Puerta de Esperanza opened a Compassion International project here in Chaquibamba.
The project opened with 54 sponsored children that were transferred from another project that closed last year, in July we will be adding another 35 children ages 3-8. The kids come to the church 2 times a week: Thursdays after school and Saturday mornings.
We could use prayer for God to provide people to help as tutors and coordinators, and for sponsors for the new kids.
By Daina
My God is so Big, So strong and so mighty. There is nothing my God cannot do. He is the father of my greatest desire. He is inexhaustibly interesting and He invites me to sit in His presence. How awesome is that? He is also the supreme reconciler because He wants His kids to love each other, just as every parent desires of their children. We regret that we have neglected the desire of God to be intimately connected, even across continents. Forgive us that we focus more on who we see rather than all of you who He has united us with. Our desire is to share with you all that God is doing here in the hearts and lives of His children, then another need
Let me introduce you to Luis, a 5 yr old who is a joy to me. We call him Luchin because his brother who is really his uncle is also named Luis. He came to us by way of his grandmother who is a faithful sister in Christ. His mother gave him to her because her boyfriend and his family could only accept her if she had one child so she chose the younger brother. He has suffered much through this transition with unstable emotions and he comes to tears easily. He is doing much better now thanks to some stability and much love. His grandma has been given another chance to raise a son in the Lord, she has 9 older children, most raised in a loud and violent home without Christ to give them guidance and hope. We come alongside the family as they love Luchin into the larger family of God, please lift them up with us.
By: Kevin
I got married!! Esther and I started dating in February of 2011, got engaged in October of 2012 and got married on April 21st of 2013. The wedding took place at my parents’ house/church Puerta de Esperanza. We wanted to cement the idea that we were planting our family on the rock of Jesus Christ so when we took our vows, instead of kneeling on an altar, kneeling on a flagstone that has our initials and a cross engraved on it. We were incredibly blessed by the youth from church who worked incredibly hard as waiters and waitresses at the reception. We are living at my parents’ house for now while I finish seminary. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have faithfully supported my family through your prayers and giving all these years because I would never have met my wonderful wife if it weren’t for you. She will write to you in a future update so you can see for yourself what a gift she is. We could use prayer for wisdom in the next few years of transition as we seek God’s will in serving Him.
By: Kevin
Puerta de Esperanza opened a Compassion International project here in Chaquibamba, Esther is the Director, Daina is the children/spiritual coordinator, and Tim is the health/food coordinator while I am the education/youth coordinator. The project opened with 54 sponsored children that were transferred from another project that closed last year, in July we will be adding another 35 children ages 3-8. The kids come to the church 2 times a week: Thursdays after school and Saturday mornings. We are planning a youth retreat in early August and VBS for the kids in the same month. We could use prayer for God to provide people to help as tutors and coordinators, and for sponsors for the new kids.
By Tim
God is on the move here at The Door. He is keeping us busy with opportunities to expand the ministry here and be a part of His growing Kingdom. Since we have partnered with Compassion International our ministry to small children has grown. As a result of this growth we have seen the need rather Daina has seen the need for some time to rent a small building closer to the main part of our town. This would be used for ministering to the small children so they will not have to walk so far on their own during the
week. Also this would be used to start a library for the community as well as a place for our youth to have Bible study and ESL during the week. We have found a location and worked out a fair price for the rent. But the enemy is in the middle of this and the owner of the building is being pressured by a different religious group to not rent it to us. Please join us in prayer that this stronghold would be torn down and that God’s will would be done . God is doing great things here and around the world but we
need to always be ready to move with Him when He calls us to do so.
By: Kevin
Over the last couple months all around the world we have been celebrating lots of “days” Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Children’s Day. Here at Puerta de Esperanza we celebrated each one of them and each one of them had their own special surprises. Mother’s Day was a little strange for my dad and I because my mom left for the US the day before. We got to celebrate it with all the moms that come to church here and they were all very blessed. On Children’s Day we had lots of kids and played games and we watched a movie together at the Door of Hope cinema. Father’s Day was a wonderful time, although we only had 4 fathers present we were able to bless them on their day and a week later we had a special dinner made by their families. These celebrations where a big blessing for the families in this community where we serve. Please pray for God to guide us in how we can continue to gain influence in the community, to see more families come to know the transforming love of God in the face of Christ.
P.O.BOX 922637
Norcross, GA 30010
Prayer is a big need as the Datwylers move forward. Find ways to pray for them or even help them financially here:
The Mission Society.org/where we serve/Ecuador
Phone: 593-8-200-5555
E-mail: datfam4ecuador@gmail.com
Skype: TimDainaDatwyler
The Mission Society
P.O.BOX 922637
Norcross, GA 30010-2637
DESIGNATE GIFTS: “DATWYLER SUPPORT 5/255/DY”
Heavy rains make the grass grow—along with it the weeds grow even faster. Be diligent to pluck out the weeds before they take over. Or the job of cleaning the weeds can get so overwhelming that you just learn to enjoy the weeds and forget about the beautiful lawn or flowers. The same is true for us when He showers down His blessing. Are you comfortable?
Door of Hope is proud to greet you at the start of a New Year when hope is at its highest.
May you and God have an amazing time getting closer and working together so all the world might know HIM. Let us also say thank you for joining God in His work as you partner with us in Ecuador. It is encouraging to know that YOU are ours and WE are yours. It has been a tough year in the world, especially for regions in the USA; please take comfort as we (kids, church, study groups, our family) keep you in our prayers. The following verse has been taught this year and we are living by it and claiming it for 2013.
