To help you take a closer look at each of our overeas offices, our directors are keeping an ongoing journal with snapshots and stories of the joys and struggles of ministry in their part of the world. From Ecuador, we'd like you to meet David Logacho.
E-mail Updates from David
June--I was in Honduras May 22 until May 30. I had a great and quite busy time there. I preached 23 times during those seven days! This was my first time in Honduras. I was so thankful to hear so many first-hand testimonies about the impact our ministry is producing in this small Central American country. They were so pleased with my teaching that they invited me for the next year's conference. Praise the Lord! He is so gracious!
The only thing that I didn't enjoy was the 7.1 magnitude earthquake! I thought that this was the end of everything, but the Lord's hand was upon millions who, like me, were so close to the epicenter. Let me share with you how a news agency reported this event to the world:
"A powerful earthquake toppled dozens of homes in Honduras and Belize early Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring 40 as terrified residents spilled from their homes across much of Central America. The magnitude-7.1 quake struck at 2:24 a.m. off the Caribbean coast of Honduras, 80 miles northeast of the beach town of La Ceiba, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado.Testimonies from March
Spain: Hi, friends from La Biblia Dice... I am Fabian. I am writing from Madrid, Spain, even though I am from Ecuador. When I used to live in Ecuador, I used to listen to your radio programs and they were always a source of comfort for my life. Now that I live in Spain, I have been able to listen to your radio programs again. I have felt again the peace and the deep joy that results from knowing that God loves me. I am praising the Lord for this. Thank you for building up spiritually so many lives around the world.
Costa Rica: I would like to wish you many blessings in everything that you are doing. Thank you for such an excellent radio program. Without any doubts God is using your radio programs for my spiritual development. May God bless you. I would really like to support your ministry in prayer and financially.
February--Time goes by so fast! We are celebrating our 39th anniversary. We are going to have a thanksgiving service tomorrow at 5:00 PM. It will be a time for worship, thanksgiving, Bible teaching and opportunity for asking for financial support for our ministry. Please pray for a good response from the people.
January--Most of this week I spent preparing radio programs for February. Besides that we invested some time preparing our upcoming retreat next weekend in Same (this is the name of the place), by the beach. It will be a time of refreshment for the staff and families. We have a triple purpose for this retreat. First of all, spiritual uplifting, second, fellowship and third, planning. We will be leaving next Thursday 22 after working hours and we will return Sunday 25 after lunch. Please pray for safety as we travel and for a meaningful time while there.
We are still struggling with the selling of our yearly devotional book for 2009. Selling has not been like we had hopped, but we are trusting that books will be sold during the rest of this month and in February.
January--A testimony from a listener in Spain--Hi, friends from La Biblia Dice... My name is Fabian. I am writing you from Madrid, Spain. I am Ecuadorian from the El Oro Province. I used to listen to your radio program when I was in Ecuador and I always felt the peace of mind and joy that result from knowing that God loves us. At this time I am living in Spain and I was so happy when I was able to listen to your radio program here. I have felt once more the peace of mind and joy that I used to feel in Ecuador when I listened to your radio program. I would like to thank God for you, because you are building up many people spiritually around the globe.
November--We have had a very active week. I arrived home Monday noon after a very profitable time in Alborada Church in the city of Guayaquil. Guayaquil is Ecuador's largest city with about 3,000,000 inhabitants. It is the commercial and industrial center of Ecuador and lies on the west bank of the river Guayas about 40 miles from its outflow in the Gulf of Guayaquil. The climate in the dry season is warm and pleasant, in the rainy season between January and April is hot and humid.
I was invited to preach in an Evangelistic Campaign organized by the Alborada Church. There were two meetings, one on Saturday night and the other on Sunday morning. There were ten persons that received the Lord as Savior during those two meetings. It was a good opportunity to promote our recently published Daily Devotional for 2009. Many people showed great interest in purchasing this book. Talking about the selling of this book, it is not as fast as we were thinking, but we hope that it will improve as we approach the end of the year.
October--One of the things that we are pursuing in order to maximize our impact as a ministry in our society is to partner with other ministries. Last week, Pablo (my son) was helping a medical project in a very poor area in our country. This is his report:
I'm back from 2 exhausting weeks working with a Medical Mission Trip. I was "borrowed" by our office to be the interpreter for a Partner Christian Organization called International Medical Volunteers. The goal was to share Christ through free medical and surgical care. The target was poor people in San Miguel, a town located about 6 hours driving distance away from Quito.
No e-mail would be long enough to share with you all the cool and heart touching experiences God allowed me to have. But, I will try to overview some of them. A church in the U.S. donated a bunch of dolls they made to give away to the children. I can't describe how beautiful the smiles on their dirty faces were when they got the dolls. Each doll came with the name of the church-girl who made it and a verse, with the phrase: "God loves you!" Those people barely have food to eat each day, but, in gratefulness they served us a delicious chicken soup that we enjoyed so much.
We ended up seeing 2,600 people in two weeks. We gave away a lot of medicine, glasses, and, what was more important, everlasting medicine for their souls--the Word of God.
