>Hi Everyone! First of all I want to apologize for waiting so long before starting this blog! The first three months were crazy busy… just getting used to the totally different lifestyle was enough to eat up most of our time!
Now, I am afraid I may not be able to remember everything I would have said if I had been blogging since we arrived back in January! Well, as the song goes…’let’s start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start’.

As you all know, we have been wanting to serve where the need is greater for many years now and although we had many setbacks, we pressed on with the goal and … well, here we are! I know, it was supposed to be Belize, but a couple of circumstances were responsible for the change of plan. First, the only elder in the congregation we were planning on serving with passed away, resulting in the dissolving of that congregation (Caye Caulker). Second, Isaac & Joanna invited us to come and check out Ecuador where they having been serving (in the sign language congregation) to see if we might like to serve here too.

So, after much prayer, research, more prayer, more research, we came to the conclusion there is definitely a need in English in Ecuador and in fact there was an English group already established in a town close to Otavalo where Isaac and Jo are. So, we decided to try three months and see if we felt we could indeed serve here. There was an article not long before this on serving where the need is greater and it stated that one thing you need to establish when you are ‘checking out’ an area is whether you can be happy there. If you can’t be happy, you won’t be much help and likely end up leaving.

This blog post is entitled ‘The First 3 Months’, so I’ll try my best to catch up on the highlights from when we arrived on January 4th until we left on April 4th to go back to Canada.

I actually can’t remember if our flight here was ok… must have been uneventful or it would have been more memorable… lol! Ahhh… I do remember that Quito looked incredible from the sky at night when we arrived. It didn’t look like any other city I had ever seen from a plane before. I now know it is because the streets wind up and down and around the steep hills so the lights made awesome patterns reminiscent of Aztec drawings. Oh yes, and I remember being scared to death about landing in Quito because of its reputation of having one of the steepest descents and one of the shortest runways in the world! (They’re almost finished a new airport a little ways out of town)

Isaac and Jo met us at the airport… (which sparks the memory that we had been delayed in JFK airport and missed our flight out of Miami which made us 2 hours late getting to Quito). It was awesome to see them there to greet us… we hadn’t seen them since our trip to England in 2009.

We spent the first night in Quito because we wanted to be able to enjoy the scenery when we made the drive to Otavalo. The next morning the elder from Isaac’s sign congregation (Jerry) generously picked us (and all our baggage for 3 months) up and drove us the 2 hour winding trip through the Andes north to Otavalo where Isaac and Jo have an apartment, then on another 10 minutes to the tiny ‘Gringo’ community of Sisa Pacha which would be our home for the month of January.

View from our porch at Sisa Pacha

Sisa Pacha is a special patch of planet Earth, up at 8500′ above sea level and was named by a sister who first built a house there. The name is in the indigenous language of the area, Quichua, and means literally ‘land of flowers’, or ‘paradise’. And it really is a little taste of paradise when you consider that all of the homes in Sisa Pacha are owned by brothers and sisters from the local Spanish, Quichua, Sign Language and English congregations! The locals call it ‘Gringolandia’, but the brothers and sisters have dubbed it ‘Testigoville’ (Witnessville).

We loved the month we spent there, but we needed to find something more within our budget since we still had mortgage payments to make back in Nova Scotia. So, although our purpose for coming to Ecuador was to help in the preaching work, we had to spend much of our time pounding the pavement (actually cobblestones) searching for ‘se arriendo’ signs (for rent). In this area, there is no such thing as advertising rentals in a newspaper or even on bulletin boards… the only way you find anything is looking for signs and asking everyone you meet.

Cotacachi, one of the towns in our territory

We did try to get out to every service arrangement that we could. The English group’s territory covers from Cayambe (45 minutes south of Otavalo) all the way up to the Columbia border (three hours north of Otavalo). So, the arrangements are in a different town each day.

