3-30-13 Saturday, in the Park...

I think it was the 30th of March? Today we met at Carolina park to go preaching.  I approached a young woman who was sketching at a bench.  She spoke fluent English and I offered her the Would you like to know more about the Bible? tract.  She was very nice and so I explained that we offer free Bible study courses as well.  This seemed to strike her interest and she was looking at the back page of the tract so I pointed to the picture of the Bible Teach book, then opened it and showed her the topics covered.  She readily took the book and we exchanged phone numbers, so I am hopeful that we can soon begin a study.

After preaching in the park for a while, we decided to do census again.  We took a break around lunchtime to get something to eat and then back in the territory for a bit.  Before going home, we stopped by the home of a Bible study/ unbaptized publisher who had just had serious surgery and was recovering.  Unfortunately, there is no provision here for members of the congregation to listen to the meetings from home.  He seemed to be recovering well and was in good spirits.

Some of the brothers and sisters were meeting at the park again for a basketball game, but I was still feeling sick from the previous night's indulgences, so I decided to go home and do some more apartment searching in the evening.  Quito is such a large area, that determining where some of these apartments are located is very tedious and time-consuming.  I have a few prospects, though I've been told that apartments go quickly here.  I plan to pick up a newspaper tomorrow to get some more ideas so I'll keep you all posted on that as well.

03-28-13 & 03-29-13 Service, Sunburn & Sickness

Thursday:  We met the group for service this morning, fashionable late, as neither we nor our taxi knew where to find the street :(  Despite our frustration, we got out to the territory and had a nice morning and the weather was beautiful.  I should have been using my umbrella or at least a little sunscreen because the sun is so intense here.  My face and arms got so red - Aubster Lobster has returned :( :(

After a long day, we watched a movie and had dinner at the house to wrap up the evening.

Friday:  I met another sister for service and she gave me a few of her calls per the new territory arrangement.  Then afterwards, we did more census for the remainder of the morning and I found two interested persons to follow up on.  We then met up with our other roommate in the afternoon and we did a few calls and informal witnessing at the mall since most places were closed due to the holiday.  As we were walking into the mall, we passed by a couple and I heard them say "they must be sisters".  As my friend and I look nothing a like I knew exactly what they were referring to.  So we introduced ourselves and exchanged stories.  They were a Canadian couple, who are currently living in Cuenca, but were travelling through Quito the day before, but their flight was delayed.  Its such a wonderful international brotherhood we belong to!

One of my roommates was working in the evening, so the other roommate and I decided to watch a movie.  Then, I did the unthinkable.  We were deliberating about what to have for dinner.  We had run out of gas for the stove, so we couldn't cook anything.  Pizza.  It sounded so good.  I knew I shouldn't though.  But in a moment of weakness I did.  And boy did I!  Three slices later, a glass of coca-cola and an ice cream bar to top it all off.  It didn't take long for the belly-ache to set in.  It was a loooong night...

03-27-13 Going Solo (sort of)

I DID IT!!!  The girls were both working all day and I had made arrangements to work with two other sisters in the ministry.  The sisters were from Michigan and had been in Quito for the last three months.  They were getting ready to leave on Thursday (28th) and were nice enough to give me some of their calls :)  The calls were in the "south", which is a 25-30 minute cab ride from the house.  I was determined though...

So I walked out of the house and down the street and signaled for a taxi.  18th of September and Avenue of the Americas I said with my best Spanish accent.  The taxi driver smiled, obviously seeing the effort I was making to not be such an obvious "foreigner", and politely corrected me.

Ah, aqui - here I was.  Shortly thereafter the other sisters arrived and we walked around from call to call and she introduced me so that I could follow up on the interest shown.  Although most of the people were not home, we had a good time.

Then it was time for us to part.  I didn't want to spend another $3.50 for a cab ride so I walked a couple blocks to a bus stop and waited for the one going near my house.  I hopped off and walked a couple more blocks to the house - success!!

