S E R V I N G I N E C U A D O R

This past weekend we traveled down to the jungle. We spent time connecting with two different ministries: one located in Río Negro, the other in Shell. The ministry in Shell is the first Young Life chapter in Ecuador. In a newsletter we wrote about a year ago we highlighted the director, Ivan, and how Young Life, Ecuador came to be. Since then, Ivan has gotten married and Young Life in Ecuador has been growing like crazy. From one club meeting in Shell, there is now another chapter located in the neighboring town, one in a town called Cuenca (several hours away), and two located in Quito. With five different groups, Ivan’s role has shifted quite a bit from being at the weekly club to now traveling all around Ecuador to care for and oversee these different groups that have started. We love partnering with Ivan and Young Life, because they, too, value the outdoors and adventure and use camps to connect with youth. They have used El Refugio as a go-to location for their Young Life camps over the past several years. Another exciting connection we made while visiting with Ivan and his wife, Rachel, was the 3-month internship that we offer to native Spanish speakers. He has a number of leaders that would strongly benefit from a time away from their daily lives to be invested in, discipled, and given new/different responsibilities. This internship we offer at El Refugio seems like it will be a perfect next step for them to offer to these young adults. Please pray for Ivan, Rachel, and the ministry of Young Life here in Ecuador and for us as we partner with them, support them, and seek to be a resource and encouragement.

October 2015

OlsensTh ej im | su zy | k a i a | e spen

Y o u n g L i f e E c u a d o r

Every year we as a ministry focus on a concept that comes from our mission, measures, values, or strategy— we call it our milestone. The

name we gave to our milestone this year is ‘Ascent.’ The idea behind Ascent is to leverage what we already have at our disposal and to do better with it. The areas that we’ve been focusing on are sustainability, maximized efficiency, maximized impact, and empowerment. These are incredibly broad topics, but within this milestone has been the physical improvement of our property (see the Dining Hall article below), providing tools and workshops to the local church here in

Ecuador, improving the planning and intentionality that goes into creating our retreats, and gathering/making resources to create a website

in Spanish that provides videos, articles, and a variety of tools for camps or ministries around Latin America to use in their ministry settings. God has been

gracious to us as a ministry and our desire is to be good stewards with what He has entrusted us. We used this theme with our Adventure Camps this summer, focusing more on the imagery of the mountain and the backpackers that you see pictured here. If we think of our lives in terms of climbing mountains with Christ as our guide, we recognize that there are peaks and valleys, times of rest, and times where we’re pushed to the edge. But regardless of where we are, Christ is guiding us and has blessed us with the life we’re living. So the desire we have as a ministry is to fully take advantage of the ‘life’ He has given us and make the biggest impact we can with the tools we have at our disposal. That is Ascenso.

To follow us or give online visit: www.olsensinecuador.com . jimandsuzyolsen@hotmail.com . Call us for FREE in Ecuador at 607.256.6894

T h e D i n i n g H a l l P r o j e c t

The picture to the left shows the construction zone that greets you as you come up the driveway to El Refugio. Just weeks ago there wa s an outdoor covered eating space in its place and the building on the left had a roof. If you haven’t been receiving the e-mails we’ve been sending

out, we are in the midst of the biggest building project El Refugio has taken on in 10 years. Though the idea of eating outside sounds nice, the reality is that we’re located in the mountains at 10,000 ft and the evenings can get very cold up here. There are several months of the year where things get very dry, dusty, and windy. That wind whips the dust around and when eating outside, these conditions can kind of spoil the dining experience. The outdoor space served us well for many years, but in the history of this ministry, we knew it was time to create a new dining hall— not only for the eating experience, but to create a comfortable gathering space in the evenings as well. When campfire time is over, most of our guests just head back to their rooms. The second floor/loft area as well as the main eating space will provide a warm environment for people to gather, talk, play board games, and visit. We anticipate a lot of meaningful conversations will take place in this new building and we’re excited to see how it furthers our ministry. Our hope is that the building will be completed by January 2016.

A lot can happen in a few months in the lives of little ones…here’s a quick update on what Kaia and Espen have been up to…Kaia is 3.5 now and started school in September! We made the decision to send her to a preschool run by a couple at our church. It is a 15 minute drive from our house and Kaia has been truly loving it! It is a half-day program in the mornings, five days a week…all in Spanish. Her teacher says she interacts with the other kids well and is so eager to learn. Usually when she gets home she can’t wait to tear open her workbook to see what her ‘homework’ is for the day. She almost always asks to complete whatever cutting or painting activity she has before she eats lunch. Espen is 18 months old and finally decided to start walking about a month ago. He was very mobile before so it hasn’t been too difficult of a transition for us, except now his clothes stay clean a little longer. It’s fun to watch him follow his big sister all around the house and now that Kaia is in school I have been able to enjoy a little more 1 on 1 time with him. He enjoys pulling apart puzzles, pushing his teddy bear around the house in a toy stroller, and playing with all of Kaia’s toys while she’s away at school.

Prayer Requests

•For the Ascenso Campaign: That we would see deep impact and long-term fruit from the initiatives we have started•For Young Life, Ecuador: That many youth would be drawn closer to Christ through their club experiences and for wisdom for all the leadership as the ministry continues to grow•For the Dining Hall Project: That the last of the funding needed would come in quickly and that we would be able to stay within our deadline of having the projected completed by Jan 2016…also for all of the future ministr y and l i fe -changing conversations that will happen inside of the walls of this new space.•For our fami l y: That we would continue to find life-giving rhythms in our daily lives at home and as we serve together.•For Kaia and Espen: That they wou ld g row in the i r understanding of who God is and who they are in Christ. Also that they would continue to develop their ability to show love and kindness toward one another.

W h a t ’ s N e w W i t h O u r F a m i l y