Happy Memorial Day!  I hope that as you reflect today on your gratitude for those who have sacrificed that we may live in freedom, you will also take the time to thank the ONE who sacrificed His life that we may live in victory!  I also want to take this time to say Happy 51st to my beloved!  ( I just had to get the age in there somehow, Darryl.)

We have had a very busy three weeks.  Thank you so much for praying for the UIndy medical team.  We had a team of 34 members including doctors, nurses and missionaries.  Even though it was quite warm, and we had several who had to battle through illnesses, we were able to attend over 700 patients in four and a half days.  I have heard several numbers, but I think that the final number of those who made decisions for Christ was 311.  We ask you to  pray for the team in Santo Domingo that is responsible for the follow up on each person who made a decision for the Lord.  They definitely have their work cut out for them!

We sent the team back to the states on May 19th, and left on May 20th for Cuenca, where we attended two days of mission meetings.  As the OMS Ecuador team, we had to come together to make some decisions about the future of our ministry here and our future partnership with one of the associations that we currently work with.  Thank you so much for praying for us as we met.  I know that the Holy Spirit was present as we met as a team to look at our future.  We still have hopes of being able to continue in partnership with the A.I.E.E., and we are excited about the opportunities to form new partnerships as well.  Please pray for us as the leadership committees of OMS and  A.I.E.E.  meet together here at the guest house to look at our future partnership on June 28th.

On Saturday I was able to participate in a women's retreat for the women of the Central District with my mom and Cindy Tankersley.  We had a time of teaching and group activity in the morning.  The afternoon session was a special service to honor my mom for 31 years of missionary service.  It was such a blessing to me to be able to have a small part in honoring my mom for her influence in my life, and to listen as many women shared of the impact her life and her ministry have had on so many people over the last 31 years.  I know that she and my dad will be greatly missed when they retire in October!

Darryl and I are excited to announce an upcoming change in ministry.  We have been so blessed to be able to coordinate all of the mission teams that have come to Ecuador to serve the Lord in ministry over the past six years.  It has enabled us to be involved in work all over the country.  However, we have been feeling a tug at our hearts to be more directly involved with our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters in Christ.  Starting in September, we will serve as the District Liaisons for the Central District.  We will be serving in a support role for 14 different churches.  We will come alongside the pastors and their wives to help them grow and strengthen their existing churches.  We will also be helping them with the planting of new churches.  We are so thankful to the Lord for this opportunity to move into a different area of ministry, but we are also a little intimidated by all that this ministry will require.  Thankfully, we have a really big God who equips those he calls with exactly what they need to do the task!   We will still run the guest house and coordinate them teams that come into our district, so we will continue to have a "full plate"!

We have one week in Quito and then we will be off and traveling again.  We are hoping to travel with Doug and Cindy Tankersley (the current district liaisons) next week as they inform the churches of their change in ministry.  They will be serving stateside for the next three years.  This trip will be a time for them to say good-bye to the churches they worked with for the past four years and to introduce us as the new liaisons.  Please pray for the Tankersleys as they transition into a new ministry and for us as we continue on with the liaison ministry in the central district.

Praise Reports:

• Courtney made all A's for the first time in her school career!  We are so proud of her.
• We also want to praise the Lord and thank you for your prayers for Courtney as she has struggled with some difficult choices in her life.  She informed us on Mother's Day that she had ended a relationship that we were very concerned about.   Thank you for praying for our kids!
• We had another good month in our support account!  Thanks to all of you who faithfully give so that we can stay here.
• Praise God for the 311 new believers in Santo Domingo.
• We are praising God for giving us such a wonderful team of missionaries to work with here in Ecuador.
• Praise God for blessing Darryl and me with 14 years of a wonderful life together this month.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for my (Kelly) health.   I have a very sore throat right now, and we have a lot of traveling coming up.  Please pray for a quick healing! 
• Continue to pray for Josh and Courtney as they figure out what their relationship with the Lord is going to be.  Pray that God will reveal himself in mighty ways that they can not ignore.
• Please keep my parents (Mike and Bonnie Shrode) in your prayers as they finish up their time here in Ecuador.  They still are involved in ministry, are planning my sister's wedding in August here in Ecuador, and are trying to take care of all of the things that come with retirement.  Pray for strength, health and stamina as they finish their time here and prepare to return to the states in October.
• We have a team coming from June 19th -28th.  Pray for us as we get the final preparations done for thatteam. 
• Join us in praying for all of those who are suffering due to the natural disasters around the world.  We know that many in the states have been devastated by the recent tornadoes. We are praying that in the midst of such hard times, people will turn to the Lord for their strength.

