Ankuash Ecuador Graduates!

I just received an update about a few brothers and a sister I met in Ecuador during the Ankuash trip!

Merry Christmas! We wish you a blessed season of remembering Christ’s birth.  Here is what’s up-

CEMIM Seminary has its first 15 graduates! After 2  years + of study and 66 credits at the college level, the first 15 students graduated in November. Another 30-35 are well into the process & since CEMIM is a circle-style program, new students can jump onboard during any session. (for more info & pix  see our Facebook albums search dmwolfram@gmail.com)

Just a little about each graduate: (I’m so proud of each of them; I could go on and on and - - - !)

Octavio: (33) A Shuar tribal chief, school teacher, pastor, natural leader, seminary grad!

Jorge: (48) A mountain Quichua businessman, pastor, gentle & humble, but strong.

Fransisco: (68) Colonizer to the Amazon, lost leg due to snake bite, used to teach catechism.

Marco: (55) X-alcoholic, divorcee, but a new believer in Christ! A natural leader, grad!

Abraham: (25) Newly married, comes all the way from the coast to CEMIM, called to ministry

Rafael: (53) X-alcoholic, divorced then remarried to the same woman! Broken man in Jesus

Ana: (53) Mother of 2, abandoned by husband, deep knowledge of the Word, powerful.

Rolando: (30) New first time father, shy but solid, explosive/detonation expert, a heart for God

Jose M: (38) The little giant. Small in stature, but big in God and in Service, great partner!

Enrique: (46) Mr. Military, cut & dry, very direct, incredible native village leader, powerful!

America: (45) Mrs. Organized, she will set it all up, committed student, Sunday school teacher

Miriam: (46) On fire for God, sharing & teaching all she learns in her church, mission mind

Wimar: (29) Quiet, loves soccer, waiting on his calling & still figuring things out, but solid.

Elias: (46) The frowner, very serious, but very interested & committed Achuar tribe native man

Leonardo: (44) A Shuar tribe pastor who suffered some setbacks, but is now back on track, grad!

CEMIM graduating students honor Don with a special plaque for his Commitment and service to the Lord’s work in standing behind these graduating students.  (pictured here with Octavio Ankuash - elected spokesperson)

Don just spent some time with the Bible students in their villages. Ramiro formalized his relationship of several years by getting married this weekend. Many of the other students came to support Ramiro in this act of obedience. Don then drove via 4wd into Kumay and then walked into help the students and graduates from Ankuash with their generator, water system, planning a conference and stabilizing some of their food sources.

Little Jungle Birds

 

CEMIM Bible Seminary in Ecuador

Exciting is when you can see the ministry all coming together in a way that only God could have orchestrated!  Everything is starting to click!  We started zeroing in on the CEMIM Bible seminary about a 1 ½ years ago and really just pouring everything into the lives and communities of the seminary students.

A really cool, functioning cycle has developed:

1. Students come to seminary.
2. They become spiritual leaders.
3. They learn trade skills.
4. They practice and become community leaders.
5. Their communities benefit.
6. Missions teams further train students and assist in their villages.
7. Other villages see, want, ask and decide to send students.
8. Seminary participation and influence grows.
9. More communities are involved and served.

A past dilemma has always been that communities ask for pastors, teams and missionaries, but there just aren’t enough to go around. By responding to these requests with a firm “send someone from your village to seminary” approach, the petition is genuinely dealt with.  (We have discovered that even if students aren’t Christians they soon will be!)  Faithful students get helpful teams for their communities, so this encourages participation and rewards faithfulness.  Our students are today’s community leaders.  IT’S SO COOL – I just wish I could explain it as clearly as GOD is making it happen!  God directed this new approach and He is richly blessing it.

By Don and Mary Wolfram, Field Coordinators in Ecuador

To Ankuash and back DAY 10

Ok let’s wrap this up. On this day we got up early and flew home with no problems! The video below will give you a quick recap of our travels by Don Wolfram just as we witnessed it ourselves.

Here is our trip from Ankuash village back to Quito.

Here is Don Wolframs Testimony as told while winding our way through the Andes

 

 

Ecuador trip brief as recorded by Don Wolfram our missionary guide in Ecuador.

Day 10: Sunday 06^th- Head out to the airport about 5:30 a.m. Farewells and board plane at the Quito Mariscal Sucre airport.

To Ankuash and back DAY 9

Dr. Wally Swanson and his son Tod Swanson

These were the blessed beds we slumbered in after 5 days in the jungle!

 

We had a shower, toilet and sink!

We had another delicious meal prepared by Tod’s wife! French toast!

Tod also educated us about local beliefs reflected in their art work.

Dr. Wally and his wife Helen were at breakfast to.

The morning revealed just how beautiful the Napo river is!

The camera gang.

This day was packed with sights and as we snaked our way back towards Quito we saw the mountains in all their glory! Our first stop was a little tourist town about an hour away from our Napo paradise.

After playing tourist for an hour we were off through the most spectacular mountain scenery of the trip.

We then stopped for a Trout lunch at 12,500 ft.

Absolutely a delight to my taste buds !

Then after a few more hours it was shopping at the market on the equator.

We then ended up back at the guest house in Quito and in the same beds we stayed in the first night but only after a pasta dinner at a place called spaghettis. Man I am exhausted and exhilarated all at the same time.

 

 Ecuador trip brief as recorded by Don Wolfram our missionary guide in Ecuador.

Day 9: Saturday 05^th- Head out, but first have devotions with Tod and his family. We then head down the road, crossing the Napo river at Misahualli to see the monkeys and look around this interesting town. Then up to Puerto Napo, going thru Tena (stopping for ice cream of course! Coconut & Rum raisin), through Archidonat, up into the mountains gaining a lot of altitude in a short time.

During this time Don shares about their calling to Ecuador, the retreat center, the vision and sponsorship of sessions for the CEMIM Bible seminary, selecting a mission agency and some of the various confirmations that God gave them in their ministry.

We proceed through Cosanga, Baeza (where we pee and get snacks), along the Quijos River and through Papallacta. We cross the continental divide at about 14,000 ft briefly stopping to collect some and then head down towards Quito. We stop for trout and local mountain food including mioco, avas and choclo.

We bee-line it for the “Mitad del Mundo” (middle of the world i.e. Equator) - shop, and go through ethnic nations museum, learn about the different tribes and types of people in Ecuador and about the geography, provinces, politics and influences on culture. Then back to Angelica’s Guesthouse and a nice wrap-up meal at “Spaghettis” restaurant. Wrap-up meeting. All agree that God orchestrated the week and put the group together! God is Good!

New People: Met Mary and Jenna Wolfram (14).

Places: Napo River, Misahualli, Puerto Napo, Tena, Archidonat, through Cosanga, Baeza, Quijos River, Papallacta, Penas Blancas, Pifo, Tumbaco, Mitad Del Mundo (Equator & the middle of the world)

New Things & Food: Mioco (potato/water chestnut) Avas (bean), choclo (hogs corn) trucha (trout). That night we ate spaghetti at Spaghetti’s restaurant in Quito.