Sunday, March 31, 2013

Memorial and Surprises

Our week has been really good. I am feeling almost back to normal, well normal for me anyway! My  stomach is finally behaving. We had 75 attend the Memorial here. David invited a call of his, Jeff who is from Haiti. He came with another friend, but arrived late. He said he really wanted to hear the whole talk, so he was staying for the Memorial in Spanish that immediately followed ours. I heard they had 340 in attendance!
Friday I had a luncheon for some of the Sisters here. It was so nice, something I wanted to do for them last year, but just ran out of time. The Sisters that are permanent residents here are so helpful and caring. That is a big thing when you see how many new visitors we have at each meeting. Someone new is always showing up, whether it be someone from the territory or a family "spying out the land." At some meetings I don't even get a chance to talk to ones I already know because there are so many new ones to introduce yourself to.  So, it was nice to do something nice for the local sisters and have an afternoon to just spend some time with them.
Saturday was a very exciting day too. We had some surprise visitors. Casey, Jordan, Taylor and Raleigh arrived in Cuenca in the afternoon. It was a total surprise  for Austin and Cleo. Saturday morning the three of us went out in service while Dave stayed home to wait for the foursome to arrive. He called me in the afternoon to let me know they were here. I told Dave to take them to Tutto Freddos for ice cream and I would bring the Kids there. It was so great! Cleo and Austin were so interested in the ice cream flavors, they didn't see them at first. Then Dave yelled at Cleo and she turned around and then took another look and screamed "What?" then ran straight to Casey! She said, "this is the best surprise ever!" Taylor gave the talk this morning and did a great job. We had an awesome lunch and then went to another going away dance party tonight. Casey said, "that was definitely the best dance party I have ever been to." Of course we are having another one next Saturday before they leave, so we will see how she thinks they compare.
By far, one of the best sunsets yet!

Fruitilla, $1.50 por una libre

The start of Holy Week, with a parade.

This hung outside of the Kingdom Hall.

Memorial 2013 Family Pic

Surprise! We have visitors!

After the meeting, after lunch, before ice cream!

Dance Party!