La Bonita

So this weekend we were supposed to go on this trip to a town about 4 hours from home called La Bonita. It's super remote - way back in the jungle!! It's part of our territory and every couple of years they decide to travel to this town to preach for two days. Since it's so far away from civilization there are no hotels around for hours. So we were supposed to rent out a class room in a school nearby and take mattresses and camp out together. But this weekend happened to be a holiday (Batalla de Pichincha - the battle of Pichincha) and everyone was off of work and school, so they used this weekend to have a huge teachers conference. Then we thought about using this sister's house nearby. She had two rooms we could use and the rest of us would take our mattresses and sleep in the back of this brother's truck and in tents next to the truck. Well, that ended up not working either because there was only room for 15 people that way and our group ended up being 24 people. Sooooooo....needless to say we made it a day trip instead. LOL

So we left yesterday morning at 5:15 to go meet the group and to get our assigned partners for the day and break off into our assigned vehicles. Three vehicles went. Bro. Joel Villarael's 4-wheel drive Montero, Bro. Samuel Cianci's Suzuki, and Sr. Revelo's school bus/mini van. (The last one is mentioned as senor because he is still studying) So off we go to make our first stop in Julio Andrade to get our time started. That ended up being around 7:00-ish. Then we all get in the cars and head to Pylon, another town about 45 minutes to an hour from Julio. There we get out and do 30 minutes of territory before we have to regroup and head to our next spot - Santa Barbara. On our way to Santa Barbara we encounter this part of the high way that had this terrible mud slide from the rain the night before. Since Joel was the only one with a 4-wheel drive he could go right through, but Samuel tried to go behind him and got stuck. So all these brothers go out with these rain boots on and had to lift the front of his car and push him out. So Joel takes his truck and makes tracks in the mud to harden it a little so they could get through. So Sr. Revelo drives the van through and all of the brothers are behind him pushing the van. When it finally got through, Samuel got out of his car and Edwin Tucanes drove his car through the mud with a little bit of help from the other brothers. I have pictures of all of this below.

Hermanito Joel

Vernette

We were in Santa Barbara for about an hour and a half. That was a very interesting spot for me and I'm sure especially for my partner Maria Jose (16). We get to this one Panaderia (which is a bread shop) and Majo pulls out the Watchtower on the 6 Bible Prophecies. She explains each different prophecy in a good amount of detail and reads at least one or two scriptures to go with each one. When we were at the last one, she reads this scripture (I'm sorry I forgot which scripture it was) and the woman stops Majo and rereads the scripture out loud and looks up and says, "Does this mean God and Jesus are two different people?" Majo never skipped a beat! She said, "If you don't mind me asking, are you Catholic?" The woman said yes and Majo continued, "Most people in the Catholic religion believe that God and Jesus are one, but let me ask you another question: Pablo has a son Diego for example. They both have the same blood, both may have the same last name, but are they the same person?" The woman shook her said and said no. And Majo said, "It's the same with our creator, Jehovah. He created all living things on this earth, including the earth, and Jesus is his son, his helper. I have this publication that discusses in more detail the difference between Jehovah, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit..." and she pulls out her own copy of the Bible Teach book and turns to the appendix to that section and explains with scriptures and in detail the difference. The only problem is, she was not able to leave a copy of the book with the woman because no one would be able to go back and work the town for about another year or so and they were directed not to give out Bible Teach books, so she left her with the Watchtower and the Truth tract and told her that if she ever runs into Jehovah's Witnesses again to ask all the questions she had. The woman was so interested and for the friends here they can't even offer them studies because they don't have cars to get to them and very rarely do buses go through that town.

After that call, Majo and I went to find some of the brothers working the territory still and we hear this terrible squealing from a pig. Majo said that's what happens when they kill a pig, they go crazy! So we end up meeting this group and Vernette was sitting there on the wall and telling me to hurry up and bring my camera (which was in the car). This huge group of brothers got to see them kill the pig. I asked how they did it and Vern said the tied it's legs to this post, grabbed it by the front legs, flipped it over and stabbed it in the heart. The only problem is the knife was only like six inches long and they had to keep doing it over and over again which is why the pig was squealing so much. The poor thing had to suffer!