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all of your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)
There is much to remember and thank God for the past year so I will just go over the highlights and our favorites of 2012 in list form.
1. began the year with the whole family in FL
2. Kevin is living in Ecuador, in seminary, in ministry and engaged to Esther
3. Ministry kitchen built and blesses weekly
4. Many new faces—we have 70-80 kids on Saturdays, new helpers too
5. Amazing youth ministry (growth in number and commitment to Christ)
6. 12 baptisms
7. Samaritans Purse shoe boxes (Christmas in February)
8. E-team built our playground and ministered to 25 youth
9. Compassion International project opens
10. Mission training conference with Nazarene seminary and other churches
11. Tuesday Bible Study in homes (my favorite)
12. Ministry patio built and in use
I could go on but you get the big picture so now for a couple of the greatest challenges we face; music for Sunday worship, communication with partners, septic tank collapse, LONG hours of heavy work which leaves us exhausted, visa renewals and living with less $
Goals and dreams for 2013
Expand and intensify time with youth and ministry to women
Fit English classes onto our busy schedule
More intentional discipleship/leader/teacher training
Begin new Bible Institute groups (FLET) and train tutors all over Ecuador
Improve frequency of communication with partners and churches
Increase support base up to full salary (USA visits, let us know if you want us to come to your church or other gathering)
Big dream—Children’s library in a rented building in Chaquibamba (the ministry center is too far our of the town and space is limited)
May God in all his wisdom and love grant you the desires of your heart, may He give you his desires to move your heart, and may He move you beyond your heart to touch hearts all over the world. Be blessed to be a blessing.
We thank God for you, Tim and Daina Datwyler (Kevin and Esther too)
We played games,worshiped, watched a skit performed by the youth from the community and shared dinner together. All of this is made possible by YOU our supporters,Thank you!!
We have just celebrated one year as a church body. On September 11, 2011 we started regular Sunday services. It has been a
very exciting year of new beginnings for celebrating old traditions.
November- we celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time although this is not an Ecuadorian tradition we introduced it as a Christian tradition.
We learned to look for and give thanks to God for His provision in our lives no matter what the circumstances.
Christmas- we introduced the advent calendar and what each Sunday signifies leading up to Christmas day. We held our first Christmas
Eve candlelight service and learned how God brought His light to this world through His Son and that we need to SHINE for Jesus.
Easter and Passion Week- the traditions of Passion Week are very familiar here but this time much more moving in the new light of the
freedom that many now have in Jesus. We celebrated with foot washing service, Good Friday service, Saturday with our children and Sunday
morning celebrating the resurrection of Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Just a few weeks ago we celebrated the first baptisms. We invited another local church with 4 of the 12 who were baptized so we
had 8. It was a great and emotional celebration of new birth in Jesus and commitment to becoming part of the body of Christ. Thank you
one and all for partnering with us through your prayers and finances to help grow the Kingdom here in Chaquibamba.
Baptism Testimonies:
After being baptized we asked “How do you feel “?
Inez “I feel happy inside no matter what is going on outside”.
Yasira “I am free”.
Yadira “I feel the love of God in Me”.
We were truly blessed in the beginning of August by a visit from a team of 12 from Ooltawah UMC (The E Team). They came with open hearts, open arms and lots of energy. They needed all of that to keep up with the Puerta de Esperanza (Door of Hope) youth group. The team (12) and our youth group (27) worked together with us and the ministry leadership team to build playground equipment for the children,
dig a reservoir, move brush, learn English and Spanish, play games, laugh and cry together as we learned about King David’s victories and failures.
After three days of very hard work we all boarded a bus and headed out on a grand adventure. The destination was kept a secret until all were on the bus, then it was announced that we would be going to a place called Mindo which is in the cloud forest region. The activity though was still a secret for the moment , it was enough just to be together going anywhere.
Once arriving in Mindo we proceeded to a place called “Canopy Adventures” which has cables suspended above the tree tops and over deep ravines. The youth were in awe of what they were getting to do. After all had past the 14 cables we went down to the river for a quick swim and lunch. Daina asked one of our youth afterwards “Was all the work worth it?” And they responded “What hard work?” We are trying here at The Door of Hope to make an eternal impact on the lives of our youth. They have so many dreams and desires but little hope of seeing any of them come true. We are trying to help them see that through a relationship with Jesus that there is hope. We have been so blessed by our partnership with Ooltewah UMC as well as many other churches. The Door of Hope youth were impacted with eternal blessing that can never be measured or seen fully this side of heaven.
Thank you E Team and all those from Ooltewah UMC who supported them and support us.
Recent Mission Mobilization Conference in Quito, Ecuador. What a blessing to discover God’s heart for the nations.
Just this past Sunday, 11 people ages 18-60+ graduated the first level of which is a certificate for basic theological studies. It was a long-term investment, and all are ready to continue being growing, learning disciples of Jesus Christ. FLET (Foundation for Latin American theological studies) President, pastor Freddy Guerrero, preached an excellent and challenging message to the 75 people present. You will be hearing more about our growing involvement with FLET. Thank you for praying for thousands of Ecuadorian lay persons who are dedicating time and effort to Go out prepared.
To Gods glory and by His arrangement the Door of Hope received 150 shoe boxes filled with goody’s to give to the kids in Chaquibamba. You could almost touch the anticipation as the kids played relays and gathered on benches to sing and watch a puppet play.
They sat intently as the message was acted out and then all of them wanted to answer the review questions. Soup was served to all, down to the last drop—the first time we almost ran out. See the pictures of the kids receiving their gifts.
