Crazy Latin American Stuff

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!

Bible Study with the girls

Each week we study the book Learning from the Great teacher with 3 young girls ... Carols starting a study with the mother this next week .... The girls are always ready and we normally have a wonderful study with 2 of the 3 as the youngest one has a very short attention span and goes of to play... for whatever reason the youngest sat out the whole study but wanted to focus on the Bible Story book ... so while I was sharing the GT book with the two oldest Carol was helping the youngest ......

Roll the tape ..... Oh don't be surprised at the nose picking .... there just kids.

Next Blog .... "The Golden Boy has arrived in Cuenca" (Get ready Nick M. this will confirm all you have ever thought!)

Fun day in Cuenca

Hi everyone .... thought I would share a few experiences all of which we had in one day .... TODAY! .... While in our ministry this morning I suggested we go to town and get lunch and a Shu-shine and Carol asked for some flowers too (3.00 for all of those in the photo, she was in a tropical mood as you can see) ... So after two hours in our ministry .... it was off to the city proper .... let the fun begin....

First we get a taxi and have a great conversation about the truth.... I go to place the "Bible Teach" book with the taxi driver and he says he already has it (great)  .... In fact, that book is how he learned, God's name Jehovah .... so he said, with a smile on his face .... then when we were about finished with the ride, he thanks us for the encouraging conversation and said he will look forward to learning more from the friends that are calling on him and he looked forward to seeing us in the future.... we hope to see him too ... perhaps next time as a brother! From this time on, things take a turn ...... we're all smiles as I look for a shu-shine man as I don't see my usual guy.... so I stroll down the side walk and see a shu-shine guy probably in his early 20's, who obviously had a few handicaps, a deformed hand and some other problems ... he sees my shoes, and that they are 6 weeks past due for a shine, and with puppy dog eyes, asks if he can shine my shoes ... So of course I feel bad for him and let him shine the shooooes .... before I sit down, I ask him, if he can make change on a $10.00, he says he can, so I get up on the throne for the shine. First thing I noticed is he doesn't use the same method to do the job, that i'm used to but everybody has there own way of doing the shine job... and of course, I being a nice guy, figure I'm going help him out, after all he not begging,  no,  he's trying to make an honest buck (wrong) finally he finishes and the shoes are shiny and they have some color restored but he doesn't do a very through job... well, it is only .50 and they do look better, or so I reason.... then I give him the 10.00 and he starts to tell me that the shine is 4.00! So we go back and forth and, I explain that, no ones pays 4.00 for a shine here in the middle of town, and a poor shine at that! So then he digs out two .50 pieces, and looks at me as if to say, ok I'll give you a 1.00 discount, now get out of here, scram! I'm not going away, so he then tells me he will go and get change for the 10.00 and will be back .... Carol looks at me a reminds me that I better follow him, so I do, but when he enters a familiar restaurant, I wait outside as the cashier is just around the corner from where I am standing ... so I'm waiting and after about 30-40 second I look to see what's taking so long.... and the guy is gone! The bathrooms are upstairs so I think he ditched me into the bathroom and so I wait for him to come out, and when the person that is in there comes out,  it's not him! So I start to go up stairs to see if he's seated, and ready to spend the money, ordering lunch with the money that he just ripped off,  and of course ....  he's not there either! Where did he go? ... I check the kitchen, and everyone in there starts looking at me like I'm the bold and crazy "gringo" going into the most holy of holy areas of the restaurant..........not there! The only thing I can figure, is that he walked through the restaurant and then waited at the other door ..... watched me, and then went out the other door as I came in the front door..... I look up and down the street, but I can't find him anywhere ....now your probably asking yourself  ..... "all that over 3.00"? ..... "Heilig has lost his mind" .....  Well here it is, he thinks I'm a sucker ..... And I figure I'm not getting ripped off, especially from someone I thought, I was helping out .... So I now find my usual shine man and he comes to see what the deal is  .... I explain what happened and he's standing by the other guys "throne" and sees all the guys stuff and says "he'll be back"...... Yes but when? ...."Soon" by now you know what that means.

