Oh the joys...

I know I don't normally update this quickly, but I just had some funny things happen the past few days.

Milk Waterfalls

The other day, I went to the grocery store, which, without a car, stinks.  I walked there, but had to take a cab home.  Still, getting the groceries 1. from the cab to the curb, 2. from the curb to my door, and 3. from the door to my kitchen, is a process!  Honestly, I try to go the store as little as possible.  Anyway, I had successfully managed to get half of the bags to the door and was opening the door when, low and behold, a three liter bottle of carbonated water busted through the bag and crashed into the bag of bags of milk.  Haha, I know that sounds funny, but milk is sold in bags here.  You can't buy a gallon container here.  We normally pour the milk into a pitcher once we open the bag, but until they're opened, they're just stored at room temperature.  Weird, right?  Well, there I was, standing in a puddle of milk, watching the milk start streaming to the stairs, thinking, "Seriously?!  Couldn't this have happened several steps ago!?"  So is life :)

Another one bites the dust

Another thing that is a never ending is shoe repair...  I have now officially WALKED HOLES through FIVE pairs of shoes.  I've had some re-soled and used them again, but walked through them again!  So... does that make it eight pairs?  :)  I've included some pics of the latest victims...  They lasted me a while, but they're to the point of no return... too many super glue-ings, too many soakings in the rain, too many miles!  Thanks Laura for sending me some new shoes, you're the best :)  I've already put them into the rotation!

BERNARDO & The Water Outage...

Also, Sunday was my first day of dog sitting. We're not talking just any dog... it's a 200lb Saint Bernard! My friends left for a three week vacation and I'm in charge!  The poor thing seems so sad already :(  Obviously, that's not funny, but I went to feed him after I got home from playing basketball with some friends and I wanted to take a shower and give him some new water.... BUT, the water was out!  My apartment is 3 doors down, so I went home to shower because our house has some reserve water for situations like this.  Unfortunately, the reserves didn't last long...  So, I spent the past few days bathing with baby wipes and putting on a hat for service to cover the disaster that was my hair.  This morning, Wednesday, the water came on for a few hours... Now, the water isn't exactly clean looking...  it's brown.  But, boy does it feel good to be semi-clean!  We took advantage of the few hours to fill every garbage can and bucket we could because we don't know when the water will be back :(  Here are some pics!

 Buckets, buckets & more buckets!

Lovely brown water

Hello again!  I've had a few really cool service experiences that I want to share :)

First of all, I was trying to support a new pioneer in our hall and join her for long afternoons in service.  Since the borders of our territory were just changed, most of my afternoon studies were in the old territory and I had to start from scratch.  So, every afternoon consisted of a lot of door to door.  In one block, a young woman and a little girl answered.  They seemed interested in learning more about the Bible, so I offered to return the next day and show them how to use the new brochure, Good News From God.  When I returned, the little girl, Yesenia, was ready to study and the young woman was nowhere in sight.  Silly me, I thought I'd be studying with the adult, but the children here never cease to amaze me :)  She invited me in and got out her Bible to look up the scriptures.  After the study, I asked Yesenia when I could return and she essentially asked me to come every afternoon!..  we settled on every other day :)  Every study she wants to give me juice, bread, fruit, whatever they have in the house, as a token of her gratitude.  Yesenia has expressed to me some concerns she has with her family, drinking, marital problems, etc. The other day, I asked her if everything was okay, and she responded, "Yes, we've had food every day this week, so that's good!"  It nearly broke my heart. It's amazing how strong and generous young people are and how much they really appreciate Bible truths. I'm working on getting her to come to my house to eat lunch which we study.

The second experience comes from a return visit that I'm doing for Stephanie... I went to study with a girl at an internet place, but she wasn't there, so I decided to talk to the girl that was working there instead.  It turns out, she was the normal girls' sister and was filling in for her for a few days.  We talked for a while and she had a lot of good questions about how to strengthen relationships.  I went back a few days later and answered some more questions.  The girl, Cristina, told me that she might not be filling in for her sister the following week, so she asked me for my phone number and email so that she could make arrangements to meet again since she had more questions.... Normally, the fact that people ask for my information is shocking in itself... BUT Cristina emailed me a few days later and practically begged me to make plans to meet again :)  Of course, she is going to be starting a different job next week on the other side of town, but she asked if we can continue to meet downtown because she has a lot of questions.  We'll see how this plays out!

Chinese DC, Giron, Golfito & Random Quirks

The Chinese District Convention

Last weekend was our Chinese District Convention.  It was actually only one day, Sunday, of the convention, but our little group here in Cuenca travelled to Guayaquil on Friday in order to attend Saturday's session because our beloved Yan Xiaomei was going to get baptized :)  She is quite possibly the sweetest person I've ever met and all of us were excited to support her.  All of the talks were given in Spanish, however, Paola and Amanda sat with Yan Xiaomei and Yan Jiaoyu to translate the talks, including the baptismal talk.  

