>Preaching in Ecuador is so vastly different than anywhere I’ve ever preached before! On a typical service week, we will ride a bus at least 8 times and walk anywhere from 10 to 20 miles! This is not counting the bus rides and walking involved in attending meetings.
The weekly schedule goes like this: Tuesday morning I (or we, depending whether Rich or Joanna is coming with me) head out walking to catch a bus from the terminal which is about a good brisk 20 minute walk, winding through the cobblestone streets past street people, mangy dogs, indigenous folks bent over with heavy loads on their backs or babies. At the ‘parada’ (bus stop) which we sometimes share with a squealing pig or squawking chicken, I board the bus to take me to the little community of Los Lagos where I get off the bus and walk the cobblestone street about 2 blocks to my bible study, Cathy. After the study, I walk back to catch the bus and take it back to Otavalo where I get off and walk another 25 minutes to my next study, which is near our house, but in a different direction and across the PanAmerican Highway. In between, I grab a bite to eat at one of the zillions of restaurants I pass along my route. After that I walk back home.
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| crossing the bridge |
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| sidewalk scene |
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| market scene |
Wednesday morning I head out walking to my bible study, Anabel who lives above her clothing store in downtown Otavalo. She invites me up and we climb the 5 flights of stairs to her apartment.
That’s all I’ve been doing on Wednesdays because we have a meeting Wednesday evening, so I like to go home and prepare and rest up for that.
To get to our meetings at the Kingdom Hall in the town of Atuntaqui we leave our house about 6pm to catch the bus up at the nearby ‘Pana’ (short for PanAmerican Highway). Sometimes we catch a bus right away that is heading straight to the city of Ibarra and after a fast 15 minute ride we arrive… too early. However, sometimes we don’t catch one of those, and instead have to take a bus that is first heading to the Otavalo terminal, waits there for the bus to fill up with passengers, then carries on down the highway stopping every couple of minutes to drop off or pick up passengers. This is why we have to leave at 6pm, because if we don’t and we end up on one of these buses we’ll get there after 7pm… too late! You can’t count on anything being consistent in Ecuador we’ve learned. Coming home from the meeting it’s usually standing room only (haven’t figured out why it’s so crowded on Wednesday nights).
Thursday morning is phone witnessing in Atuntaqui, so repeat the last paragraph. And, yes, I, the person with the ‘phone phobia’ am now regularly doing phone witnessing!! I think I talk about this back in ‘The First Three Months’ anyway, so I won’t go into it again.
Friday there is a group in Otavalo to work territory here, which is mostly ‘censo’ (going door to door and asking if anyone speaks English.) This is how the English group creates its own territory. Every person we meet who speaks any English at all is written down on a slip of paper which is handed in to a brother who compiles all the slips into a main register divided into territory numbers. We put on a lot of mileage on a typical Friday morning.
Friday afternoon there is another phone witnessing group at our house specifically to go through the Otavalo phone book looking for English speakers. So far, we have found quite a number who want to be visited to discuss the Bible with us and improve their English at the same time.
Saturday morning Rich goes to the group in Ibarra on the bus, but I walk the 25 minutes to the terminal to catch a bus to the picturesque little Quechua community of Peguche where I have a bible study with a young woman named Sami. When that’s finished I catch the bus back to Otavalo and walk to the other end of town, grab a bit to eat, make a few return visits, then head to the bible study with Laura in her little shipping office. Then walk the 15 minutes home from there through the bustling fruit and vegetable market along the way.
Sunday morning it’s back on the bus to Atuntaqui for the meeting and back!
Monday is my day to stay home and work, clean and unwind, that is, of course if we aren’t having to run around all over Ecuador doing the ‘visa chase’. More on the status of our visas in the next blog!