More Drama .... Drama!

In a blog from the last several months, I mentioned that I had the privilege to direct the Sunday drama about Joseph... We had a great time working together. I may have mentioned that the brothers from our old circuit in Reno sent the costumes on from the States, we made alterations to the costumes for the same characters here in Cuenca, and all went well. The Webbs formally know as TGC brought them from the States after have having one of their detox vacations. (That's what we have come to refer going back to the states as being.... ;-))))))

Group from the Reno Circuit

Last week I get an email from some brother in Chile.... some 1700 miles south of Santiago, Chile ..... Coihayque, Chile to be exact. Who do I know in Chile? Very few people... We did go to the international in 2009 in Santiago, but to have anyone we keep in constant contact with?  No one! Well maybe there is one sister we keep in contact with from time to time... She helped us on our bus and at that time served in English...   Aaaanyway ...... sorry for that mental deviation. I get this email from this brother explaining how he has the same drama and that he heard of the now famous costumes that have traveled the world ..... The information he had ... included the costumes being sent to Nicaragua and being used by 2 drama groups and then being sent onto Honduras for 1 drama group (that part never happened, Nicaragua and Honduras, ....  but it sure sounds good, doesn't it?) Reno/ Sacramento and Cuenca so far .... His email came with a drama photo of the original cast ... so I took it to be the real deal. Juan Ponce is his name and he was sent information from SAL and KAREN who got the information from David Cabral (Sal and Karen who? I don't know, David Cabral I do know!) Back to the story..... I let Juan know, that yes, we are willing to send them ..... (Carol has been asking me what are we going to do with all these costumes that have been in our closet since August) Her question was answered in one email.... imagine that!

So the next day after exchanging a few more emails I get this email from the wife of the brother......



Hey Bill-

This is Stephanie Conable....the wife of Juan Ponce.

I saw your name in his inbox and thought to myself...Bill Heilig...i know that name!

Are you the Bill Heilig from Reno??

Are you married to Carol?

I may be completely wrong...but thought I would ask!

I met you all years ago on a cruise with the Priddle family.

Are you serving in Ecuador?

I got married in April of this year and my husband and I are living in the Patagonia, Chile.

Hope you guys are doing well!

Abrazos

Stephanie

Our Drama Group

How interesting.... someone we know from the States is the wife of the brother asking for the costumes. Jehovah willing, they will arrive in Patagonia in the next few weeks. Hopefully we will get a photo from that group as well...

Then we can have a vote on who are the best looking of all the groups..... JUST KIDDING!

As someone once said.... "It's a really small world, when your no part of the world!"

Ciao for now.

Banned from the Taxi Consortium

"Dont be foolish" in english it doesn't sound so bad does it? Dont be foolish, dont be silly, dont be ridiculous. Weeeeelllll in Spanish evidently it takes on different meaning. "No sea tonto" for those of you that speak spanish, that may sound a bit harsher ...... That's how it translated from english to spanish.... Carl Webb says it sounds to the spanish speaker/hearer "dont be an idiot" ..... Now that doesn't sound so good does it.... Well these are the things you learn over time, about the nuances of a language and just recently I learned that nuance. The hard way!

3 weeks ago we are traveling to meeting for service. Along the way the taxi driver  approaches a car in the middle of the road that is moving slow, really slow. Instead of coming close to the car with caution, its full steam ahead. And of course as we get close to the car, the person decides to make a left turn, yes in front of us! ... At this point the driver slams on the brakes and we go flying forward planting our faces into the back of the from seats..... I can tell you from several experiences its not fun. .... Usually, we keep our mouths shut when this kind of thing happens .... however this particular driver had committed this type of crime for the last time with us in his car (yes we had driven with him several times before). And to think we were sympathetic a few weeks earlier, when he tells us he was robbed for 300.00 in his pocket while driving... What's a driver doing with 300.00 in his pocket? (he is tonto!)

