Needgreaters Pioneering in Ecuador: January Update

About 4 months since my last update.
So many things have been going on, but I will start with an update from January.

We had the international convention in Ecuador. For Cuenca congregations, the convention was held at a stadium in Azogues, a nearby city. Our congregation made travel arrangements for the brothers and studies. We had 3 buses that will take us to the stadium at 7am and will bring us back home everyday at 6pm. This arrangement worked out very well, because we didn't have parking near the stadium.
Most of the seats at the Stadium were out in the open. Friday was raining most of the day so the weather was very cold. Saturday and Sunday was mostly sunny, however, at such an altitude the sun feels very strong. Below you will see a picture with the colorful umbrellas all over the stadium...
The overall attendance for Sunday was almost 150 thousand. Now if we take into account that Ecuador only has about 85 thousand publishers, this means that there were about 65 thousand that were either studies, or possible studies. That sounds exciting right...there's so much work to do!

We had the privilege to work in the baptism department. Ben also had the big privilege to be one of the baptist. We built the dressing rooms and also two wood platforms for the two pools. It took about 5 full days.

Building The Changing Rooms

Baptism Crew

On our way to the Stadium, this is one of the 3 buses the congregation rented for the transportation.

During the Convention

This was the first convention for the Granda Family

January was also our anniversary month. However, we had the CO visit right during our anniversary. A couple of weeks later we had the convention. So we postponed our 10th year anniversary getaway for the end of January. Together with 3 other couples, that were also celebrating their anniversaries, we went to De Cameron, an all inclusive resort right on the beach, located in Esmeraldas. This is all the way on the opposite side of the country. We all had beach front Villas. The Resort had about 5 restaurants, lots of pools, a beautiful spa, dance places and even a private Island. We had a very nice and relaxing time.

Our Villas are the ones to the left

On the long way back home we stopped by Cotopaxi National Park. A friend and I tried climbing a little bit, but the weather was not favorable. The frozen wind was so intense, my face got completely numb, to the point that i could not speak. When I felt my face completely numbed, I decided the wisest thing to do was to to head back. The weather is much better from Nov - Jan, maybe we can give it second try then...

Freezing weather at almost 17000 feet above sea level

Cotopaxi behind us, all surrounded by clouds

On the way back home was Baños, one of my favorite cities in Ecuador. We decided to spend a few days here since two of our friends had never been to Baños. We keep on finding new stuff every-time we go. This time around, we found "La Casa del Arbol", or tree house, and "Vuelo del Condor". They look dangerous, and even though I agree there's nothing 100% safe, the massive iron base for this swings are so strong and look very well made. Also both swings had security straps. I felt safe, but man, what an adrenaline rush!!!
I also had the same feeling Zip Lining, not only because we were heading toward the center of the waterfall, but also because this particular zip-lining is done in a "flying" position. The hardest part was the count down to let go. After letting go, the feeling is amazing, is not scary anymore, instead I had a great sensation, I was literally flying...
This time around we also found Luna Ratun, this beautiful resort up in the mountains with a view to the whole city.