Catching up

A sister told us that there were sloths that lived in the trees on the property. We were walking back to our rooms on Wednesday evening and saw three, one had a baby on her front and was climbing up the tree. So look closely at the picture to see the baby peeking out. Thursday, Feb. 4th we woke up and attended morning worship with the Bethel Family and had a great breakfast. Then Brother Marshall in the Espino English congregation took us into town for service. We met four young sisters from Minnesota who were there for three months to help in English. They took us to lunch and helped us get on the city bus back to the branch. The locals call the bus the spanish word for "the regret." It only cost a 25c. We were so impressed by the interest the brothers and sisters showed us, even the brothers in the overseer departments, made a point to talk to us and give us encouragement. Their kindness and self-sacrificing spirit is something we will not soon forget.

The next morning we waited for Casey, Jordan and Taylor (CJT) to arrive at the branch. When they did the brothers took us to the bus station and helped us buy the right ticket for a bus to David. This leg of the trip took about 6 hours. The bus was comfortable but not the smoothest ride. This did not sit well with Dave, who couldn't find a seat in the front and waited too long to take his dramamine. After about an hour he decided to make his own seat in the front of the bus. Eventually, after stopping for lunch and more dramamine he was able to take a real seat for the rest of the trip.

We finally made it to David and then after renting cars, continued on to Volcan. Some friends met us in town and showed us the house we could rent. The brother had just bought it and spent all week renovating it. It was perfect. One block fromthe Kingdom Hall, A spanish brother beside and behind us and two more witness families down the road. We even have fruit trees in the back yard, bananna, orange and lime. Everything is great, except for the roosters that every neighbor has. Maybe it's because we are close to the equator, but these roosters seem to think the best time to crow is when the sun goes down. Needless to say one thing we bought today was earplugs. The weather is wonderful though and the brothers are even better. We got to eat tonight with a group of 20+ including 2 missionary couples. You can't help but be encouraged and excited about being here. Oh and the food has been great so far. Some of the best fried chicken we've ever had at "Loco Pollo" and the Thai food tonight was out of this world. That's all for now. Adios!

Our arrival into Panama was very memorable. We had arranged for a brother, Dave Watts, who drives a taxi to pick us up. When we showed up, Brother Watts was there with a sign saying, "Wirrma Family" and there was a second taxi driver with a sign that said, "Welcome brothers David and Eva." The 2nd driver spoke no English and we had no idea what was going on. Fortunately another brother and sister was on our flight who spoke Spanish. The 2nd driver turned out to be a brother as well, and was supposed to pick us up the next morning to take us to the branch. So, the best we could figure was some wires got crossed in translation. Brother Watts took us to our hotel Tuesday and Candido came for us the next morning. Not only did he take us to the branch, he took us to the mall and helped us buy a prepay phone, calling another brother on his phone to translate. He even read the daily text to us in Spanish, While driving his taxi 20mph with his hazard lights on. Priceless! Well by the time we made it to the branch we had all bonded and said a tearful goodbye in the lobby of the branch. Only in Jehovah's organization could we just meet someone, not understand each other's language, totally trust each other and feel like we were leaving a lifelong friend after only meeting him 4 hours earlier. The Branch was truly a paradise in every aspect. The open air assembly hall is also on the grounds, which we got to see on our tour.

Venti Vanilla Latte

What do you do at the beginning of your trip, arriving at the airport 2 hours early? You get coffee (or green tea for some of us). We had a good flight, on time and more peanuts than you can shake a stick at ( a very tiny stick).

Hello everyone! It's Saturday and we made it to Volcan. We've had an amazing week so far. I'm sorry that this is the first opportunity we've had to blog. There has only been internet in a few places and very little time. We are now in a house with internet, so expect regular blogs at least for the next 3 weeks. We are actually getting ready to go to a spanish one day assembly that is 2 blocks away. So check back tomorrow, we will try to blog later and fill you in on our first week with lots of pictures! Adios!