I think it was Carol who screamed when he hit the brakes hard.... (I dont know maybe it was me.) Then I told him, it might be a good idea not to assume that a car in the middle of the road is broken down especially when its moving, and one should proceed with caution, as they get close to the car.... well then he tells me she didn't have her emergency lights on, and there would be no reason to think anything was going to happen.... my answer to that was, a car moving slowly in the middle of the street, where one can drive 40 miles per hour, is a good reason to approach with caution ... that defensive driving would cause one to think, that something maybe wrong ..... with or without emergency lights flashing..... he didn't like that idea. He then told me he had driven in Chicago for 15 years as a taxista...... Aaaaand? ... As if that somehow qualified him to be a a bad driver ..... I mentioned in the US that persons are trained to drive defensively, and that you are trained to look not just at the car in front of you, but several ahead of you, so you can take measures ahead of time, so that when you approach a bad situation you dont have to slllllllllam on the brakes at the last minute, and plant your clients faces into the back of the front seats.

At this point he decides to show me how "foolish" I am, to suggest that he drive that way. (after all he is the expert, right) When he sees a car entering into traffic about 200 feet away he hits the brakes, "oh like this, I should slow down when I see something ahead" At first I dont get that he's mocking me, then he keeps doing hitting the brakes hard each time .... finally this time he hits the brakes so hard he almost plants our faces into the back of the seats.... thats when I said .... "NO SEA TONTO" or dont be foolish. 

UUUUUps .... he goes off into a tirade about calling him foolish ..... Im thinking he was being foolish, and he didn't like it one bit. So now he really startes to mock me with the hitting the brakes, of course each time we fly forward,  finally Carol tells him you can let us off here! But he wont, she has to tell him 4 times before he finally lets us off. Mind you I'm willing to pay him for the distance traveled. 2.00, so I hand him a 10.00, all I have, and he can't make change, so I tell him it's only a 10.00 not a hundred. He tells me he cant make change. Well "sorry but I can't turn a 10 into singes and pay you"..... as I step from the car I ask his name, so when I call in for the taxi service next time I can let them know, I don't want Luis for a taxista.... he must think Im going to call in and complain....  because that afternoon when I call the service for a taxi, the dispatcher lady asks me if we had a problem with a driver and I tell her the story.... She doesn't act surprised at what passed, but then tells me that his version is that we called all the drivers of the service "fools"..... now you have me mad,  as we have a super relationship with 97% of the drivers in the consortium. I told her he's a liar and he's just trying to cover for his tontedad..... foolishness. I didn't say that, but did say that he was a lair! Then she apologized, but told me that she couldn't send a taxi because the manager of the consortium told the drivers not to give us service...... BANNED from the consortium? .... That's when we decided to take the plunge and get a car.... no more bad drivers, late drivers, nightmare rides. Kissed them all goodbye.

So a week later we are sharing the story with the Webbs one day and needless to say Carl is getting a good laugh out of all this.... and when I ask him if the word Tonto is worse then Necio he informes that it is ..... Im thinking it's softer and he tells me it's like saying someone is stupid or an idiot..... then he pauses and thinks for a moment and says..... "well that's what you meant wasn't it" ... so I think I did use the right word they just dont like to be called Tonto.

Going forward Ill use the word sparingly and probably under my breath. Lesson learned!

Just for your reference .... what the word NECIO means according to the dictionary....

YOU JUST CANT WIN HERE!

Unbelievable story

Hello everyone..... sorry for the long delay in keeping in touch. It's just that there has been so much going on, and when we do have time, it's time to refresh the brain not drain it ... more. And the thing is, there is just not the same brain matter that there used to be, so it needs to be conserved for writing about the unusual that happens, when it happens. That being said this experience is worth writing about.

As you may know from the last blog in ..... June? No, it cant be that long ago can it. Anyway as you know we started the process for the residency in June and the friends that were helping us, were able to get the paperwork in,  just under the gun.... divine intervention for sure.... more of that was to come.

Last week we decided to go to Quito to finish the process of getting the residency. The 1st time you get the approval for the residency, to obtain your "Cedula" it's a must, to go to Quito for the process to be completed.  That was the final step, after getting some of the paperwork completed here in Cuenca and receiving the "Censo" ..... (yes it's a "tramite" like everything here). That being said we decided to get some pages added to our passport while there and look for a car. Yes we finally got a car after almost being in 2 accidents while in taxis, in 1 week, we had enough! So we got something big, that way if we are hit we should have a bit more protection then the other guy.... :-)

While in Quito we decided to go and try to see the vehicle we went there for, and of course it was out at the shop and would not be back for several days ....  we checked day after day and finally when the car came back it was not in good condition, so we decided to look elsewhere. More on that later.

