In the beginning...

Hola!

We finally made it to Ecuador! We had some crazy adventures on the way. Our flight from the states to Guayaquil was pretty uneventful, which is always good. We were beaming with anticipation of what was ahead of us.

Once in Guayaquil the plan was to hold up Watchtower magazines to identify ourselves to the witness family we had thought we made prior arrangements with to pick us up. Well when we got out of the customs area, we walked in this hallway that lead to the exit of the airport. There must have been 200+ people in this area, each holding up different signs and staring at us as if they had never seen an american before. We definitely stood out! As we were walking out to this area, we both scanned the crowd for the witnesses, but with no success. So we waited, and waited, and waited and still no one came. One would watch the luggage and hold up a WT while the other would face the crowds with the Awake, hoping the witnesses would see us, but still, no one.

 Brittany started to get a little nervous, here we are in a foreign country, can hardly speak the language, we can't find the witnesses, the store where we were told to buy SIM cards for our cell phones was closed and there was no where else we could find to call anyone. Well as it was Wes' turn to do the "walk around", this lady approached him and asked (in spanish of course) if he was one of Jehovah's Witnesses, so he of course said yes, thinking maybe this was the sister picking us up. She then said "Keep going, Keep Going". So Wes continued his "walk around", apparently she wasn't the sister. 

Well a while after this happened, this same lady approached us both again, and spoke to Wes in Spanish and asked if we were Bethelites. (She had apparently thought before we were going to Guayaquil Bethel and she knew the witnesses wouldn't forget to pick us up, so that's why she had told Wes to "keep going" and looking for the Bethelites.) Wes told her no, but that we we're supposed to be meeting a sister here to pick us up, but we cannot find her and we don't have a phone to get in contact with her. She then motioned for the phone number and brought Wes into this office that apparently only the staff/shuttle service members at the airport could use. She then made the phone call to the brothers and sisters for us and about ten minutes later we saw a cute little Ecuadorian man holding up the Feb Awake Magazine approaching us. 

The nicest part about this was that this lady was not a witness, but told Wes herMother was one of Jehovah's Witnesses and because of that she wanted to do whatever she could to help us. This was just the first instance in seeing Jehovah help us in our first few minutes in Ecuador. There have already been a lot more instances, but they will have to wait until our next post.

Buenas Noches,

Wes & Brittany