October--We are praising the Lord for His abundant grace upon our ministry. I had the privilege of visiting Santo Domingo de los Colorados. Santo Domingo de Los Colorados is 80 miles from Quito. It has become a central banana and palm oil industry, though sugar plantations can also be found in this valley province. The "Monumento al Colorado" statue west of the center of town personifies well the look and dress code of the Tsachila people nicknamed "Indios Colorados" but these indigenous Indians never venture to town in their traditional attire unless during special celebrations. The name "Indios Colorados" was attributed to them mainly because they would paint their hair red with a vegetable dye.
I had three meetings in the Rey de Vida Baptist Church. Chapel was full for every meeting. There were eight people who accepted Jesus as their personal Savior during this conference time, and during the final conference almost the whole church dedicated their lives to the Lord.
October--I had a wonderful time in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Esmeraldas city is a major seaport of northwestern Ecuador. The city is the chief trading centre for the region's agricultural and lumbering resources but is only slightly developed industrially.
I was preaching in a Congress organized by the Missionary Church, one of the many denominations that has several churches in that city. It was a Spiritual Renewal Congress. I was very glad that they invited me to preach about the Role of the Christian Family in the Society, the Power of the Word of God in the life of a Believer and The Reasons for Teaching the Word of God in Churches. This was a great opportunity to focus on Back to the Bible's core value of being the Bible teacher to the world. I praise the Lord for His grace and mercy upon me.
September-- A great portion of this week was devoted to collect information for our Annual Report. It was very interesting to see some of the results of our ministry. 540 persons made faith profession as a result of listening to one of our radio programs. 12,856 person have received different pieces of biblical information that will encourage them to get a better grasp of Bible knowledge. We have received 61,913 contacts from listeners and visitors of our Web sites. This is very encouraging. We praise the Lord for that. It seems that we are really "scratching where it itches."
August--After all kinds of airplane delays, Sam Gordon finally arrived Quito, Ecuador Sunday August 10 at 2:00 AM!!! Sam and I arrived in Machala Sunday afternoon and Sam preached Sunday night and I translated for him. Pablo (my son) and Sam preached in a big church that was full of people. On Monday, we were in a home bible study group. There were about 20 people present.
Once in Quito, on Monday, August 18, Sam preached to some 100 pastors from the city of Quito. Lord's timing was perfect because those pastors were planning the national day of fasting and prayer, and Sam spoke exactly about prayer using Nehemiah chapter 10. On Tuesday, Sam preached to the pastoral team of the La Luz CMA church. Once more, Lord's time was perfect. This church was in the process of reviewing their mission, vision and core values, and Sam spoke about "Ten things that You Always Wanted to Know about Church" using Acts 2:41-47 as his Bible passage. On Wednesday, Sam preached to the La Biblia Dice staff. We had a great time of fellowship after that.
August--The good news is that twenty children made faith profession during a presentation of the children's ministry. Monica Lopez and Pablo Mosquera delighted some one hundred children and their parents.
July--I had a very active weekend last week. Friday and Saturday I was teaching in a marriage enrichment seminar for pastoral couples of "La Luz" Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Quito. There were six couples that were challenged with principles for a healthy marriage from the Scriptures.
On Monday I was preaching in a tiny church in a small town called Bello Horizonte (beautiful horizon) in the middle of the Andes Mountains some 40 miles northeast of Quito. This is a brand new church that began on July 13. There were four adult males, eight adult females--most of them nursing small children--and at least a dozen children. All of them are from a very poor background. Some of them own very small chicken farms and earn an average of $200 per month. The area is remote but beautiful. The church premises had lemon trees and avocado trees. As a matter of fact, they gave us a sack full of juicy lemons and gorgeous avocados. But what surprised me the most was the generous gift that this church gave for La Biblia Dice.
July--There are a lot of things to praise the Lord for. From yesterday, until next Sunday morning, I am preaching in a very tiny Berean church located in a small village called Pifo, about one hour by car from Quito. I am teaching the book of Malachi. It is very encouraging to find people who are very hungry for the Word of God. Most of the population in this village are very poor but they are spiritually very rich in Christ. A missionary couple from the USA is serving the Lord in this church. One interesting thing was that I found there a couple who graduated from a Bible Seminary in Guatemala and when they were studying there, they received a scholarship from the Back to the Bible Scholarship Fund.
And let me introduce something mundane!!! The soccer team I am a fan of, the Liga Deportiva Universitaria, from Quito won the most important soccer tournament in Latin America, the Libertadores cup. It beat Fluminense from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (I feel sorry for Leandro [director of Verdade Biblica--Back to the Bible's ministry in Brazil]) in the biggest soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro in front of 90,000 "torcedores" (fans) of the Brazilian team. Quite remarkable, let me tell you.
