Cuenca Food Court

Quick one here.... We go to the marcado (market) 6 de agosto the other day to check out the place and see what's available. My pioneer partner take a few magazines to see if she can place them. Duh! You can place them in your sleep down here, and the people ask if they can give you something for them. Nice! So after placing the mags, (no big surprise) we continue to look around and realize there is a third story and a basement . So off to the 3rd story to see what's up. Lo and behold they have there version of a food court. Now imagine, going to the mall and having three different guys that own Mc Donalds each one with their Mc Donalds right next to the other. That's about the way it is at this place. You look at what the people are selling and its all the same, BIG ROASTED PIG with the usual trimmings. Then on the other side are the Juice and Shake makers with the same idea all lined up next to one another. (Cuenca version of Java Juice, I sure the JJ guys got their idea from Latin America) There was one exception. One guy offered a twist. He mixed beers with his concoctions. Java Juice with a KICK! Later.......

Immigration... More lessons in Patience.... funny? Who's that laughing? ;-)

So we find ourselves here in Ecuador, legally, under a 12-VII visa.... "missionary". (ain't that special) That's how the Ecuadorian government classifies us, not the Society! To obtain the visa, there is a bit of work involved. In other words, you don't just go down to the Consulado and say " Can I get a visa" ..... of which, the answer will be "yes", if you provide us with the following list! Well thinking back.... the first thing you need, is the application off the computer filled in fully. The problem was you can fill in the form, but due to some glitch on the file from them, you can't see what is being typed. So the only thing you can do, is put the form, into print preview and then you can see whats there, .... what you have typed. (that I had to figure out on my own, after they insisted that, "the file was fine" and it was my computer.... could be) So the 20 minute filling out of the application took more then 4 hours..... everything is slower in Latin America even when Latin America is in North America. (if you know what I mean.... EC consulate is in San Francisco) After getting all the stuff together, medical exam results, blood test, passport photos, PASSPORTS... yikes!.

.......

Police certificate ... no criminal record, (I did get a speeding ticket not to long before I left ...... But it was bogus, right, Karla? ... I hear you saying, "that's what they all say" ..... Besides down here if you get a speeding ticket it would be a badge of honor, as it appears you can do just about do anything driving, and not get a ticket) Then you have all the paperwork that the branch supplies, which you get after the congregation gives a favorable recommendation to the Branch, that accompanies your personal introduction letter to the Branch. Perhaps, it doesn't sound like a lot, but it all takes time to get together and then send off to the Consulate in SF. Then you get to deal with the Consulate which said it takes 1-2 weeks .... remember we are dealing with a Latin American entity, and 1-2 weeks (that time period is like the time period that elders tell there wife's they will be in a meeting after the meeting "10-15 minutes honey, .....at the most" ...... it's SYMBOLIC! Four weeks later we get the passport, with the visa stamp with all those shiny stickers..... uuuuu, aaaaah .... shiny stickers.... and of course, there is the money that you pay, to get those.

Once here, you contact the family, that I have written about in the past, that gets everything finalized, ..... kinda. They provide a letter and get something else done for you, not sure what, but I know it's important. THEN you get to go to immigration in LATIN AMERICA ........ And the fun..... really, begins!

So we go the other day, because we have to get this done within the first 30 days of being here. (Next week we have the DC in English, and up to now, .... we have just not had the time to get it done.) We set off for the office and arrive early, because if you get to any place, where something might take a little while (more then 25 minutes) and you arrive that much time before lunch? You get to come back, after the 2 hour .... yes I said, 2 hour, ....... lunch. Nice, for the workers. Bad for you, if you are trying to get something done. This is the land of "I want to get 6 things done today" and get only 2 completed..... I am not joking! ..... Soooooo, the fruits of the spirit come in very handy here, ... and we are refined everyday....... it's a good thing!

