Our Tuesday morning field service group walking to the territory.
Cotton candy confections at the classical concert in Cuenca.
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| Concert in the park. |
Friday, January 27, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Preaching in the rain!
Brother Vasquez and Sister Tony
Service, Service, Service
This week has been filled with theocratic activity. The Cuenca English congregation had their circuit overseer visit. Robert Vasquez and his wife Wanda were so encouraging. They have the foreign language circuit here in Ecuador. They visit all the foreign language congregations or groups here. They take care of English, Chinese, Russian, Sign Language, Creole, and a few indigenous groups I don't know how to spell. No, he doesn't actually speak all of these languages. They speak Spanish and English. When he visits the others he uses a translator, which requires that he cut the time of his talks in half so as not to go overtime. They go from the city of Cuenca to the jungles of the Rainforest. They are very loving and encouraging to the friends and we have really enjoyed getting to know them. This Sunday we had 72 in attendance for his talk. There are about 25 actual publishers in the congregation. One man was there today for the very first time. Someone had given him and invitation last week and he just decided to come!
Service here is a little different. The friends start at 9am, work until noonish, go home for lunch and siesta, then meet back at 3pm for a few more hours of service. Some of us "Gringos" have lunch and then continue on doing street witnessing until it's time to meet back, especially those of us who are a little behind on our time for the year. The Ecuadorians are in general a very kind and warm people who value family. One morning we had just finished the service meeting and were leaving. There was a young family standing on the sidewalk looking very curious about the Kingdom Hall. The spanish speaking friends talked with them. The man had talked with a brother at work who was telling him about the Kingdom Hall and the meetings there. So he just decided to walk up to check it out. He was told the meeting times and said he and his family would like to come. We find English speaking people every day, not all interested, but they are out there.
I'll take this opportunity to clear up a bit of a rumor. Seems that there is a story going around that Austin was mugged at knifepoint and robbed of al his money. So, here is the real story: While in Quito on a very crowded bus coming back from the ministry, Cleo noticed a man brush his hand by her purse. She quickly pulled it closer, knowing that the buses were known for pickpockets. That night at the meeting she noticed a "rip" in her purse. She thought she caught it on something. I told her it was a clean cut and someone had slashed her purse, hoping to slide their hand in and pull out her wallet. They didn't succeed, but did ruin her purse. So, no real danger involved. Most crimes here involve petty theft, they just want your stuff. Now the part involving Austin. Again, no horrific story of Austin getting mugged by a 4'6'' Ecuadorian thug. He simply put his cash in a spot in his messenger bag that wasn't very secure and it most likely fell out when we were on the bus. If he had been pick pocketed they would have surely taken his passport too, which was right next to the envelope of money. So, his life was never in danger and he probably fed some Ecuadorian family for 6 months! Anytime you travel, you make yourself a target to someone, you just have to be aware and observant. We have heard of worse things happening to other friends when they come into the country to serve here. One couple had their backpack stolen within the first few days. It contained their laptop, money, passports, a deed to a house they bought here and other important documents. Yet it did not dampen their enthusiasm for being here and serving where the need is greater. And Jehovah is taking care of them in spite of it all. But that is the kind of God we serve isn't it. He allows us to undergo certain trials, but never beyond what we can handle. If we continue in our determination to fulfill our spiritual goals, he always blesses our efforts. Our first few days were a little rough and hectic and not everything went perfect. We had moments of doubt, should we really be here? Maybe we should have stayed home? Those doubts lasted for a few short moments. Then we recall how Jehovah has always guided us through past endeavors and the experiences we gain are worth everything it takes to come here, to be here.
Service here is a little different. The friends start at 9am, work until noonish, go home for lunch and siesta, then meet back at 3pm for a few more hours of service. Some of us "Gringos" have lunch and then continue on doing street witnessing until it's time to meet back, especially those of us who are a little behind on our time for the year. The Ecuadorians are in general a very kind and warm people who value family. One morning we had just finished the service meeting and were leaving. There was a young family standing on the sidewalk looking very curious about the Kingdom Hall. The spanish speaking friends talked with them. The man had talked with a brother at work who was telling him about the Kingdom Hall and the meetings there. So he just decided to walk up to check it out. He was told the meeting times and said he and his family would like to come. We find English speaking people every day, not all interested, but they are out there.
I'll take this opportunity to clear up a bit of a rumor. Seems that there is a story going around that Austin was mugged at knifepoint and robbed of al his money. So, here is the real story: While in Quito on a very crowded bus coming back from the ministry, Cleo noticed a man brush his hand by her purse. She quickly pulled it closer, knowing that the buses were known for pickpockets. That night at the meeting she noticed a "rip" in her purse. She thought she caught it on something. I told her it was a clean cut and someone had slashed her purse, hoping to slide their hand in and pull out her wallet. They didn't succeed, but did ruin her purse. So, no real danger involved. Most crimes here involve petty theft, they just want your stuff. Now the part involving Austin. Again, no horrific story of Austin getting mugged by a 4'6'' Ecuadorian thug. He simply put his cash in a spot in his messenger bag that wasn't very secure and it most likely fell out when we were on the bus. If he had been pick pocketed they would have surely taken his passport too, which was right next to the envelope of money. So, his life was never in danger and he probably fed some Ecuadorian family for 6 months! Anytime you travel, you make yourself a target to someone, you just have to be aware and observant. We have heard of worse things happening to other friends when they come into the country to serve here. One couple had their backpack stolen within the first few days. It contained their laptop, money, passports, a deed to a house they bought here and other important documents. Yet it did not dampen their enthusiasm for being here and serving where the need is greater. And Jehovah is taking care of them in spite of it all. But that is the kind of God we serve isn't it. He allows us to undergo certain trials, but never beyond what we can handle. If we continue in our determination to fulfill our spiritual goals, he always blesses our efforts. Our first few days were a little rough and hectic and not everything went perfect. We had moments of doubt, should we really be here? Maybe we should have stayed home? Those doubts lasted for a few short moments. Then we recall how Jehovah has always guided us through past endeavors and the experiences we gain are worth everything it takes to come here, to be here.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
More pictures
The Andes somewhere between Quito and Cuenca
Telephone witnessing in Otavalo.