We pray that each of you has a blessed week as you walk with the Lord.

Serving the King,
Kelly, for the Chambers

We finally did it!  We shut down the guest house for four days and took a vacation.  It was a much needed break for us, as we have only had three days with no guests since January.  Last Tuesday, Darryl and I headed for Baños, one of our favorite places to "get away".  As we were leaving Quito, Darryl mentioned how glad he was that we finally were able to get out of the city without anything getting in our way and stopping us as has happened several times before.


About an hour into our trip, I looked up and noticed a strange "cloud" in the sky.  I told Darryl that I thought it looked like Tungurahua, an active volcano here in Ecuador, was erupting.  We stopped and pulled over to take some pictures, and just about that time we saw an explosion of black ash coming from the crater.  Wouldn't you know that Tungurahua is located right where we were going!  I looked at Darryl and said, "Well, we thought nothing was going to stop us this time!"  Darryl, however, with the excitement a child has on Christmas morning looked at me and said, "Never in my life did I think I would have the chance to see a volcano erupting.  We are going to get as close as we can!"

As we drove toward the erupting volcano, we noticed a continuous stream of smoke and ash shooting out.  We stopped several times to take pictures, just waiting to come to a blockade where we would have to turn around.  However, we never arrived at that blockade.  About ten minutes before we arrived in Baños, we pulled over, stood at the base of the volcano, and marveled at one of God's amazing creations.

We did end up staying in Baños just as planned.  We were able to sit on the terrace of our hotel and watch Tungurahua erupt for three days.  We drove up to a lookout point where we were 2.5 kilometers from the volcano.  We heard it rumbling, saw the ash and smoke spewing, and even went back up at night to see the lava shooting out.  It was quite an amazing and exciting spectacle.

We had a wonderful, relaxing time in Baños.  On Thursday, we rented bikes and rode 35 kilometers (round trip) to see a waterfall.  It was a beautiful site and another reminder of how creation speaks of God's majesty.  The 17.5 kilometers back to Baños were mostly all uphill and took us about two and a half hours to finish.  But we did finish!  We turned our bikes in, cleaned up and proceeded directly to get massages on our aching bodies!

We planned to leave on Friday, which was just perfect, as Thursday night, the winds shifted, and we awoke to an ash-covered Baños Friday morning.  Everyone in the town was out in their masks, sweeping the ash from the sidewalks and streets.  The whole trip was a fun, new experience for us...one that we will never forget!

On Sunday, we attended a church service in Riobamba.  They are building a new church and had a celebration Sunday for the next phase of their building process.  They had a special service to collect funds for this next phase, and Darryl and I had the privilege of praying for each person (or family) as they gave their offering to the project.  We then had a prayer service at the sight of the new church.  It was great to be able to see how far they have come on the building.  Currently, two families from the church spend the night on the property each night so that none of the materials get stolen.  Every night different families are on "duty".  Is that dedication, or what?  Would you please pray for this body of believers in Riobamba as they work to build their new place of worship?

This week we are preparing for our next team.  The team arrives on May 9th, and we will head out on May 10th to Santo Domingo for a medical ministry.  We are still trying to locate at least one more doctor for this team, so please be in prayer for that.  We also are trying to finish up with the transportation arrangements.  This will be a team of 32 members altogether, so transportation is an issue.  Please pray for the 17 nursing students from University of Indianapolis as well as the three team leaders and two doctors as they prepare to come and minister to the physical and spiritual health of all those who will be attending.

We return from Santo Domingo on the 17th for two days of "touristy" activities before the group returns to the states.  Then, on the 20th, we leave for Cuenca, where we will be attending an extraordinary field council meeting.   We are going to be taking a close look at each of our ministries, at our partnerships, and at the future direction that we as a mission are going to be headed.  It is a very important meeting, and we really need God's guidance as we look at the future of OMS Ecuador.  Please join us in prayer as we seek God's wisdom for our meetings on May 21st-23rd.

We pray that each of you will have a blessed week!

Building God's Kingdom in Ecuador,
Kelly, for the Chambers