Monday, September 28, 2009

Congregation Get together for the Extranjeros (Foreigners)



Today after telling us for some weeks, that the congregation needed to have an official "welcome" for the foreigners, it was had! And had it was! A brother that recently came into the truth offered to open his home in the country to the congregation ..... not far out of Cuenca, actually part of Cuenca, this family has a home that is in parts of construction..... There was a large parking area,.... a indoor size soccer field, a full size volley ball court, in addition to the house itself..... we all had a wonderful time and there was more food then you can imagine! Enough for 400 people! The congregation came and I am guessing there was 225. In addition to the games, going on in different places they had Karaoke, .... dancing..... if the latin brothers in the States back home think they like dancing, .... the brothers here, bring dancing to a whooooooole different level, then I have ever, seen!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

National Assembly


This is an update on the National Assembly we attended here in Cuenca .... The assembly site was a bit cramped, but the feeding program was excellent as you all know.... We had 209 baptized at the convention and the average each day, was about 8,500 in attendance. (Peak on Sunday 10,000) That's about 2.5% of those in attendance baptized! In Guayaquil they had right at 30,000 in attendance and they had over 600 baptized,... not sure of the exact number..... those were just 2 of the assemblies in the country, but we have no idea how many total were baptized at some of the other sites in Ecuador .... the percentage baptized to those in attendance is higher then what we have ever seen at assemblies we have attended in the past ..... very encouraging!



Attached are some photos from the assembly ..... here when clothing is found that was lost, the brothers kindly wash the clothing and set it out to dry and be found by it's owner .... 



So I thought to my self, if all the clothing is cleaned .... and set out for brothers to claim .... I had a couple of suits that needed dry cleaning.... so I brought them the next day and, ... "lost" them ....day after, there they were, hanging inside plastic and dry cleaned .... sweet! (now if you believed the part about the dry cleaned suits you are gullible!) But the rest is true. ;-)







The brother in this Photo .... Guillermo (Spanish for William) we met the first day at the assembly .... This brother was one of the first to accept the truth in Cuenca and has been serving Jehovah for over 35 years,..... Now, while there is phenomenal growth here in Cuenca currently ... that has not always been the case, for many years Cuenca was a lagger.... the city is considered to the one of the most, if not the most religious cities in all of Latin America, if not the world! It took some time for the brothers to break through the prejudice and different barriers from the churches ..... Once the crack in the dam failed the flood started and "My people" that have been in Babylon the Great, have been getting out of her, .... and have been coming into the truth in troves, for example ....


The congregation Canaribamba that we are a part of, has 120 publishers,.... this month we have had no less then 218 in attendance at our Sunday meetings, .... today we had 229! .... Standing room only, ... during the meeting, I was asked to stand, along with the Aussie and some other brothers, so that new ones and sisters could have our seats.


No we haven't formed the new Congregation, it looks like it's going to be closer to January, when that finally happens ..... that, will be a good thing! After the meetings you can hardly move around the hall .... if you have someone you want to talk to, you need to be close to where they are at, because by the time you get to where they are ... they were. (Hope you understand that) The sister congregation, Totoracocha has even higher attendance then we do.


The hat on the big guy, is a necessity down here, especially, if one lacks hair (Oh you hadn't noticed?)... at 8,000 ft elevation you are close to the sun and even more so, being at the Equator.

Great Experience

After the convention in English in Guayaquil, Carol suggested we set a goal of trying to preach in our building, seeing that it has a gate that prohibits those in our sister congregation from reaching, while in the preaching work. Well someone was listening... within a few days an older woman and her daughter in law that is widowed, asked us about why we are here in Ecuador .... so obviously we explained and they invited us to share "the word" with them .... we made arrangements to come to their apartment to do just that. When we arrived they were not there of course, but we weren't discouraged, as we see them all the time, and figured that if they were truly interested, we would get together with them at some point..... well after that, we passed them in our comings and goings and of course they asked us when we were coming and they got all red faced when we reminded them that we had an appointment, and came by, but they weren't there (all in a very kind and joking sort of way of course) .... they promised they would be there the next time, the following morning ...... they weren't! ..... so we set out for the field to do some other return visits.... on the way out of the complex, they were out front and we asked them if they still wanted to discuss "the word" ..... at which point, off we went to their apartment..... excellent discussion about Jehovah's purpose for the earth and us. We made arrangements to get them Bible Teach books and Bibles and then start the study the following week at 6 PM at their apartment..... when we arrived they had an additional neighbor there who wanted to listen in on the study ..... after the study they asked if some others could join us in the study (nope 3's the limit) .... as of last Wednesday we had 5 total that are studying ...... there was one additional person that came the week before, but after realizing we are JW's she put up a bit of a fuss,and made some accusations and of course we refuted what she had to say using the bible, at which point she excused herself and said she had another "appointment". (See ya later) We proceeded, and had an excellent study with the 5 woman that stayed! Supposedly there are 2-3 more that want to sit in on the study but they have not shown up yet .... Oh yea one other thing, all 5? ..... they are all from the building we live in. Be careful what goals you set .... you might just achieve them.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Sisters serving here in Canar Ecuador


Hello to all ... this last weekend, we enjoyed a "National Assembly" (I know ... in the states it's "convention". Here they are all "assemblies") The day before it started, we had invited a couple of fleshly sisters to come and have dinner with us. (The sisters Mendez) These two dear ones, live an hour and a half from  Cuenca, in a city called Canar. (sounds like Canyar) Canar is at 11,000 feet or (3,400 meters as they say here) so it's a bit cold, and the wind blows something terrible there. They moved to Canar, from Georgia, where they had been serving, in a congregation where the need was greater. Nice gals! In Canar they serve in Spanish, (there is also a indigenous congregation that speaks Kitchua, where there is a lot of growth as well) They explained that they have Rats in the house (sound familiar Webb's?) and they can hear them crawling around during the night ... freaked out at first, but now have accustomed themselves to it, (however that works) and that the friends have cats, bigger then the rats to help keep the population down. Also to help them with the cold, they were given a heating blanket by a sister back in the states as gift and they share it, to keep warm at night.... Each one gets the blanket for a night, then the other, the next night. (it's a twin blanket) Not exactly sharing it, the way you thought, when you first read that, was it? In Canar the elder serving is a Special Pioneer that cares for the congregation. In the ministry, they have much interest and a very large territory. So large, that when they work the outer limits, they only offer literature, and invite interested persons to the meetings. Once they show up at meetings, they will then, offer a bible study to the individual. It's not that they would not be able to start a boat load of studies with people in the rural areas, it's just that they can't get back to them, on a regular basis, to study with them. So if the individual, manifests enough interest to come to meetings, the friends will make the effort to conduct a study with them. (that's the way it is here in some areas, where the need is even greater then great) That make sense?


Next blog .... report on the "Assemblea Nacional". We had a few over 10,000 as the peak, but most days we had 8,500 or so..... Want to take a stab at how many were baptized? What's normal? About 1% of the attendance, right? Stay tuned for the results!