New Adventure!

Holding on! we were crossing a river canyon on
cable car. I also thought it was a very good illustration
of what my life is like right now. :o)

Greetings from Ecuador

I’ve been pretty silent on my blog lately. Well, there is a reason for that. I had to get all my ducks in a row as they say before I could publicly announce what is going on.  After 9 years of Mission Corps service it is time to return home.  This was not an easy decision to make and as I am back here in Quito with all the people I work with it is even harder! I do know however that God is moving and I must follow Him! God is giving me the opportunity to return to my home church and minister there!

Someone  asked me the other day, “So, this is the end of your volunteer career, the end of your missionary career?” I answered with a definite “NO!” not in any way.  I will be going home to ‘volunteer’ at my church. And by no means is the door to future missionary service closed.

On my return trip from my first Work and Witness trip God called me to full time ministry with the following verses:

¹² This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³ Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. ¹⁴ And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!  -1 Corithinians 9:12-15

God continues to call me to obedience and this is just the next step in that obedience.

This is where my life gets interesting. I have purchased tickets for March 16^th. Now the packing up 9 years of memories and life into as many suitcases as the airline will let me take! God is so good!!! I already have people willing to take bags back for me! The work and witness team from Nyssa, Or/Caldwell, Id took 5 ½ suitcases back for me. They all safely arrived at Craig and Gail’s house and will actually make it to Oregon before me! I never in a million years would have guessed that it would have worked out that way!  He continues to surprise me with good medical news, a no cavity report from the dentist, and much more.

God Bless you!

Kim Haddon

Home Stays!

This last weekend is one of the favorites for NILIs. They get to spend the weekend with a Ecuadorian Nazarene Pastor's family.  The NILIs leave on Friday night and return on Sunday night.  Part of their 'assignment' for the weekend is to make a typical Ecuadorian dish. It's always fun to hear the stories of how they made their dishes. It is also a eye opening time for the students as they see what it's like to be part of a Ecuadorian Pastor's family.

As I wrote this, I was sitting in my office waiting for all of the host families to come and get their new sons and daughters. The NILIS are always so nervous when they leave but by the time Sunday rolls around they are not ready to come back! They want to stay with their host families. 

It's the same thing that happens when they arrive in Ecuador and  are placed in a room with an Ecuadorian roommate. Everything is new and different and even a little scary. By the time the 15 weeks are over they are so sad to leave all their new friends to go back home.  Don't get me wrong they are excited to return home but they leave a bit of their hearts here in Ecuador.


The students are back now with their typical Ecuadorian dishes. They all had a great time. Some went hiking at 4:30 in the morning, some ate interesting parts of pigs, but all had a marvelous time. We are so grateful to the families who take our students in for the weekend.

Here are some sample pictures of what the students brought:

Ceviche de chochos

Colada Morada - Warm juice drink made out of all sorts of spices and juices!

Fritada - fried pork

Friday, September 24

Happy Friday all!

We are getting ready to leave for the weekend with our NILIs. We are headed to Otavalo to see some more of Ecuadorian culture and to go to one of the largest outdoor markets in South America. It should be a fun weekend.

Well, I have my tickets to come home for Christmas! God worked a miracle. I was looking at tickets that were between $850 and $900.  The last time I looked at frequent flyer miles there were no seats available for the amount of miles we had, for the dates I needed. I decided to look one more time and there were tickets. I was able to book the miles tickets and am on my way home!!!!   The more exciting news for me at least are the dates. I will be in Oregon October 26th through January 11th.  My plan is to substitute teach as much as I can. My account here in Ecuador is a bit in the hole so by coming home early so I can change that.  I look forward to seeing many of you soon.

Please be praying that I can get sub jobs and that God would continue to order my days.

See you soon! :)

Ministry Trip - Fall 2010

We're back from our Ministry trip to Santo Domingo. We had a great time. 


Santo Domingo is about 3 hours west of Quito. It is much warmer there as we were closer to the coast.  The blessing was that is rained and was foggy everyday. I know it sounds strange but because of that the heat was manageable.  God answers our prayers even if it's not in the way we expect. 


We did several things. We shared the Gospel, played with kids, painted a lot, helped build a water tank, the students preformed a drama and sang a song in church, we visited a hacienda and met a lot of amazing people.  I hope you enjoy the pictures I have posted below.  

Sharing the Gospel with the Evanga-ball

Praying with the kids that accepted Christ.

Sometimes we had to be creative with the high spots!

Water Tank

At the Hacienda they had grape tomatoes growing like weeds! that is even what they called them weeds... can you believe it!? I took a whole bag home. 

We truly had a good time being in the 'country' outside of the big city of Quito. God blessed our time working with the people of Santo Domingo!

It's Thursday once again... Blog Day!

Welcome to NILI 9. 

Last Thursday night our new NILI group arrived and we jumped into a new semester. We have 7 students: 4 from George Fox University, 2 from Olivet Nazarene University and 1 from Southern Nazarene University. This is the first time we have had George Fox students with us and it has been really fun. There are not many Pacific Northwesterns around so I have had to explain Tillamook Cheese, the mountains being 'out' and why you would wear your sandals and a parka... but for now I don't have to.  It's been fun! 

Paper work: 

For the start of NILI 9 we usually send out all the visa paperwork to our lawyer and he processes all of it. This semester Jen and I decided to try it on our own. We were able to successfully register all the students visas ourselves... saving time and money. I know unbelievable right? It was very rewarding to be able to accomplish this. 

Visit. 

Last week and this week Gail Zickefoose has been here teaching a class at the seminary. I lived and worked  with Gail and her husband Craig for 7 1/2 years in Venezuela. It has been so wonderful to have her here. She was able to stay in the apartment next to mine and we have spent HOURS just talking. She is really like family to me so to have her visit and be able to share what is going on my life has been so refreshing. God is working in my life I've just been a little resistant to change :o). So being able to talk about it has helped so much. She leaves on Saturday morning... it will be sad but worth it. 

What's next?

We leave next Friday for our ministry trip. We will be travelling about 2 hours to Santa Domingo where we will be working in several churches. 

Please pray for health and travel safety for this trip. Also, that we would be able to encourage the churches we work with and that God would be glorified in ALL we do!