So off we go for lunch, and as you can imagine, this little escapade was the talk over lunch.... after, which, we return to the scene of the crime and of course the shoe shine boy/man ..... but at this time, he has a customer on the throne, and while the husband is getting his shoes shined, the wife waits patiently by his side for shoe shine boy to finish..... While he is working, I let him know I returned for my change ..... By the look on his face, I'm sure he was shocked to see me return ... I'm sure he thought he saw the last of this "stupid tourist".... first thing he does, is tell me that he has been waiting for me to return so he can give me my change, (riiiiight) then hands me a dollar, at this point I'm still a buck fifty short .... He still thinks he's going to get the best of me ..... so I hold my ground and he tells me that he's "working" (didn't stop him from giving me that buck) and I'll have to wait until he is done, by this time the people (Ecuadorians) getting the shoe shine, are wondering what is going on, so I tell them that he is trying to charge me 1.50 at this point for the shine and of course they start looking at him, and asking him, what he is going to be charging them for a shine ..... "uuuuuuh .50" he says "then why are you charging this man 1.50"? .... I'm not, he just has to wait for his change, which I'm going to give him when I'm done with you, he just needs to be patient" ... at that point, I told him I had been patient, as I had already waited for over an hour to get my change, and I had no patience left ..... so he hands me another .50 "I'm still a dollar short" I say .... "well you need to wait" .... "no! .... I'm not waiting any longer, please give me my change so I can go" ... at this point the couple asks him, why is he doing this to me (thank you for your help) and he tells them how he did all this "extra stuff on my shoes and that it cost's more to do all the extra work" so I show them the shoes and demonstrate the fact that he didn't even do a good job  ....... (no extra work) he didn't even do the job he was supposed to do .... now they get involved and tell he shouldn't be treating me this way ..... finally, he pulls out the balance and gives it to me .... Of course I'm feeling terrible about the fact that I have to go through this whole rig-a-marol with the folks that are getting there shine done, and apologize to them for the inconvenience, but they start telling me that all is well, and they are sorry for the fact that this happened to me.... As for the shu-shine guy I told him that I had decided to have him do my shoes because I could see that in spite of the fact he had a few disabilities he was working to care for his needs and I wanted to help him, but after what he did he should be ashamed of himself........ And to think I had been waiting for over a month to get this shoe shine experience ....

And you guys think it's all fun and games down here.... ;-) Not always!

Summertime in South America!

Hello all..... 

Hope you are all well .... sad to hear of our dear brothers and friends in Haiti we know Jehovah will keep them in his loving care.

Well just got back from service this morning and thought I would share a few things from the other "land down under" We are down under the equator! As you know it's Wintertime where most of you are reading this... and is it ever! Temperatures in the teens ... YUCK! As has been mentioned on this blog,  this writer HATES and I mean HATES the cold! In South America of course it's Summertime and that means we get all the Summer fruit and more because of the fine climate here. This afternoon on our way back from our morning of walking about 4 miles in the ministry up and down the hills of our territory in Tortoracocha (Cuenca) …. Carol And Carol decided to stop at the open market that is open each Friday, about a mile from where we live, to get some flowers ... so I decided to meet them there ... I was early and decided to mosey around and see what's for sale at the market  .... Well I can tell you, just about everything! But what really caught my eye were the fruits, that are in season here in South America, the majority of which come from our dear fiends in the California of South America ...... Chile,  if you look at map, you can compare the latitude of Chile with different areas of the Western Coast of the US and see that Santiago is at about the same latitude as Los Angeles not exactly but very close. That being said all those fruits that you have available in the US, that come from Chile and you pay a boatload for, are here for, you can imagine .... very cheap! .... Quality? Think Whole Foods ..... What's available you ask? Well Cherries that are even better then those ones that we all wait for at Costco in the Summertime 1.50 a pound (gringo price) Avocados 4 for 1.00 .... apricots 8 for a dollar .40 a pound and large ripe and ready to eat mangos 5 for a buck .....(salivating Karla Linares?)  Raspberries 1.00 a pound ... and Carol Souza bought a half dozen roses with greenery and babies breath for 1.00 ... yes it Summertime in S.A. and we are enjoying the fruits for those Chileans labor also, but at a fraction of the price of what is paid in the U.S. Going back to those cherries they are larger and are sweeter then anything we have ever experienced in the U.S. .... Now if we could only get the wines here from Chile for the prices that they are sold for in Chile .... We saw bottles of wine in Chile that are the same brand and harvest for 1/5 the price of what we pay here .... It's the import taxes here that kill the prices on the fine wines in Ecuador... 

                       Well we can't have everything!

                   Can you taste these fruits? We can!