SUMMER RECAP!

Hello hello dear family and friends!!

It has been a WHILE. Things have been so fun and so busy this summer! Starting in late April up until a few days ago, we had about 15 different guests staying with us here in Cuenca and it was so sweet to share ministry and culture with some of our dearest people! We had all of Claire's siblings and her sister in-law's sister, her cousins Jacci and Jakob, then some of Rory's best friends, his mom, and some people from our church in Phoenix! In the middle of that, we took a little hiatus for 3 different weddings in three different states! Colorado, California, and Idaho! Some of our best friends got married and it was so special to get to celebrate them. Claire was in all 3 of the weddings and it worked out perfectly that they were each a week apart! One of the weddings was Rory's sister Meli and so we got to see all our family from Colombia as well. We also have an exciting new ministry partner after our trip to Denver: hopefully we will be able to tell you more soon!

Health Update: Thank you to those who have been praying for Claire's lung infection! We thought she was finished with her anti-fungal treatment, but after seeing her Infectious Disease doctor this summer in California, we were informed she would need 3 more months of treatment because of the continued presence of fungus in her blood. Please pray that this is the last bit of treatment, as it causes her to be immunocompromised and she falls sick very frequently.

We are so happy to be home and back in our rhythm after such a full summer of medical brigades, ministry events, and weddings! Here are some of the sweet things we have been working on!

YOUNG LIFE (VIDA JOVEN) ECUADOR!

We have been having a great time partnering with Young Life! This ministry is just starting to pick up in Ecuador and we got connected with the leader in our area and have been supporting her and her husband as much as possible! We helped them fundraise for camp and we also helped direct and work the camp! It was crazy! Marcela, her husband, our friend Caro, and Rory and I basically put the entire camp on. It was a ton of work but it was so awesome to see how they do things here and we got to watch the Lord work in such cool ways. We did lots of skits, activities, small group time, and worship.

Fundraising for camp! Yard Sale style!

All our campers learning paintball rules!

Wilson sharing his testimony!

Our team!! We wrangled our friends Simone, Abby, and Megan to come work with us!

Operation Christmas Child Event

We ended up having quite a few Christmas boxes and books left over after our big event, so we decided to throw another party for some kids at an afterschool program. We had food, danced, played games, and shared the gospel with the kids! Afterwards we were able to give them the boxes and it was so special.

These girls helped me blow up all these balloons! They were so helpful and joyful!

Another special piece of this event is that we knew all these kids very well. We have been providing tutoring and spending a lot of time at this facility. The goal is to keep the kids from dropping out of school to help their families collect recycling and to break the cycle of poverty in this community.

Getting to give these boxes and give the message of Jesus to these kiddos was just spectacular and really super emotional. Thankful to be here and get to be doing life with them. God opens such amazing doors for ministry.

We even got to go support them in their school presentation with folkloric dance and music and seeing their faces light up to have us simply cheering in the crowd was so sweet. Someone donated a bunch of kids bibles and we were able to hand those out as well!

HOME CHURCH

SO much spiritual growth happening in our home church. It is beautiful and wild and messy and good. Keep praying for this gang!!

Studying the word of God in Mark together. Eating together. Laughing together and crying together.

More precious than gold.

Church Planting and Worship Team

Huge exciting development: we helped plant a church!!! Arco Lagos! With staff and volunteers and leaders from Arco Center, we were able to open a new branch of the church in a different part of town and it has been AMAZING watching God work. Our first sunday we had over 500 people attending and worshipping Jesus. So many people accepted Christ and are continuing to months later! I (Claire) also stepped onto the leadership team of Worship Ministry and that has been so rewarding, getting to worship in Spanish, help run rehearsal and pour into my team. The power of worship is alive and well in Ecuador!

College Ministry - Garden City

The college ministry we started had a great summer! We did a karaoke night, trivia, the amazing race, a field day, and dance classes! It has been such a success, with so many new people coming, joining home churches and finding Christian community here. We are excited to see what is in store as school starts up again. We are hoping to get on college campuses and run events with them as well! Please pray over this ministry, as we have experienced a bit of resistance and spiritual warfare within the community.

Rory is the best trivia host!!

Trivia winners with some great prizes!

SO MANY PEOPLE for the Amazing Race!

Dance classes were such a hit! Our friends from church are professional dancers and taught the class! They are a married couple and did such an incredible job.

