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Jan uary ! We returned home aftspending 3 months traveling in the and settled back in as best we couwhile living in a construction zone aapplying for our residency visa.February!Kaias Golden Birthday: sturned 3 on February 3rd!March !Suzy turned 30 and we plannan outdoor Easter service at El RefugApril!We put on our first annual mrace, Todo Lodo, at El Refugio aEspen turned 1!May ! Our residency visa applicatiowere ap p r oved an d they f i n i shconstruction on our house!Jun e ! We visited the US for Jimsisters wedding and also got our cback after a year of not having it!July!We hosted short!term teams atRefugio & celebrated July 4th withBBQ& outdoor movie night in our yaAugust ! Spent an awesome 10 dawith a mission team from our churchFargo, ND and Kaia started pre!schoo
September!Visited Oyacachi in taftermath of a landslide, Espen start
walking, and we broke ground on new El Refugio Dining Hall project.October !Visited ministry sites in RNegro and Shel l and put on a ffestival for missionary kids.November ! Jim joined our churchattending a vision and mission plannworkshop and Suzys mom and brothvisited for Thanksgiving!
S E R V I N G I N E C U A D O R
OlsensTh ej im | su zy | ka i a | e sp en
Involvement in our localchurch has marked 2015for us. Our little churchof 40 people has had along and at times painful
history. They have lackedvision and leadership formany years now and afterwe r e tur n ed f romfurlough, it was clear thats ome ac t ion w a snecessary or we would
soon be facing some very difficult times. Being that electionshad been held recently to name leaders, I decided a logical stepwould be to get all of them in the same room and start meetingregularly. Acting as a facilitator for the group, it quickly became
clear to everyone that there was a whole lot to talk about thathadn't been discussed for years. As time passed, I was elected asVice President, weve continued to meet as a leadership team,and recently we've begun a vision process at El Refugio led byPaul, our director. Ive begun meeting with the youth that helplead worship to provide some teaching and direction, weorganized a church work day, and on December 5th wereinviting all of the church over to our house for a time offellowship. Weve been encouraged to see investment in thechurch slowly starting to grow and are very excited to see allthat God does through this church vision process at El Refugio.
P l eas e keep ourc h ur c h i n y o urprayers" that wewould see unity andcontinued growthas we invest in thecongregation. Andpray that wed lookoutward & spreadChrists love to ourcommunity.
The Local Church Y e a r I n R e v i e w
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To follow us or give online visit: www.olsensinecuador.com . [email protected] . Call us for FREE in Ecuador at 607.256.6
Pray for our church in Calacal: for unity among the leadership ancontinued forward growth as we move through the church visio
process.For the Dining Hall Project: Were in the midst of a huge buildin
project at El Refugio. Our hope is to have the new space useable by the end of January.
For our family: That we would continue to find balance in our daily lives: at home, at El Refugio, ministry, and as we serve together.
For Kaia and Espen:That they would grow in their understanding of who God is and who they are Christ. Also that they would continue to develop their ability to show love and kindness toward one anotherFor the ministry of El Refugio: That God would continue to use it #and us$ to impact lives deepthrough His creation and the conversations we are provided with as we host and interact with groups.
Its an interesting thing living out of a suitcase for thrmonths neither fully living life alongside friends and famthat you are visiting nor being a part of what is happening
Ecuador. When we returned from our first home ministry assignment #HMA$in January we were able to procewhat it was like to live in that in!between. After awhile we found our rhythm again. We were excited to be backour home, but also experienced afresh the sacrifice of living so far away from loved ones in the US. As we pluggback in to ministry and life, God has continued to show His goodness and faithfulness to us. 2015 has come wiblessings and also many challenges for us. Through it we have learned a lot about patience, waiting, and God
timing in new ways that we havent before. We are grateful for the life He has called us to in Ecuador and pray thyou would personally experience His tremendous peace and love this Christmas season! Heres a brief tidbit whats been happening with each of us
Kaia turned three and it has been so fun to watch her grow in her curiosity and independenover these months. She started attending an all!Spanish preschool in August and she has doso well there. Shes made a few good friends that her teacher says are inseparable from her ashe is always very eager to complete her painting or coloring assignments each day. Hfavorite things lately are anything Frozen, Monday night movie nights, watching Saturdmorning cartoons with Daddy, and singing and dancing around the house #both in English aSpanish thanks to her time at school$.
Espen is our goofy little minion. He is a little boy of many extremes and gets energized spending time outside of the house and with others #just like his Mommy!$. After he startwalking in September its been a constant game of cat and mouse trying to find the househoitems that he tucks away !it took us two months to find a set of keys that a friend had loin the housewe are pretty sure it was Espen being sneaky! His favorite things are pizza wianything on it, playing and watching shows with Kaia, interacting with animals, and goidown slides. In fact, if he finds any type of material with a slight slope he will sit down and to slide down it even if its a concrete slab!
This year we both have worn many different hats: Jim as the Communications Director atRefugio, the Vice!President at our church, and serving on the Youth World Executive Tea
Hes also discovered a new love for designing websites#check out todolodo.coolsensinecuador.com and haciendaelrefugio.comin addition to two others still in t
works$! Suzy is the Short!Term Teams Coordinator at El Refugio, head chef at the Casa los Olsen, and Mother/Wife Extraordinaire at home. Together we lead worship at our churcmentor English and Spanish speaking young adults, plan events, and act as liaisons to oministry partners in the jungle. We are thankful for the opportunities we have to ser
together and on December 22nd we will celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary! We have lived in three differecountries and experienced many adventures and look forward to many more!
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