We have a building!

Dear friends and family, 

The past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind for us!  We had a surprise visit from a friend, Vic Connor, in March.  He was with us for around a week and we had a lovely time being able to show him our town and parts of our province, and for him to be able to see a little slice of what our lives here look like. Thank you for coming, Vic!  After Vic went back to the USA, it was crunch time for the church building project.  

Welding the pulpit platform the day before the inauguration!

We had (probably a little crazy) plans to be able to use the building for the first service on Resurrection Sunday as a grand opening.  Andy and the construction crew worked very hard to finish the brick work and some basic lighting to be able to have a functional space.  A few days before Resurrection Sunday we had another arrival of our dear friends Pastor Dave and Jenna Glaub and three of their children.  Andy, Dave, and Charlie (Dave’s son) were able to weld together a platform/pulpit for the church and finished it just in time for our first service!  Together with help from the Glaubs we were able to get everything situated on Sunday morning, and  we are happy to say we had our inaugural service on Resurrection Sunday with around 100 in attendance.  A good number of those people were friends and pastors from other churches who’ve been part of our support system here in Loja province over the last decade.  It was such a joyful moment for us, and we thank the Lord for what He has done to provide in this process!  We could not have gotten this far without all of you, without your prayers and financial support of the work that has happened here in San Pedro.  We are so grateful to the Lord for his provision through all the individuals and churches who’ve made all this possible!  Thank you!!  

The inaugural service on April 20, 2025

Our friends were able to stay with us for around two weeks and we truly loved having them here with us.  I cannot tell you what it means to have people who know you deeply, and have known you through every phase of life, to make the expensive and long journey to be with you and support you when you’re facing such a spiritual battle.  It was a tremendous blessing!  

The church building is still not quite done.  We have workers laying tile right now, and they anticipate that it will only take another few days to finish it all.  They just finished the sanctuary floor and we had our first service with everything essential in the sanctuary done.  This is the first time in 15 years we have had the privilege and opportunity to walk into our own space without having to haul stuff (speakers, microphones, etc.) back and forth from our house before and after service.  We can’t tell you how huge this is.  Bigger than that is the fact that we have a stable place to do ministry and a stable place people in our community can come to hear the gospel.  The church has been slowly, but steadily growing since Resurrection Sunday and it wouldn’t happen without each of you praying, supporting, and giving!  Thanks so much for being a part of changing this part of the world!  

Top to bottom: Family picture on our first service, The finished interior of the sanctuary, Last Sunday's service!

Now we are trying to connect the building to the public sewage system (which has been yet another battle with local government) so that we can have at least one functional bathroom, finding a manufacturer for glass doors/windows, and trying to get the rest of the electricity installed in the church (which will fall directly to Andy).  We do still need to finish other things but these three are the most urgent.  Please pray for favor, once again, with local government for the connection to sewer lines. Also, I ask you all to please pray for Andy.  With no “team” here to help us, all the administration of this stuff falls to him.  He needs prayer for energy, for patience, and for favor.  With his disability, a lot of the physically demanding work of building and installing plumbing and electrical lines has worn on him significantly more than it would another man his age.  Pray that the Lord would help him, and that he would be comfortable delegating some tasks to capable people.  Thanks again for all your prayers and may the Lord be with you all!  

In Christ, 

Priscilla, Andy, and children

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Please send all monetary contributions to:

Acts 1:8 Mission Society

PO Box 212

Harrison, OH 45030.

You can continue to make all checks payable to: “Acts 1:8 Mission Society” with “DVarga” in the memo section (All funds donated in this way will continue to go entirely to the DVarga family AND our mission work in Ecuador and are tax-deductible).

You can also write checks to Priscilla or Andy DVarga with "gift" in the memo section, but you will NOT receive a tax-deductible receipt at the end of the year for funds given this way.

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