seeing Bekah reach out and take Rosa's hand and pray with her for her needs was a much needed reminder of what is important...of why we are here.

Darryl went to Pallatanga on Friday to help out with a team who is working on finishing another dorm for our camp there.  He was blessed to be able to meet a wonderful group of brothers and sisters in Christ from Canada and to be able to spend a couple of days working with them on the dorm.  He came back good and sore from moving so many heavy cement blocks, but blessed by his time in Pallatanga.

On Tuesday Darryl and I, along with Fabian Cortez, will be leaving for Santo Domingo.  We will meet up with my parents to make the final arrangements for a medical team from the University of Indianapolis that will be coming in May.  We are going to be going there on the bus.  Not only is the road to Santo Domingo a challenging road, but I have already had what I consider to be a "near death" experience the last time I took a trip by bus.  Needless to say, I am experiencing a little...no, a LOT of uneasiness about this trip.

Praise Reports:

• My parents held a mini retreat this weekend in Santo Domingo.  I talked with them today and they reported that things went very well.  Thank you, Lord, for answered prayer!
• We praise God for Darryl's safe travel to and from our camp in Pallatanga. 
• Join us in praising God for the ten believers at Iglesia Biblica Familiar who were baptised today.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for our trip to Santo Domingo.  Pray that I will be able to put aside my fear and that the Lord will have his hand on the bus and the bus driver as we travel that dangerous road.
• Pray also, that we will be able to finalize all of the arrangements for the May medical team.
• Pray for me as I take the test to renew my license this week.  My license expired in December, and I have put off renewing it as long as I can.  I have to pass the written driving test in order to renew it.
• I have lost a very important document which shows I am legal to live here.  Please pray that I will be able to remember or to run across my censo this week.  If I don't find it, the process to get another one is not a simple one, so it would be much easier just to find it.
• Continue to pray for a couple to run the guest house from March 11th-19th while we are away working with a team.
• We are still looking for a team to come do a VBS in August, as well as two other work teams.
• Pray for continued energy for us as we continue to try and manage two different ministries; especially for Darryl, as he has done quite a bit of traveling lately.

We pray that each of you have a very blessed week as well!

Serving the King,

Kelly, for the Chambers

Greetings to you all and Happy Valentine's Day! (That is for tomorrow!) As you celebrate this special day dedicated to love, Darryl and I pray that you will walk in confidence knowing that "neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-39)


We want to thank you all for praying for the national assembly of the association that we partner with. We asked you to pray that my parents would be instruments of peace during the week, and God answered. My parents' presence there was well received and they even were honored several times during the week by the pastors that they have spent the last 31 years working beside to build God's kingdom here in Ecuador. It was a very positive week and my parents left feeling much more encouraged about our partnership with the AIEE. We would appreciate your prayers as we (OMS) continue to look for ways to improve our relationship with the AIEE.

Darryl and I had a wonderful surprise last week when we received a visit from BJ, Andi, Elijah and Lydia Williamson. We have been praying that the Lord would bless them during their time in the states while raising funds and bring them back quickly. They have had several "issues" to deal with since they returned; one of them caused them to have to come to Quito, which was a treat for us. Once again, we were reminded of how blessed we are to have such a wonderful OMS family. Please pray for the Williamsons as they tackle visa and car problems over the next week, and especially for Elijah, who fractured his leg the day after he left our house.

Today we traveled to Pillaro with my parents to visit one of our OMS churches. The pastor invited my parents to come visit before they leave Ecuador for retirement. It was so great to listen to people honor my parents for their years of service. Darryl and I only hope that we will be that well-loved and respected when we retire. On the 19th and 20th, they will be doing a mini retreat for a church in Santo Domingo. Please pray for them as they finish preparing for that event and as they prepare for retirement over the next several months.

We continue to have a busy guest house, with people coming and going almost every day. We are still trying to find a couple who can come and run the guest house in March while we are with team doing a work project. We have a couple who can possibly come during that time. Please pray that we will be able to find someone quickly.