Back to the story. We arrive and are told we need copies of the stamped passport, in color, and, ..... "A" .... large envelope to send everything, after they process what is needed. Of course, they don't have a little vendor outside the door, for all this stuff, so they tell us that, down at the corner, we can find a place, to make copies in color ..... So off we go, following the instructions of our guide at immigration. At the corner is the XEROX dealer in Cuenca.... and of course, you not only can buy machines, copiers, MFC's (which I did) but they also do copies.... how wonderful! So the young woman starts to make copies, and when they come out of the machine, they are all pre-wrinkled for you, no need to waste your time to scrunch or do any manipulating of the paper, because it looks like it has been put through the wringer already .... Then she asks me, if "they are OK?" that way. No..... "I don't think so, I say with wrinkled brow, it's for Immigration"..... "oooooh" .... So we finally get the copies, and I asked for extras, because down here, everyone seems to want a a color copy of your Passport, after it has been stamped. Now, we head back to the Immigration office (I forgot the envelope, oups!) get back to the IM office and he reminds me that he needs "A" envelope, so I return to the same store and get one, then go back to IM, at which time he tells me he needs one envelope for each of us..... so back to the Xerox store, and I ask a different person, if they have another envelope at which time, the young woman who did the wrinkled copies, informs me that they don't sell them, but she will give me one..... "oh thank you" and back to immigration. When I get there, the guy was astute enough to start on Carols stuff, to get her outfitted with her ID card. Only problem was that, by this time, the computer system linked to Quito, would not operate. So he indicated he had called the "other guy" to come and fix the problem.... He, arrives 25 minutes later and puts in his information and voila, it works! Here's were the real fun begins. This guy starts with Carols stuff (but at this time, we don't know who he starts putting in information for, in the computer) and when he runs out of the stuff he is getting off other paper work, he says to me he needs my photo.... takes the photo, and then asks me how tall I am, so I stand up because when I say 5'-9" he just looks at me like from "what planet are you from" ... 5'-9"?,..... 5'-9"what? Here along with the rest of the world, (with the exception of the USA) they work the metric system. Well I don't how tall I am in Metric, do you? (I do now 180 centimeters!) Wow, that sounds like a lot ... I'm really up there! Then after getting all the information he hands Carol the paper to sign that has her info and evidently some of mine. Confused ????? So were we !!!!! So we tell him that he put information from both of us together and he assured us he would fix it..... later. (not sure if he did) ...... Next, he moves onto me, and my paperwork, enters all the info. and when he gets to the end, puts Carols photo on my cards and then wants me to sign the card before he laminates it .... so sheepishly I ask him if he did that intentionally ..... from the look he gave me, that was a NO! So he starts all over again, and now he can't find my Photo when he tries to attach it as a file to the form he wants me to sign, every time he goes down the list of photos, he passes mine, time and time again ...... finally I blurt out, "there it is!" (I didn't want him to feel any more foolish then I would have felt given the same circumstances, so at first, I kept my mouth shut) It gets filled out and finally, I sign it!..... yeah baby finally! ...... Whew, that was hard! During the fiasco he mentions that the card he messed up for Carol, he has to pay for out of his own pocket ... $4.00. Well they make so little down here, that I take it upon myself to give the extra $4.00. When I give the 12.00 total, I let him now that the one HE ruined, was taken care of, ("generous soul will be made fat"?) and that he wouldn't have to pay out of his own pocket..... Heeeeeere's the clincher.... he doesn't even, acknowledge, the kindness! ...... No thanks, .... no nothing! (Maybe that's equal to "thank you" here ... I don't know, I'm new) So what should have been about an, in and out in 30 minutes, turned out to be a 3 hour ordeal! Now you understand when I say, you may have 6 things to get done on your list but you only get 2 completed during the day. Just glad we didn't walk in 1 hour before lunch, as during the process I am sure they would have asked us to come "back after lunch".... In which case we would have completed only one thing that day!