Quito to Cuenca
Hola Amigos! We have made it to Cuenca and love this place. We also enjoyed the week we spent with the English group up North in Atutaqui. This group has about 20 publishers, but meets with a much larger Spanish congregation for now. I think in the next year they may become a congregation. One couple we met moved there 3 months ago from North Dakota. The sister already has 11 bible studies and 6 more she is trying to develop. One of the families we stayed with were the Newmans. They have been there for 6 years now and are a great example of relying on Jehovah. They were so helpful to us. We called them from Quito to introduce ourselves and let them know we were coming that way for a few days and wanted to find out about meeting/service times. They insisted that we stay with them, and even picked us up in the pouring rain at the busstop (yes, it did rain). They also have two days that they do telephone witnessing there. They basically have the phone book for each little city, start at the beginning and call every number, saying that they are taking a census looking for English speaking people. It has been quite successful and saves a lot of bus rides. We probably would've stayed a little longer with this group, but we wanted to be in Cuenca for the CO's visit. So on Thursday we hopped on a Bus and stopped halfway to Cuenca in Riobamba. This town has an English group as well. The city sits between a mountain and an active volcano that is constantly spewing ash. We stayed with a lovely Ecuadorian family that are all learning English to help the group. In this group, they were told to stop canvasing the city for English speaking and cultivate the 500, yes 500, people they have already found. They also have an assembly hall there. We were able to go there on Friday and help the caretakers, Cindy and Harold do some maintenance on the facility. Saturday we hopped on another bus to finish our journey to Cuenca. 5 hours later, thru some of the most stunning scenery, we arrived. An Elder and his wife picked us up and took us to a brothers bed and breakfast. We have been here since Saturday. Tomorrow we will be moving to an apartment owned by a sister. Cuenca is a little bigger than Cincinnati, but without hi-rises. 4 rivers run thru the city and unlike the other cities we've seen has lots of big trees. We take taxis or walk everywhere. Today was our first day in service here. The CO is visiting. We met at the hall at 8:45 and spent the morning trying to return on people that have already been found. The sister and I walked an hour before we found the first call, but we found him home. He was a young college student and spoke excellent english. We covered the first question in the truth tract and arranged to come back in 2 weeks after his exams were over. Then we work territory and found an older woman who good english as well. She took the tract, asked for my phone number and promised to call me when she got back from her vacation. So in two hours I had 2 return visits with very good potential for turning into bible studies. They also had the pioneer meeting this evening. They have 15 regular pioneers here. So with those plus the auxiliary pioneers and our family we barely fit in the living room of the sisters house. We even used the steps to sit on because she didn't have enough chairs! So we are having a great time here. I've rambled on enough for now. Promise to make them a little shorter, some things will just have to wait until I have to get home. Enjoy!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Internet again!
Hello friends! Just a quick update to let you know where we are. We've covered a lot of ground in the last week and just made it to Cuenca this afternoon. We were without internet most of last week, so I have some catching up to do. I promise to fill you all in tomorrow with more pictures and even some "exciting" video! We have met so many wonderful brothers and sisters so far, most with some very encouraging and amazing stories of how they came to be here. We spent 4 days in Quito. The original plan was to stay there for 1 month and move on. It is a big city, with lots of traffic and pollution. After a few days of service and trying to unsuccessfully find a furnished apartment we starting thinking that Quito was not the place for us. So after a few prayers and calls to the brother in Cuenca we decided that Jehovah was telling us to move on. Before heading south though, we heard there was a small English group north of Quito in Antuntaqui. This was also close to Cotacachi, another town we wanted to see. We were going to stay just thru the weekend, but we had such a good time in the ministry and with the friends that we ended up staying a whole week. We have been able to stay with the brothers since we left Quito. The hospitality of the friends here is tremendous. Most of them have come here as need greaters themselves and are so ready to help you get your feet wet. Thursday we headed south and stayed with an Ecuadorian family in Riobamba. They have a small english group there as well as an assembly hall. Dave and I were able to work there on Friday afternoon, helping the caretakers get things ready for a zone visit on Sunday. Riobamba is about halfway between Quito and Cuenca. So this morning we took a 5 hour bus ride through some of the most beautiful scenery. So, that's the short story. More details later. We hope to find an apartment this week here in Cuenca, so we can get settled in for the next two months and really focus on the ministry. Miss you all!
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