Chinese is a SLOW going culture when it comes to studying the Bible and progressing spiritually since the majority of Chinese people have no Christian background.  Yan Xiaomei has been studying for several years, partially due to the language and partially due to the culture.  She has been a publisher for several months now and has a few of her own Bible studies :)

One of the coolest things about the day was watching Yan Jiaoyu's reaction.  She cried tears of joy at the baptism.  Since she studied for about 8 years and finished both books, she is no longer studying and has been sort of "on the fence" with her progress.  The baptism changed that!  Yan Jiaoyu said that she is no longer afraid and knows what she needs to do.  She asked to go over the questions to be a publisher and she told me that at the meetings, she doesn't want to be one of the "Chinese friends" mentioned in the prayers, she wants to be a "Chinese sister"!  It was so cute :)  She was so excited for Yan Xiaomei and happily took notes the entire day Saturday in Spanish and Sunday in Chinese.

One funny thing about the assembly was the drama.  Let me explain.  We were in a room at Bethel while there was a Spanish assembly in the assembly hall.  There was a TV to watch with the Spanish speakers and our Chinese speakers translated from Spanish to Chinese by listening to the Spanish audio.  We heard nothing but Chinese in the room.  For the drama, no one realized that the timing on the drama would be so different.  Chinese is a very short and to the point language, so the poor brother had to pause the Chinese recording every scene so the Spanish drama on the TV could catch up to the Chinese audio!  It was comical :)  Just those little glitches that come from combining two languages in to one assembly!

Yan Xiaomei's baptism

Translating Saturday afternoon

Xiao, Steph, Yan Xiaomei, Yan Jiaoyu, & Me

Cuenca Chicas: Fernanda, Wendy, Yan Xiaomei & Paola

Sunday... LOTS of Chinese (people and words:)

Guayaquil Chinese Chicas :)

Our AWESOME visit with our "Real Friends," Jason & Katie, in Giron

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Giron to preach with our "real friends," Jason and Katie.  Okay, so the "real friends" tag comes from the many times that I talked about them before my other friends from my congregation met them.  They would say, "Who?... Oh wait, your REAL FRIENDS."  So, the title stuck :)

Our trip to Giron proved to be just the adventure I was seeking!  We got to do some rock climbing to get to the territory!

Rock climbing in service!

Steph looking down on me in the ditch

 It wasn't very high, but it was still fun!
  
And the views were beautiful...

Jason, the master engineer that he is, came up with the perfect solution for his lack of a grill...  cinder blocks and a grate!  With a hair dryer, he got the charcoal up and going, but the shelf was too far away from the meat, so I took a saw and sawed out some niches for the tray... perfection!  I really lack nothing in my life :)

The world's most awesome ghetto grill

Golfito (Little Golf... a.k.a. Mini Golf)

Some friends of mine came to visit from Guayaquil and we took them to play mini-golf!  It's kind of far away and we only get to go on special occasions, so it was nice to go with Gaby and Johnny :)

Random Packaging

Sometimes, the way promotional products are packaged make me scratch my head.  A few weeks ago I bought a bottle of champagne with a champagne flute duct taped to it!  Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the presentation... :(  However, I do have a picture of my most recent promotional purchase :)  With the purchase of pretzels (which I have never purchased here until this promo), you got a box of apple juice (which I have rarely if ever seen here).  They just taped the juice to the bag of pretzels.  GENIUS!

 

The Fingernail Massacre of 2012

Ok, so I need to start sharing some crazy things that happen in my daily life here.  For example, a sister told us about a woman she has come to her house to give her a manicure and a pedicure for a whopping $8.  So... some girls and I decided that sounded like a good plan before the convention....  It, however, was not a good idea.  The woman, Magda, proceeded to torture us by cutting and digging until we were all bleeding profusely.  No joke!  One of the girls couldn't get her nails painted because her fingers wouldn't stop bleeding!  Magda would laugh and ask us if it hurt, then dig in for more!  Crazy lady...  That's what you get for expecting star treatment for $8 :)  Lesson learned!  It's actually not that much more expensive to go to the salon here and get real star treatment, so next time I think I'll splurge the extra $5.

