We are enjoying our move from Cuenca to Malacatos. I like to tease the friends staying that I prefer to call the town, Catos not Malacatos. For those of you that dont speak Spanish, Mala means bad. So I like to tell the friends here, that I prefer to tell people that we live in Catos not Mala catos (or badcatos) They all laugh and shake their heads.
Service here is nothing less then superb. Good calls each day and several studies. It appears that the territory is coming into it's own right now. Lots of new ones coming to the meetings and making progress. Commenting regularly, sharing the truth with others and progressing toward being an unbaptized publishers.
One student (Jose) and his family, are studying with a couple from Holland that serve here. (They are as poor as poor can be, but feel rich due to the knowledge they have attained) While they make their annual trip back to Holland for 3 months, we have the priveledge to care for the study with all the family members. The wife has lived a very hard life and has been treated very unjustly by family members, even having been stolen from, by her mother. When she was growing up it took some years for her to realize that her mother had given her to her uncle and his wife to raise. When she finally was 8-10 years of age, she found out what her mother did, and then her mother told her that she was a child that was not wanted. Her mother has always treated her with disdain, as a result she of course suffers from very low self esteem. The love of the friends has helped her tremendously to improve in this area of her life.
Her husband Jose started learning the truth a year and a half ago, and has been attending meetings ever since. He was the first to latch onto the truth, it caused problems in the family, due to changing his beliefs in harmony with the bible. The wife Rachel wanted to separate, due to the changes he made in his life, leaving behind the false doctrines of the catholic church. But then she finally agreed to a study of her own and started to learn the truth... she has been attending meetings since the memorial, along with Jose and their 3 children. Jose has left behind a serious drinking problem, due to his coming to know Jehovah. He tells me every time I see him how thankful he is that Jehovah has a people that shared the truth with him. Additionally he always expresses his appreciation for the truth itself, the knowledge he has received... as Jesus said, It has "set him free".
Then there are the children, Nixon and Lady. They are about 11 and 10 years of age. They study the book "Learning from the Great Teacher". The book, as many of you know, teaches lessons about how to conduct ourselves properly. They eat up the information each week and then make notes in a notebook about how they can apply the counsel in there lives. Very cute kids.
Attached is a photo of the family... it's not the best photo ever taken but hopefully you get the idea.
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| Jose, Nixon, Madeline, Rachel and Lady .... I think Madeline (the little one) is suffering the after effects of eating a large piece of sugar cane. |
I have another very interesting experience but will give this one a few days and then share it with you. Sorry for that one, I don't have any photos..... yet!
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