A whirlwind trip to Guayaquil

We purchased our airline tickets three weeks ago to attend the District Assembly in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Upon our arrival today at the airport, we were told that the flight was canceled two weeks ago. Unfortunately, we were not notified of this change and thus were not allowed to change our tickets because both airlines did not have any available seats... at least not until 6pm tonight. How were we going to arrive in Guayaquil before the James´had to be interviewed? Hhhmmmm. That was the million dollar question. We will go by bus! Well..... there were no available bus lines that would allow for us to arrive in Guayaquil by 2pm today. OK. What now? Our taxis driver offers to take us to Guayaquil but for the asking price of only $120.00. Well, that is a bargin considering that the ticket prices for the plane was about $65 and the bus $12. Hhhmmmm. No thank you. Well, after a few minutes later and in a state of pure desperation, we all agreed on paying $110 and thanks to Jehovah we were able to arrive in Guayaquil safe, relieved and hungry. Now we can all have a wonderful nights rest so that we will be able to enjoy the assembly tomorrow. Thanks to the glass of wine that I had, I hope to sleep very good.

New Days

I am no longer singing the blues. There was a brief 3-day moment when I was terribly missing everyone but the many emails and calls made me have a quick recovery. Thanks for the words of encouragement!
For the past few days, the weather has been WONDERFULLY WARM. It's a welcoming change. The month of August is suppose to be very windy and cold. From what i'm told, South America has had a climatic change due to El Nino. The summer months were typically warm but are now much colder.
As far as service, Bro. Freddy and I went to do the rv/study with Esteban but no one was home. I plan to go back later this week so that I can turn over the study to a brother in my book study. Christina studies regularly and her husband is due to return back from Guayaquil where he was taking care of his sick mother. I am sure I will find out soon if she will continue to be regular in her study. I hope for the best. The other studies I have are no longer showing interest and one of the studies, a married couple, was on loan since Patty (Pioneer sister in my hall) had to work full-time in July. I believe I mentioned before that Jocelyn's mother stopped her study. That was a bummer. Another study lost for the moment. I still visit the Narcisa's, two studies with the same name. One is having family and health problems and the other is having work done on her house and has expressed that she is really busy. The great thing about the preaching work is that Jehovah knows the heart. We keep going back to those that show interest and wait and to see it flourish.
Thanks to Jehovah, I have only 80 hours left to complete for this service year. My goal is to have only 50 hours to fulfill in August since I will be missing several days attending both the English and Spanish District Assembly. The English District Assembly will be held in Guayaquil and we plan on leaving the 31st of July and I will return to Cuenca on the 4th. The last weekend of August is the Spanish D.A. I am excited and can't wait for our spiritual feast.
My online TEFL class is going well. I have passed the first 3 sections and have recently started the 4th. There are 10 levels/sections in total. I hope to start looking for a job before the end of the month. Many schools start back in Sept. or Oct. Also, to help me with teaching English, I asked 4 friends, each with different levels of English, to let me teach them English. I am documenting what level they currently are at, their scores for homework and tests and any additional observations that will be beneficial for me once I start teaching. So far, things are going very well. All but one are scoring a grade of B or higher.

The Angels Direction

For the last two days or so, it has been warm. I am thankful to Jehovah for these sunny days. It´s a nice break from the cold. Yesterday after Norma and I did a study, we went to do return visits. I told her that I had left a Bible Teach book with teenager and was suppose to start the study last Friday. However, he was not there and he could have been on vacation like many in the community. Well, we go to his house and Norma discovered that they had a door bell, which we rung. No one replied, so we left after a few minutes. When we went to do Norma´s return visit/study, guess who was walking down the street? It was Esteban´s mother, Mariana. She greeted us and said that her son was in fact home but probably didn´t hear us because he is cleaning the house. (I am so happy that we have the angel to help direct the preaching work!) We follow her back to her home and Esteban practically ran out to greet us. He said that during the day he is not home but we can return on Friday to answer his question about what the Bible says abou Martial Art...is it bad or good and why. Earlier, his mother told us that he has Kung Fu practice in the morning and that the afternoons will be better for us to visit him. Well, we will see today if he accepts what the Bible has to say on the subject.
Afterwards, Norma and I went to another one of my studies. According to Joselyn´s brother, she was vacationing in Guayaquil and he was not sure when she would return. Upon our visit yesterday, her brother approached the gate and said that their mother said they are Catholics and not to return to give Joselyn study. Although, I was somewhat sadden by this, I was still beaming from meeting up with Estaben and this news did not damper my day too much. Especially, I recall wha the bible says about us planting but it´s Jehovah that makes it grow. So, one never knows what Jehovah is going to do.

