Service Experience

We've had big privilege to participate often in Metropolitan witnessing were  we've had some awesome experiences. There are several locations in Cuenca; the bus terminal, Parque Paraiso and we recently started participating at the newest location, Cuenca's biggest market, Feria Libre. As a result, we have been able to start a few extra studies. Just last week we started a study with a man, and, as he said himself, he wants everyone in his family, including kids, to study the bible with us.

Field Service is really productive as well. Said just plain and simple, there's just not enough time to dedicate to "everyone" that shows interest. As soon as i arrived to Ecuador I was eager to have studies, and a sister told me: "just wait, you will have as many studies as you want".

We have a few studies that are progressing very well and even coming to meetings. But there's one very special to me. Her name is Viviana, i found her as a result of metropolitan witnessing. From the very first time I came to her house she asked me to come in. I offered to study and she agreed right away to whatever time was convenient for me. That same day I invited her to the meetings, she asked the time and said she will be ready. The time for the meeting came, I called expecting to have an excuse from her, but to my surprise she tells me: "I'm ready, just waiting for you". I could not believe it! She loved the meeting. During the Watchtower she noticed that everyone had their study article highlighted, she said "that's why everyone is able to comment soo nicely, of course, everyone got the answers already highlighted...can I have my copy so I can get ready for next week?". So I gave her a copy of the study Watchtower and the following week she was ready to answer, raised her hand about 5 times (I counted them haha). She's been coming to the meeting with her young daughter ever since (about 3 months already) and about a month ago her husband started coming too. Oh and after 3 meetings she started wearing a skirt, dressing just like a sister. She prepares for every study reading every single bible scripture, reads the public watchtower and awake pretty much the same day she receives them, and has been reading frequently the family happiness book and the bible. She's so eager to learn more that she's asked me to study twice a week. I can see that shine in her eyes whenever she learns something new as she's already discovered that a lot of what she has been taught all her life has been lies.
I'm so grateful to Jehovah for using me to teach people like her about the truth.
Anyway, this is my favorite latest experience. This is a great place to preach and have the joy of helping others learn the truth. Come, spend some time and experience it for yourselves....:) It is the best life ever!!!

Viviana and her family

Visitors in April

Ben's parents come for a visit in April. They came throught the Guayaquil airport and came straight to Cuenca to spend a few days at our place. My mom sent a few things I really missed like my favorite oatmeal from Trader Joe's, Coconut oil, some of my favorite creams and a few other things...we do miss a lot of things from back home, but definitely the one thing we miss the most is family and friends.
While in Cuenca we took my in laws to a few nice places like Parque Paraiso, Parque Calderon, Huma-Pungo (one of the nicest museums in the city) and lots of street markets which my mother in law loved.

Parque Paraiso by the River

We were determined to spend as much time with them as possible so we all went together to Crucita, where they owned a beautiful little apartment in a beach front community. While there we visited Monte Cristi, the place known to make the famous Panama Hats. We also got to visit Manta and Porto Viejo.

Monte Cristi

Panama Hats from Monte Cristi

                

After spending 3 days in Crucita we went our separate ways for just a few days. My in laws went to see the rest of their family in Santo Domingo and we started heading back to Cuenca. Since its a long trip we decided to take it slow and enjoy it. We stopped at out favorite beach, Los Frailes, spent a few hours there. Then we arrived at Salinas and spent the night with friends. The next day we stop at Guayaquil for some shopping. Finally arrived at Cuenca late at night. 

After visiting the rest of their family my parents in law came back to Cuenca. We really enjoyed their stay. It went by really fast. Below I'll post some picture with some of the things we did with them...

Plaza de la Palomas, Cuenca

Amazon Trip

One of the biggest holidays in Ecuador its Carnaval. Every city has parties, concerts, parades, shows, etc. They also have the custom of throwing water at everyone walking by. They use water balloons, buckets full of water, water guns or even a hose to soak everyone that passes by. This is one of the reasons why during Carnival all the preaching groups are cancelled and mostly everyone goes away for the long weekend. 

