Week 32

This last weekend was our final retreat. We traveled together to a town called Banos. We had group events but also plenty of free time to play. Banos is one of the major tourist towns in Ecuador and there are many fun things to do there. Our students did everything from renting ATVs and bungee jumping to hiking near waterfalls and relaxing by the pool. We ended our weekend with one last community communion service. It was a great weekend.









The other photos I am including are also from last weekend. Before we left for retreat we all went out for ice cream and ice-skating. We had a great night the Minnesota kids pulling everyone else around on the ice and then starting a snowball fight with the shavings for the skates. We stood out just a little!




Yesterday and today family and friends started arriving for our commencement weekend. I will update this blog one more time after the weekend is over.

Blog fans of the week: Anders and Kristen (for your many words of wisdom)

Photos: Kira, Bob and Mandy riding on top of a bus called a Chiva to the top of one of the mountains surrounding Banos; Karianne being a part of a flame throwing show that we saw (no one was hurt); Alex, Peter, Elle, and Elin doing a skit about the year during one of our night sessions; one of the waterfalls we hiked to (if you look closely you can see people on the look-out points, they are all students, and this gives a good perspective of how large this waterfall is); we went across the gorge in a basket/cable-car thing and this is it going; Hannah, Luke, Tyler and John pretending to be afraid of the basket ride; John on a large tire swing that we found; Greta, Elle and Elin getting excited about skating; Mary, Hannah and Ellen showing off their Minnesota skating skills; Azurlee, Anna and Tess forming a train

Week 31

This was a week of last for CBCE…it was our last week of classes and finals. It was also our last week of doing our children’s ministries. We made all of our kids tee-shirts and gave them a little treat and then said (a very tearfull) goodbye. One thing that made leaving each of these sites a little easier is that in the last few weeks people have stepped up to take over each of our three ministry sites. So, we will be leaving them all in the hands of Ecuadorian churches, which is very exciting. This weekend we will leave for our last retreat and then family and friends of our students and CBCE will start arriving next week to take part in our commecement programs. We should be keeping quite busy!








Prayer: Safe travel for our community and for those that are traveling to see us. For Michael Bachman, who was able to come back for a few weeks when his mother’s health seemed to stabalize but who has now returned home again because last week she lost her battle with cancer.

Staff Profiles:
The professor staff profiles can be found on our website www.covenantbiblecollege.com (under CBCE and then “the team”).

There is one other couple on staff that run the office and property (and everything in between). They are Andy and Jenell Pluim. They are from a small town near Edmonton, AB, Canada and have lived here in Ecuador for the last seven years. Before that they were farmers in Alberta and they will be returning to Alberta following this school year to return to their farm and be near their kids and grandkids (“ the cutest kids in the world”).


Photos: The group at Las Palmeras with thier shirts on; Kira with some of the kids in La Merced; kids at La Merced; Mandy saying goodbye to one of the kids at Las Palmeras; one of the other kids from Las Palmeras; Molly with one of the kids from La Montana; another kid from La Montana; Pluims (during Kids College)

Week 30

This was the last week of regular classes and next week will be a mix of classes and finals. We are starting to have a lot of lasts. We have community worship together twice a week and because we are getting close to the end of the year this last Thursday we did a bit different. We all went up to the cross on one of the hills that over looks La Merced and we had a time of worship through music and then prayed a prayer of blessing over the town and the people that have blessed CBC over the last seven years. It was a very sweet time and all of the mountains that surround our valley were out and beautiful.


This was also the last full weekend off because we leave for our final retreat next weekend and the students took full advantage of it. One group traveled to Mindo (a city in a cloud forest), another group climbed one of the local mountains (Corazon), another group went on the train ride to Cotopaxi park (you get to ride on the top of the train) and hiked near the Illiniza Norte and Illiniza Sur (two other mountians), and other group went hiking closer to La Merced all day.







Prayer: Please be keeping the students in prayer as they finish up their classes (finals are Thursday and Friday).

* To these students and their parents I am very sorry that they were not previously profiled. *

Student Profiles:
Name: Alexis Bevan
Age: 20
Home Town: Breton, AB
Hobbies: Outdoor activities and writing
Favorite thing about CBC: Friends, the classes and the scenery
Future Plans: Studying journalism at SAIT in Calgary, AB


Name: Azurlee Bevan
Age: 23
Home Town: Breton, AB
Hobbies: Hanging out with family and friends and outdoor activities
Favorite thing about CBC: Living in a new culture and classes
Future Plans: Return to working as an RN in Alberta.


