Bill and Ellen Evans

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

January 23, 2010

Greetings, friends! Is it too late to wish you a happy New Year?! We trust that 2010 is off to a good start for each of you. For the Evans family, the theme of the 2009-2010 school year seems to be “challenge.”

This school year at the Alliance Academy began with the challenge of adapting to last minute changes to our calendar forced on us by the Ecuadorian ministry of education. We were told that we could not start before the first week of September and that we had to add 10 more school days. At the same time we had to keep in mind that many in our international community had already purchased plane tickets and made plans based on our published calendar. This was just the tip of the iceberg of almost weekly issues that come to us from the Ministry of Ed. We are so thankful for our school director, Dr. David Wells, and the administrative team as they take on the burden of dealing with each new challenge. While we do strive to obediently comply with the demands, we also are compelled to remain true to our mission and vision. Please join us in asking God for continuing wisdom and the protection of His ministry at the Alliance Academy. We celebrated the school’s 80th anniversary this year – we’d love to see it continue for at least 80 more!

Another challenge that came this school year was the fact that the dry season never ended and the rainy season never began. In Ecuador, the majority of electricity is produced by hydroelectric plants. Thus, no rain = no electricity. For many of us who have to have water pumped up to where we live, no electricity also means no water. It has made life “interesting” to plan around the 2-4 hours a day of rolling power cuts We are definitely thankful for the ancient generator at the Alliance Academy! Pray that it keeps running and that the Lord will soon send rain to this country! Not having electricity is a minor inconvenience, but for the farmers who cannot grow their crops, the lack of rain is devastating.

We want to thank so many of you who have prayed for our daughter, Michelle. She has had a very challenging time with her migraines this year and has missed quite a bit of school as a result (not a good thing for a junior in high school). We continue to seek the Lord’s direction in finding relief and healing, so we ask you to continue to pray for her!

Finally, a great challenge that we feel this year is the changing population of students at the Alliance Academy. We are seeing more students with a lower level of English, more students with special educational needs, and more students who may be “religious” but who don’t know what it is to have a personal relationship with God. Many new students come from a large unreached people group – the upper class. As Jesus said, “…it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven… it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19: 23-24). It is once again an honor and a privilege to be a part of what God is doing at the Alliance Academy to reach the world as He brings students from many nations to our classrooms! We are thankful that Matthew chapter 19 doesn’t end with verse 24. It continues with verses 25 & 26: “When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.”

That is our hope for the year to come! With God, it IS POSSIBLE for every one of our students to become disciples of Jesus! With God, it IS POSSIBLE for the Alliance Academy to continue on with its mission no matter what the Ministry of Education throws at us. With God, it IS POSSIBLE for a country in the midst of drought to receive rain. With God, it IS POSSIBLE for Michelle to be healed of her migraines. With God, it IS POSSIBLE for the Evans’ family to victoriously face every challenge of 2010. (Can you tell we are preaching to ourselves?) Want to be a part of these challenges and the blessing of seeing God at work through them? Keep praying! Want to hear more about it? Invite us to your church this summer while we are in the States! We’d love to share more through music and pictures. We will be Stateside, June 30th-August 20th so contact us ASAP since our schedule fills up quickly!

In Christ,
Billy, Ellen, Michelle, Megan & Jimmy Evans
The Alliance Academy International
Quito, Ecuador

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