Martin Chambers Ecuador Trust

This is my last entry for this present year as I go home for my preaching break in two days (or, as I thought last night, in ‘two sleeps’ time). And this entry is the same as most entries – busy and varied. I had quite a bit of running around this week as I tried to get things ready ‘for the off’. When I go home, I generally have to go to the bank before to make sure that things run while I am away: the Soup Kitchen still runs; the kids school fees are still paid; and the various Church items do not run out. One difference this year from the pervious three summers is that there is not a building project underway while I am in Scotland. We have just finished the building of La Paz and Maestro chapels. They both look brilliant and will stand the test of time for many years. Once again Pedro Mogrovejo ahs made sure that the money has gone a long way. Having said that, I do get frustrated at him from time to time because he keeps all his drawings in a wee jotter and he is quite often late in presenting his bills. However, as I say, his work is excellent and, not charging high personal fees, he has made sure that Scottish money ahs gone a long way. Thanks, Pedro. Flor is the new ‘Queen of Nueva Prosperina’!! She beat 18 other candidates in a contest last Saturday night. I had known the competition was coming off and, since five of the candidates were Parish catechists, I thought I should go along. I was, of course, quite tired in the midst of the weekend Mass schedule but, when I walked through the local school gates, I was told to be one of the five judges! I was so tired that I fell asleep at several points – thank God I sable, last year’s Queen (and one of the visitors to Scotland) was at my side to wake me up at the appropriate moment. All in all it was quite a funny experience as there were loads of people there and it was quite as community spirit. Flor won because, as well as being good-looking, she spoke and clearly and well – she answered a question about ‘loyalty to the local lawyer, Sergio Toral’!!!!! One of our chapels, Our Lady of Carmel, had its fiestas recently. Different tot eh big Parish Fiesta where I was heavily involved, most of the organization here was done by the local community. Fantastic! They had arranged a daily Novena of prayers and hymns each night. But the whole week was preceded by an Opening Procession through the sector and finished with a big street party and Mass at night. I particularly liked the way that they invited the other chapels of the Parish to lead a different night of the Novena – I think it is something I will copy for next year’s big Parish Fiesta. One of the things that seems to take up a lot of my time is the preparation and giving of various faith talks – to teachers, to catechists, to youth leaders. I seem to spend quite a bit of time investigating various aspects of faith t give talks: this week I gave a talk to the parents of Confirmation and Communion kids, prepared a talk for our catechists’ leaders, led our youth in a prayer service and gave a talk to our School teachers. I don’t mind it at all, although I do worry as to how it will all go! In the end, I get confidence and just keep going! As well as this heavy stuff, of course, there is the fun side and last week I took our Parish youth leaders to an outdoor swimming complex. We were there all day and had great fun on the flumes and in the general pool area – it was a Guayaquil holiday but there weren’t too many people there. The idea behind the trip was that these leaders were now part of a Parish-wide programme to revamp our Youth groups – this ‘revamping’ will take place in October so this was a chance to get know one another a bit better. It worked! One of the worrying events of the week concerned the community of San Ignacio. It seems that the government body that runs the water canal that runs near their community wants to clear people away from living near the canal. They have said that no-one should live nearer than 150 metres of the canal. This means that they want to re-house 100 families away from the community as well as relocate the primary and secondary schools there. It is very clearly a serious worry for the community and it seems it is an argument between the government, who say they should be evicted and the city council who say they should be exempt from this government ruling. This one will run and run! And so my pen runs dry for another year. I am immensely thankful to all my friends here who continue to make my journey here fun and life-changing and to all my friends and family back home who continue to support me. After a short rest, we will be back to start all over again ….