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!