Jungle Brigade April

Went down to the jungle with the crew and saw lots of patients and had a grueling 2 hour drive on a rocky dirt road to and from our sleeping arrangements to our work site. Rory didn't get to come with me on this one because he had to pick up people from Guayaquil, the coastal town with the international airport closest to Cuenca. We saw lots of patients, did education, wound care, and lots of evangelism.

Jungle Brigade July

This brigade was EXTRA special because Claire's brother Connor and his wife Breanne came with us and helped provide medical care! Our friend Abby, who is a nurse, also came and was a huge help. Bree is a registered dietician and Connor is a PA! They came and lived with us for 2 months this summer and were so amazing to have around. Connor was a provider for this trip with Rory translating for him and Bree worked in the pharmacy and provided nutrition counseling! Praise the Lord for helping hands and the best family ever.

Mountain Medical Brigade - June - Azogues, Ecuador

This medical brigade was with Global Health Outreach and Claire's little brother Kyle got to be with us for this one, along with Bree and Connor! Kyle had the hardest job of all. He set up a kids waiting area for all the kids of patients while their parents were getting dental extractions and other procedures. Kyle literally wrangled these kids, told them about jesus, and came up with games for them for 10 hours a day all week. He is a saint. He learned how to make balloon animals just for them! I couldn't be more proud. SO patient and loving. Breanne did nutricion counseling and it was HUGE for our diabetic and hypertension patients. Even the staff and volunteers would go sit with her and ask for counseling! She did amazing. Connor did an AMAZING job as a provider. He was so thorough, kind, and spent time praying for every patient. I have tears in my eyes reminiscing about having all my siblings here, completely in love with Jesus, and dying to themselves daily to serve. Wow.

Medical Inventory twice, but this time with help from Connorrrrrr!!! Wooohooo!!!

This past spring semester, we had about 20 exchange students from Taylor University studying here! Rory and I lead devotionals for them and hosted a worship night for them at our house. It felt so good to worship in English. They were such an awesome team and we miss them!

Sports Ministry & Basketball Camp in Manta

Rory has been working so hard with sports ministry! Below is his league team for basketball and it has been so cool to watch him minister to these guys and be a light on the court. Watching him play with integrity is beautiful, especially his ability to apologize when he isn't perfect. Such an awesome example.

Rory also helped run a basketball camp with the Dordt team and our friend Shane's ministry, Identity Hoops International. Rory worked so hard translating and sharing and working! We loved making relationships with the players and watching them serve the community and change the game of basketball for these kids.

Below: Our old friend from our home church moved to Manta and it was such a sweet reunion!! Javier, we miss you!

Photo Updates!!

Sunrise prayer and worship with our youth team <3

Abby and our local Ecuadorian Indiana Jones at his dusty bookstore!

Claire sang at someone's wedding from church and so we all got to stay and celebrate!

Our friend Joha from home church brought her whole family over and they cooked us a traditional Ecuadorian fish soup, Encebollado!! Ecuadorians say you are supposed to eat this soup when you are hungover. It is salty and delicious.

Feliz Cumpleanos Steve!

Day at the waterfalls then parrilladas with family and friends <3

Rory serving at the Father Daughter cowboy dinner with his little friend Bella :)

Rory is a celebrity here. Everywhere we go, little old ladies want pictures with him. It is so freaking cute.

Intense spikeball tournament with Kyle in the park by our house in the freezing cold barefoot!

Took Kyle trail riding and he was a natural!

Our friend Tigler stopped by on his solo travel trip and it was the best!

Corpus Cristi! Celebrating Jesus's body Catholic style with candy and parades and fireworks!

The most STUNNING folkloric dance performance featuring our friends from home church!

Simone, our Italian Stallion, went back to Italy. This was his goodbye lunch. We miss him so so so much.

O"KEEFES FOREVER

Cuenca always wins when we attend the games. Obviously.

Jacci and Jakob, our sweet cousins more like siblings, dressed Cuencano style!

fruit :)

Carrying our old dog Grandpa to the market

kids + llamas = love

Alrighty, that's all for now!! I promise it won't be so long before the next newsletter! We just get caught up in life, you know how it goes :)

Love you all. Thank you for constantly praying and supporting. Without going into detail, there has been some really hard things behind the scenes here with our community, including domestic violence, rape, and stealing. We would ask that you pray even harder over these situations, that the devil would not get a foothold, and for God to redeem these dark places. For wisdom for Rory and I as we navigate, and for safety for us and our community.