Right after that we were on our way to La Bonita. It's beautiful on our way there! There were waterfalls everywhere you looked coming down the mountains. So we get to this one spot where this is this beautiful waterfall that we actually have to drive through to continue on to La Bonita. But there was a Mazda truck stuck in the middle of it. So again all the brothers get out and put on their rain boots and try to pull the truck out. Still not working....so Joel comes with his Montero again and ties a rope to the truck and pulls him out. Joel was rescuing everyone yesterday. LOL Then a tour bus decides to go through. It was going well till it hits this one rock and literally almost tips the bus. And we are all standing there at the waterfall watching this bus start to tip over. Fortunately it stabilized and was able to keep going. The only problem was, Allan didn't want to go through it because it was supposed to rain which would make the waterfall even bigger and the two vehicles that weren't 4-wheel drive wouldn't be able to pass to come back through. So we never even ended up making it to La Bonita.

Maria Jose (Majo), Maria Laura and Gaby (Miriam Huaca's sister)

We went back to Santa Barbara to eat lunch and we were there for a while, then we got back in the cars and started home, but we worked till 6:30 because we preached at every house along the highway on the way home. We got home by 7:15 but we were completely exhausted from the day that Ashawnte was in bed by about 8:00 and I was in bed by 9:00. Talk about a crazy day!

Well, Ashawnte and I are back to being without hot water again, so hopefully it won't be as long as last time before we can get a tank again. Other than that, nothing much to report. We hope everything back home is going well and we can't wait to see everyone. We miss all of you! Love you tons!

Chao hermanitos!

Virus

I'm sure most of you are wondering what's going on since I haven't been posting any new blogs for a while. Sorry about that. My computer died so I have to use Allan's computer whenever he isn't using it. I wanted to post about another trip to Oasis (the wave pool) only this time with pictures, but since my computer died I haven't been able to upload the pictures. Once I'm able to do that, I'll post them.

Ashawnte and I have been home all week with the stomach virus and this morning we are going to try to make it out in service for at least an hour or two. Two days ago we ran out of toilet paper and we were too sick to leave the house and get more so we were running off of tissues and napkins. Haha!! So yesterday we were well enough for a short period of time to run to the store and get some toilet paper and some food we needed to help us feel a little better. So we got a bottle of drinkable yogurt, strawberry flavor. We get home and drink at least half a glass before I took a look at the bottle and saw that it's loaded with fiber and it says, "To keep your body clean on the inside" Oops!! Not exactly what we were looking for. It made Ashawnte worse for a few hours.

So far that's all I have to report. I'll be back with more soon. Love you guys!

Chao

P.S. Many of you were wondering how to get in touch with me and Ashawnte. Our emails and skype addresses are listed below:

Ashawnte:
ashawntewilliams@gmail.com
Skype: ashawnte.williams

Megan:
megrenjones@gmail.com
Skype: megrenjones

Do you have your Censo!?

Tuesday morning Ashawnte and I forced ourselves out of bed to go out in service. The bed was so warm and comfortable that it was just one of those mornings where we really didn't want to get up, but we did anyways. We met the group and it ended up being one of those days where no brothers came out to take the lead so the sisters started looking for a hat, then they looked at Ashawnte (who was the only one in the room with a hat on) and asked her if she would pray for the group. Her eyes got as wide as a deer in the headlights. She said she didn't feel comfortable doing it yet because her Spanish isn't good enough to lead a group in prayer. So she passed the hat onto someone else.

