November 2026

News:

• The McGalliard's: It is with great sadness, but understanding that we announce that Mike and Jeannie had to step away from serving Pate Ministries as missionaries to take care of family members. They are in hopes to return in a year. They were a great help to us and the ministry. They will be greatly missed.
• Mission Intern - just in the nick of time: At our medical clinic, a Brazilian gentleman walked in that only spoke Portuguese. No problem, our intern, Noah Wooten from the Gainesville, Florida area had just arrived via a mission internship in Brazil to work Pate Ministries for six weeks, speaks Portuguese. What a God thing! We are so glad to have this young man join us.
• Bible Clubs:
• Coastal Bible Clubs: One door closed, another door opens: The town we live in has moved us out of the locations provided for our Bible club four times. Last couple of weeks in October we had to meet outside in the street, but the rain prevented further outdoor clubs. Since the leaders would not help us with a new location, another village that has requested a Bible club in their community graciously, with one day notice, provided us a place to meet and over 80 kids showed up for our first Bible club in Libertador Boulievar.
• Youth Bible Club: The youth are studying the Old Testament's Books of the Bible.
• Sierra Bible Clubs: The leaders are doing a great job of handling the Bible clubs and starting new ones.
• Tuesday Community Evangelistic Outreach - No power, no problem: Despite the electricity black-outs and extreme rain, we are averaging 100-200 in attendance. Praising the Lord for our little Honda generator. We are showing the Chosen each week and should finish around Christmas.
• Sunday Bible Study/Worship Service: We are studying various topics this month. We still run between 35-50 people.

Big News:

• New Ministry Center Property: Each week we see new additions to the project. The third floor was poured and the walls are almost complete. We also added bathrooms to the 2nd floor classrooms. The 2nd week of November will see the stage being built and ceramic tile going in the bathrooms.
• We are raising funds to furnish the new ministry center. If you would like to buy one of the 14 toilets, urinals, or sinks, or 500 plus chairs, or medical clinic equipment, or kitchen equipment, or storage shelving and containers, or any of the tech equipment for the media systems, please see our "Donate" page for ways to give and mark your donation "whatever equipment you would like to purchase"
• Team Calendar: Our 2027 calendar is almost booked up. I think we only have dates for teams in January, March, and October through November, so if you do not have a date on the calendar for next year you might want to reach out to Gary soon. We will be opening our 2028 calendar soon.
• Speaking Engagements: If you would like to have one or both of us come share with your church or small group in 2027, please contact Gary as we are working on our 2027 calendar for speaking engagements in mission conferences, churches, and small groups. We try to visit all of our supporting churches every two years to stay in front of them so we are not forgotten or replaced.
• Ministry Updates: Don't forget that you can find daily updates on our Facebook page at Pate Ministries. We are always posting the latest updates with photos and videos.

Bigger News:

• El Niño Flooding: We are starting to see some flooding in our areas. The forecast says that it will get worse by February.
• Our leader, Andrés' house was flooded and we are working on building a stronger retaining wall, but it will cost close to $3,000. Many other communities have been flooded, including the three inland villages in which we have an agricultural, chick, and bee projects. The people lost everything and had to walk out 11 miles to get to safety.
• Flood Damage Fund: We are raising funds now to help Andrés, some of his neighbors, our two team house employee's and the three inland villages: San Isidro, Casas Vejas, and Rio Blanco.
• If you would like to donate - please see our "Donate" page for all of the options and mark your donation "Flood."
• Skyfall - A Miracle: In the middle of October, one of our teams participated in Parapente (tandem paragliding). A crazy 50 mph wind came up and 5 of the pilots with 5 of the team members could not land. The wind pushed them up to approximately 1, 000 feet, then pushed them backwards and until they eventually fell from the sky. The pilots were amazing and while all 5 were taken to the hospital an hour away, no one suffered severe injuries, only a few muscular contusions and bruising. We definitely saw the hand of God on all 10 people as there was no reason they should be alive, but God! 3 of the team members went back up a few days later. Even though this was a crazy isolated weather event that was not predicted, the excursion has been taken off of our list as too risky.
• December 2nd: This December marks the completion of 13 years of living full time and serving in Ecuador as missionaries. It is crazy how time flies and where God has taken this ministry and what He is doing through it. All Glory to God.
• Christmas Gifts: The first week of November we packed 1200 gift bags for children ages 4 and up and 300 little stuffed penguins for babies to give out in the Bible clubs for Christmas. It is super special for the children as the majority do not get a gift at Christmas. Last year a little boy clutched his little gift bag of trinkets and exclaimed "this is the happiest day of my life" in Spanish of course. We give the children a little gift, but most importantly, we share the reason we celebrate Christmas - the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior!

Special Prayer Request:

• Pray for Flood victims and that we would have wisdom on the best way to help
• Pray for additional missionaries to come and join us in the work. The ministry has grown bigger than what we can do ourselves.
• Pray for the continued work on the construction of our new ministry building.
• Pray that God will build unity in our E-team.
• Pray that God will send us additional bi-lingual, called, national E-team members, we are terribly understaffed.
• Pray for Andrés and Gary as they work on the property and make huge building decisions.
• Pray for God to soften the hearts of the Montañita people to receive His Gospel.
• Pray for the national house church leaders who continue the Sierra Bible clubs.
• Financial Support: Please pray that Christ will continue to provide for the ministry's financial needs for the mountains and the Coast.

Updates:

• Check out YouTube for more videos.