We also ask that you pray for us for continued financial provision in this next year of ministry, as support is transitioning without those who only committed for a year. Thank you all for your generousity and allowing us to serve God's kingdom full time here in Ecuador. Don't hesitate to reach out, we love sharing about what God is doing here.

May the Lord bless you and keep you,

Rory and Claire Angulo

Carnaval, Canar, and Cuenca Football!

(this is a long one, brace yourselves)

CARNAVAL!

Back in the swing of things!! These past few months have been filled to the brim with ministry, fun, and such sweet fellowship with our community. We got to celebrate Carnaval together for the first time and it was a blast! Carnaval is a national holiday in many South American countries, signifying the last big party before Lent (fasting before Easter) begins. Here in Ecuador, it is essentially an all out prank war with water, flour, eggs, foam, etc. Everything is closed for 5 days and everyone spends time throwing parties and spending time with loved ones! You really have to watch your back though, everyone is armed with squirt guns to spray you at any moment. Walking to the market, or even driving in your car with the window down.... no one is safe. We learned that the hard way when someone with deadly aim threw a bucket of water into our car at a stop sign. Ecuador is wild.

One of the many parties we went to was a pool party! It's pretty special to have a pool in Cuenca, and we played pool games all day long with some of our favorite families and kids! We are so blessed with the community we have here. People are so generous and make us feel like family everytime there is a holiday! Our amazing friends, the Orellana's, hosted us several times during Carnaval!

Our dear friends Deanna and Klever hosted the kick-off for the festivities! We ate amazing food, played games, swam in the river, had a nerf war, and pelted each other with water balloons, foam, and freezing cold water! Pictured to the left is me in the Carnaval throne. Everyone had to take a turn getting drenched! So much fun.

We had the best time celebrating with everyone and felt so loved and included!! Ecuadorians are the most welcoming of all time. Award winning.

CANAR!

We got to do a super cool trip to Canar to share the gospel, bring food and clothes, prayer, and visit an elderly home. It was so special! Canar is a beautiful mountain town about an hour from Cuenca. The view is amazing, so green and luscious! It is home to some very famous Incan ruins as well!

We premade lunches and brought Bibles and coloring books and clothes for families in the area. People came by and would get lunch, and we'd invite them to sit with us and we would pray for them and tell them about Jesus. SO many people heard the gospel and accepted Christ. It was incredible! Rory spoke in front of all of them and did an AMAZING job. He is so good at leading people to Christ.

Rory telling people about the love of Christ <3

Rory praying over some of the people from Canar!

Claire entertaining squirrely kids

We then went to an elderly home and spend time with the residents there! They were so extremely precious with so much joy and laughter to share. It was such a blessing to spend time with them! I met a sweet blind lady who loved to sing, and she sang for me with all her heart and it was so so cool. What a gift!

Our friend Tony was a hit with this group of ladies!

Me and my songbird friend <3

HOME VISITS!

We got to do some really special home visits this month with a few refugee families! We are currently working on helping these families with medical appointments, finding jobs, meeting physical needs like food and clothing, and getting them plugged in with church into community and counseling sessions! Please be praying for all these things for these families!!

Pictured first is the Martinez family. Their oldest daughter just had her quinceanera! They are a sweet married couple with 5 kids (1 not pictured). Please be praying for the mother's health, and that she would get hired at a hair salon soon! Her husband works at the market, and is praying for consistent work to support the family.

Second: The Estrada family! Boy, do these sweet people love Jesus so much. We are working on getting them family vitamins and prenatals for the mom's sister, who is pregnant with her second child! Please pray over her pregnancy and that they would recieve blessing from the Lord.

Third: Our sweet friend Ms. Perez! She is a single mom of 3 kids and is an incredible caretaker. She works as a maid and recently fell off a motorcycle and broke her left arm in 3 different places. She needs major reconstructive surgery. HUGE prayer request, that we could find a doctor willing to operate and the funds to pay for this surgery so she can go back to work to support her family, and be able to hold her baby with both arms again.

Let's Talk!

We are still continuing our free language classes! It's been such a fruitful way to meet people and bring them into church! A few weeks ago I had the immense pleasure of teaching my friend Maria Gracia, who just graduated MED SCHOOL (a queen!) a whole bunch of medical terms in English to prepare for her residency in Hungary! She is so smart and it was so fun to hole up in a conference room and teach medical terms! She reports back that she is doing so well in her rotation and continuing to practice her terms.