Granny Goose and .50 Shoe Shine

For many of us that have, or who currently live in the US, we might think that all of Latin America has Mexican food. (Hey why not, it's so good, everybody should have access to good Mexican food, right?) Wish that was the truth. Most of Latin America not only doesn't have it, they don't care that they don't have it. (I do) Well after a few weeks on the, no Mexican food train, I start to get a hankering for some of the stuff. There is a pretty good Mexican resturant here in Cuenca. But it's not like back home. When they serve you chips and salsa ..... let's just say the chips, are a bit different.... not bad, just not what we are all accustomed to. How can I describe them...........? After tasting them and doing a through inspection of the chips, you might think they bought a bag of Fritos, and then decided to refry them. (As if they didn't have enough grease already, yeah they are greasy) Anyway.... I was at a new to me, or different, grocery store the other day, checking out the options in the Foooood department, and guess what I see? Bags of ..... tortilla chips (you probably thinking Heilig is loosing his mind, getting excited over tortilla chips) .... But you see, just when I though all hope was lost, for finding anything Mexican in the grocery stores, they there are. I had to take a double look because it said tortilla chips on the bag, but I thought, it was just going to be another case of false advertising. So I grab the bag, and they really are tortilla chips, and what's more, even though I can't taste them yet, (there in the bag) they look, like the real McCoy! Auuuh chip! Then I notice something very interesting, there is a Goose on the bag. (bring back memories?) And the Goose has a bonnet or in this case a sombrero (Latin version) on her head. Yeah, it's Granny Goose. I though she had died, (I haven't seen GG in stores in years) and was waiting to be resurrected. (They teach, animals will be resurrected down here.... just kidding ;-) So I started thinking of the last time I can remember GG being in the states...... any of you remember? .......... When we had "Food Service" at the District Conventions. It seems we JW's were keeping the Goose from flying south permanently for all those years. Once we stopped the Food Service arrangement at the conventions, Granny decided to go South permanently. And for that, we down here in the land of poca comida Mexicana are very thankful!

.50 Shoe Shine

So today, I have 30 minutes to kill before the next task I have to get taken care for the Aduana (Customs) fiasco. (Yup ... still working on it) My "helper" called yesterday and told me, he forgot to have a statement made, signed by me and notarized while I ran around with his "helper" on Monday, so I get to kill even more time today, on what could have easily been accomplished then. (how fun) Anyway, back to the shoe shine story. Down here shoes take a beating! (Brent, Aaron P. we in agreement?) Everything is rough, and your shoes take it on the chin ... I mean sole. So I decide to cruise on in, to the place where the guys on the street, do the shoe shines, here you can sit down and enjoy the shoe shine experience. You sit and put your feet up on the little pedestals, and sit back and enjoy the ride. However, these shoe shine seats, are not like the discarded thrones of Kings past, you find at the airports in the states, where you sit 3-4 feet off the ground, to give you that real kingly feeling....... Aaaaaanyway, I sit with confidence that in 5 minutes my puppies are going to look "good as new". So the guy first of all brushes them off. (That's what my dad taught me was step one, good start) Next he pulls out a bowl from under the wanna be throne, and starts to rub some sort of liquidity substance that is close to the color of my shoes, and at first, it looks shiny (loved that) but then when it dries it get all chalky looking. (I'm thinking, oh wonderful ... I know this guy doesn't have liability insurance to cover my ruined shoes) Then he grabs another bowl of liquidity stuff this time in black, and very carefully, goes over the soul portion of the shoe all around the sides and back of the shoe so as not to get the black on the what used to be brown, but is now chalky leather. (I could just see it, nice black sole with chalky leather brown undertone shoes walking down the street..... great, these babies are going in the garbage) Then he proceeds to get the can of what looks like, could be polish, but he makes me think he has some magic concoction some even more secret sauce and starts to rub that, all over the brown portion of the shoes being ever so careful, so as not to get the brown from the shoe upper part on the black he put on the sole. ( I'm thinking, what does it matter, they are RUINED) After putting the brown on the leather upper of the shoe, it doesn't make a bit of difference in the way the shoes look, there still chalky and I can still see the scuffs, that I went in have hidden by the MASTER shoe shine man. Then, he has oooooone more application of some stuff, but nooooo, difference. Finally, ..... he gets the brushes back out, and starts to buff .... and buff .... and buff, and he makes those shoes look like new! I was sooo happy they weren't ruined, I gave him a .50 tip on top of the .50 he charged me. Lesson for Bill: the guy had been, no doubt doing shoe shines for many years.... if he had ruined a lot of pairs of shoes during that time, he would have been out of business years ago. Wait until the job is done, before getting ready to turn in a liability claim.

