Saturday, April 21, 2012

Our move from Cuenca

Hello to all....

Since the last writing .... and when was that?  ..... Too long ago! Well maybe not for you. We have moved, last week to be exact. We didn't just move across town but across country ... well maybe not quite that far, but 4 hours from where we were located in Cuenca..... South, about 4 hours from the Peruvian border. What in the world.....? You may be asking, are you doing moving further away from the USA then closer.

Well Carol, my little thoroughbred had developed a nasty pulmonary problem "living in the city" (can you hear Stevie Wonder on that one?)  The doc said it was due to the dust and exhaust from the vehicles, mostly from the "big blue angels of death" or commonly known as "the buses". Then the doctor told her to stay off the streets...(how do you pioneer doing that?) and not to go out at night when the humidity levels increased. (and what time do we go to meetings?) Well you can see we needed to make a change. So we did. Contacted the branch about a few areas, and they gave us a response as to where the greater need was,so we took a few trips, and decided to move to the Malacatos congregation, south of Loja about 30 minutes.







Just in case the video isn't working for you here is a least a photo of the valley of Malacatos





The photos below are from Vilcabamba 




The territory is about as nice as it gets. Almost perfect weather (is there such a thing?) Nights nice and cool for sleeping and days in the upper 70s to low 80's with very low humidity. And greeeeeeen, greeeeen, greeeeen (pictures attached).


Malacatos is about 15 minutes from another famous place called Vilcabamba (valley of longevity) this place is like Mecca for those who want to get away from the world.... good thing about that is,  many of those who have that mentality, bring with them skills and services you would find in other parts of the world. Like what? You may be asking? .....




Like a french man and his Belgian wife who are purveyors of French breads and pastries. Baguettes fresh each day.... And we do enjoy them. Yes they are the real deal. The first time I met Román he was telling me that he made baguettes... I ask if they where good... he looked at me like are you kidding "I'M FRENCH" of course there good. Oooops .... sorry! .... Oh yeah .... those little rolls with the dark streak running through it ..... Chocolate croissants!



We found out yesterday that there is a guy that lives in the mountains that produces soft goat cheese ... Yes, like the kind you find in Trader Joe's or one of those type of places. Can't wait to get my lips on some of that stuff.

Last night we had excellent pizza.

Mexican food is available here from a man who's wife is from Mexico City, Mexico.

Im sure you have noticed that food is an important subject here.... Well it is where you are at too, right?

It's just that here in Ecuador, so far from a major metro area, the selections are more limited. Don't get me wrong, all the ingredients are here, but it's the putting them together that makes for good food. And with all the foreigners here in this area we have many things, that are hardly available in all of Ecuador. That is nice.

Ministry... well we hear it's really good and the last trip when we came here we had a really nice day in the service. So we are looking forward to getting out there and getting our own boatload of new studies...

It was sad leaving the Altiplano congregation in Cuenca, as there had been so much growth, not just with the amount of people but personal growth of the brothers in the congregation. Many new servants (6) and elders appointed (2), pioneers (4) and new ones that qualified to be unbaptized publishers (15),  newly baptized (5) during the 18 months we served in the congregation..... very nice to be a part of. We love those dear friends, and they appreciatively gave us a very nice send off.

Ill try to send a few more details of the area where we are living in other blogs....  But that gives you something to know about us for the time being.

Our love to you all, and may Jehovah continue to bless your service to him.