Missing Home

I miss home. I miss my friends and family. This weekend was pretty tough for me. I miss hanging out with everyone, talking to them, or visiting with them at the meetings or in service. Here, I am making new friends. But, like everything else in life, it takes time. I have been praying to Jehovah a lot and increasing my bible reading. That has brought me a lot of comfort. Hermanos Valdiviezos (the family I live with) are very loving people and have been wonderful to me. I would have gone through 'missing you withdrawals' a long time ago if it were not for them.

Injured in service?

I went out today in the territory with Fanny, a pioneer sister. We did some rv's afterwards. Upon arriving at one road up the hill, she pointed to an area that was full of mud and said we had to walk down to get to the house. Hmmm. That was going to be a problem since the rain had left everything nice and muddy for us. Upon our descend, I had a thought....hhmmmm... I hope I don't fall. We descended trying to stabilize our balance along side a barbed wire. Well just as I had finished that thought....down I went. I not only went down, but slid a feet or two. My arm was caught on the barbed wire which thanks to Jehovah just tore a huge hole into my coat instead of my arm. Well, Fanny rushes over and attempts to unhook my jacket from the barbed wire. No, no... wait until I get up, first. I said. So, I slid back up the hill a little so that I could get my balance and then I was able to rise to my feet and unhook my jacket. Oh, that's just great! I thought. First I loose my glove and now I tare my jacket. Thankfully, I was not too muddy nor hurt and was able to continue out in service. Fanny's mom, Mercedes, comes to the top of the road and yells for us to return and go another path. We obliged. The path was narrower, full of bugs of which feasted on my blood, but the path was not as slippery as the previous path. We finally reach the road that takes us to the rv's house. Upon our arrival, the house holder informed us that she was leaving for the afternoon and that it was better to come back on another day. Oh well, I thought. I am going home. Upon our ascend to the road, we see Fanny's sister Norma driving and she pulls over and offers us a ride to another rv. Apparently, Mercedes told Norma that I had fallen because when I got into her truck, she apologized and said that Fanny mistaken her instructions and went to the wrong place. The service morning ended up with Norma treating us for lunch. You know, the saying 'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach'... it doesn't only apply to men but me too. :-)

Lost glove....

Last night a few of the friends from our book study was invited to attend the graduation dinner of Juanito, an unbaptized publisher. I was not feeling too great because I had an ear ache and my throat was sore. However, I wanted to show my support and go to the dinner. Angelita and I took a taxi since we were instructed to be there at 8pm. Well, upon exiting the taxi, I left behind my right hand leather glove. I was so upset that I did not check to make sure I had everything with me. I kept thinking, I had only one pair and what am I to do because the days are just going to get colder. Oh well, I stopped pouting and enjoyed the occasion. We all had a great time, great food and a lot of dancing. And, what a blessing it was when I woke up in the morning to a sunny day!