Great start the day after the Customs escapade

Ok... I paid last night for my ticket, to get back to Cuenca this morning, first thing. Slept maaaaaybe 2 hours on the airport bed. (bench of chairs) Met a guy who was heading back to the States after visiting his In-Laws in Cuenca. When he saw me the first thing he asked "Do you speak English"? So we spoke for a few hours, until he evidently got his daily dose of English, or he was board with he conversation. So I am up at 3AM to catch the plane at 6:50 (never can be too early to the airport) Oh that's right ..... I was already there .... oh well. So, we get the call to board the plane, for which, I being more then happy to comply, so I can get home. All is going well, we are in the air, we are served our morning sandwich and cup of coffee. (30 minute flight and they serve food, really, I'm not making it up) But after the normal amount of time we are not back on the ground in Cuenca. Next thing you know we are being told that we are to ready ourselves to land in Guayaquil. So to give you an idea of what happened, imagine you headed to Reno from Vegas and suddenly you are told in a few minutes you are going to landing in San Francisco. (And you can't see the ground for the clouds to figure out we're "not in Kansas anymore Toto") But here is the funny thing, I thought I boarded the wrong plane because the pilot doesn't tell us he had to re-route the plane. I'm thinking I'm a MORON and wasn't paying attention when they gave instructions. And the funny thing was that, on the tarmac they had 2 planes from AeroGal one for Cuenca and the other for Guayaquil right next to one another ... so I assumed, I made a left when I should have made a right. Once back on the ground, they still don't tell us it's not us. But I notice that a few other passengers are talking, rolling there eyes, scrunching there faces, etc.... so I start to think that maybe I'm not such a moron. (I can hear some of you saying "no so fast with that conclusion, Heilig") and thankfully more then one person (me) took a wrong turn. Turns out it's a meteorological problem (right) at the Cuenca airport.... (that's the official version and you should hear the guy with an announcer voice, try to say meteorological in English, it's hard enough for me to say, and I speak English.... kind of) but I just got off the phone with Carol and she says it's only partly cloudy at best, so who knows what's going on..... I think there's problem with the control tower ..... and they don't want to admit they didn't pay the electric bill. Speaking of which, we have 24 hours to pay ours ("but we just got here") I don't know maybe they have us on the weekly payment plan. More later ..... as of yet here in Ecuador never a dull moment!

Warm Welcome and Other Stuff

After a week of running around like a chicken with our heads cut off. (Of which I think I really did hear yesterday coming from the place next door… if not a chicken, something else…..yikes! …. But not to worry, it didn’t sound human) We finally were able to get out in the formal preaching work yesterday, (Saturday) good morning. Started a bible study with a woman who already had the Bible Teach book but was unaware of the bible study program….. until now! We start formally, next Saturday. Then today (Sunday) we (I) went to the meeting, Carol was under the weather, after 3 months of run, run, run I think it caught up with her…. And surprise of all surprises it’s a bit chilly today. (It's not supposed to be chilly or cold here) So she stayed in. We received a very warm welcome from the congregation. We had visited back in the end of March and the beginning of April. Most wondered if we were coming back, even though, I kept in contact with a brother in the congregation….. All were very happy to see us. Nice reception. At meeting for service yesterday the Coordinator of the body of elders informed me, that we would be meeting soon with the brothers from the other congregation that meets at the hall…. Why? ….. To form a new congregation…. Evidently they have been waiting for more brothers to show up, to do so. One other couple, (Don and Gail Harding) in there mid to late 50’s, just moved in from Australia not too long ago. Don is serving as an elder in the congregation while learning Spanish. Really nice folks … It’s very encouraging to see others reaching out to serve where there is a greater need, as well. They now have the man power, to form the new congregation…. Or so they think. We had 189 in attendance this morning…. That’s a lot of people in a relatively small hall. Forming a new congregation will be good…. More opportunities to participate.