Next stop ... US Embassy for the Passport paperwork, as it turned out they couldn't attend to us that day, so we decided to call it a day and head for the main street to catch a taxi ..... one passed, then another  and another and another, none of them with passengers.... finally one stopped. And as is our custom we struck up a conversation with the driver... finally he asked what was our purpose of being in Ecuador ... we explained the why, letting him know that we are Jehovah's Witnesses and there is a great need here, due to the tremendous growth taking place. He says "you are Jehovahs Witnesses"? Yes we are JW's.... "you two are JW's"? .... Si somos, "you and your wife are testigos de Jehová"? ..... yes, yes we are JW's ..... then he reaches down and grabs a Watchtower magazine.... at that point I think he is someone that has some contact with the Witnesses .... ok so I'm a bit dense. But finally after asking him about 2 times, he said he was a brother..... in fact an elder in the congregation he attends. Nice, as he turned out to be our taxista for the rest of our stay. After getting all the paperworks done (passport and cedula) we were ready to buy a car! 2 things done in two days we are on a roll baby!!!!!!

Friday we are off to Sangolqui to buy a car ..... Where's that?.... somewhere in Ecuador and somewhere near Quito .... well relatively .... when we arrive the car seems to be a cream puff .... turns out to be a vehicle that a military officer was the owner of, and he maintained it per the schedule from the manufacturer..... We let the owner of the used car lot know we are interested and struck a deal and let him know that we are planning on driving back to Cuenca "tomorrow".... of course we are in Ecuador, so that means we are probably not going home the next day.... in fact he says the process can't be competed until Tuesday ...... "Tuesday .... why so long"? No reason, just the way it is..... GREAT we think ... finally the taxista (hermano) says even if we go to all the places that need to be gone to, to get the process completed ..... "Oh if that's the case then probably we can get it done" the car lot owner says ..... 5 hours later.... we are the owners of a 07 Hyundai Terracan ..... Not available it the USA ..... needless to say we are so exhausted from 3 days of running around, we decide to head back to the hotel... and by 7PM are in bed and asleep, ready for the "6 hour" trip tomorrow (saturday)....

In the morning we get off like a heard of turtles .... google map shows the most direct route, but also the slowest as it turns out, because it takes you through the city and alllllllll the traffic. 1 1/2 hours later we are just leaving the city, onto the Pan American highway.... which has parts that are like freeways in the US, but then other parts that are two lanes and there is traffic ..... a few other desvias (wrong turns) and we land in Riobamba about 5 hours after we leave Quito ..... we should have been there 2 hours ago.....  We stop to go the bathroom and eat and we are off again..... about 2 hours up the road Carol goes to look for her purse to get something, and she says to me that she left her purse behind ..... no problem I say we will call the hotel and they can send it to us.... no I left it in the bathroom, in Riobamba ..... oooooooh that's not good.... No point in turning back after driving for 2 hours, as here you know it not going to be there ..... it's gone and we will never see it again.... all her stuff, all the stuff we just finished getting completed is gone. She oviously is in tears and there is no consoling her... telling her that all is fine and we will just start the process all over again ..... that did not help .... finally we got home after 10 1/2 hours of travel, ...... as we hit 125 miles of THICK fog on a two way mountain highway, and not able to see more then 25 feet ahead at times, we could drive no more the 20 miles an hour.  There where semi trucks and they of course would not pull to the side of the highway so you could pass safely... of course that didn't stop the crazy Ecuadorians. they passed like there was no fog .... as a result the was a head on and it looked like a fatality as we passed, and then down the road, there was a bus that decided to pass and it almost collided with another bus... the innocent bus driver was visibly mad when he passed us. Finally we got out of the fog and got home, safe and TIRED. Needless to say Carol did not have a good night as all she could think about was that she lost everything we had work so hard to get.

Next day I decided to try and see if anyone at the food court maybe had found it and turned it in... Yeah I know it was a pipe dream, but nothing ventured nothing gained, it was worth a shot..... So I started with the ice cream chain, that had a location at the food court .... I look up on the internet the phone number and find one for the owners ... NICE, immediate help!... When I call, a 3 year old answers the phone and of course I ask for her Dad and she tells me he's not there and that he's out of the house playing futbol ....... "how about your mom'? ..... and then she asks me who is calling and then proceeds to tell me all kinds of kid stuff.... anyway 3 minutes later mom gets on the phone and of course she tells me it's Sunday and her day off and that she can't help me until tomorrow, maybe ..... she had no compassion even for another woman who lost her purse .... go figure!

