Strapping In

On Friday, all of our Disciple-Making Partners families took a day and a night to do a bit of scouting for some of the teams that will come later to work in gospel-centered camps in the days and months ahead. Some teams want to stay in the Quito area, but some teams next year want to venture out a bit into the varied people groups and terrain of Ecuador. So, we combined work with a bit of fun in an effort to make our kids feel like this area is more like home. We ventured about 4 hours south into the incredibly steep and beautiful portions of the Andes Mountains near a small town called Baños (Not “bathrooms”, but “springs”). It is an area where the gorge views are dizzying and the roads are cut into the sides of the towering peaks. The mist and thick jungle canopy along the roadside is dotted with homes of some of the Quichua people group, along with others that farm the almost vertical hillsides.

Well- no excursion is complete without some risk. We took Friday afternoon to pilot some white-water rafts down a portion of a major tributary of the Amazon River.

 Let’s describe it this way. The glory of God in creation is clear in the people of this area and the landscape of this area.  Several of the more thrill-seeking members of our team decided to try their hand at a few different activities on Saturday on the trip home. See Kelsey getting prepared to jump off a bridge, literally, on a rope swing over a knee-knocking high point over a raging stream. Words and pictures cannot really do justice. Everyone made it home to Conocoto in one piece, and we are grateful for His grace in this.

Blessings!

Immersion 101

Now don’t get me wrong. It definitely is not 100% Spanish language all the time. When you have your family here, and two other families here, and the partner on the ground here, you get plenty of English. But the good thing is that we are also getting some Spanish. We are hearing it, seeing it, trying occasionally to speak it, and making fools of us in the attempt, but that is okay for now.

We are trying to take it all in: sights (What is that fruit?), sounds (the dog fight every night outside the wall), smells (I will let you imagine that one), tastes (unbelievably fresh food), textures (alpaca scarves and llama wool blankets), and colors (stunning white peaks that show themselves occasionally)

Little by little we are learning what you call various things, and where you buy things.  We are no experts; so don’t get your hopes up when you come see us, that we are all well versed in the culture just yet.

But in this learning time, it is good for us to be in constant prayer, seeking Him to give us the discipline to be praying for people we constantly see as we walk toward town. Praying for the beautiful kids with enormous brown eyes and jet-black hair with their whole life ahead of them as they give a shy smile at our puzzled white faces. Praying for the young couple walking by with arms entwined. Praying for the older ladies as they carefully choose their produce at the market. Praying for God to draw them all toward Himself, and to somehow use us in the process.

“…, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Bendiciones!

Chris and Vickie Nichols and family

Figuring it Out

So tomorrow evening marks one week since we all left Birmingham.

And it has been amazing to see how God has this whole thing rigged from the start.

So just honest feedback for a minute or two about international travel with 6 out of our 9 children:

Yes- it has been an adventure in so many, many ways. You should see my family go through customs. As airport personnel, customs agents, and the crowds of wonderful people in the lobby stare at us, I won’t write out their questions to you, but I will let you figure them out by my answers below. And I will hopefully answer some of your questions also!

Why yes, we are all one family. Yes, those are our 16 checked bags, and 16 carry-on bags. Yes- I do have 16 luggage claim tickets. Yes, we do require a flat bed fruit truck to carry our luggage out to Conocoto.

Yes- we do have to talk through shower schedules and the dynamics of life here with 8 people in an orphan house.

Yes- my lungs are on fire the first few days of walking up these mountains.

Yes- it does make a difference if you try to use the language.

Yes- His word is good in South America, also.

Yes- it does rain hard here sometimes, really hard.

Yes- it is staggering to look at the glory of God in how he has shaped this country and these people.

Okay- we have been getting the lay of the land a bit this past few days, and enjoying wonderful meal times and word sharing times with our partner on the ground here, and with our ministry partners, the Coe family and the Brock family. The beautiful children and adults in this orphanage are beginning to know our names, and we are working toward the same result.

Looking forward to giving you more detail of His work in us in the days ahead.

For the sake of the gospel…

Chris and Vickie Nichols and family

Philippians 1:6 “ For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ.”

The Gospel, the Nichols, and Ecuador

Blessings from Conocoto, Ecuador!

On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, our family saw the culmination of a long series of miracles and the beginning of another series yet to unfold, as we boarded a plane in Birmingham with bags in hand to head to Quito, Ecuador, to begin life there for making disciples in another context/culture of His world.

We believe that this is yet another step in seeing the fulfillment of God's highest use of our lives. In the days ahead we hope to do two things: one is to tell more of God's grace story in our family to this point, and the other is to ask you to pray along with us as you look in the window of our world. 

We are so thankful for our friends and families, and for our faith family called The Church at Brook Hills, from who we tearfully yet joyfully depart from for now in order to obey God's stirring in our hearts for the sake of His name in every nation.

Chris and Vickie Nichols and family