Quito

Preaching in Quito

"Most" of a pig.

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!

Service at 8,500 feet above sea level

The first few days, we were all dragging a little and had dull headaches. The adjustment to the higher altitude takes a few days. We meet for service at 8:45, which took us 40 minutes to walk to the first day. This morning it was raining so we took a cab. We also got to hop on the buses and go to bible studies with some of the other need greaters.

This is our first morning outside our hostal.

Sorry I am just now putting a few pictures up. The internet is temperamental here. Cleo is posting her own blog this time as well; keepingupwithcleo.blogspot.com. Check it out.

Ecuador, eventually!

Sunday, Jan 1st. The day was finally here. Two years of planning and praying. What a day it turned out to be. We thought the hardest part was waking up at 4am to get to the airport by 5am. Well, it certainly wasn’t easy or fun to wake up to dave’s phone playing a horrible little tune, but as it turned out it wasn’t the roughest part of the day either (by the way, Dave’s phone could’ve woke us up with Julie Andrews singing “the hills are alive” and at 4am it would still be horrible). So, 5 am we are being chauffeured to the airport. Who knew Chris Baynum could be so pleasant at 5am. Thanks Chris! We knew our day was going to be interesting when 5 minutes after getting on the plane we were asked to briefly “de-board” the plane. A quick security check was done and then we were re-boarded, but this time we were joined by celebrity Nick Lachey. Coincidence that we had a security check right before he boarded? Only Nick knows. Anyway, moving on. The day continued getting more “fun” and it had nothing to do with a ex member from a 90’s boy band. Our plane arrived in Miami safely. About an hour later we discovered that Cleo had lost her passport. We had 5 hours before our plane left for Ecuador. The last place she remembered having it was on the previous plane. So, the ticket agent contacted the cleaning crew, nothing was found and the plane was already on it's way to North Carolina. Next step, lost and found for the whole airport. By this time we were all praying for the passport to show up and what plan B should be if didn't. Lost and found ..... no passport. The guy did suggest to go back to our arrival gate, because sometimes they bring them to the desk. Another delightful walk through Miami Airport. After explaining our predicament again, the supervisor called North Carolina, asking that the plane be searched again when it landed. More waiting. At 1:30 they were told that it was not on that plane. Plan B here we come. This involved Cleo and I Staying in Miami until Wednesday, which would be the soonest we could replace her passport and Dave and Austin going on to Ecuador. So besides the expense of staying a few more days, the change ticket fee, passport replacement fee, we were going to spend more than we had figured. Now we had to run to the rebooking counter and make sure Cleo and I could get our luggage back off the plane. While there and explaining our story one more time, Austin called and said they just announced Cleo's name over the intercom, asking that she immediately report to our arrival gate! No way, they found it!? We literally ran 20 gates (in my riding boots none the less). Yes it was true they found it, on the first plane, which was coming back to Miami! Only one problemo, at 4pm. Our plane to Ecuador was leaving at 3pm!!! Plan C: The Awesome supervisor, who at this point was totally emotionally involved, put us on Standby for the 7pm flight to Ecuador at no additional charge. She assured us there were plenty of seats and we would get on the plane all together. So we arrived in Ecuador a little later than planned, but at least on the same day (11:30 pm). Jehovah's spirit had to be at work, if nothing else just to keep my legs from giving out after running what felt like a marathon through the airport. Yesterday we took care of getting phones and finding the Kingdom Hall. This morning we were in the ministry in Old town. We walked in and out of stores, apartments, asking for English speaking. We even met a few Ecuadorian brothers and sisters. Quito is a busy, loud city with 2 million english speaking people living here. Most of the people are friendly and hospitable. Our bed and breakfast is on a quiet street, 2 blocks from the KH. We will be attending the meeting tomorrow evening. Oh, and the weather is perfect, hasn't rained yet.

Austin

cracking us

up on the causeway

Just some more images of the last few days in the City. Photo #2 -cargo ship in the canal; #3 - "Charlie's Angels" in Casa Viejo; #4 - a large mola made by the Kuna women; #5 - some of our brothers going to the Zone visit. The video is the singing at the zone visit in Spanish. Later today I will try and put some more photos and a few more thoughts on our overall experience. Also friends, if you were not aware, Austin had a separate blog: www.lookatmeitsaustin.blogspot.com.

Hola! We arrived in the City Saturday morning at 5:30. We took the midnight bus from David. We thought it would take 7 1/2 hours, but it only took 5 1/2! Dave took his Dramamine at the start of the trip. Around 5 he woke up and took another one thinking we had 2 more hours. So about the time we arrived at the station, the dramamine was kicking in. We made it to the hotel, but couldn't check in until 10:30. So Dave crashed on a couch in the lobby until the "drugs" wore off. Of course we had a little fun with it (see picture). After we had breakfast and checked in we did a little sight seeing with the Burkes. Then we attended the special assembly here. It was a Zone visit. It was held at the Rod Carew Stadium just outside the City. It was a 2 hour program, with a special talk given by a Bethel Speaker. It was based on the account in Psalms 84. The program was translated into English and Cantonese. There are only 13,000 witnesses in Panama, but there were 15,000 in attendance! That evening we went to dinner on the causeway with our friends and half of Bethel.

Sunday we started in the old town, Casa Viejo. Then we made our way over to the Canal and watched 2 large boats go thru. Pretty impressive! Today we went to the Gamboa Rainforest to hike.We didn't see as much wildlife as hoped. We did see more howler monkeys, sloths, the big brilliant blue butterflies and a crocodile. Our driver then took us to a little zoo that cost $1. We saw lots of monkeys and toucans. The rest of the day we hung out at the hotel with the Burkes playing cards. We had to part ways this evening. It was really hard to say goodbye to our new friends. Having their family there made our trip so much nicer. All of us were crying when we left. So this is our last night in Panama. This trip has changed all of us in so many important ways. We all feel incredibly blessed to be able to do this. I think we are all coming home with a new appreciation for living the simple life and what are really necessities. We also have appreciated how quickly and easily you can develop close friends when your goals and priorites are the same. We have met some amazing families and individuals and 5 weeks just wasn't enough time to spend with them. So, time is slipping away and we have an early flight. I'll try to write more tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in!

Last night in Volcan!!!! Tomorrow we have one last day in Boquete in the ministry and a little sightseeing. Then we take the midnight bus from David (Daveed) to Panama. So we should get to Panama City Saturday around 7am. There we will meet up with the Burkes and do the usual tourist things before flying out on Tuesday. These 4 1/2 weeks have gone by really fast. Today we drove up to the rainforest to hike, but surprise! it was raining and all but one of us in the family thought that they would melt! Soooo, we drove around instead and took more pictures of the local scenery. I've posted pictures of a Ngobe girl, friends at the meeting and some of the local neighbor ninos.