June--I recently spent two weeks of fruitful ministry in Bogota, the capital of Colombia. Bogota is one of the most populated cities in Latin America. More than 9 million people are living there. I was preaching at a Bible Conference sponsored by the Aposento Alto Noroccidente Church. I also spent some time visiting two radio stations that air our programs in Bogota. (BBN and Nuevo Continente) During this time, we were presented a diploma in recognition of what La Biblia Dice has been doing in favor of many inmates in the biggest prison in Bogota. As a matter of fact, the founder of this prison ministry, whose name is Ricardo Quintero, came to know the Lord listening one of our radio programs while he was in prison himself. Here's a photo of Ricardo Quintero and his wife with another person who was also saved when he was in prison.
June--One of the extra benefits of having a Bible Conference is the opportunity for those who attend to put a face to a voice. My voice is very well know by all those who listen to our radio programs, but most of them don't have the slightest idea about how I look, how old I am, how tall and so on. I enjoy looking at people's reactions when they see me for the first time. Some of them are very disappointed because they had thought that I was younger, taller, blue eyes, white skin and things like that. But the majority are very pleased when they realize that I look very much like them.
During my last visit to Bogota, I had the opportunity to visit the home of one of the leaders of a fairly large-sized church there. The couple has two boys. The oldest is 11, named David. When this boy knew I was going to visit his home, he didn't want to go to school that day because he was so interested in having a chat with me. He told me he never misses even one of our radio programs. He is really very smart. I was so surprised that an eleven year old boy would appreciate our radio programs so much, considering that our radio programs are geared mainly for adults. One more reason to praise the Lord!. I am including a photo of this boy.
June--For many years, several students from the Ecuadorian Missionary Bible Institute in Quito, Ecuador have received scholarships from the Back to the Bible International Scholarship Fund. Unfortunately, due to the financial crisis that we are facing at this time, we have not been able to grant scholarships to any students in any place. Knowing about this, the Ecuadorian Missionary Bible Institute decided to collect an offering during the graduation ceremony that took place last Saturday and give its entirety to La Biblia Dice.... When the Bible Institute's director presented this offering to La Biblia Dice, he said,
May--We are praising the Lord because we received an e-mail from the BBN radio station manager in Quito, saying that two women, a mother and daughter, had visited BBN studios in Quito to share with them that after listening one of our radio programs, they were convinced that something was not really biblical about the teaching at the Seventh Day Adventist church where both of them were baptized few months ago. During the conversation, the ladies wanted to find a local, evangelical church in Quito where they could grow in their faith. The station manager invited them to his church, in which I am one of the elders. Last Sunday I had the opportunity to meet them. We had a very nice time of fellowship. Tomorrow I am leaving for Esmeraldas a big port city in Ecuador, where I will be until next Sunday sharing the Word with parents from a huge high school, then with all the teachers and finally in one of the churches there. Please pray for this outreach.
April--We recently had the opportunity to spend some time with my family. We went to the zoo, and enjoyed seeing our two grandchildren watching the animals. We praise the Lord for His wonderful mercy.
As part of the plans for raising funds for the ministry, Monica Lopez, the producer of the radio program for ladies, decided to start a children's ministry devoted to sharing the gospel using clowns, puppets and games. They have had three shows so far, and even though the amount of money that was raised is not in the thousands, I am quite happy to see the staff involved in raising funds. We feel that raising funds is not just the Director's responsibility but something that involves every staff member, starting with the janitor up to the Director.
March--Our world was certainly shocked when we were informed that Back to the Bible was cutting the International Division and additionally cutting our subsidy to only 25% of what we were receiving. I must admit that I was in panic! A lot of things came to my mind, but one was prevalent.
We can not continue on with 25% of our subsidy. As a result, I was thinking of cutting staff, which means cutting ministry. Later on, I realized that I was overreacting because of the panic. When I informed our local board about the situation, they were very supportive, and we all came to the decision of keeping the staff and the ministry and trusting the Lord for the provision. One thing that the board, the staff and I had to learn in a very hard way was that up to that time we were looking north (Back to the Bible, USA) for provision, but now it was time to look to heaven (God) for provision.
God has been very faithful. At this time, we don't know in advance if we are going to have enough to pay our bills by the end of the month, but during the last five months, God has provided. Sometimes my faith falters, but the Lord is sufficient to sustain me.
The present is full of challenges. We have developed strategies to increase our local support. One thing that we are doing is organizing Bible Conferences and charging a reasonable fee for attending. We have had three so far. One in November last year, one in January this year and the last one in March. We didn't have the number of people that we wanted, but there were more than 200. This means around $500 for the ministry, apart from all expenses. Our next conference will be in June 21. We are doing this not only in Quito, Ecuador, but also in other Latin American countries. This allows us to fight against Bible illiteracy as well as obtaining funds for the ministry.
The month of March has been a very difficult month for us. We are really feeling the impact of the whole thing. Even though we have dramatically increased our local funds, it is not enough to cover all our ministry expenses. This month, for the first time since I've been in the ministry, I have not received my salary on time because there are no funds and there are other more important needs. Neither my family nor I are starving to death because of this. The Lord is faithful and takes good care of my family.
Ecuador's Web site: www.labibliadice.org