Next I get this crazy idea to check the JW web site for downloads and find a congregation in Riobamba, a sister answers the phone and of course Im sure she hears my gringito accent and warms right up to me... (sometimes it works in our favor).... finally I explain to her what has happened and she tells me she will go down to the food court and investigate and call me back in 20 minutes...... 20 minutes later she calls and lets me know she didnt find anyone who knows anything ... but she will return on Monday and take time off work, to go and talk to the administradora of the building, then will call me back at 9:30 am.

Monday 9:35 no call... so I call her, as we have to start what is called a "denucia" to start to recover all of Carols stuff, seeing that it wont be found (me of little faith).... I call the sister and her husband answers, he says she could not get off work, but he would be going to see if the purse was found, sometime during the morning..... AGAIN FAT CHANCE of finding it .... or so I thought.

We take off toward town, and on the way, one of our neighbors (Americano) we have talked many times, asks us a question about why JW's where thrown into concentration camps in Germany in WW II .... so we explain, and then he proceeds to ask one question after another and all the time we are thinking we need to file the denuncia .... but at the same time, we are thinking that is why we are here, to share the truth, and when someone asks about what the bible teaches, we have to speak.... whether we think it's a good time or not.... Well after an hour he says to us, that we probably need to get going to file the denuncia ... so off we go and about 30 minutes later we find the place to file... only thing is, this is just the first stop of the 'Process" to file the stupid thing..... About 15 minutes into the 1st step ... my cell rings and it's the sister.... "I have the purse hermano" ... "really"? ..... (what an idiot) "and everything is in it brother" .... everything? ...."everything"! Carol starts to cry and I follow her lead.... It's just that these things dont happen here ..... On our street, since moving to our apartment I have found remnants of 3 purses and scraps of ID and assorted stuff from what has been stolen.... 99.99999 % of the time here, when you loose it,  you can kiss it gooooooood bye.

Interestingly Carol had been praying to Jehovah, and mentioned many times that she knew he could recover it, but was not obligated to do so, but if he would, somehow help us to recover it how grateful she would be.... Well, he answered her prayers..... we are so grateful, as the process to start everything over again is to start from the beginning as the new passport meant a new passport number and a whole new process to get everything from the Ecuadorian government.

Interesting thing .... had the americano not stopped to talk to us we would have by that time have filed the denuncia, and even the fact that we found the purse, would have had to start the whole process over... looks like Jehovah even put the person in our way, to delay our arrival to the office to file the denuncia. You think Jehovah is looking after us? WE DO!

Next process? Get the car registered in our name and title put into our name...... Don harding sent me a list of the steps to get this fiasco completed ..... 6-8 steps, at 4 different places. Well I can kiss this week goodbye. Thank goodness we dont have the other stuff to do.

Our love to you all.

Shock and Ugh to Shock and Aaaaaaah

Hello everyone....

I have heard that some of you have been asking if we are ok. (thanks Webbs) Well we are, just super busy. During the end of Oct. to end of March we were in the states for about 75% of the time. Dad Heilig was suffering with his cancer, and we wanted to spend as much time as possible with him during his last months. Finally on Feb 23rd a little after midnight he passed away. He died faithful, and of course we so look forward to being with him and mom, in Jehovahs new world. Being out of the congregation so much, for so many months, when we finally got back to EC we wanted to just focus on our ministry and time with the friends. That has been very rewarding. Ill share a few things with you, regarding the different things that have been going on in our life, ministry and congregation.

