Hello everyone...
Well since I last wrote a blog we have had some interesting experiences here in Cuenca ..... Since right after the Dec 25 holiday here in Latin America starts the next round of celebrations called "Carnival" ..... this Tom Foolery is all about being crazy in the weeks and months leading up to "Ash Wednesday" when you have to do penance for the 40 days leading up to Easter.... so seeing that they have to pay for their sins ..... I guess the thinking is "let's sin it up"! This is a "christian celebration" but when you do the research ..... (I know this will come as a gigantic surprise to most of you) it's origins go back to Babylon .... haaaaa ...NO...... made there way through Egypt ..... I know another surprise..... then onto the Romans .... couldn't be ........and finally Celts /"Christians" and to quote one site "since it couldn't be suppressed by the church, it was adopted by (you got it) Christianity" ...... One of the goofy things that they like to do is here is pull off water pranks .... ie: water balloon throwing, as you walk the streets, from cars passing by, ..... to PAILS of water being dumped on you, as you walk down the sidewalk from above..... yes I got it a few times, and my Carol and Carol Souza while returning from their ministry yesterday, got it from some water balloonists, as they were no more then 100 yards from the apartment.... this we understand, is child's stuff, because, some have spoken of pigs blood being splashed on you, .... water with dye in it, being splashed on you and if that's not enough, some have mentioned (this has been outlawed and for good reason) water balloons that have been frozen being tossed and even killing people .... it evidently gets pretty crazy as our Coordinator suggested at the meeting Thursday night, that we dispense with formal meetings for service and just go to prearranged studies and return visits until next Wednesday. (I'm new here, so who am I to say otherwise) As I was walking back from meeting for service yesterday, there was a parade of school children with there outfits made up of balloons and there cans of spray foam, so they could shoot whoever was stupid enough to come nearer then 6-8 feet. I didn't think of it at the time, because I was a man on a mission .... to take some video footage of this goofiness, so you could see it for your self! I'm sure that I will be afforded a few more opportunities over the next few days, to have something to share with you. Stay tuned!
A week ago yesterday Friday evening the 5th, ..... I'm using the computer and check the email about 9:45, then leave the computer and come back about 10 PM ..... no internet connection ..... big surprise, as I had been having connection problems for a few days .... So I call the provider the next day as they have no 24 hr service here ... when you ask them about why they don't, they look at you like why would you have service people working to care for your needs at that time of day, are you crazy?.... (yes call me crazy) anyway... I call them the next day and well, they do have a person on call, who then tells me, he is working on his house (why he tells me that I don't know, .... perhaps to dissuade me from asking him to fix my problem and him having to go to the office to remedy the problem) .... so he lets me know that he will go to the office and check on the problem .... 40 minutes later he calls and tells me "you have no internet connection"! Yes that's what I told him when I called 40 minutes earlier .... then I let him know I would appreciate it, if he would have someone come out to the area where we are at, to remedy the problem ... as mentioned we had been having problems for the past several days so I assumed this was more of the same junk going on in our area of town.... he lets me know that they will have someone come out on MONDAY.... Whaaaaaaat! "Monday?"... "we don't have people working on the weekends, who would do that?" Indeed who, in latin america, would do that ..... I had a lapse of good judgement there! .... Monday arrives and the "tech" comes to fix everything ... but he can't get a signal to try to fix whatever connection problems we have ..... so off he goes and gets a new antenna to install on the mounting arm located on the roof 5 stories up.... this is where the story gets goofy .... I get the keys, that give access to the area where the antenna is and when we go through he secret passage to the "restricted area" the antennas and the mounting arm are gone! YES GONE! .... when we go to inspect the spot where it was mounted, there you can see, the bolts broken off in the wall.... the guy just looks at me as if to say "what in the world"... cables lying on the ground one disconnected and the other torn in shreds .... I start to try to figure out what happened, other then the obvious, but how did they get into the "restricted area?" .... well there are a couple of ways to get to that side of the roof without keys, if you want to take the chance of falling 6 stories ... and it looks like for someone, it was worth the effort ... the internet guy said he had never seen anything like this happen before ... DITTO for me .... well a week later it gets reinstalled and we are back online and writing blogs .... how fun .... we spoke to Brent and Kassie yesterday and Carol asked if they ever get an enjoyable day off during the week ..... because it seems like everyday that should be a day to relax we are always fighting ..... or better said "solving" some problem or taking care of some disaster .... plumbing, electrical, some appliance going on the fritz and having to deal with that ... always something! THEY JUST STARTED LAUGHING ..... same there in Nicaragua! The only thing we could come up with is that everything is made so cheaply here (think "Made in Ecuador" = to "Made in China") that it's ready to break within months..... So if your thinking that it's all fun a games and we're on an endless vacation down here .... Think again ..... the preaching is awesome, the living is well ....... a bit frustrating at times ..... you get accustomed to thinking ..... what's next? Wait until tomorrow and you'll find out!
But the truth is, we are here for the preaching, and that makes up all the rest!
