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