Altiplano Congregation


As you know, if you have been reading this blog, in September 2010 the new congregation Altiplano was formed.  We started with 74 publishers, 7 pioneers, 2 elders, and 5 ministerial servants. Since then, in less then a year, we have 4 elders (2 appointed in the last 6 months) 11 pioneers, 6 ministerial servants (2 newly appointed) and 98 publishers, and only 5 of the increase, have been brothers that have moved into the congregation.  Growth to the maximum. Several inactive friends from the territory, who haven't been to meetings in years, have been reactivated, to go along with the many, that have started as new publishers. Additionally during that time period, we have had 5 baptized from the territory, and 2 more will be getting baptized at the next convention if all continues to go well with them.  GROWTH GROWTH GROWTH! It amazing and exciting !!! All the brothers in the congregation  have been caught up in the excitement from the growth, and many are reaching out for more responsibility, with a desire to progress spiritually. I can imagine, with Jehovah's blessing, in the next year we will have several more appointments of brothers to take the lead. Pioneers for those who want to make  more of their ministry, and several students that will progress to baptism. These friends have become to us a family. We love them dearly, as we watch them grow and prosper spiritually.

Our Ministry

Outstanding ..... That's all I can say....

Just kidding.

Carols attitude is to try and start a bible study each day and many days she does... its the getting back to them and finding them home, that is the challenge. She has so many really good calls, her call book is full, and she has little time to get back to the calls she has, but when she does and they are home, she usually starts another study. She's a machine.

My ministry is good too, but at this point, in addition to working on my students, I am focusing on the internal ministry, working with the brothers and helping them see themselves as future servant and elders, as well as helping them make the progress necessary to qualify. Lets just leave it there.

Oh the Drama

No not the kind your thinking of, (In our life, not that we haven't had that too, more on that later) but the kind we have at the convention each year. Yes this year I have the privilege of directing the drama on Sunday, you know the one about ...... Oh, I better not ruin it for you, if you haven't been. But it's good, and we are working on it pretty much as a congregation with a few outside helpers from other congregations .... Lots of work and thyme, uh time involved, thus no blog. No Thyme!

Legal Status (Drama in our life)

It's so funny, when we talk to the locals and the brothers, and not just the ones in our congregation, about legal status, visas and getting them renewed. They just look at us like, what are you talking about. "Your Americans, you can do anything you want, go anywhere you want, whenever you want, and however you want". Nope, "not true", and of course they are shocked.

Well here is the rest of the story. On July 6th our legal status runs out, our visa expires. In the past, the branch would provide a letter that said basically, that we and others are working under the direction of the organization, and based on that, the government was willing to issue a visa  that is designed for "missionaries". About 60 days before the expiration of the visa, we turn in all the paperwork, and the visa gets renewed. No big deal. It's kind of funny but for the entire time we have been in Ecuador, Carol always said "if our visa gets renewed", referring to the fact, that, we are living during the last of the last days, and the government could change it's point of view and not allow "missionaries" into the country. Well just about the time we were ready to turn in the "stuff" for the renewal of the visa, what the prophetess, said came true! We received a letter from the government saying that the visa was no longer available. But it wasn't the Ecuadorian government that didn't give the ok. It was our government. Evidently the Governing Body made a decision (they have their reasons) and advised all branches  around the world that the organization, would not be providing help, for those that come to serve where the need is greater, to obtaining legal status... ie, visas. Needless to say, everyone has been scrambling, including us. (Shock and Ugh) Especially, as at that moment, we were getting down to the time wire, to get our legal status completed, so we would be able to stay and serve. Yikes! We had to get copy of our marriage certificate apostillized and sent from the USA to Ecuador. Additionally we had to make an investment in Ecuador, open a CD and keep the dough in the country. Once that was completed, we had to get the paperwork completed, and then, turned in to immigration. To do that, we hired a couple from Quito (witnesses/lawyers) to care for the process. Interesting thing happened, when they were ready to turn in all the goods to immigration. There was a notice on the door at the office saying the Ministry of Immigration was in a state of emergency and they were not accepting applications from extranjeros/foreigners at this time. Bummer, because that was the last day we had, to get the paperwork in, if not started then, (the process) we would have to go back to the US and start the process.... Not what we wanted to do. The sister called her husband and asked what she should do, "Pray for help". She did, and she was able to make contact with someone she knew, and was able to get the paperwork in, and the process with that ministry started. (Sigh of relief or Shock and Ahhhhh) Of course one thing we have learned here is, nothing is certain and we will see how things happen, going forward. We should know in the next 45-60 days if we can stay and serve. If not? ...... We will make a decision then.... what our next step will be.

Our love to all ..... and we thank you for writing and keeping in touch.

