Curcuit Assembly in Cuenca

A few weeks ago we had our Curcuit Assembly in Cuenca. It was the first weekend after we arrived, so it was a little crazy, but it all worked out great. There are about 800 publishers in our circuit from around the Cuenca area. In fact we learned that there is only 1 or 2 congregations more north than Tambo in the circuit, so we are one of the congregations that travels the furthest. Because of this, we actually rented a bus with the Cañar Congregation (Cañar is located on the mountain directly across from Tambo). Even though it cost a bit more than normal, it was certainly worth riding with all brothers & sisters on the way to the Assembly.

Since this was the first real 'meeting' since we arrived, we hadn't seen many from the congregation yet, so we were very excited when we hopped on the bus and the first thing I heard was a group of little kids from our congregation yell "Brittany!!!" and run up and give me a hug. I don't think they realized we were coming back and I have to say, it touched my heart that they were so excited :)

Since we only rented one bus and there are 2 congregations, it got quite packed at times, so a sister brought a mattress to put in the aisle for the little kids to sit on. It was really cute because the kids just piled on top of it, like it was 'their' spot, but I have to admit, we laughed a bit because something like that would be so unacceptable in the states for safety reasons of course, but here it's not thought of twice.

It was nice to meet some of the new friends from the Cañar congregation as well. In fact, there is this sister in her 60's that just moved into Cañar. I don't know here entire story, but what I do know is that she has always had the goal of serving abroad and when she was younger she intended to, but then her mother got very, very ill and she spent years and years taking care of her and had to put her goals on the 'back burner' so to say. Now, in her 60's, she doesn't have that responsibility anymore so she wrote the branch, asking where the need in English was. The branch responded by saying there is a greater need in Spanish and asked if she would be willing to learn Spanish. This is not at all what this sister had planned for, but her attitude is to serve where the need is and she is now living in Cañar, learning Spanish and serving in that congregation. What does this teach me? Several things- First, I'm very, very appreciative to have the opportunity to serve here. Second, If she can learn Spanish in her 60's, I can in my 20's. Third- Never give up on your spiritual goals! They may not happen when you intend, but with Jehovah's blessing, you can fulfill them! (Awesome WT article in the new January issue for Serving where there's a greater need even in your 50's+...Mom & Dad check this out if you haven't already :D) What a great example this single sister is for us all!!!

Ok, back on topic- Once we arrived at the Assembly, we were able to meet several friends from all over Ecuador and even several need greaters (some others from the states, a single sister from the Bahamas, a brother from Italy etc.). Many of the foreign brothers even gave talks on the program. There was an awesome couple we met from Ohio-Micah & Ashley. They have a pretty awesome story too, but more of their "How we came to Ecuador" story a little later.

Cuenca actually has it's own Assembly Hall, so we were able to listen to the program in comfort, well, 'Ecuador comfort' I guess you could say-clean bathrooms and somewhat padded chairs-woo-hoo!

Here are a some pictures from the weekend:

Little Brother on the bus

 

 Not the best picture, but you can see the little kids sitting in the aisle :)

Not the best picture either, but proof we were there:)

 Some little brothers posing for a picture at the Assembly Hall

 

 Panoramic Picture of the Beautiful Assembly Hall in Cuenca-Check out those mountains!

Inside the Assembly Hall

 

 With our friends from Tambo-Xavier & Mayrna

 Diana & Mayrna

 With Joffre

 Romero, Anderson, Henry & Rene'

 This picture is to show all the stray dogs in Ecuador-3 right outside the Assembly Hall, Welcome to Ecuador!

 On our way home from the Assembly, as we were entering Tambo, we had the most vivid double rainbow, welcoming us home!

 

Check back soon for more of our Adventures here in Ecuador!

Pioneer Day + Pizza :)

We arrived Monday night and were informed that the circuit assembly would be that weekend in Cuenca. We had a busy first week to say the least... Just to recap-Tuesday afternoon we boarded a bus to Tambo, about 4 hours from Guayaquil. It sounds like a lot, but here in Ecuador it's so common to take buses everywhere, you get used to it pretty fast, in fact, 4 hours fly's by. Just sit back, relax, read a book, listen to some music, take a nap, or as we did, catch up with old friends. In no time we were back in Tambo, feeling the crisp breeze, seeing familiar faces, stopping to catch our breath from the high altitude....ahhhhh our new home :)

Wednesday and Thursday we took the days to rest and look for apartments. We were able to look at a few and eventually settled on one, but more on that later.

