Raul & Jessenia Espinoza
Dear Wallenstein family,
Greetings from Ecuador! It seems strange to think this will be the last time for a while that we can greet you that way. Lord willing, we will be travelling to Canada August 19th and staying for a year! Time has passed swiftly since our last update and during this time it feels like we have been giving a drawn out goodbye to Ecuador.
We got to be part of a 15th birthday party celebration (“Quinceañera”) for one of our youth girls who is the daughter of one of Raul’s close friends. A quinceañera is a Latin American tradition to celebrate a young lady’s entrance into maturity and is somewhat similar to a wedding, but without the groom. We had to cancel youth that day because most of the youth group and youth leaders had been invited to attend. It was an enjoyable day and fun to see so many of the youth group there to celebrate their friend.
At the end of July we had the privilege of directing family camp for our church and a sister church and held at Lighthouse of Hope Camp. Another couple joined us in the directing and we enjoyed working with them to create an atmosphere of unity in the group. Three youth girls convinced members of their family to come to camp and we saw one of the mothers get baptized and another accepted Christ! The other family stood out for really getting into the camp games and then came to church for the first time the next Sunday. Please pray that these families allow Christ’s lasting power in their lives.
We were also able to do some traveling with Raul’s family and enjoy time in the mountains, and another short trip with some of the young adults from church to a volcanic crater lake. (Ecuador has so many amazing places to see!) Both trips were full of quality time that reminded us how grateful we are for our friends and family here in Ecuador. Time and again this last month, we have been reminded of the quote by AA Milne, “How lucky [blessed] I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
However, though it is hard to say goodbye here in Ecuador, we are excited about going to Canada. The way God has been preparing life for us there fills us with gratitude and feels like more confirmation about this change. We already have an apartment lined up in Hawkesville close to Jessenia’s parents and a car waiting for us in Ontario. Both were things that we thought might take a while to find, but God saw fit to prepare them for us ahead of time! We are so grateful for the people who have been helping us get those things set up back home.
We are looking forward to seeing what He has in store for us back in Canada and we hope to see as many of you as we can while we are back.
With love,
The Espinozas (Raul, Jessenia, Tiago and Danilo)
