If you like the idea of near-constant 68-degree temperature, amazingly scenic train rides, open-air markets featuring textiles and leather goods, cattle ranches, and mountain climbing, you should visit Riobamba, Ecuador. Located in the Chambo River Valley of the Andes, Riobamba is an important transport center on the Pan-American Highway and home to some 157,000 residents.
Join us in welcoming the Henriquez family as some of the newest residents of Riobamba. Pastor Josué Franco, his wife Yenni, 12-year-old Hanniel Yoselin, and 8-year-old Aarón Franco and their puppy, Gudy, have arrived as missionaries from Venezuela to plant a church. Like most of LOGOI’s National Missionaries, they are supporting themselves with “normal” day jobs.
“We have come to Riobamba to plant a church in an area where there are several universities and many professionals,” Yenni explains. “Josué and I both felt called to work in missions and began working with couples and youth in Venezuela with the Nazarene Church to gain experience and knowledge. We were very excited to receive a call to go to Ecuador to extend God’s work and kingdom in Riobamba.”
“We were thrilled to study LOGOI’s Biblical counseling courses,” Yenni says. “I studied psychology in Venezuela, and part of our ministry is to counsel couples going through difficult times, especially now with Covid so critical here. Churches need trained counselors to care for couples trying to manage their way through diverse problems in their lives.
As the Henriquez family gets settled into their new lives and ministry in Riobamba, they ask for prayers not only for their new work in Ecuador but for their “beloved Venezuela” and the critical ongoing struggles there. “We pray that people will turn to God and find His peace,” Yenni says. They also ask for our prayers for good health so that they may serve others in the midst of the pandemic.
Yenni just recently completed the Biblical Counseling FLET course. Would you take a moment right now and pray for Josué and Yenni? What a privilege to be a part of their ministry to “build up the church, the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). Amazingly, our part costs us $5 per month per national missionary to provide an entire month of free Bible training and resources. Now that is a great investment!
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Your gifts are used to help train and equip national missionaries like Josué &Yenni to help proclaim the Gospel and make disciples all over the Spanish speaking world. Now you know a little more about one of them.