The Other Stuff

If you have ever stayed at a Westin Hotel for the District Convention in San Francisco, you know what a treat it is, to come back to your room, after a long day at the convention, a nice dinner with friends, and snuggle into your “Heavenly Bed”. (That’s what they call it, and for good reason!) It’s hands down the most comfortable bed we have ever slept on. So much so, that we sprung for one to sleep on, even when we were not at the Westin. A bit pricy, but you do spend 1/3 of your life on a mattress, so you might as well be comfortable. If you look at it that way, it’s only pennies a day, over 10 years, 5.5 to be exact. Not bad investment for peaceful sleep. And Carol who prizes her rest, absolutely loves the thing,. Of all the things we were unable to take to Ecuador, that was the one she lamented the most. However living in Ecuador ….”Heavenly Bed”? That’s not on the menu! As you know we have the less hard of the hard and harder beds we purchased the first day here. Carol, who can feel a tiny piece of sand if she is laying on it, let me know right away that something had to be done about the “Hades Bed” my words not hers. You have heard the expression that “necessity is the mother of invention”…. Well Now …. from our family inventor, yes, the same lady that brought you the “microwave mirror “ we have the “Carol Heilig Ecuadorian version of he Heavenly Bed”. It consists of one rock hard (Flintstone) mattress, and at first, 1 (during the invention process discovered not to be enough, after 2 nights sleep) then an additional comforter from “Corral”. (Cuenca Wal Mart) you lay that over the bed and then put a fitted sheet over all that padding and Vola, you have a “Heaven bed”. Not quite “Heavenly” but close….. and here in Ecuador, for even less pennies a day, in fact less then 1.

Rough Day Today (Monday)

As you know we sent some of our “stuff” to Ecuador via cargo with the airline LAN. They told us it was too much to carry on the flight we took, then they said we could carry on the plane we flew on, then they told we need to take it to cargo and then ….. sound confusing? It was! But the best of the story is to come. I had prepared a blog that never was never published (too much to explain now) that told the story of our waiting in the city of Quito, and how we were told, the cargo would get here a few days after we got here. When that day arrived, it would be here 2 days later and then when that day arrived, it was to be here the following Friday, 5 days later which was the Friday past. So instead of waiting the week and then being told it would be some other day in the future, we decided to go to the Cuenca and start to get our place arranged. Well finally it did come in, 3 days after we left for Cuenca. (figures doesn’t it?) So I decided to come back today, Monday the 20^th, to…. you know to “get all our stuff”. What I didn’t realize was that IT IS A PROCESS!!!!!! ...... I thought, (dangerous) I would go and take the paperwork from the Cargo carrier and get the junk, put it on a plane to Cuenca and get it, this afternoon, in Cuenca (life can be so easy in our minds can’t it) and move on with life. Service in the morning, start a new bible study perhaps…. No, no, no! I have to get boatloads of papers, and then, some of them notarized. It’s so complicated, that there are agents, that do the process for you, so you can get the stuff. What’s interesting is that these guys, every one of them, all talk about how corrupt Customs is down here, but they all make a good living off it. So after a draining day, mostly from the disbelief that it all wasn’t coming home with me today, and then running all over the city with my “helper”. To finish the experience the less then stellar day, he lets me know that I won’t get everything until probably Thursday (don’t worry, don’t worry I’m not holding my breath nor waiting around for it)….. and, …. there are TAXES to be paid! Which I tell him, that I had reviewed everything with Customs, showed them the list with all the “household” items listed, and they told me the stuff would NOT be taxed. So he sends me with one of his friends over to customs, to “inquire as to the taxes” and when we speak to the personnel, "who know", they inform him that these are not taxable items. And to think these are the guys the government recommends to “help”. But then maybe things change all the time and the “helpers” can’t keep up. Down and dirty of this episode, is that I am writing this blog from the hotel …. Uh….. I mean the airport…. Yes another night in the worse then Flintstone bed, (It sounds good right now) I get to sleep on the seats at the airport…. Last flight to Cuenca today? ….. left as I got to the airport, after all that running around ….. so goes life in Ecuador.