Finally, we are looking to line up a couple of teams for several projects. We have a church on the edge of the jungle who has requested a VBS team for late July or early August. We also have two work projects we would like to find teams for. One is helping to finish construction on a new church and the other is a work project on one of our pastor's homes. If you are interested in putting a team together for any of these projects, we would love to visit with you--especially for a VBS team in Puyo, as July will be here quickly. Please join us in praying that we will sense God's direction as we try to put these three teams together.

Have a great week!

Serving the King,

Kelly, for the Chambers

Greetings from sunny Quito. (Hee hee hee!) We have been watching the news and reading reports on the Internet of this winter storm many of you are living through right now--one more reason for us to be thankful for our call to a beautiful country with perfect weather year-round.

Well, it finally happened....Darryl and I performed our first "duet" in church on Sunday. We were invited to attend a new church plant in the south part of Quito. When we arrived the pastor informed us that the church members would love to receive a greeting from OMS and to hear us sing a special in English. What can ya do? We did give a disclaimer before we sang, just so they wouldn't be expecting something spectacular. We sang "Open the Eyes of Our Heart, Lord", which they sing in Spanish, so we weren't singing alone for long. It was a lot of fun, and as always, we were so blessed by our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters in Christ. They are just so great!

This week the church association that we partner with is having their general assembly. This is really our main prayer request of the week. Things between the mission and the leader of the association are a little tense, so we are just praying that the presence of the missionaries at the assembly this week will be a blessing. My parents are there and we are looking forward to hearing from them as to how things are going throughout the week. Please pray that the Holy Spirit's presence will be evident to all this week. Pray also that the decisions made will honor God and will be positive decisions that help us move forward in building God's kingdom here in Ecuador.

I received several inquiries about our guest blogger and if he had anything else to say, so I will continue to post his remaining blogs in the next couple of weeks.

Guest Blogger….part 3

I shared earlier about how Kelly and Darryl had such a positive impact on our ministry. We were there to work with some of the poorest people in Quito. Our days generally started before 6am as we took our turns in the showers, and had devotions before getting picked up by the bus at 7:30a. In between those events, we were treated to a great breakfast that Kelly and Darryl prepared for us. I’m not talking about toast and cold cereal here. How about pancakes, homemade coffee cake, breakfast burritos with eggs, sausage, bacon and cheese, passion fruit or guanabana juice, freshly baked banana bread…well, you get the idea.

We arrived on Tuesday night and got started bright and early on Wednesday. Our day was generally divided into two parts: preparation and outreach. Extreme Response works with smaller ministry partners and helps them fulfill their ministry through leadership development, fund raising operations and encouragement. On Wednesday morning we unloaded over 50,000 pounds of food from two trucks, prepared children’s gift bags (called Navidad bags) and got packed up for our ministry day. That afternoon we split into two groups to hold Christmas parties for two organizations; Pan de Vida (Bread of Life), an organization that provides spiritual and physical food for people in Quito, and Hogar Betania, a Christian facility for elderly people. In total we ministered to over 550 people that first day. After cleaning up and getting everything ready for day 2, we were beat. We got back to the OMS house at about 9pm. When we arrived Darryl and Kelly were there to listen to our stories, share snacks and hot tea and just make us feel welcome and loved. It was a great way to end an amazing day.

On Thursday the day started much the same: great breakfast courtesy of the Chambers, early bus ride, a worship & chapel time with our whole team, then preparation for the afternoon. That day we went to a very poor part of north Quito to assist a church called Carman Bajo in their outreach to the community. This was a first-time event for the church. As the busses arrived, there were over 1000 people lined up, waiting for us. We got everything set up and then had a party with school carnival-type games for about 1200 people. We finished with a food distribution to each family in attendance; staples such as rice, beans, sugar and salt were given along with a Navidad bag for each child containing toys, pencils & crayons, and hygiene items. After all the people had left, we had a joint worship service with the people of Carman Bajo. It concluded with them encircling our team and praying for us and our ministry in Quito. We then paired up with a member of the church and prayed for their continued outreach in their community. It was a powerful way to end the day.

We thank God for each of you and pray that you will be blessed (and warm) this week!

Serving the King,
Kelly, for the Chambers