The First Two EC DC's + More

English District Convention

It's crazy to think, but Ecuador is the only South American country with an English District Convention.  Needless to say, people from all over the world come to enjoy the English festivities :)  It's crazy because just about every talk is given by someone who has been in foreign service for longer than I've been alive.  There are missionaries, need-greaters, Bethelites, branch overseers... you name it!  As a result, every talk is deep, every experience is superb, and everyone there is super friendly.  It's really amazing :)
One of my favorite experiences this year was of a sister who moved to a small Ecuadorian town.  When she and her roommate arrived, the brothers and sisters showered them with love.  They had no housing, so they made a make-shift house for them in the Kingdom Hall.  The sister said that she was incredibly thankful because she needed the time to get acclimated to the "housing" available in the town.  Since they had no kitchen in the hall, the friends arranged to make breakfast, lunch and dinner for them!  Talk about a loving brotherhood :)
Also, another thing that I just wanted to mention is that in the July 15, 2012 study Watchtower there is an article about young people serving in Ecuador.  You should check it out in case your haven't yet :)

The lovely ladies & I: Meleah, Daniela & Gaby 

The Olympics

Okay, so I'm a crazy Olympics weirdo and normally when it's on, I watch it non-stop.  I'm an addict.  WELL, I have no TV and no way of watching them here :(  We actually stopped outside of someone's house and watched part of the opening ceremonies through their window!  Haha, that's desperation, right?  Well, we ended up stranded in a mall one day and watched some of the games on their giant TV :)  YEAH!

Watching the OLYMPICS!!!!!!

Spanish District Convention

On the bus on our way to the Spanish District Convention, a guy came up and grabbed my knee, totally freaking me out.  I almost decked him, haha, but he was trying to get my attention because he wanted to make sure that I was a Witness and that I was on the way to the DC.  He is studying and went on and on about the things he hates about other churches, the hypocrisy, the judging, etc.  In contrast, he loved that the Witnesses use the Bible to answer everything.  We pay attention in meetings and aren't looking around to judge others.  We're helpful and loving... however, he had his concerns.  In the past several months, there have been a few fatal bus crashes with buses full of Witnesses.  The media has taken advantage of this opportunity to to bash Witnesses for not accepting blood.  As a result, it has been a big issue on studies and in door-to-door ministry.  So, I walked my new buddy through the reasons.  I asked him if he'd be willing to kill someone if a doctor said it would save his life.  Of course he would not.  Why?  Because the Bible says it's wrong.  Then we read Acts 15:28 & 29 where Christians are told to abstain from blood and I asked him what he thought.  He came to the conclusion that Jehovah would not approve of transfusions.

Me & Steph at the Spanish District Convention

Revelation's Prophecies and an 11 year old...

So, I had been studying with this little girl, Andrea... I blogged about her last year.  She's super cute and studious, but she was getting confused at her Catholic school.  Her mom told me, "I know that the Catholic church does not follow the Bible in many aspects, but I don't care.  I think she should stop studying the Bible with you." I was shocked, but continued to stop by and see them even though they moved outside my territory.  

However, with the congregation changes here, now she live inside my territory!  I went back and said, "Andrea, I know you told me that you didn't want to continue studying, but I'd really like to study with you again."  

Her response: "I never wanted to stop studying!"

So, we started again :)  This week at her study, she told me that she had been reading the Bible and had some questions, then proceeded to read Revelation 12 to me!  Seriously, this girl is 11 and one of the deepest thinkers I've ever encountered.  We reviewed the prophecies and she understood them immediately... CRAZY!  I'm so happy to get her study started again :)

Wow, I am terrible at updating this!

I am seriously going to try to make more of an effort to upload pictures and write my experiences because I don't want to forget them either!

Let's see, where do I begin? How about where I left off... six months ago :)

The end of January we were joined by Jason and Bethany and had the privilege of attending the Zone Visit here in Ecuador.

After the Zone Visit, we ventured to the jungle where we played in waterfalls (my favorite!), 

played with monkeys, rode in a cable car, 

took a canoe ride in a carved tree trunk, and ventured to some indigenous villages. It was loads of fun!

In February, my "extended" family, Larry and Tracey came to visit me. They were real troopers in service and really got to know the friends here, despite the language barriers :) While visiting, they attended the special assembly day. It was pretty cool because, although I was not interviewed on stage, one of my Chinese service experiences was read from the platform. It was so much better listening from my seat than suffering a heart attack on stage!! Their last day in Cuenca, they helped me to paint my new apartment and move from my downstairs apartment to the upstairs apartment. We never could have done it without them!!!

Hiking in the rain in Cajas 

The orchid farm 

March and April were a blur of sickness and service. We made a trip to the jungle to cover our territory for the Memorial campaign. We went to a few different Chinese work projects and got to see our telephone studies! The couple that lives in Yantzasa told us that they were definitely attending the Memorial :) They've been studying Wednesday's on the telephone with Yan Xiaomei, our soon to be Chinese sister here in Cuenca, and once a week with a couple that speaks Spanish in Yantzasa. Even though they don't understand the Spanish, they like the companionship! Here are some pictures of students and the campaign:

My Wednesday afternoon group. There are normally between five and ten little girls joining for our study in the market. 

