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Dear friends, May 13, 2010

Greetings to you with Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and

every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage

of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

We had some wonderful experiences these last weeks, and the Lord has been working in

wonderful ways.

About four weeks ago a young lady from the church, Elizabeth, invited me to spend the

weekend at her home with her and her family. On Friday evening we began the Sabbath

together. They asked me to tell them something about health. Somehow we came to talk about

the righteousness of Christ, when the oldest son of the family suddenly asked me frankly:

How can you get the righteousness of Christ? I was amazed at such a candid question, then I

answered him: By faith. Then we had a whole biblestudy on the nature of Christ, His

righteousness and saving faith, which was very blessed. Later on they asked me to sharethese things also in the morning in Sabbathschool.

The next morning in church they asked me to do the

whole Sabbathschool for the youth group. Before the

Sabbathschool started, I noticed a young lady which

looked kind of unhappy. I approached her and asked her

how she was doing. She answered that things didnt go

very well with her. She wanted to tell me about it after the

church service. Then we went to Sabbathschool, where I

shared about righteousness by faith. After Sabbathschoolthis same young lady came to me and said, she would be Stephie making a carob pie

doing very well now, my words had been like balm for her heart, and she would understand

certain things now she didnt understand before. After the divine service there came the

brother to me who had delivered the sermon that Sabbath morning. He had heard that I had

shared about righteousness by faith in the youth Sabbathschool, and he wanted to hear about

this, too. We agreed that I would tell him about it after lunch, which we would have together

with several other families. After lunch they invited the whole group for a biblestudy, where I

shared the same topic for the third time. Then we went back to church for the afternoon

program. They asked me to give a presentation also in the afternoon program, so I talked

about the day of atonement in connection with the health message. After this presentation they

asked me to come back next Sabbath to have the Sabbathschool again. One brother came to

me and asked how to study the Bible to come up with things like these. One of the sisters

asked me to stay two more month to teach about Bible study to the young people. Another

lady asked me to email her those studies, so that she could send it to the church conference. I

was amazed at what the Lord was doing, since I hadnt prepared any presentation and was

simply sharing my own studies. I hardly knew what to say and how to explain these things,

but while speaking the Lord gave me even more insight and the right words to say. He never

leaves us nor forsakes us.

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But Satan is always lurking nigh to destroy

what the Lord is doing. We have to be

watchful and praying so that he can not have

any advantage in us.

A few days later I was opening thehealthfood store in the morning, when a

customer came in and ordered lunch for a

group of 24 people later on. I called one of

our team, Stephie, to talk to him, since I

speak but so little spanish. While she was

talking to him, I was serving another Attendants of a cooking class

customer. Suddenly she called me and told me, this man had to buy some extra foods for this

lunch for his group, and I should go with him to help him. This first seemed kind of strange to

me, but he had told Stephie, that he had already talked to the manager, which is her brother(he wasnt there at that time), and that everything was planned like this etc. He also knew alot

about our products and foods and seemed to be a well-known customer, almost like a good

friend. All doubts swept away Stephie gave him $ 40,- and we were about to leave to do the

shopping. Then she called me back to give me her cell phone, so she could call me. Then we

left. The man stopped a taxi and we stepped in. As soon as the taxi drove off, the man asked

me for the cell phone I had with me, he wanted to make a call... Since Stephie had manifested

so much trust in this man, as if he would be a well-known friend, I was just giving him the

phone. But then suddenly a very strong sense of danger came upon me and I realized that I

was completely at the mercy of this man: I dont speak the language, I didnt have any money

with me, I didnt have the cell phone anymore, sitting in a taxi with this stranger, and he could

take me wherever he wanted and do with me whatever he wanted. I started praying intensely

for protection and wisdom what to do, and the Lord gave me the assurance that angels would

be with me to protect me. In the meantime I asked the man to return me the cell phone, but he

pretended he would still need it to call somebody. He realized that I was sensing some danger

and tried to make me feel calm and safe. But this only confirmed me, because why should he

try to make me feel safe if there would not be a reason for feeling unsafe? Even the taxi driver

understood that something was not going right, for he eyed

that man several times very suspiciously. Then the man

stopped the taxi and told us to wait for him while he woulddo the shopping. Before he left I again asked the cell phone

back, but he refused to give it to me and left. We waited for

a long time, but he didnt come back. Then the taxi driver

told me, he would bring me back to the restaurant. Back at

the restaurant everything was in a state of agitation. Stephie

almost cried when she saw me being back. Right after I had

left, she also had experienced a strong sense of danger, and

she immediately tried to call me on her cell phone, but no-

body answered. She tried it again and again, nobodyanswering. Then she knew that something was going

wrong. They prayed to the Lord to protect me, and her

TypicalTypical Ecuador brother, who had come in the meantime, went in his car to

search for me. But where to find me in such a big city? We all were utterly thankful to the

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Lord for His protection and care. Later on as I was thinking about this incident I wondered

why this man wanted to take me with him, if he just wanted to steal the money Stephie gave

him for the shopping. For sure he didnt take me with him only because of the cell phone,

since we almost left without it, and Stephie had to call me back in order to give it to me. I am

convinced that this was an attack from Satan to hinder me doing any more service for the

Lord after I had attacked his kingdom that previous Sabbath, and that this man planned to

come back, but that an angel of the Lord kept him long enough for me to return to the

restaurant. God in His mercy lifted up a standard against the enemy and brought me back

home without any harm.

The next Sabbath I should go back to the same church to have the Sabbathschool again. The

plan was to go together with Stephie and another friend to spend the Sabbath in this church.

On Sabbath morning Stephie got up kind of early and told me, we would need to leave around

8 am to be there on time (normally 9 am is more

time than enough to get there on time). So

everything seemed to be going well. But when Iknelt down to pray in the morning the Lord told

me that Satan would try to hinder me coming to

the church on time for Sabbathschool. This

seemed very unlikely to me, since we planned to

leave so early. Nevertheless I prayed that God

would protect us on the way and that He would

not suffer Satan to keep me from doing the

Sabbathschool. By 8 am I was ready to leave,

when Stephie told me, the plans had changed, View upon Quitothey would leave at 8:45. This was still plenty of time to get to church on time. But her friend,

who should pick us up arrived late, by 9 am. Still time enough. But Stephie had to pass by her

apartment to take some things with her. While driving there she and her friend got into a

conflict with each other. We ended up with Stephie having to drive me to the church and then

return. It was 9:15 when we finally left from her home. Now it was sure we would come a

little late, but since they have a long songservice in that church I should still be able to be

there on time. But then we got stuck in a traffic jam. The precious minutes were passing by

while we were slowly creeping forward. I was praying to the Lord to not let Satan be

triumphant. Finally we arrived at the church, at 9:50, about half an hour late. And praise the

Lord, the church members just divided into the different groups for Sabbathschool. I was just

on time.

Since that time I had to do the Sabbathschool every Sabbath, in which I shared different

studies. Also during the afternoon program I often presented some studies.

One Sabbath I was not able to go to this church. During the week I had been on the farm,

which is almost 2 hours by car from that church, and I also planned to stay the weekend there,

when a family of that church called me. They wanted to come for the weekend and spend the

Sabbath with me to have some more biblestudies. So they came and we had a wonderful

Sabbath together studying the Bible.

Just a few more days, and I will soon be leaving this beautiful country. But the time here was

a very blessed and instructive period, and I am very thankful for what the Lord has been doing

and teaching me. O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. Ps.

51:15