After a week of running around like a chicken with our heads cut off. (Of which I think I really did hear yesterday coming from the place next door… if not a chicken, something else…..yikes! …. But not to worry, it didn’t sound human) We finally were able to get out in the formal preaching work yesterday, (Saturday) good morning. Started a bible study with a woman who already had the Bible Teach book but was unaware of the bible study program….. until now! We start formally, next Saturday. Then today (Sunday) we (I) went to the meeting, Carol was under the weather, after 3 months of run, run, run I think it caught up with her…. And surprise of all surprises it’s a bit chilly today. (It's not supposed to be chilly or cold here) So she stayed in. We received a very warm welcome from the congregation. We had visited back in the end of March and the beginning of April. Most wondered if we were coming back, even though, I kept in contact with a brother in the congregation….. All were very happy to see us. Nice reception. At meeting for service yesterday the Coordinator of the body of elders informed me, that we would be meeting soon with the brothers from the other congregation that meets at the hall…. Why? ….. To form a new congregation…. Evidently they have been waiting for more brothers to show up, to do so. One other couple, (Don and Gail Harding) in there mid to late 50’s, just moved in from Australia not too long ago. Don is serving as an elder in the congregation while learning Spanish. Really nice folks … It’s very encouraging to see others reaching out to serve where there is a greater need, as well. They now have the man power, to form the new congregation…. Or so they think. We had 189 in attendance this morning…. That’s a lot of people in a relatively small hall. Forming a new congregation will be good…. More opportunities to participate.
The Other Stuff
If you have ever stayed at a Westin Hotel for the District Convention in San Francisco, you know what a treat it is, to come back to your room, after a long day at the convention, a nice dinner with friends, and snuggle into your “Heavenly Bed”. (That’s what they call it, and for good reason!) It’s hands down the most comfortable bed we have ever slept on. So much so, that we sprung for one to sleep on, even when we were not at the Westin. A bit pricy, but you do spend 1/3 of your life on a mattress, so you might as well be comfortable. If you look at it that way, it’s only pennies a day, over 10 years, 5.5 to be exact. Not bad investment for peaceful sleep. And Carol who prizes her rest, absolutely loves the thing,. Of all the things we were unable to take to Ecuador, that was the one she lamented the most. However living in Ecuador ….”Heavenly Bed”? That’s not on the menu! As you know we have the less hard of the hard and harder beds we purchased the first day here. Carol, who can feel a tiny piece of sand if she is laying on it, let me know right away that something had to be done about the “Hades Bed” my words not hers. You have heard the expression that “necessity is the mother of invention”…. Well Now …. from our family inventor, yes, the same lady that brought you the “microwave mirror “ we have the “Carol Heilig Ecuadorian version of he Heavenly Bed”. It consists of one rock hard (Flintstone) mattress, and at first, 1 (during the invention process discovered not to be enough, after 2 nights sleep) then an additional comforter from “Corral”. (Cuenca Wal Mart) you lay that over the bed and then put a fitted sheet over all that padding and Vola, you have a “Heaven bed”. Not quite “Heavenly” but close….. and here in Ecuador, for even less pennies a day, in fact less then 1.
Rough Day Today (Monday)
As you know we sent some of our “stuff” to Ecuador via cargo with the airline LAN. They told us it was too much to carry on the flight we took, then they said we could carry on the plane we flew on, then they told we need to take it to cargo and then ….. sound confusing? It was! But the best of the story is to come. I had prepared a blog that never was never published (too much to explain now) that told the story of our waiting in the city of Quito, and how we were told, the cargo would get here a few days after we got here. When that day arrived, it would be here 2 days later and then when that day arrived, it was to be here the following Friday, 5 days later which was the Friday past. So instead of waiting the week and then being told it would be some other day in the future, we decided to go to the Cuenca and start to get our place arranged. Well finally it did come in, 3 days after we left for Cuenca. (figures doesn’t it?) So I decided to come back today, Monday the 20th, to…. you know to “get all our stuff”. What I didn’t realize was that IT IS A PROCESS!!!!!! ...... I thought, (dangerous) I would go and take the paperwork from the Cargo carrier and get the junk, put it on a plane to Cuenca and get it, this afternoon, in Cuenca (life can be so easy in our minds can’t it) and move on with life. Service in the morning, start a new bible study perhaps…. No, no, no! I have to get boatloads of papers, and then, some of them notarized. It’s so complicated, that there are agents, that do the process for you, so you can get the stuff. What’s interesting is that these guys, every one of them, all talk about how corrupt Customs is down here, but they all make a good living off it. So after a draining day, mostly from the disbelief that it all wasn’t coming home with me today, and then running all over the city with my “helper”. To finish the experience the less then stellar day, he lets me know that I won’t get everything until probably Thursday (don’t worry, don’t worry I’m not holding my breath nor waiting around for it)….. and, …. there are TAXES to be paid! Which I tell him, that I had reviewed everything with Customs, showed them the list with all the “household” items listed, and they told me the stuff would NOT be taxed. So he sends me with one of his friends over to customs, to “inquire as to the taxes” and when we speak to the personnel, "who know", they inform him that these are not taxable items. And to think these are the guys the government recommends to “help”. But then maybe things change all the time and the “helpers” can’t keep up. Down and dirty of this episode, is that I am writing this blog from the hotel …. Uh….. I mean the airport…. Yes another night in the worse then Flintstone bed, (It sounds good right now) I get to sleep on the seats at the airport…. Last flight to Cuenca today? ….. left as I got to the airport, after all that running around ….. so goes life in Ecuador.
Finally to those of you thinking of moving down here (you know who you are) Take what ever you can on the plane with you no matter how difficult it makes the trip. You will work on the way down and be done with it! Or you can drag out the pain for some time….. can’t say what that is yet! ;-)
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