Friday morning came along and we boarded a bus to Cuenca- about 2 hours south. The meeting for Regular Pioneers was held at one of the Kingdom Halls. This was very exciting for us because we would finally be able to see what the circuit was like- who was in it? did we recognize anyone? How many pioneers do we have in our circuit?.... We found that there are so many regular pioneers in our circuit that we there were actually 2 pioneer meetings scheduled that day-one in the morning, the other in the afternoon. In fact, we were told there are about 800 publishers in the circuit and over 243 regular pioneers!!! We say OVER 243 because we were told we weren't included in that number yet as well as a few other new ones in the circuit. We thought that this is a pretty incredible number considering only 800 publishers.

We met some new friends in the circuit including a nice family from Australia that moved back to Ecuador to help-they spoke English of course so that was a bit exciting as well.

After the pioneer meeting, (which Brittany was excited she could understand all the scriptures and a few complete sentence-woo-hoo!), we headed in the city for some food. Our friends just discovered this great Pizza place in Cuenca. Now this may not seem very exciting, but here it is extremely exciting considering the only the pizza we've found here is utterly disgusting. This place caters to Gringo's though and is why it tastes more like the pizza we're used to. Yum!

Here are a few pics from the day- more on the Assembly soon!

Chao!

At Pioneer Day with friends from Tambo

 

 

 Pizza Time with Romero & Kristine

 

 

We finally have wifi!

So to all those asking, yes, we made it to Ecuador! We're sorry that we have not been able to post any sooner, but we were just able to finally get the internet today, so from now on we should be able to update this blog more frequently.

We arrived in Guayaquil and were greeted at the airport by our friends Romero & Kristine who also serve in our congregation in Tambo. They brought along with them 3 others from the local congregation in Guayaquil. The brothers had their own vehicles and were so kind to pick us up at the airport at 12am so we wouldn't have to take a taxi.

We stayed our first night at a local family's home. They live in a "nicer" part of Guayaquil-at least safety wise-They have a guard on watch 24/7 and their community is completely gated. Guayaquil is known to be a very rough, crime ridden city, even to the locals, so the brothers wanted to make sure we had a safe place to stay.

The family we stayed with have two children-17 & 15 yrs old. Paul, the oldest, is a Senior in High School so he only goes to school one day a week,thus he was able to tell us a bit more about Guayaquil and enjoy breakfast the next day with us. He knows a bit of English as well so we had some "Spanglish" going on. :) He also is a great pianist and welcomed us with his own versions of Adele & Billy Joel to name a few.

Here are a few photos of our short time with the family:

 Breakfast time usually consists of fresh juice, fruit and bread

 With Paul & his mom

Final photo with the family, getting ready to go the bus station

 

 

On our way...

Well, we're headed back to Ecuador! Not too much more to say at this point, but we're packed, ready to go & really excited to start our life there!

Horseback Riding in Baños

While we were in Baños, the opportunity came up to go horseback riding. We weren't sure at first if we were going to go, but since we're here in Ecuador, & the backdrop was beautiful, there was really no way we could refuse. Here are a few shots from our experience:

 Wes & our Guide

So just over the mountain is the largest volcano in Ecuador. You can see it well on a very clear day. Due to the Volcanic activity, there is this open spring with naturally carbonated water! 

 It is so clear & clean you can drink it right from your very own hands!

Natural Sulfur from the Volcano

Riding back into town

La Conmemoracion, 2013

As all of you know, the most important day of the year took place last week. Our congregation here in Tambo worked really hard the weeks leading up to the memorial to invite as many as possible.

 

Jehovah obviously blessed all the hard work here in Tambo. We have 24 publishers in the congregation, yet the attendance this year was 95! This just shows there is much work left here in Tambo. Here are a few photos from the occasion...

 Getting Ready

 One of our favorite little girls in our hall- her Mom is studying & attending all the meetings!

 Las Hermanas

 Los Hermanos

 After meeting snack at Damien & Paulina's!

Tract Time!

The Memorial tract campaign is coming to a close. It took us about 1 week to finish the town of Tambo & then we headed out to our further out territories. Here is a few shots from along the way:

 We told everyone to do a funny face, these are some of the results:)...

 

 Brittany, Matilde, Diana & Angelica

 You may think these are walking sticks, but in fact there used to protect against the many dogs from attacking us

 2 bushels & a barrel & the locals are still passing us!

 Riding in the back of pickup trucks to the territory!

 Javier, Jose' & Wes

 Diana & Mayrna

 Lil Mila

 Brittany & Nana