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