She ended up working with this sister named Alba and proceeded to tell her that we have been without gas for our hot water for almost three weeks because the gas truck hasn't passed. So Alba said she had an extra tank and for $2 she would give it to us after service. We went home to change and prepare to head to Ibarra for some food. Then Allan knocks on the door and said Anderson - a brother about 17 years old in our hall - would go with us to show us where Alba lived. So we grabbed the empty tank and the cart for it and went to get a taxi. But the cart was too big to fit in the trunk so it stuck out a bit. Then comes the fun part!! There was a random police check in Tulcan that day and our cab was pulled over and we were asked to get out. The police officer asked us for our I.D. so I pulled out my Censo - my Ecuadorian I.D. Then I looked at Ashawnte who said in a panicked voice - "I don't have my Censo!!" Oh My Goodness!!!!!! Of all days to forget your identification! So needless to say the policeman was not so happy and Anderson was trying to explain to him that her Censo was at home along with her passport. We were standing there for about 5 minutes before they finally just let us go. I was so happy they didn't decide to arrest Ashawnte! And so was she. LOL But now it's a running joke, we always ask Ashawnte before we leave the house if she has her Censo.

At least we got the gas and we are back on for hot water now. Woooo!!!

Well, more later when I have some more funny stuff to tell. Love you all and miss you tons!

Chao!!

Study

Ashawnte wasn't feeling too well this morning so I got up and met the group without her. It was my first time working door-to-door with Allan since I have been here and I must day, it was probably the best thing that has happened to me yet. I was super nervous because working with Allan is almost like working with someone of the Governing Body, he is that intimidating. Haha! But I sucked up my fear and went with it anyways. We we close to finishing our door-to-door work this morning when Allan get's this man at home named Lenen. I ended up placing my only copy of my Bible Teach book with him and Allan started a study right on the spot. Allan asked when he would be available to start and Lenon said "I get off of work Tuesday at 6:00 and I'm available anytime after that." So Allan asked if 6:30 was good and he said, "No, 6:00!" Then the next house was mine. I offered a tract (they offer tracts here to start) and Allan spoke a little more and read a scripture, then it was set up for me to go back next Wednesday morning and demonstrate a Bible study! So...after 3.5 months, I will finally have a study as of Wednesday (hopefully!) :-)

So that was my fun filled morning. Hope to have many more of them! I'll be posting more soon, and definitely to let everyone know how it went. Love you all!

Ciao

Memorial and other updates

So as most of you know, Ashawnte and I gave our first talks a few weeks ago. Sorry I haven't done any blog updates, I haven't been doing too much exciting stuff. Last week Ashawnte and I went to Otavalo which is one of my favorite places in Ecuador because everything is handmade and super cheap!!! Even the silver jewelry! :-) Then two days after Otavalo, Ashawnte and I asked our friend Paola to come with us to this place called Oasis. Believe it or not, it's actually a wave pool here in Ecuador about 2 hours from where we are staying. I didn't take my camera because I didn't want it to get stolen while we were swimming. But if I would have known what was going to happen I would have definitely taken it! The three of us ended up being the ONLY ones in the entire water park! The only downfall is that on weekdays (we went on a Monday) they don't create waves and they don't run the water slides. So we just had these three huge pools all to ourselves! What a pity! LOL If we go back on a weekday again, I'll be sure to take my camera!