Name: Ellen Peterson
Age: 20
Home Town: St Paul, MN
Hobbies: Tree-hugging, music, hiking
Favorite thing about CBC: Being in Ecuador and the people here
Future Plans: Attending Concordia University, St Paul


Photos: The whole group worshiping around the cross; Our group praying over La Merced; Greta, Alexis, Mary and Hannah at Corazon; The group climbing Corazon; Cassie, Micah, Shane and Alex at the summit of Corazon; Holly, Azurlee, Kira, Mandy, Holly and Annalea at the Illinizas; the group hiking around the Illinizas; Alexis; Azurlee; Ellen

Week 29 - Part B

Part B
As promised, we are featuring photos from this past weekend of adventures. Most of the students traveled around Ecuador. We had a group go to Tena (a jungle town) where they went rafting and did other water sports.


We had a group go to Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador and the most colonial city. We had a group go the beach and sit in the sun all weekend.


We also has a group go to Mindo, a town that is in a cloud forest. They all had a great weekend!

Photos: Cuenca; Mandy, Alexis and Tess in front of some ruins; a bridge in Tena; the girls that went to Tena (Holly, Natalie, Cassie, Heidi, Elle, Jenni); Anna and Molly on the beach; Happy Easter from the sunny beaches of Ecuador

* This next week we will have more staff profiles as well as two students profiles...I am very sorry Bevans.

Week 29 - Part A

Part A
This is going to be another two-part week because most of the students are traveling this weekend for our Easter break and there will be photos and stories of that coming in the next few days.

We had classes and ministries as normal this week through Thursday. On Thursday we had a Holy Week service and our cooks prepared traditional Ecuadorian Easter food (it is a soup that had twelve grains in it as well as many other things). Then the students had a free day from classes because of the Easter weekend.





A group of us stayed around campus and tried to take part in the local traditions of Holy Week here in Quito. On Thursday we went to a concert, on Friday we went to the Good Friday parade, and on Sunday we went to a charity bullfight.




Photos: Ellen and Kira with their kids at the La Merced ministry site; Alexis with some more of the kids; The Good Friday parade (it is filled with men wearing purple or dressed as Jesus and carrying crosses); Part of our group at the parade (Andrew, Kria, Annalea, Luke and Kylene); The bull fight; The "Adventure Squad" (the people who stuck around all weekend and went on random adventures including the bull fight) - Laura, Kylene, Holly, Elin, Andrew, Luke, Kira, Azurlee and Annalea

Week 28

This week was sort of a wacky week. Classes were all changed around due to the professors being out of town on different days, and because Tuesday was one of our all day ministry days for the term. We spent the day with the children from a local orphanage called For His Children. Part of our group took their toddlers to the Quito zoo for the morning and the other half of the group stayed behind to hold babies. It was a fun day of hanging out with little kids, going for walks with them, feeding them and helping to put them down for a nap. The students are still well into the traveling mode, but this weekend seemed to take a little break as the students spent most of the weekend studying and writing papers. There were several groups that got away for a night or two in Quito, and a group of adventurous guys who spent a cold cramped night on the side of a mountain. Today was the begining of Holy Week. There are things going on all week long in Quito, so today a couple of us went into old town and marched in the Palm Sunday parade, it was a fun and exciting clture experience.








Prayer for this week… This is a heavy week for papers, so prayer for motivation and the ability to stay awake and focus in class. Pray for safety as the students set out to explore the rest of Ecuador over our long weekend for Easter. Prayer for finishing well.

Staff Profiles: The Deans
Name: Andrew Harvey
Age: 27
Home Town: Fort Collins, CO
Education: CBCE, Bachelor of Art in Philosophy from Colorado State University
Future Plans: Moving to Vancouver, British Columbia and attending Regent Seminary in the fall.


Name: Annalea Egging
Age: 25
Home Town: Portland, OR
Education: CBCE, Bachelor of Science in Nursing from North Park University
Future Plans: Moving to either Bellingham, WA or Denver, CO and working as a labor and delivery nurse


Name: Holly Slattery
Age: 25
Home Town: Elk Mound, WI
Education: CBC Colorado, Bachelors of Science in Physical Education from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Future Plans: Moving back to Wisconsin and teaching physical education.


Name: Luke Oliver
Age: 24
Home Town: Winthrop, WA
Education: Bachelor of Art in Bible from Westmont University
Future Plans: Moving to Dallas, TX, getting married in January and then moving to Scotland to attend seminary.



*Our lives are fairly up in the air and so those future “plans” may change at any moment. We are hoping to be doing whatever God plans for us next.


Blog Fan of the week: Jane Auger
Thanks Jane for your years of supporting CBC and our blog.


Photos: Natalie and Child at For his Children; Shane (Cassie in Background); Girls at Orphange (Left to right: Anna, Becky (Mary's sister), Mary, Hannah (Standing), Mandy, Laura, Wagon, Molly (standing), Heidi); Laura and Heidi; Tyler at Zoo; Tess; Palm Sunday Parade; Andrew (w/ Wendy); Annalea; Holly (w/ Sheila, and Mary); Luke.