A very pregnant Vanessa and the gift for baby Samantha :) 

Suca, Me & Belen after the Memorial 

Preaching at the Bridge Project 

May was also the arrival of Stephanie, Ariel, Ashley and Kaitlyn. I spent the month of may getting the girls up to speed on the ins and outs of Cuenca :) We had a good time!

In May I began a study with a 22 year old girl, Carol. The first time I met her, it was a Tuesday morning and she told me that she had studied before, but that it was too difficult with her old job, so they stopped. Now was a different story. She had Tuesday's and Wednesday's off work and wanted to resume her study. So, I went the next morning. We studied for a few HOURS because she kept insisting we continue. She continues to be a delight :)

The end of May I traveled to the coast before heading back to the States to visit my family. It's funny how Jehovah constantly teaches me lessons in humility because we met with the service group in the morning and I was assigned to work with two young girls: Diana and Divina. They were 9 and 12 years old. Here I was thinking, "I don't know this territory, I don't have any return visits or studies, how am I going to support the three of us this morning!?" Alas, I got a slap in the face for even thinking that... a figurative one anyway :) After preaching from door to door for a bit, we stopped at a little store because the girls wanted a popsicle because it was so hot. They bought ME a popsicle then told me that they had studies. Diana, the 9 year old, was a dynamo. I swear, this little girl is the only person in her family studying. She attends all meetings by herself, gets herself to the meetings for service alone, is prepared for studies, and is full of attitude. They had me pray to start and finish since niether one of the girls is baptized, but she grilled those boys with question after question and if they didn't answer her fast enough, she'd roll her eyes and look at me like, "Can you believe this!?" It was all I could do not to laugh. So cute.

  

The Machalilla Kingdom Hall 

 

Veronica & Kaitlyn preaching               Stephanie & the gals

  

Diana & Divina with their students

Ashley, Diana, Divina & I 

June was a month of visiting friends and family. I had an awesome time re-charging my batteries and spending time with those that know and love me :) Unfortunately, I didn't take many photos... just about a million of my niece! We spent a lot of time playing and swimming. She's a riot:) My family took REALLY good care of me and I appreciated it a lot!

My adorable niece, Ellie, playing hide and seek 

I also got to spend a weekend at my friends' lake house. Jack, Karen, Larry, Tracey, Tim, Kristy, Sara & I had a blast relaxing and water skiing on Lake Cumberland. Thanks Uncle Jack and Aunt Karen!

 

My sister, Jennifer, was also super kind in putting together a skating party for all my little gals from my old congregation that I love and miss so much. We had eight girls come, five of which had NEVER skated before. Let's just say Jenn and I had our work cut out for us. But, with the help of Jojo, Laura, and Jessica we got all of them skating by the end of the day :) They were a joy to watch love and cheer each other on!

Jessica & Wilda skating 

Our skating crew: Brandy, Brenda, Gaby, Kayley, Britney, Me, Jojo, Mosa, Jessica & Wilda

My babies, Jessica and Wilda. I started studying with their mom when Jessica was a few months old, so they are truly mine :) 

In July, two days after arriving in Ecuador again, I left for a trip to a town 10 hours from here to attend the Chinese Circuit Assembly. The assembly was translated by Ecuadorian and American brothers. They listened with headphones to the Spanish speakers in the assembly hall outside and translated what they heard for our group in the elders room at the assembly hall. Since it's the only Chinese assembly for the country, not all of the Chinese Bible students could make the trip, but there were still about 10 that attended.



The Chinese Circuit Assembly: The sisters are translating the Spanish demonstration you see on the TV from Spanish to Chinese

My notes in Spanglish and my Chinese Bible... talk about a headache! Haha 

The overspill: Not everyone could fit inside the elders room so about 15 people sat outside


While in that city, Santo Domingo, we preached in some work camps where a bunch of Chinese live because they're working on a hydroelectric project. There are a lot of camps in this country because Chinese engineers win the contracts for bridges, dams, mines, etc. all the time. That is where the majority of our Chinese population is. They normally haven't ever seen our literature, the Bible, or heard God's name, so it's quite exciting and challenging.... not to mention the preaching in Chinese part!

 

Preaching in the camp at night. You can't tell because of my flash, but Luis is holding up a flashlight for the Chinese brother to read the Bible in the dark :) 

Now we're in the campaign for the assembly here for my Spanish congregation. The congregations in the whole city were just rearranged so that publishers live in their territory. Walking in my hall is almost like attending someone else's congregation because I don't know at least half of the brothers yet! I'm trying to get to know a few at a time. It's a good opportunity to make new friends!