Grinding away at those medical terms!

Teaching my Advanced English group!

Random Insert: I did her make-up for her graduation ceremony! She is STUNNING!

Medical Stuff!

We just got a bunch of medication donated to Manos Ministry, so we made a make-shift free pharmacy! We take people's prescriptions when they can't afford medications and see if we can fill them with our new stash! It has already been a huge blessing.

Taking inventory, checking expiration dates, classifying and organizing our pharmacy!

I also got called in to scribe for a liver specialist who was doing free ultrasounds for the community. He saw so many patients, it was a major deal!

Operation Christmas Child and Recyclers Foundation!

As you know we have been working with these students all years and sharing the gospel with them! This week is SO EXCITING because we are throwing a carnival for the kids and their families and giving them the Compassion boxes! They are going to be so stinking excited and I am going to weep. Praise God for the generousity of his people and that he leaves the 99 for the 1. Wow.

Sharing bible stories

Boys rough-housing while Erika is leading a game!

Edie momming it up!

Picked up the boxes for Operation Christmas Child!

NEW YOUNG ADULTS GROUP!

PLEASE pray for our new young adults group! It is being launched this month and is an outreach program! We are teaching our existing young adults how to share the gospel well, then creating a space for them to invite non-believers into a fun, non-intimidating environment to fellowship with other believers and hopefully come to know the Lord and be more comfortable in the church! Rory did an awesome job sharing tools and we are starting off strong with a Karaoke Night!!! So excited for this to be established!

Photo Updates!!!

This is when there is too much to write about so we switch to photos and captions :)))

Rory teaching people how to share the gospel more effectively and teaching them how to share their testimonys!

The whole gang eating some cuy (guinea pig) for dinner!

If you don't eat street dawgs after worship night, you should.

VAMOS CUENCA! High stakes futball game with our besties. We won ;)

Our Italian birthday boy! Simone is the best!

Date night with my favorite person of all time.

just happy :)

My birthday girl Belen! She is a dear friend and is also my swim coach and trail riding buddy! Veronica and I took her out for a birthday breakfast!

Riding in Cajas with Belen and Tony! Tony fell off his horse 3 times dude.

Market day! Cool fish.

Breakfast again with Simone and Tony! After swim practice, so you know it was divine.

Tony came to swim practice with me. He hated it, rightfully so. I have been training with my friend Belen (ParaOlympian!) to rehabilitate my lungs! Its been so hard. Swimming at altitude is no joke.

My cute friend Katie! She is an exchange student from Indiana and I love her! We were playing soccer with some kids and I punted a kid in the face and she punted the ball into the street. We are quite the pair.

Praying for our friends the Orellanas. Our friend Tony lived with them for a month and they really all became family. They are the best. Tony left back to Washington and everyone is so sad:(

Rosa, our adorable facilities lady at church, built a house with her husband! They had been living in a shed for 20 years. We had a housewarming party and it was BEAUTIFUL.

Cute girls & cute llama.

We just got back from such a sweet visit to Phoenix and our home church, Living Streams. Seeing all of you was so life-giving and we feel so blessed to have such a steadfast, loyal team at our backs lifting us up and supporting us through thick and thin. What an amazing example of the body of Christ you are to us. We love you and feel so undeserving.

If you made it this far, you rock. I'm impressed.

Lots of love,

Rory and Claire Angulo

We are back!

Rory and I are beyond excited to be back in Ecuador after so much craziness!! If you didn't know already, I (Claire) have been sick for about 3 months with histoplasmosis. It is a fungal infection of the lungs caused by inhaling fungal spores found in bat feces. On our last medical brigade in the jungle, almost our entire team came down with this illness and it became pretty serious for everyone. Several of us were hospitalized and underwent invasive diagnostic procedures as well. Long story short, after a lung biopsy, PICC line and strong infusions, thoracentesis, and many booked and rebooked flights, we are finally home in Ecuador. I am feeling much better and am slowly adjusting to the altitude here! I only need supplemental oxygen and have just been cleared to start exercising. I will finish my anti-fungal medication regimen in May! We felt so blessed to have some time at home with family and friends, especially during the holidays that we were expecting to spend in Ecuador, even though the circumstances weren't ideal. A hidden gift to be sure! But we are praising the Lord to be back here with our people with renewed strength and resolve. Thank you so much to everyone who supported us during that difficult season of life, through prayer, food, encouragement, etc. And thank you to those who have stood by our side financially and faithfully during this period of waiting and unknown. We love you all so much.