Now, service here is unlike anything we’ve ever done in our 30 years of preaching the good news! Because it is a ‘foreign language group’… that being English, the main thrust of the work right now is developing an English territory within the Spanish speaking communities. So, we do what is called ‘Censo’ work. Going door to door and saying ‘Nosotros buscamos algunos personas que hablan Ingles’. (We are searching for any persons who speak English’.). It’s amazing how many Ecuadorians including the Quichua population either already have English as a second language or are trying to learn. When we find someone like that, we add them to the ‘territory’ and tell them that we offer Bible studies in English. On Thursday mornings there is a group that meets in an elder’s home to do the same thing by telephone. Those of you who know me well, know that I have ‘phone phobia’. Well, before we came to Ecuador, I knew this was something that was done here, so I made it a special request in my prayers to be able to overcome this fear so I could be useful in this special area of service. And guess what! I’m doing it!! Well, the first time I went to the group, I had a panic attack and burst into tears when it was my turn to take a call… but the sisters were so understanding and supportive and just let me do all the dialing for the rest of the morning. The next week, after intense prayer all week long, I was able to actually make a few calls. It gets easier each time! (Remember this is also done in Spanish!)

Waiting for a bus at Sisa Pacha

 So, earlier I mentioned that just getting used to the lifestyle was time consuming. Part of this is simply getting around! Only a couple of the brothers and sisters here have cars, so we do a LOT of walking! Sisa Pacha is out in the country so it was necessary to take a bus to get anywhere. The Kingdom Hall is in Atuntaqui, a 15 minute bus trip north. Then there are all the different towns to get to for service arrangements, plus when we needed groceries, it was a 1/2 hour bus trip to Ibarra, the largest town in our territory, where there is a ‘Super Maxi’ where they cater to the needs of the local ‘well-to-do’ including we ‘Gringos’. And everything we did included communication… very difficult with next to nil Spanish!

Rich in front of our apartment. Isaac’s is to the left with the avocado tree.

Then one day Isaac announced that the apartment next to theirs had just become available (a brother from the Netherlands had just moved out). It was tiny, especially after the spacious house and grounds we were renting at Sisa Pacha, but the price was right and living close to Isaac and Jo for a change sounded good, so we took it.
The landlady only rents to Witnesses, even though she is not even interested! So, again we were surrounded by good neighbours!

But something had to be done about our inability to communicate when shopping, riding the bus, etc etc.,
Fortunately, an arrangement was in place for Spanish classes through the Ecuadorian branch. A sister in our English group taught the  two hour classes twice a week. Our class consisted of Isaac and Jo, Jens and Kristin (a couple from Winnipeg that Isaac convinced to move here. Jens is now the 2nd elder in the Sign congregation in Otavalo), Merle and Kelly from the English group, and Rich and I. We took the classes from the middle of February until we left on April 4th. We both find learning Spanish a huge challenge. The classes helped a lot, but we’ve got a long way to go!

Yet, despite our language handicap we had some awesome experiences in service in those first 3 months. Rich started four bible studies and I, two and many many more to call back on.  My two studies were both introduced to me by brothers who had initially called on these two women, but because they and their wives already have enough studies to take care of, turned them over to me. The both own businesses on the busy main street of Otavalo only a block away from each other, but have never met. Both of them happily accepted a bible study immediately on my offering it. Both are Ecuadorian born and raised and both learned their English at college in the States. Laura, who owns a courier franchise, is very busy, working 12 hours a day 6 days a week, yet tries to make time to have her study right in the shop. Often she is too busy though and sometimes a couple of weeks go by with no study. But when she does have it, she is so appreciative and has a great respect for the Bible and takes whatever she learns seriously.
Anabel, my other study, owns and runs a womens clothing store, also very busy, but when I come for the bible study she stops working and takes me upstairs three flights to her apartment. She also has a high regard for what she reads in the bible. When she learned that God’s name is Jehovah, she just couldn’t believe she was never taught that in her (former) church. She had also started attending services at what they refer to here as ‘the Christian Church’, which I haven’t figured out exactly what or where it is, but she was not happy with their teachings either. She is very definitely interested in finding the truth. After finding another gem of truth during another one of our studies, she told me that she had said to her sister “You know those ‘little books’ we’ve been reading?… this lady teaches the same thing… it is very good!!” Turns out the ‘little books’ were the WT and Awake mags! So, it’s possible her sister may study too, although it won’t be with me… she doesn’t speak any English!