Finally to those of you thinking of moving down here (you know who you are) Take what ever you can on the plane with you no matter how difficult it makes the trip. You will work on the way down and be done with it! Or you can drag out the pain for some time….. can’t say what that is yet! ;-)

First Week in Cuenca and a Good Experience

All week we have been working on getting things arranged, here in Cuenca. Once here we moved into an apartment that was empty. All we did is walk in with our luggage, 8 pieces…. Sounds like a lot but was mainly clothing and what we considered essentials for us or what we decided was stuff we didn’t want to have to buy here, to replace what we had there. When we hit the ground we came directly to the apartment, dropped off the bags and set off for a mattress ….. Here you have two choices …. hard mattress and harder! (You can bounce dimes of them… and I’m not kidding) After the mattress, of course bedding, a few towels, then the essentials, coffee, bananas (yes Karla, bananas) and sweet rolls… they were good. Just didn’t buy enough of them, but we had just enough to get us to the next morning. Which we did get to, but we lacked a blanket, I mean enough blankets… so Carol was freezing all night. (Remember we should have had the boxes of stuff from home with the down comforters, but nope, not yet)

Day 2 in Cuenca. We set off for appliances after meeting up with a couple working in English to find the place in town that “takes care of the friends and gives good prices”. We buy out the store…. Just kidding of course. When can we get we ask? “When do you want it”? Toooooday? “What time”? Uuuuuh 3? “Ok”! And, we got to ride to the house with them while they delivered everything…. Only here in Latin America!

Day 3 in Cuenca We start Bethel cleaning the apartment….. (We were told it’s a “new apartment”, which evidently means it’s less then 20 years old) Scrub, Scrub Scrub…. We are, we believe, doing the construction cleaning, but unfortunately the construction was finished some years ago, so we couldn’t get all the paint and whatever some of the other stuff was, removed…… fortunately here, they put drains in the bathrooms …. So we hosed down everything with something that had plenty of bleach in it to kill off whatever had been hanging around for some time. All those germs went running when they saw Carol coming, armed with her battery of cleaning supplies. Once done, we figured, we too, should clean ourselves, but we spared the bleach on ourselves. Good news was we had hot water… sometimes too hot and sometimes not hot enough …. Yes we are trying to figure that out still, how to regulate the temperature of the hot water…. But at least we have something warm (I can hear Brent and Kassie laughing as they had NO hot water when they reached Nicaragua…. Quit complaining DAD!.... I’m not, I’m not…) Here is a good one…. I come out of the bedroom after getting dressed and Carol is in the kitchen putting her makeup on. Using? ……… The MICROWAVE DOOR for her mirror (here the bathrooms don’t have mirrors, you bring your own?.... really!) I about died laughing…ingenious! So if you see a new model of microwave that has as an option, a mirror, you know where it originated! Later that day, we picked up a mirror for her to put on makeup, that afternoon. (And I thought the other was working just fine) Finally we set off in search of furniture, we find out cash is King here, you get good discounts if you pay cash… just like the old days in the States (I think it has to do with the paying of taxes…. But what do I know) Late start …. so not much accomplished, in the purchasing department, but in the searching department, good day! We have to return to the apartment by 4 PM to meet the “technician” who has to come out and hook up the washer and dryer … that’s a hard one … but the “warranty is affected if you don’t”, and the tech doesn’t get his $20.00 (that’s the real reason)

Day 4, Not an early start to go looking for furniture, finally unpacking and washing clothes from 2 weeks…. Was that mold I saw on my undershirt? What is that smell? My dirty socks! Finally, we are off like a herd of turtles. Go to a furniture store we saw driving around yesterday…. We go up to the front door, which is always locked here (you have to ring the bell, then they let you in) and there are a couple guys that are loading furniture into a truck near the front door, they tell us that the store is closed for remodeling… (Bummer we just spent 2 bucks to get a taxi to drop us off a this place) But evidently the disappointment can be seen on our faces, so one of the guys says something to someone inside the store, about clients being here and next thing you know we are inside (love when that happens) a empty showroom with a few pieces of furniture on the first floor. We meet a woman, who asks a few questions about how long we are here for and why… blah blah blah….. We mention we are JW’s, and why we are here in Cuenca. Doesn’t phase her, she starts to show us around and takes us up to the 2nd then 3^rd floor. Nothing here appeals to us, and we let her know we are just investigating our options. Then out of the blue, she starts talking to us about the fact that she is associated with some religion and “feels that there are so many problems in the world that only God could get us out of this mess” So my trusty side kick (miss pioneer) starts talking about the fact that the bible promises that conditions will change in the near future, that God will set up a government to change permanently problems in the world… I mention the Lords prayer and that we pray for that government to come… Carol starts in with the whole bible study program thing… I was about to get there …. Really! And the lady says she would be interested in the program, and that she would like for us to come and show her how we do it…. that Saturday we could come and show her the study program… then, as we are going down the stairs, she tells us that she reads the bible but doesn’t understand anything she reads…. We told her it can be hard, but we too had someone help us and now we are helping others to learn…. She sits us down at her desk, shows us on the map where she lives, and gives us her information… then she tells us she believes that God knows when we need help, and He can bring people together, and THAT, is what she thinks happened today. We were in agreement, as the store was supposed to be closed for remodeling…. And Carol said THAT’S, why we are in ECUADOR! …. Oh yes, we found the majority of the furniture we need, later in the day. Hurray!