2 Blessings on a cold day......

Today was another cold day. But, it was not as cold as it was yesterday. I had scheduled two studies with youngsters. One was at 9 a.m. and the other at 10:30 a.m. When we arrived at Jocelyn's house, no one answered. What are we going to do for 1 1/2 hours. Well, we did some rv's of which one was at home. Also, I realized that I did not have the directions to get to my 10:30am study, so off we went back to the house. In between the rv's and returning to the house for the directions, we were able to arrive in time at Esteban's house. His mom motioned from the window for us to wait. So we waited a moment. She came out of the house and kindly asked how she could help us. In my mind, I was thinking that she was going to run us off but she did not. I explained that I was there on Wednesday and that her son asked me a question and I told him that I was going to return today with the answer. She calls for him and he quickly comes to the gate and escorts us into the house. I informed him that Hna. Montalesa was not able to come with me today but Rebecca, a teenage sister, was present in her place. I explained that I returned with the answer to his question... what is faith? (Que es la fe?) He seemed really pleased that we were there. I encouraged him to get his bible so that he could read for himself what God had to say about the subject. After a moment, he returned and we started our discussion. He listened very carefully to me use the valuable information in the Reasoning book. I began the conversation asking him why he wanted to know about faith. His replied was basically simple... I just want to know. Then I asked him what was faith to him and he replied that it was believing in things not seen. Wow... I thought. This is going to be a good conversation. We used the bible to help him understand why many people don't have faith, how can one acquire faith and what he needed to do receive the blessing that Jehovah promises those whom exercise faith in Jesus and in Jehovah. It was a very pleasant discussion and I was happy that we did not keep him too long from his household chores. Before we departed, I left him the Bible Teach book and asked if he would like me to return so that I could help him learn how to best utilize his bible to answer many of his questions. He agreed and asked another question of which to be answered next Friday.... the question.... Is Martial Arts bad and if so why?

Afterwards, I decided that maybe we should try Jocelyn again. She was home! I was soooo thrilled. We stayed on one side of the fence and she and her young brother on the other side and we studied for about 45 minutes outside. It was chilly and raining, but my heart was bursting we happiness. I am to return next Friday so that we can continue our bible discussion on What is the Kingdom of God?

Interest in over worked territory?

Today, An older sister (Hna. Montalesa) asked me to work with her out in the territory, I obliged. We meet twice a week at her house for the service meeting. I went on a study with her once before. She has a quiet demeanor... a very pleasant sister. We were assigned to work not at homes. I don´t know if it was the cold or what my problem was exactly. I found myself somewhat frustrated that we were working the same territory again and again. Nonetheless, we knocked on the doors and two came out visibly sick (and quickly return indoors) and the others were not interested, busy or not at home. However, there was a little boy that listened carefully to Hna. Montelesa and he accepted the brochure from her too. I was not sure where she was going with her presentation and thus tried to help her out, but my attempts failed. Before we departed, I felt the urge to ask this teenager, if he wanted to know the answer to something related to the bible, what would it be. He took a moment and responded... Que es la fe?.... (what is faith?) We made arrangements to return this Friday morning to answer the question and promised to bring ´Esteben´the Bible Teach book.
On the same street, we turned the corner and I immediately recognized the house. The owner saw us and went indoors and when we knocked and knocked and knocked, he did not respond. But when we knocked today, the wife came out and attended to us. She listened, although a devout catholic, and accepted the brochure.
We never know where we will find interested ones. That´s why we are so greatful to Jehovah for the many angels that are directing this great work of ours.

A loving reminder

Yesterday, I had two studies in the morning. I went to the group with the hopes of finding a partner to accompany me, and so I did. However, since the group was let out late, we were going to have to hurry. We walk to most of our studies and so I was hoping to have a partner who could walk very fast with the hopes of reducing our tardiness. My partner was an older brother. He is a very patient brother and thus walks at a leisurely pace. I thought, if I walk somewhat faster, maybe he will too. My attempts failed. After about twenty minutes into our walk, I remembered the words of Bro. Roberto Ramirez. We don´t behave like some men do in some cultures where the man walks infront of the lady. We walk together... shoulder to shoulder. We walk at the pace of our brother/sister. I adjusted not only my thinking but also my pace. We arrived at the first study about 35 late and the second study about 45 minutes late. But all in all, Jehovah allowed us to conduct both studies. The second study is with a little girl that attends college (referred to as high school in the states). Joslyn wants to have another study this Friday. And my first study is with Cristina. She only has Tuesdays off of work and when I encouraged her to attend the meeting on Sunday at 8:30am she said that she starts work at 9am and has to open the restaurant for the other employees since her boss is away in Peru. However, I try to go with my sister- in-law (a witness) in her town on Tuesday nights to the Kingdom Hall, she said. She truly is a blessing.