Get to know these dear women in my life

Hey friends and family!

I want to thank everyone for your prayers and encouragement that you have been constantly giving to me. I am convinced and thankful that GOD has a purpose for each of you walking by my side in mission.

I want to share several things about La Fuente that I have not shared in a while, yet I will probably  expand on some of these in future posts. For now please read these short stories and then watch the video with pictures of them:

– Mercy Ministries: These are long stories but I want to at least share a bit about them for now as I need to ask for your prayers.

Maria Luisa and Gloria: Maria Luisa is a 16 year-old that suffers from several illnesses among the most serious are the Turner Syndrome (a lack of chromosome), hip bone deformity, and a heart-valve problem. GOD has provided help through La Fuente -Mercy Ministry to take her through several diagnosis and treatments; however, we are all still fighting alongside this family. Gloria is her mother, who has arthritis and other difficult health conditions to deal with daily. Both of them and the rest of their family (no husband) are in my community group and I get to shepherd them weekly in the truths of the Gospel, which is what has gotten them through so much and why they are still praising GOD! They need about $200-300 a month more to afford the treatments that have been diagnosed recently.

Caterine:  Is a 34 year-old grandmother. Her 16 year-old daughter has a 1 year-old baby. Both without a husband in their lives since they are more of a threat than a help to them and their kids. Caterine works as a waitress in a Subway branch making minimum wage. Her boss (a friend of mine) approached me about the fact that Caterine has not been able to hear customers or co-workers clearly, therefore having problems performing well at work. I took her to get her ears checked and the doctors and exams gave us the news that she has a hearing loss of 50% in both ears. She is a hard worker and she suffers from all that it entails to be going deaf and having the responsibility to provide for her 3 children and grandchild. She needs 2 hearing aids that cost about $2,000. She is in my community group and is clinging to CHRIST daily. She is already makings savings towards this expense but I know her minimum wage ($300/mo) will not allow her to get there this year.

– Community Group:  I run a community group at the very north end of Quito. Our community is growing spiritually and we have a few newcomers.  In our community group there are quite a few children and I am trying to figure out how to shepherd them more since they can tend to be neglected.  I need wisdom as to how best communicate the love of GOD to our children as I also try to minister to their parents.  I have tried some things, but no clear success yet.

– Preaching: Lastly I would like to ask you to please pray for me as I am trying to seek GOD’S will in my preaching role in the church. I have preached about every 2 or 3 months for the past 2 years on rotation with my other elder brothers. I am not seeing a clear call in my heart to continue to do that, yet I know that if GOD says yes and convinces me, then I won´t say no to Him in whichever way He might want to keep using me in ministry.

Sorry I went long with this post, but it has been a while since I wrote to you. I really want to ask you to keep Gloria, Maria Luisa, Caterine, the community groups at La Fuente, and my preacher calling in your prayers. And if you want to know more about any of these needs in the ministry/mission that GOD has placed you and I in together to serve in Ecuador, please email me: juanma_landazuri@hotmail.com or also know that I will be sharing more about each of these in future posts.

Here a short clip with pictures for you meet them:

In Him and because of Him, your partner in mission,

Juan Manuel.