Tignor's Tracks
FOLLOWING THE SAVIOUR'S FOOTSTEPS IN ECUADOR

July 2010

Dear Friends,

          It has been a busy couple of months here, and time just has a way of creeping past unnoticed sometimes. You may have been wondering if we ever had that baby, and how we are adjusting to a family of five children!
          Daniel Josiah Tignor arrived as scheduled on the evening of Tuesday, May 18th. The C-section birth was uneventful as far as Daniel was concerned, although we found out at the last minute that the clinic we had chosen to use had changed its policies and I was not going to be allowed to accompany my wife into surgery. She ended up receiving a general anesthetic because the epidural the doctor had administered was not doing all it was intended to do, and when she awoke she was greeted by his hearty congratulations—“You went to sleep, Lois, and your baby has already been born. It’s a boy!” Little Daniel weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz., and was 20 ½ inches long. Our son James was thrilled to have his prayer for a little brother answered. Now he will have someone with whom to share a bedroom!
          We had briefly considered using a different clinic for the baby’s birth, and when we heard that I would not be allowed into surgery we kind of wished we had gone that route. A few weeks later we realized why God had not allowed that course of action, when we heard that a dear friend’s infant nephew had died at that clinic due to medical malpractice. Even while praying for the grieving parents, we thanked our loving Father for sparing us from such a fate. We are so grateful for His protecting hand on us and our precious baby.
          A couple of weeks after the birth of our son, my wife Lois was able to assist in a birth of another kind. A young teen who has been coming to church for a few months responded to my invitation at the close of the Sunday morning service and was soon praying to receive Christ as her Savior. María José had made a profession of faith some weeks earlier, but now realized that it had not been from the heart. She wanted to make absolutely certain of her salvation, and by the time she left church that day she was rejoicing in the assurance that nothing can ever separate her from Jesus. She was eager to share her experience with her family, which is a sure sign of a healthy spiritual newborn!
           In our last letter we shared our burden for Nelson’s wife, who has expressed her loyalty to the Catholic church and who wanted nothing to do with the Bible Baptist Church of Portoviejo. We have continued to pray for her, and on Father’s Day she accompanied her husband and children to the Sunday service in response to her husband’s, Nelson, specific request. She seemed cordial enough, although she made no response to the invitation that day and has not yet been back another time. Her name is Esperanza, which in Spanish means “Hope.” I feel quite sure that through your prayers, God will move in her heart and she will experience the full significance of her lovely name.
          We are thrilled to see our members getting involved in the ministry of their own volition, or should I say in direct response to the Spirit’s moving in their hearts with little or no word from me. When we were in need of a Sunday School teacher to replace Rosa de Vera after she and her husband returned to El Carmen, Paúl (a senior at the local university) volunteered to step in and fill the void. This earnest young man had no previous experience, but his training has been going well and the children respond well to him. He is excited to be being used, and feels that God is calling him to become a pastor one day. Please pray for Paúl as he seeks to follow the Lord’s leading in his life.
          We have been busy working on legal paperwork this past month, securing visas for my wife and myself for another two years. We are happy to report that although the socialist tendencies of this government become more apparent every day, our visas were renewed with no problems. In the next month we will need to travel to Guayaquil (3 ½ hours one way over less-than-desirable roads) to renew U.S. passports for my wife and daughter Grace, and to apply for the necessary paperwork recognizing baby Daniel as a United States citizen. He will also require a U.S. passport in order to be allowed to enter the country when we return for our next furlough. All this requires a substantial amount of money—roughly $1,000 in all. We know that God will provide as you pray, and we are grateful that He knows our every need and has the answer already on the way.
          One more prayer request we would like to share with you is our need for a new (to us) vehicle. Our double-cab pickup truck is getting a little too snug for our growing children; packing 7 people into a 5-passenger vehicle is interesting! The truck is now 11 years old, and is really beginning to show its age by means of strange sounds and frequent trips to the mechanic. We would really like to purchase a 7-passenger minivan, which will cost about $20,000 in our current economy. Prices are on a constant increase for big-ticket items such as cars, so that figure is bound to be higher by the time we are actually able to acquire it. We know that our supporters are struggling in this low economy as well as we are, but our God is not bound by such problems. He will supply in His perfect time as you pray with us. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and financial support of this ministry. We are so grateful to partner with you in your mission to reach the world for Christ!

                                       Your missionaries in Ecuador,

Chris, Lois, Elisabeth, James, Grace, Christina and Daniel Tignor

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