Hey, its the little things, right? ;)

03-26-13 Memorial in Quito

The girls and I spent a few hours of the late morning and early afternoon preaching and then my friend and I went on her bible study while the others preached at the market.  We met up with them after the study and they told us they had met a family of Witnesses at the market.  They hadn't approached the family, but the father overheard one of our sisters say the word "Memorial" and introduced themselves.  As it turns out, they are from the US, but have been preaching in another part of Ecuador for the last three months.  They were departing out of Quito on Wednesday, and that's why they were spending their final evening here.  But they didn't know where the English Memorial was being held until they ran into our sisters at the market!

There was a nice turnout at the Quito English Memorial - 104 in attendance!  Not bad for a congregation of only 66 publishers!!  One sister had many interested persons show up and she asked me if I would assist some of them during the program.  I was happy to!  I sat next to a woman (who had brought her three children along with her).  I asked her if she was studying with the sister who introduced me to her and she said no, that the sister's husband has given her magazines at her workplace before and also gave her the invitation.  I gave her a Bible Teach book and explained how the arrangement works.  I then asked her if she would like to study the bible and she said yes, her and her eldest daughter, both of whom speak fluent English, so we exchanged phone numbers.

A group of us were going out to eat after the Memorial, so I invited the woman and her family to join us.  She said her husband was picking them up, but would let me know.  Well, the family of five did join us for dinner!  She thanked me many times and stated that they don't get invited a lot of places because there is so many of them.  We got to know the family over dinner (which was delicious!) - it was so nice!

03-25-13 Lost in el Inca

Well, I knew it would happen eventually, and sooner is probably better than later.  Myself and another sister went out to work in a territory a brother had lent us in an area called "el Inca".  He gave us the following directions on how to get there:  Take the bus from Shyrris that says "el Inca".  Stay on the bus until you go through an underpass, head uphill, the bus will turn (you'll see a church) and at the top of the hill, get off the bus.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Sure, unless you get on the wrong color bus.  Apparently, those directions only work if you take the red bus heading to el Inca.  We were on the blue.  The blue takes you to the opposite end of the area/ neighborhood, but is far enough that no one (bus driver, taxi driver, store owner) knew where we were trying to go.  I ducked into a tienda (corner store, like a convenient mart) to call the brother who gave us the territory and he couldn't even figure out where we were!  On top of that, we had already been warned that it wasn't the safest area to be in.  We decided to take our chances and hopped back on a passing bus that was headed back the direction we came from.  Tired and hungry, we decided to call it a day and stopped for some lunch at the food court.  I wasn't feeling so well at this point and spent the rest of the day resting up while the girls tried to fix the internet (unsuccessfully) :(  If you can imagine, the cable company here is even worse than back home.  It took about 8 phone calls over 9 hours for them to determine that the router needed to be replaced.  (Hence the delay in updated posts)

03-23-13 & 03-24-13 And The Beat Goes On...

Saturday:  Today we met at the hall for service.  I was in a group of four and we worked the territory doing census and distributing invitations.  It gave me a chance to practice my Spanish introduction "estamos haciendo un censo buscando personas que hablan ingles.  hay alguien aqui hable ingles?" If the answer is "si, habla ingles", I'm okay.  But when the answer is more complicated, I have to turn to my service partner for help.  Well, I'm a work in progress... We met another one of my friend's return visits at the mall for lunch and to invite her to the Memorial and ended up having a bible study on the spot, right there at the food court!  (The food court tables have seat belt type straps for a purse or bag so it doesn't get taken while you are eating)

Afterwards, we did a little more informal witnessing and then retired for the night.

Sunday:  Our preaching campaign continues!  We went out for just a little while in the morning and then met another of my friend's return visits at the mall to invite her to the Memorial.  The funny thing was, my friend had her confused with another woman in her phone contact list with the same name.  They sort of recognized one another, and we played it by ear.  She opened up to us and started crying and told us that she believed God has sent us to her, because she had been praying for help and expressed that she had been going through some difficult times and that she really needed God back in her life.  We read her a few scriptures and then gave her a "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" book and explained the bible study arrangement - which she readily accepted.  She continually thanked us and apologized for being so open about her personal  business, stating that she normally doesn't speak so openly and wasn't sure why she did, but that she trusted us.