So right at the beginning of our campaign, which was an absolute blast here because it's so easy, Ashawnte and I had a really interesting day in service. I have this bad habit of setting my alarm for a certain time then hitting the snooze button as many times as possible before I absolutely have to get up! Well, Wednesday mornings we have to be at the bus terminal at 8:00 sharp to catch the bus to Julio Andrade (where the service group meets). So the alarm went off at 7:00 and I hit the snooze button, but my alarm didn't go off again, so we woke up at 7:36 and jumped out of bed! We got ready in about 15 minutes and we rushed to the bus stop. Fortunately a taxi driver that's a brother was driving by and saw us so he swung around to pick us up and take us to the terminal. The only good part about the morning was the taxi ride was free (even though it's only $1 anyways, free is still better!) So we missed the bus! Haha! Yeah...well, we get on another one and this old man happened to be the driver, how fortunate for us...NOT! He drove like a turtle! So we get to Julio at about 9:30 and the group meets at 8:45. Yeah, totally late! So I call Jonathan (the brother serving here from Texas) and ask him where the group is working. He asked where were currently were and I told him right in front of this school (can't remember the name of it). He then says, "Oh wow you are really far from the group, I'll send someone to come pick you up. Stay right there." Oh yeah and I forgot to mention it was POURING outside! LOL So the new elder we just got from Milan, Italy - Samuel - came to pick us up. We get to the group, get out of the car and do TWO doors when Jonathan calls me and says, "Yeah umm, it's raining too hard and no one is coming to the doors because it's too cold and wet, so we are stopping." WHAT!? We could have stayed home!!!! So we regroup and Ashawnte and I are sent on studies with a couple sisters who are actually dressed for the weather. The study I went on had no electricity and all concrete floors, and the student left the door open so we could have some light which made it even worse because the wind was blowing! So I used the converter on my phone to see how cold it was....43 degrees!!! So we were out for a while with them freezing our buns off so to speak!

Oh before I forget, some of you know this but most of you don't. Our congregation was sent 17,000 invitations for the memorial. There are 56 baptized publishers in the congregation, 11 regular pioneers, and 24 auxiliary pioneers...meaning each of us were supposed to get 620 invitations! I passed out about 80 and I was quite happy about that. LOL

So as I have mentioned before, we have a group in Julio Andrade that's headed up by our congregation, so there was a memorial in Julio last night and a memorial in our hall. Both were held at 6:00, then another memorial for the other congregation followed at 7:40. Our attendance last night was 134 in Julio Andrade and 219 here in Tulcan.

There was this little girl sitting in front of me last night during the memorial (I wish I got a picture of her, but her family left as soon as they said Amen pretty much). She was the cutest little thing I have ever seen! She would stick her hand through the back of the seat and play with my fingers and during the prayer she reached back and held my hand through the whole prayer! I wanted to take her home with me so bad! LOL And she kept wanting me to play with her Barney that she brought with her. They don't even have Barney episodes here!! LOL Anyways, memorial was great as always! I missed being at home for it but it was pretty cool being in another country for it at the same time!

There is some protest starting today and they are closing all of the highways to and from Tulcan so we won't be able to go anywhere for a few days. I'm not exactly sure what it's about, but as soon as I find out I'll let you all know.

Oh and Ashawnte and I ran out of gas for hot water, so until the gas truck comes back around and we can get gas again, we have to take showers/baths with boiled water out of two big spaghetti pots. LOL Makes you appreciate our hot water heaters at home. Oh well.

Sorry again for taking so long to blog, I'll try to do much better at that!

T.Q.M.

Ciao

Lychees, Trout, Hot Springs, and the Assembly

Last Monday and Tuesday Ashawnte and I weren't able to leave the house and walk through town at all because there was this big holiday going on called Carnival. It's a lot different here than most holidays at home because here they throw water balloons, eggs and flour at you. Oh yeah, paint too. It's a very dirty holiday and they target everyone. So we had to stay in, no service. Tuesday though we got up early enough that the people weren't out yet and we went with a group of friends from the congregation to Tufiño. There we went to some hot springs and swam all morning. The water is this greenish-brown color because it comes right from the volcano next to it and it is sulfur water. But it makes your skin really soft and you feel really good all day afterwards. It's just like being in a hot tub without jets.

After the hot springs we went to this fish hatchery and got 4 fresh rainbow trout for $4. Unfortunately they just kill them and give them to us to gut and fillet. So it turned out to be a disaster because neither of us know how to fillet a fish properly and it ended up being slaughtered. Haha!! But the experience was nice...interesting. (The link for the video of us getting the fish at the hatchery - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW4MbkUY23M)

Then we discovered this fruit called Lychee. I have a picture of it below. The skin on the outside looks spikey but it isn't sharp at all, it's actually soft and you twist it and it pops right open. The inside is like a grape. The flesh is white and slippery and it tastes just like a grape. Be careful though because there is a huge seed in the middle of it that is shaped like an almond and you can actually bite right through the seed because it is soft like an almond too. It's so good though.