Dry Sunday

The Spauldings, yes they are the couple on the left. The whole world already knows the couple on the right! They are always in ALL the photos. ;-)

This little story was inspired by a DESPEDIDA (good-bye ) for a very special couple from Australia. The Spauldings, Rodney and Karen have over the years served in various fields of full time service. Special pioneers, bethel, regular pioneers, and most recently here in Cuenca "where the need is greater". They are wonderful people and over the last few years we have had the opportunity to hear of their adventures over the years in various activities. Now I know they would say that they are nothing special. They definitely are "special" folks. Very down to earth and fun, with tons of experience in the Truth. They once served in a place that gets as hot as 50 degrees celsius... that's about 130 fahrenheit! ..... No matter how you slice it that's HOTTTTTTTTTTT ! How does one get some relief when you live in a small trailer, ("The Tin Can") with no air conditioning? They told us they would go to the local grocery store and go through the freezer section "looking " for chickens "to buy" never finding the right one, but always searching. (If we could only find it)  Can you imagine the reaction of the people working at the strore, seeing these two rummaging through the freezer and always coming up empty handed? I laugh every time I think of that story.... they left us with so many ... we are going to miss them dearly. We weren't together all the time mind you, but when we were, things were memorable.

DRY SUNDAY

Soooooo,  we go to the Eucalyptus Cafe (a local, foreigners hangout) on the evening of Sunday, for one of many good bye get togethers for the Spauldings.... It's about 6 PM, and the first order of business is to order drinks. A nice red, margarita, mojito or something like that. Well the waiter reminds us that's it dry Sunday .... and after 5 they "can't serve" alcohol...... then he proceeds to tell us "in normal" drink glasses. So here is the work around. See the video .... this was too much. 

Want to catch fish? ... Move to where the fish are biting!

Hello Family, friends and readers of this blog. This blog we write, not with any negative comments, about what the differences are here, or in your part of the world. But rather, with many of the positive differences between here, and many parts of the world,  with regard to sharing the Good News of Gods Kingdom.

I can imagine after the Study last week and this week, regarding having a zeal for the preaching activity, all of us are thinking about our attitude toward the work, and the degree of participation we have in it. We received some excellent counsel, regarding the fact, that perhaps some, have lost the sence of URGENCY for the work that is so important. Also, how we can renew our zeal for the work that saves lives.

Carol and I have been so amazed at the amount of activity that there is here in Cuenca, and, I would imagine in all of Ecuador. We haven't received the new Yearbook but I would have to imagine the growth rate in this land, to be in the 6-8% range. That's phenominal! All I can judge from, is what we see here, in the congregations and circuits in and around Cuenca. (there are 3)

For Example

The Webbs (you know who I'm talking about don't you) have between 11-15 students that are regularly attending the meeting in CHICKEN-TAD. (No, of course that's not how it's spelled, but for the rest of us thats how it's pronounced) The congregation has territory in the city of Cuenca, and in the country side where you have seen the Webbs preaching up and down the hills (ok Carl, .....  Mountains) The congregation about 5 months ago, separated the group in the country (Checa) from the congregation in the city and started to hold meetings. At the time my source informed me that they had about 205 at the meetings regularly each week that with about 130 publishers in the combined group. 40 went to the country and 90 stayed in the city. The 40 in the country, have about 80 in attendance each week, and the other 90 that are in the city, have in attendance 160! After just 5 months, they have an increase of over 15% in attendance! And each meeting, my source tells me, that they have new faces in the hall attending the meetings, yes of course, those are new persons studying, and progressing ! Well now they are in the process of perhaps forming the group in the country into a congregation.

Other Example

In the part of the city (To-to-ra-co-cha .... yes it's part of Cuenca) where the congregation is, that we attend. In September a new congregation was formed .... "Altiplano".  When we started we had 76 publishers, now we have 90. Some new ones, and some have moved from other parts of the city. When we started we had in attendance, on average 115, now regularly we have in excess of 130. In ther congregation most of the children, we don't have a lot of little one most of the children and teenage youth are publishers. So the number in attendance,  are not from a lot of children who are not publishers, coming with parents. The other congregations that the Altiplano congregation was formed from, have seen similar growth. (It's called "the make room in the Kingdom Hall, and then proceed to fill it again, program") About 8% growth in 5 months ... that's just for Altiplano congregation .... I can't speak for the other 2 congregations in exact numbers, but I do know, they too are experiencing growth. All this, while we pass through the territory, about once a week. Yes, the territory, is being worked to life! It's phenominal !!!!

