Missionaries are ready to start their new life in Ecuador

Oct 18 2007 By Douglas Dickie, Rutherglen Reformer

A CAMBUSLANG family are preparing to start a new life in South America, working as missionaries.

The five members of the Davies family, of Tanzieknowe Road, are set to up sticks and make for Ecuador to carry out their work.

Husband and wife Steve (42) and Katuska (37), herself an Ecuadorian, will work as teachers at a bible college in the city of Cuenca. Alongside the couple will be their three boys, Samuel (5), Benjamin (3) and Joseph (2).

The family, all members at Burnside/Blairbeth Church, will jet out on November 18 for five years but the trip has been almost as long in planning.

Steve explained: “The preparation has built up over several years and now it’s finally happening.

“These things take a long time to organise. We have been preparing fully now for two years and much of that has been taken up by fundraising. The way these things work is we raise money through a missionary agency which is an actual charity and that is our living costs. It comes to about £25,000 a year and you need to get it all before you start.

“We have had one or two events to raise money but they were fairly small-scale. The main thing has been donations from other churches.

“There is a lot of talking and travelling involved to get this up and running.”

The work will see Stevie and Katuska training church ministers in the South American country. Teaching is something Stevie will be used to as that is his profession. He will also be able to call on experience as assistant pastor at Burnside/Blairbeth.

Katuska is a trained computer engineer and is currently working in the finance sector.

The work will be organised, a far cry for some images of missionaries filling a variety of roles in a community.

Steve said: “We have a specific target which will see us both lecturing in a bible college. It’s not vague and it’s something we have had in mind all along.”

Situated in the Andes, Cuenca is Ecuador’s third-largest city. It is well known for its traditional atmosphere with cobbled streets and white-washed buildings.

The three Davies kids will be placed in school in the city but with a mixed upbringing the trio are bound to fit in quickly as the parents have brought them up to speak both English and Spanish.

And Stevie says it’s a journey the whole family are looking forward to. “The kids are really excited,” he said. “Katuska speaks Spanish to them and we try to make it 50-50 between that and English so they all understand everything that is said to them in Spanish, although their English is better as they hear more of that.

“I have been to Ecuador a couple of times, although oddly enough, I met Katuska here in Glasgow. We went back there to get married on her territory.”

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