Good Experience Sharing the Truth

Ok.. so yesterday we wrote of our experiences arriving in EC and getting the hotel. Once here, we were instructed to get to work getting the visas finalized… so as briefly mentioned, we meet the family that handles all that for the branch, go by their home… meet the sister (wife) of the rep for the branch here, and get all the paperwork completed for the cedula (basically a green card) for a lack of a better expression, to be issued.

On the way home… and here’s the story……… We grab a taxi… During the ride we mention we are moving here to EC to the city of Cuenca…. “Aah…..Cuenca una Ciudad bonita” (beautiful city) he says…. “why, as tourists”? he asks….. Of course we tell him that we are JW s and we are coming to serve in a congregation, in the city that in Ecuador has the most growth. At that point, he mentions that he loves the literature of Jehovah’s Witnesses and then goes digging in his glove box while driving…. (with that move, I make sure I have my seat belt on correctly) Sure enough he pulls out a Watchtower from August 07. Then he proceeds to tell us he has trouble finding the “up to date literature”….. Really? …. Miss Carol at his juncture..in her enthusiasm, whips out the most recent WT and hands it to him ……. Yes, … all while he driving …. (and of course, I double checked the seatbelt at this moment) finally when he comes to a stop light, Carol shows him the article on “How to find Peace” …….. “Aaaaahhhh que bonito! Que excellente articulo! (I’m thinking to myself ….how does he know?.... he hasn’t even read it yet) And off we go! Well along the way, we explain that the purpose of our work, isn’t to just place literature, but to conduct bible studies that help people have a close relationship with their Creator… “Really” he says “and how does that happen”? ….Now, Carol chimes in…… that when we get to the hotel we will show him how JW’s do it. (I hate when she shows me up like that) Of course, she has her new service satchel that Ricardo A. bought both her and I….. But of course, hers actually has literature in it. (I think I received mine right before we left, so no time to stock it, you understand don’t you?) … So she runs into the room and fetches the Bible Teach book, in Espanol of course…. This is where I come in an take over after she does all the work…. Handing him the book, the first thing we do, is show him that he needs to put his name in it….. “Ok” …. And he goes looking for a pen, ….. of which he can’t find…. And of course miss pioneer… Carol has one at the ready for him…. Then he wants us to write his name and our names and the name of our congregation…. During the ride he did mention that he has neighbors that are witnesses …. “they are always going out dressed up for their ministry and meetings” “not like us in the Catholic Chruch who only go to church, but do nothing more, and the priests, that have people come to them, and then ask us for money” “Jehovah’s Witneesses go to the people”! Yeah! He had us pumped up! Yea… We go to the people! So we showed him how the book is studied, (actually demonstrated the study) the themes it covers and encouraged him to ask his neighbors for a bible study…. (I can see there faces when he does) he assured us he was going to find out more about the bible, using the book we gave him, and ask the neighbors for help to do so…. WOW!

So we thought preaching in Spanish, was good in the States …. Here, in Ecuador it is as one brother told us “Once you preach here, you have a hard time going back to the States to preach” Oh one other thing I failed to mention… Romeo (taxi driver) told us that he can get literature, but has a hard time keeping it, as HE likes to share the magazines with people that ride in his cab! ……. He is not a brother, but likes the message we share…. and likes to share it with others… Imagine that!

Now just one last thing… if Carol tells this experience, it will read a bit different! Like the gospel accounts, the general story is the same, but like Luke, ….. Carol will have a few more details then I, and a different perspective… viva la différance!