One brothers method

One brother from the congregation,  this afternoon ,stopped by for a few minutes, while here we talked about what was happening in the territory (he has several studies that attend). He made the point, that by working the territory so often, we are able to breakdown prejudices. Often people in the territory  say, "they don't have time this morning", and then tell us, they will take time, next time to talk. What he has been doing, is mentioning that, they told us last time, they would take time, next time, and this, is the next time. He has had the opportunity to share the truth and start a number of new studies, reasoning with them in this way. (I'm robbing the method)

Tired of fishing where few fish are biting? Come to where the fish are biting!

Imagine yourself fishing, and sitting, and sitting with few bites, let alone fish being caught. A little boring isn't it. Well imagine yourself sitting there, and seeing other fisherman along the shore, with poles bent, and fish being caught. What would you do?  Well back in the day when I used to go fishing, I would invade the area, and start to try to catch fish, in that area. When it's hot, it's hot, and I wanted to catch fish....  Jesus said as his disciples, we would be "fishers of men".  Friends, the fish are biting, or rather the people are responding, and being pulled into the boat, I mean the congregations.  Now another question. Can you see yourself moving to where the fish are biting, and, being caught, and in large numbers, where the fishing is fun and phenomenal ? That place is Ecuador!

Why Ecuador?

Other then the fishing aah preaching?  Think about the options you have for weather. In the mountians, if you don't get too much over 9000 feet in elevation, you can enjoy early summer late spring type weather, pretty much year round. Low humidity, nice rains every other day. Sometimes for 30 minutes, sometimes for a few hours. You seldom if ever, have that feeling of being sticky for the humidity. That would be our preference.... So it is, that we live in the mountains, the Andes to be exact.

You say you prefer a bit more heat and humidity? Well then, you have two options, you can enjoy the beaches along the coastline or the other option would be the orient... that is, the jungles of Ecuador, where you will find, waterfalls, rivers and exoctic birds and animals, that most of us only see, on National Geographic. There too the fishing, aaaah preaching work, is going very well. There are options between the area of spring like, and warm to hot climates as well and the fishing is good in those places as well.

Food 

That's an important matter. At least it is to us. In Ecuador there is everything and then some. Everything you probably have in the developed world and then you have the exoctic food that are local to Ecuador or the tropical area. Food is not an issue here.

Restaurants

Tons of them. Various types of food and good quality. Clean and very reasonably priced. How reasonable? Well a gourmet meal, with wine and desert for 2 of you will go for $ 18-25.00 todo incluido! (everything included .... even taxes and tip)

Entertainment

Movies? ... Yup! Pretty much anything you can get in the developed world. Anywhere from $1.50 -4.50 for a movie, depending on the day of the week... Want popcorn, soda and a hotdog? ....  add $3-4.00 for 2 persons

News? BBC, CNN, Fox News and of course Ecuadorian news and Latin world channels. TV programing that you have in some of those places as well.

Live music and concerts if that's your thing... Cuenca has it's own Symphony and it's good! $10.-15 for a ticket.

American sports too, if thats your fancy. Interesting thing here.... On Direct TV they have all the U.S. games, that you would pay extra for as a package.  All the football (NFL), baseball (MLB), or basketball (NBA) programing they have, and people pay extra for back in the States. But the thing is, that here, no one really is interested in it, so they include it a part of the package you pay 40.00 a month for.
 
And of course if Soccer is your game, there is a ton of that on Direct TV, all inclusive in your package.

Outdoors? Cajas National Park is 30-40 minutes from here. (Cuenca) So if you like to fish for trout then you are in fishing paraíso. (paradise)

Golf?... I don't know,  but I do know that you can do it in Quito or Guayaquil ....

How much? Sorry still don't know that one..... But if you have to play,  it's available! And of course Direct TV televises all the PGA and other associations from Europe and So. America.

Sound Good? ..... It is.

Will there be challenges? Of course...

If you have followed this blog, you know we have had some pretty interesting stories/experiences. Ones you can laugh about, after the pain is over with .... Then all you have, is great stories to tell, over and over again, to all the new ones coming here.