We had been thinking about going to "Oriente" since we arrived to Ecuador, so we took advantage of the Carnaval holidays back in March for this little get away.
We took a route by Gualaceo. Drove on dirt roads for 2-3 hours. As we came down the Andes, we witnessed several land slides due to the heavy rain. One of them we had to wait 30 minutes to get through. With the help of specialized equipment we made it. Once on the paved road the road trip was very nice.  

On our way... 

As we got closer to the amazon we felt the weather changing. The heat and humidity kept on getting worst per minute, and we kept on taking off layers of clothes. The vegetation, the views and even the bugs were different. We drove by Macas, Suqua and Puyo. Finally made it to Tena at 10pm. Thankfully we had already made reservations cause every single hotel was booked due to the holiday.

Our first official day in Tena was a Sunday. Right after breakfast we attended a meeting at a local congregation. Right after the talk was done, they started speaking a language i didn't recognize, quichua from Oriente (sounds like Chinese)....the watchtower conductor? An American brother that has learned the language to help out there. Since there's not a lot of brothers to help out, two young sisters were in charge of the sound system.



Watchtower conductor

Sisters in charge of the sound system

After meeting we headed to Jumandi, a cavern with beautiful formations and an underground river that goes on for miles. The water was anywhere from a couple of feet to 16 feet deep. Once in the cavern its hard to go back. A lady in our group had a panic attack, she started crying asking the tour guide to take her in his back across a deep water hole. It was a bit scary, it was dark, one couldn't see what was under and the whole place its surrounded by bats. The cave was amazingly beautiful! Sadly we don't have any pictures, we couldn't take our cameras since we had to swim through several swimming holes. 

Our second day in Tena we got to visit Misahualli, a beautiful little town hidden in the forest, close to Tena. This was my favorite place. Not that i didn't like Tena, but it was too much of a big city and i didn't expect that in the Amazon. I wanted to see pure nature, woods, forrest and Misahualli's got all of this. 
There we went to see the "Huaorani", an indigenous tribe that lives deep in the Amazon. They speak "Wao", only the kids understand a little bit of Spanish. After making a typical tribe dance for us, they showed us their little hut and painted our face. They really liked our clothes, our hair, hats and even our sandals asking to leave them. Now I know what to bring next time... lots of sandals and chocolate cookies (They even licked the wrapping paper)

Ben was able to show them the JW video about the creation. By the end of it, all the girls had gathered up to look at it. They were impressed and astonished. 

The Huaorani tribe was very nice and friendly. Nothing like other tribes that are aggressive and even dangerous. 

Huaorani Tribe

   

After visiting the tribe, our tour guide took us around the river on a canoe. Out of the whole trip, this was the scariest part for me. As he rows, the canoe moves giving the feeling its going to flip. The water was so dark one can't see nothing under. We did know there was a Cayman near by and probably a lot of snakes too. It was beautiful but I was terrified just thinking about all the snakes and weird creatures that could be right under me. I was relieved after it was over. 

Oh we also got to taste, "Chicha" an indigenous Amazonian drink. It used to be made with saliva fermented Cassava. According to the lady preparing it, now its fermented a different way (lets hope its true). Anyway, Ben thought it needed sugar, I also though it was really bad, but we had to try it just for the experience lol.  

                 

At last, we visited Cascadas de Latas", also in Misahualli. After walking next to the river in knee high mud for about an hour, we got to this breath taking waterfall hidden in the forest.  The waterfall was so strong it hurt to be under it. The water temperature was cold just like any river, but perfect. It felt refreshing since the weather was so hot and humid. Later on we found out there were snakes all over the place, we just didn't see any because they tent to hide when its rainy and muddy like it was. 

           

Below I'll post a video, just a quick summary of the things we did. This video contains graphic images from the Huaorani Indian Tribe. Some people might find some of this images offensive.