Our Arrival in Ecuador

Hello to all..... well we finally made it to Ecuador yesterday.... but not yet, to our final destination. We arrived in Quito... (it was a piece of cake with customs) good thing.... We were too tired to continue on the last part of our trip to Cuenca, the city where we will be living.

Interesting thing happened yesterday..... we originally had planned to carry all our stuff on the same planes, that we traveled, however late in the game we came to find out that would not be possible.... so.... I may have already mentioned, we had to send everything by LAN Cargo and that arrives later in the week here in Quito.... thus we are staying here until it arrives..... Well the truth is, with all that happened during the last week including the above change in plans, for our "stuff" , I failed to make plans to get a place to stay, (hard to imagine) once we arrived..... I tried to make arrangements while we waited in Lima but everything hit a dead end, once they realized we had a dog...... no one wanted to put up Gracie..... So when we arrived at the airport, we loaded up all our stuff and went to the hotel we stayed at last time we came here, to see if they had room and would accept Gracie..... fortunately for us the owner was here (he travels between his hotels during the week) when he saw me he immediately recognized me and asked how we have been and what brings us back. I explained that we are back, to live here in Ecuador, and we have a few days here in Quito and wondered if they had room (busy season) he said if he did, we are welcome, and they don't allow dogs normally, but "you are friends of the house so of course you can stay with her" or "she can stay in the house with you". That was a real blessing as we didn't know of another place to stay. We got to bed at 8 last night and got up at 9 this morning.... yes we were very tired. We figured we had about 10 hours sleep in the last 72 hours, and most of that very light, mostly uncomfortable sleep. (Mostly..... Tina, with the exception of you our old, your new bed)

Today, we went to see the family that cares for the visas, once brothers arrive here in Ecuador... they too are parents of one child, a son that currently serves in Cuenca and is serving in Chinese, we look forward to meeting him, once we arrive in Cuenca. One other thing.... this family, the husband and wife are serving in English, for those of you that are interested..... and there is a lot of need, according to the sister... here in Quito. A very large city with a congregation of 10 publishers, all in full time service... if you want to serve here in English, get ready to WORK!

Sitting In Lima

12:05 last night (this morning) we arrived in Lima, Peru. 8:30 of flying time ..... fun, what more can I say...... One good thing, on the plane they had a monitor for each person and programming that allowed you to watch movies... all you had to do is pick one and watch, and as many as you could fit into the trip, of course my controls didn't work properly so I had the overhead light blaring in my face the entire time, and had to reset the movie over and over, fortunately the movie had the ability to restart where it left off...... I mention this due to the fact I know some think everything goes smoothly for me all the time (Nick M.) so I want to dispel that crazy idea. We decided to sleep in the airport ..... too far to go for a few hours of hotel time...... as a result we are still sleepy even the good coffee here hasn't had an effect..... and we have lots of aches and cricks in our necks ..... three seats with spaces in between each one ..... not exactly the "Heavenly Bed" we have been sleeping on for years...... but definitely better then the alternative porcelain floor here at the airport...... The Lima airport is new and modern (see photos) right up to the irritating techno music coming from the Hugo Boss store you see in the photo...... the kid working there I'm sure thinks he is doing a public service for all seated in the area where you can get free WiFi.... and the story continues.....

On Our Way

Well we are in the air…… just left Reno and headed for LAX. We had just a little scare at the ticket counter in Reno as the check in lady told us that there was an embargo on animals… when Gracie heard that she let out a howl and started crying…. Oh.....well, maybe that was me. I informed the attendant that she was cleared for the flight and I had been told she was good to go and if they wouldn’t make it happen I was going to call the governing body and then if that didn’t work then the president and then the vice president and then if that didn’t work the …… ok, ok, maybe not, but they finally saw she was in “the system” so we ponied up el dinero and she is on the plane…. Next stop LAX ….. we go to the cargo division of the airline we are flying with, to get all our “junk” to Ecuador…… we took tooooooo much stuff yeah, yeah, yeah……..we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies at the airport in Reno thankfully Steve Temple... (he has been a lifesaver) our brother in law was kind enough to take the greater portion of it to the LAX airport and meet us this morning or it would have been a NIGHTMARE and we would have looked like the Beverly Hillbillies on STERIODS…….More later!