Challenges

Well, if you don't speak the language ... Spanish is the national tongue here. Of course you will survive, it's just that you will enjoy it more, if you know spanish, when you hit the ground. Preaching in Spanish or one of the other foreign languages, is where it's at. Here again, if you decide to come to live and serve in Spanish (that's what the branch will suggest, Spanish) you will learn, but speaking from experience, it will be a challenge, one that will be fun and scary, kind of like a roller coaster ride, right? Oh yeah, need I mention, humbling?

Cultural differences

Sure.. there's a bunch of them, but with time you do seem to get somewhat accustomed to them. You just learn not to focus on them. When you have 5-10 bible students, and some of them coming to the meetings, that's easy to do. You tend to focus on the positive spiritual side of things.

What more can we say?

There is so much need, thus the expression "Moving to where the need is great". If you are serving as a servant or an elder ... there is a ton of work to do in the congregations. With so many being formed, when a congregation gets more then 2, they usually are assigned to another new congregation, so they can take the lead. One of the DO's in the country mentioned, that one of the greatest needs here, is for brothers that have experience. If you speak spanish, why not give consideration to your circumstances, make it a matter of prayer, and see if you can move to where the harvest is in full swing, and gaining steam. You can live on a fraction of what it costs in most developed countries, probably close to 20-25% of the costs in fact. If you have a fixed income, perhaps a Social Security or other pension check, you will live better here, then in most lands, on that check.

If you lead a simple, but comfortable life as a couple, you should be able to live on a $1000.00 a month in Cuenca. Rent will cost you anywhere from $150-350.00, depending on where you would want to live. All utilities, gas, electric, water, trash, TV, internet will run about 200.00. Food and entertainment $300.00-400.00. Transport (public) $20-80.00 depending on bus or taxis being used. If you have your own car, gas here is about 1.50 a gallon. Cars as you know from previous blog, are expensive here ... used or new they are over priced.

One other thing to consider. There will be set up costs. Furniture, appliances, dishes and cookware, bedding etc. If you pack and bring it, we spent about a 1200.00 to get some stuff here (our bedding, bathroom, and kitchen appliances, along with pots and pans) and then we spent another 5000.00 for the major stuff, like furniture and appliances (the large ones) to get setup. So that must be in your budget as well. There are places that are furnished, however you dont have the choice of furniture or bedding etc... but then you don't have the setup costs either... Some recent arrivals, the Souza family, are renting an apartment for 350.00 a month furnished.

Check out this site for additional information about Cuenca... and possible rentals as they are advertised on the site often. http://cuencahighlife.com/

Sound Interesting but want to check it out first?

That would be wise. Something that may interest you is, the assemblies we have here in English. The principle one is the District Convention usually at the end of July. Also starting this year there is a Special Assembly Day in March. These assemblies are lovingly put on by the Branch. A mini International Convention each year! Brothers from all parts of the world, who have come to serve here in Ecuador, are in your company. What a blessing! It's soooo encouraging and upbuilding.

After the convention, plan time to check out an area where you think you could live. Also, plan time to visit the branch, and talk to the brothers about your desire to serve in Ecuador. You can get a packet of information from the branch, that will help you obtain your Visa, from the government. Once here if you decide to stay for years, you can keep renewing your Visa, that the branch helps you get. If you want to get your residency, that's possible also.

Don't know the Language?

You'll learn, the society has articles about what to expect, in our magazines.

Also here in Cuenca, there are brothers who can provide the Accelerated Language class. The class can get you up and running, with the BASICS of the language, and get you preaching in Spanish, right away. There was in fact, just completed, the first class in Cuenca. Perhaps if you decide to come, and enough other brothers also, another class can be conducted. The class is really fun, and while taking the class you can get credit on your field service time to boot..... if your a pioneer.

If you would like more information, you can can write. The response may not be immediate, but I will try to get back to you. If you can't make the move, but know someone who could, or, may be interested? Please send them this blog site! Yes you can share it with others. There's no copywrite here.

As Jesus said "the harvest is great, but the workers are few, therefore beg the master of the harvest to send more workers". That's what we are doing ...... Can you come, and share in the great harvest here in Ecuador? If it's your desire, to serve in a greater way during the last days of this system. We encourage you to take steps that Jehovah can bless, in harmony with your desire to serve, where the need is great.