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Now for some fun updates!! We have really dived straight back into the swing of things and it has been so wonderful. I'm going to try to keep this update less words and more pictures since there is a lot to share.

The best welcome home committee! You can't imagine the joy we felt getting to see our Capaldi Family!!

Started off with a bang! Anghelina's 10th birthday party! <3

We have some really special YWAM missionaries with us this month and they have been such a joy. This was a lunch we hosted at church for the staff of the Recycler's Kids Foundation! As mentioned previously, they provide tutoring, enrichment activities, social work resources, counseling, food, and most importantly let us come and share the gospel with their students! This staff is incredible and have dedicated their lives to breaking the cycle of poverty and lack of education for this group of people. This lunch was to show our appreciation for them and care for them the way they care for so many.

A new ministry we have been working on is called "Let's Talk" and it has been super successful so far! We offer free language class/practice to all levels and ages on Friday nights! It's been bringing new people into the building and we have gotten to know so many awesome people, inviting them to home church and they have really become so close. We have English, Spanish, German, and Italian speakers helping out! We play conversation games, pictionary, charades, and people have been really learning and enjoying the fellowship. So cool!

Rory and a prayer team with Manos ministry all went to the hospital and spent time praying over patients, medical staff, and family members waiting in the lobby. The Lord totally used them to encourage and love on everyone in that building and there were many people that came to know Christ. They handed out food as well!

We also helped Manos (our church's refugee ministry) host this garage sale to fundraise to buy more food bags! It is pretty difficult to shop second-hand here because people just fix their clothes instead of buying new, so offering donated clothes at a cheap price is a huge blessing! The Lord absolutely multiplied the money we earned and SO many people came!

This sweet elderly couple came to the garage sale! Rory has been helping them buy their medicine and is currently trying to get them into an assisted living. We met them through one of our social work home visits!

This is our good friend Franklin who is in our home church! He is from Venezuela and was able to get help from Manos for food and hygiene supplies!

Rory is SO AWESOME and started teaching an evangelism class on Wednesdays! He originally presented his class to the pastors of our church during a meeting and they were like, "Every group at our church needs to have these tools for sharing the gospel!" So this week Rory started with the counseling team!! They learned how to more effectively share the gospel and were able to put it into practice as well. SO cool to know that every staff group and congregation group will now know how to share Jesus's love in a really effective, easy way. Rory rocks.

Fun Photo Updates:

I hosted a girls night and this is the only photo I got-- Belen trying on Rory's huge shoes!!

Rory speaking at a worship night :)

Rory is 10/10 stoked to have someone else tall to play basketball with! The other guys always make Tony guard Rory now!

Wednesdays are for the girls! I bring nail polish to the kids club and we paint nails and talk about life. It rocks.

Took the team to Gualaceo and we spent the morning at a special needs school! We shared the gospel with them and made lunch for the staff & students! It was so special and the kids were so awesome to be with. Such joy!

Silly Update: Foster Dog Edition

Meet Grandpa!! He wandered into our church a few weeks ago and was unconscious in the entry way. An amazing woman volunteered to pay for all the vet bills if someone would foster him, so now we have Grandpa :) He is so old, sleeps all the time, wants so many cuddles and doesn't care about food or walks. He is the gentlest, sweetest guy. This is Rory taking him out for a walk. We got about 30 steps before Grandpa stubbornly refused to move... We are working on this. He has already made major progress! He brings a lot of joy to all the people that are constantly at our house!

Pictured below: Our first Ecuadorian Rodeo! So much fun to go with our new friends from France and support our psuedo-cousin Pedro :)

The sweet YWAM team made us dinner at our house to thank us and love on us and it was such a fun, special night! Super thankful for them. They leave this week to another city a little farther north and will be missed.

If you made it this far, THANK YOU!!!

I cannot begin to express out gratitude for the constant prayer and support we have recieved. It is so precious to be back with new tenacity and a new appreciation for our home here. The Lord has blessed us so much and we know a huge piece of that is through the body of Christ- YOU. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much.

Love,

The Angulo Family