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Merry
What a year it has been! By the time you read this, we will have lived in Ecuador for a full yeaWhen I think of how to sum up all that has happened over the course of this year, I would simply s
weve been learning: taking part, observing, supporting, and at times leading and jumping in full
Stepping back, I see our involvement in things here on 5 basic levels: Youth World, El Refug
group and ministry involvement, El Refugio general work, church involvement, and communi
involvement. Ill try to sum all of that up. We lead worship on a regular basis at Youth World gatherin
as well as in our local Ecuadorian church. We plan for and host groups year-round: both from the US an(primarily) Ecuador. Jim designs, promotes, prints, and creates communication tools to build awarene
of what we do and offer through El Refugio. Suzy plans, preps for, and coordinates all the processes fnew team members to serve here in Ecuador. We spend timeintentionally being a part of our communi
(Calacal) to build connections, relationships (and God permitting) transformed lives. All of that... an
we try to soak up every moment we can with our little girl, Kaia!
D e c e m b e r 2 0
S E R V I N G I N E C U A D O R
CHRISTMAS !
fromtheOlsenfamily
The start of the Christmas season has been so fun for us this year!Kaia is almost two and is old enough to enjoy the twinkling lightsaround the house, the Christmas music playing on the computer,and the joy of experiencing traditions of the season. As a child,Suzys family always did Advent Shoes (every Saturday night ofAdvent they put their shoes out by the fireplace and on Sundaythey found little gifts wrapped inside). We dont have a fireplace,but we set Kaias shoes out under the Christmas tree for the firsttime and on Sunday morning she was so excited to open the littlewrapped package found inside. We look forward to establishing other traditions and sharing with her t
significance of the season as she continues to grow. Already she is walking around the house with her clonativity set, showing us and repeating the words Baby Jesus while taking him in and out of a cloth mange
H a p p e n i n g s i n t h e O l s e n H o m e
2013 has been a year full of many blessings and challenges for us. We are so thankful tohave family and friends supporting us from afar. Heres our year in a nutshell:
January: Found our new home February: Kaia turned 1 year old March: Suzy turned 28April: 1stfamily beach trip May: Kaias 1sttrip to the jungle June: Kaia started walking & got home intern
July: We hosted several mission teams August: Jims parents and younger sister visited usSept: We found out were expecting! October : Jim turned 29 and Suzys mom visited us
November: Our 1st Thanksgiving in Ecuador andwe learned were having a boy!December : Several Christmas parties & Jims sister & husband visit
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M I N I S T R Y W I T H E L R E F U G I O
To follow us or give online visit: www.olsensinecuador.com . [email protected] . Call us for FREE in Ecuador at 607.256.6894
Stewart s Adventure Camp Experi ence
M I N I S T R Y H I G H L I G H T S
P r a y e r
R e q u e s t
Pray for Stewart and a
of the others who hav
come to accept Christ
their Savior this year.
Please pray for Suzy an
our little boy; for safety an
good health throughout th
pregnancy and delivery.
Pray for Kaia as sh
becomes a big sister
Pray for our family; th
we would continue to gro
in love and service
others throughout 2014
Pray for growth in th
church we attend
Calacal; that it would bekey to reaching people
our town.
A great deal of the work that Suzy and I do is at an outdoor retreat
center here in Calacal, Ecuador which is called Hacienda El Refugio.
Its not really like a traditional camp in the US, though there
certainly are some similarities. One major difference is that most of
our retreats are customized to the needs of Ecuadorian groups and on
average last a couple of days, over a weekend, or occur a few
afternoons throughout the week. The one exception to this is that each
August we do hold what we call Adventure Camp which is a week-
long traditional overnight camp experience aimed at Ecuadorian
youth from 12 - 16 years old.
This past August we learned that Stewart, a boy from Spain, was
coming to visit his relatives here in Calacal. We have become good
friends with the family he was coming to visit through time spent
around town and through church connections. We were walking with
Stewarts uncle one day in a park in the center of town and he asked
us to pray for Stewart and his mother. The small church we attend inCalacal had raised funds to provide scholarships for youth to attend
the Adventure Camp at El Refugio. Enough funds were available that
Stewart was going to be able to attend. His uncle informed me that
Stewart and his parents were not believers and that he and the rest of
his family had been praying for them for years. He knew what a great
opportunity this was for Stewart to go to camp.
The week of Adventure Camp came and it was a huge blessing for all
of us at El Refugio. Although the highlight was the fact that after a
session one night Stewart made the decision to give his life to Christ.
That Sunday he came to our church and stood in front of thecongregation thanking everyone for enabling him to go to Adventure
Camp. He explained amidst all of the crazy, fun stuff that he
experienced throughout the week, the greatest part was coming to
know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
Stewart (on the left) sharing wi th other campers during Adventure Camp
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