Thursday, March 21, 2013

Time is flying!

Geese like Cuenca too!

We meet all kinds here!

Party in the house...tonight!

Hat shopping

Witnessing to a street artist.

"working out" in service

One of the best sunsets so far.
Well, we only have a month left! I can't believe it. I am so sorry I haven't really posted much in the last few weeks (ok, nothing), but I was sick for about a week and a half with some stomach issues. I am much better now, but spent the following week trying to catch up after being out of commission. Still not sure if it was a virus or parasites, but I found a great holistic health center that helped me recover.
The Memorial invitation work has been a challenge here. We are first trying to return to all the English speaking people that have already been found in the territory. Because so many of the friends come and go here, finding the same people again is not always easy. Especially, if the person did not get much information on the person....like a street address or name. One day we walked both sides of a city block, going in every store, knocking on every door just asking if anyone knew a Maria that spoke English. No, we didn't find her. Other times though we have not only found the person we are looking for, but new ones as well. I have had many opportunities to witness to people while shopping or running errands. It will be interesting to see how the memorial turns out here this year.
Dave and Cleo both have good studies. Dave's is a retired teacher who still tutors students in his home. He is Ecuadorian and speaks very good English. He is so grateful each week for us coming and always says so. Cleo is studying with a woman who teaches English at one of the universities.  She has so many good questions and seems to be very reasonable. She had her book pre-studied on the very first study! I was able to make contact with the woman I studied with last year. She is no longer studying, but she was happy to see me. She is teaching English at a private school here and invited me for the day to help teach her students. It was a fun morning (7am-12) and I was able to practice some of the methods I learned in the TESOL course. I am hoping she will attend the Memorial.
There are new faces every meeting. So many of the friends are responding to the invitation to expand our ministry. I can't believe how many young single sisters there are here. What an encouraging example they are setting.
There are 3 young sisters here from Michigan who will be leaving in a week. They will have been here 3 months in all. So, when you are here that long and you are about to leave, you get a party! There is always dancing. It is really one of the few good things about leaving.
We are looking forward to the coming weeks. We have the Memorial, host week for the DO and CO, followed by the Circuit Assembly. Then we head to the beach for our last week here! Hopefully I can post more frequently.....well, I'll try!

Service break