Now all of the great spiritual news. Ashawnte and I went with Paola yesterday to Quito for the English Special Assembly Day. We left home yesterday morning at 1:45 because we had to be at the bus terminal in time to catch the bus that left at 2:15. We just made it in time because we couldn't find any taxis running that early in the morning. So we were on the bus for about 4 hours. Once we made it to the terminal in Quito we got in a taxi and asked him to take us to the Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. We think he played us because he drove and drove and drove until he finally "found" it. The taxis in Quito have meters in the car like at home, but in Tulcan it's just a dollar anywhere you need to go. So the fare was $15 just to get the Assembly Hall. *Sigh* oh well. So we get to the Assembly Hall at 7:30 (meanwhile we are all in jeans because we refused to ride the bus in skirts) so Ashawnte called in to one of the brothers and asked if we could change our clothes before the doors opened. Surprisingly they said yes and they let us stay inside even though it was before 8:00. The Assembly program was absolutely fantastic! I'll be posting my notes because I'm sure there will be many different points mentioned here than at home. Once the Assembly was over, we decided to catch a cab back to the main city of Quito and eat dinner before we came home. TACO BELL!!! Haha!! It was Paola's first time eating Taco Bell and it was absolutely fantastic eating something from back home. Then we went back to the terminal and caught a bus back to Tulcan. We got home at about 12:30 am. Talk about a long day. Well, I'll post more when something else exciting happens. Love you all and miss you tons!

P.S. Ashawnte and I got to visit a waterfall so there is a pic of that in here too.

11 Years Old

So I think I'm going to try something new. Instead of waiting for a couple weeks to blog, I think I'm going to start posting every free moment I have. Saturday Ashawnte and I had some friends over to play basketball and eat some deep fried Oreos (yes I'm bringing them to Ecuador). Basketball was fun. There were 5 of us playing, everyone against me and Ashawnte. Those little kids are pretty good I must say! Then we came in and played some card games. First we played Smack the Ace, Bow to the King, Hello Queen, Hi Jack. That was a blast! Then we played a game they play here in Ecuador. I'm not sure what it's called, but it was lots of fun too! Then Ashawnte taught everyone Slide. Haha!! That was just hilarious to watch! Oh yeah, they were all supposed to be at our house at 3:00, they didn't show up till 5:15. Talk about Ecuador time. LOL

Then Sunday we were invited by a whole group of friends from the congregation to play basketball and tennis! Basketball was great, mainly because they let all of the kids play. I mean, we had little six year olds playing with us, but it was still a real, full game of basketball. It was so much fun! Then after basketball, we came home and Allan and Vernette asked us to come upstairs at 6:30.

A brother and his wife were here visiting from Milan, Italy and they were thinking of coming to Ecuador to serve. Thank goodness for Allan, he wouldn't have to be the only elder anymore. So Allan and Vern had this huge gathering for them so they could meet a bunch of people from the congregation. As fun as that sounds, Ashawnte and I were almost bored to tears because all they did all night long was talk. Spanish obviously. So as much as we tried and tried to understand what was going on, it just became tiring.

Monday came around and it was our meeting night this week because the other congregation had their C.O. So we had two meetings back to back. I gave my first comment in my own words at the meeting Monday night too. Ashawnte gave her second. (I know, I have to catch up) But the best part about Monday's meeting for me was Ramiro Huaca, Jr. giving the concluding prayer. And as you can guess by the title, he is only 11 years old!!! I asked Vern how old he was and said that in the United States that's unheard of, she said he has been praying ever since he was baptized, and that has been almost two years. Isn't that just insane!?

Well, that's all I have to report for now. I'll try and blog again by the end of the week. Hopefully something else exciting will happen. :) Miss you all tons and love hearing from you. I'm always on Skype, so give me a ring sometime. Love ya and talk to you soon.

T.Q.M.