Wow!  What a rewarding couple of days!!

03-21-13 & 03-22-13 Busy, Busy Bees

Thursday:  We spent a long day in service distributing the Memorial invitations and my friend took me on awesome bible studies.

Friday:  Much like yesterday, we spent about 9 hours preaching.  It was a long day, but productive.  My friend was able to contact many of her return visits and we went on a couple more bible studies.

The ministry is so much fun - many people are ready and willing to discuss the bible with you regardless of where you meet them; at their home, at work, at the market, etc.  They don't hesitate to give you contact information so that you can phone them and follow up on the visit.

03-20-13 Ready, Set, Go!

We spent the majority of the day running errands and then went to the meeting.  What a warm welcome we received from the brothers and sisters!! I was surprised at how many of them actually remembered me.  It was such a nice way to start off my stay :)

03-19-13 Close and Yet So Far

12:30 a.m. - The other occupants on the same floor of the hotel are still carrying on in the hallway; talking loudly, slamming doors, etc... grumble, grumble...  I adjust my alarm clock to 6:30 and drift off to sleep.

6:30 a.m.  - I took my time getting ready and made my way down to the lobby to catch the shuttle.  "Yes, sir, all those bags are mine."  I arrived at the airport early, checked in and waited for my friend to arrive.  Fashionably late, but there she was.  After a few hugs and girly squeals, we were moving through the airport.

Take off - Flying first class can't be beat!  Well worth the extra $50.00 spent - not to mention the additional luggage we could bring!  Fully reclining seats, complimentary cocktails, they even brought us hot towels to cleanse our hands before dinner, which was sea bass (my favorite!), served with risotto, a salad, a bowl of fresh fruit and a glass of cabernet :)  Yum!

Update:  The seats not only recline, but there is also a foot rest and a massage function!  I feel so spoiled.

We even were able to witness to one of the flight attendants for quite a while and extend an invitation to the upcoming Memorial.

Landing - The airport was very chaotic, long lines to get through customs, people scrambling to get their luggage and then a second (final) security/  baggage checkpoint.

The airport was recently relocated to the valley, approximately 45 minutes from the city center.  One of the local elders was kind enough to pick us up and take us to my friend's house. Finally, we arrived home.

Welcome to Quito :)

03-18-2013 Prep Work

My main objective was to obtain my visa, a difficult process to say the least.  My first attempt over two weeks prior was squashed by an unpleasant woman who reminded me of the soup nazi from Seinfeld, "No Visa for you!"  Apparently they had run out of stickers. Yes, a sticker shortage stood between me and my exodus to Ecuador.  

After over an hour of phone calls, I heard what I was hoping for "We have stickers".  With that, we were off to Miami.  Mission accomplished?  Not so fast.  The Visa nazi's evil counterpart was dashing hopes today.  "Its not going to be today".  Cue meltdown #1.  

After repeatedly telling me she was trying to help me, I very calmly replied, "No, I don't think you are."  She offered to get someone else, who, although very kind, still told me my application could not be completed before the end of the day.  Cue meltdown #2.

Finally, she consented, but indicated that I would have to wait several hours.  I didn't care at this point and so I thanked her for her consideration.  I was determined not to leave without my Visa.  Three hours later, there it was - a shiny little sticker over my Visa... Ecuador, here I come!

Well, almost.  Check-in at the hotel and a terrible dinner at the restaurant next door followed.  Then, the hard part - more goodbyes :(  I'm not too good at those.  The right words never seem to come when you need them the most.  They only started popping into my head as I watched my two best friends drive away.  

I started reading through all the cards and words of encouragement from my friends - a.k.a., meltdown #3.  The kind expressions were so touching and overwhelming.  It made my appreciation for Jehovah's organization deeper.  Where else could better, truer, more caring friends be found?  What a blessing indeed!