We’re finding a common trait in our ministry here. The ones who we are finding that have English as a second language are also ones who have been raised Catholic but are disappointed in it but when they hear the ring of truth, (for some reason it rings clearer to them in English) they really respond to it. Granted, at first some just see it as a way to practice and improve their English, but it always develops into more than that very quickly. This is seen across the whole English group, not just from our own experience.

I should introduce the friends that make up the English group here. When we first arrived and through the three months we were here there were two elders, Ben and Brian. In Ben’s family there were his wife Sheila, daughter Katarina and Sheila’s mother, Jean (who has since passed away while we were back in Canada). They are from California. Brian has his wife Sandra and they are from New York. Bryan and Sandra have since move over to the Spanish Otavalo congregation 🙁
At that time there were also two ministerial servants: David (wife Melody, daughter Cara) who are from Alaska; and Merle (wife Kelly, son Caleb) from New York state and who have since left to go back to the states to work for 3 months. That leaves one elder and one ministerial servant (but we hear there are 2 more elders moving in).
There are also three single pioneer sisters who share a house: Monica (our Spanish teacher) who is Ecuadorian; Maralay (who grew up at Patterson), and Mary Beth from Georgia.
There are also two older sisters, widows, who have been here for many years: Georgia, who is from California (who, unfortunately is affected by the end of the branch-sponsored 12-VII visa and has to return to California when her’s expires); and Iris, from Florida. Iris owns a house and land at Sisa Pacha where we were renting in January. Her son, Scott has now joined her here too and lives in a house on his mother’s land.
Then, there is a couple, Bill and Sue from Florida also; as well as Darwin and Carol, who have also bought a house at Sisa Pacha. They are from Vancouver, Canada. They also have left for a few months to get another infusion of cash so as to pay their way here for another while.
So, there we have it… and us of course. So that makes a grand total of 21, but 5 of them are back in the States for a while longer. However, there is usually a steady stream of visitors.

Of course, it wasn’t all rosy, those first three months. It seemed I spent a lot time sick in bed. The first month and a half we both were having trouble adapting to the thin mountain air! We were suffering from AMS ‘Acute Mountain Sickness’. It took that long before we could walk uphill or stairs without panting and our heartrates going crazy. Even just lying in bed, not exerting any energy, and we would find ourselves sitting up taking deep breaths to get enough oxygen.

Then, there was the trip to Quito to get our visas registered. Nothing that has to do with government here ever runs smoothly it seems! But I’ve heard so many horror stories from others that ours now sounds pretty tame, so I’ll skip it.

I think we were here at least a month before we found the time to do a little sight-seeing. Isaac and Jo took us to see the local attraction, the Quichua village, Peguche and its waterfall. A couple from Winnipeg (different couple) were visiting Isaac and Jo, so we all went together along with an Ecuadorian sister in the sign congregation, Vanessa.
It was an awesome walk through a Eucalyptus forest up to the falls. A very enjoyable day.

For our anniversary, we rented a cabana by a nearby lake. Cabanas del Lago on Lago San Pablo. Fantastic! Quenched our thirst to be by the water and got to enjoy the warmth of a cozy rustic cottage and sip wine by a crackling fireplace. (yes, I miss our fireplace!) Nice to know this place is a couple of minutes away if I need it.

Of course, Otavalo is quite an attraction in itself! It draws tourists mainly because of its huge indigenous market held every day, but on Saturday it is twice as big. The other days it is only held in what is known as the ‘Plaza de Ponchos’ a large square in the centre of town. Saturdays they close off about 6 blocks of the main streets for even more artisans to display their creations. The majority is woven textile items like ponchos, blankets, wall hangings, shirts, shawls, scarves, shoulder bags, etc., but there are also endless displays of handcrafted jewellery, panama hats, leather items, wood carvings, paintings, hand painted ceramics and more!

We had the privilege of attending the first ever English Special Assembly Day held in Quito in March. It was really encouraging as pretty much all of the 300 or so in attendance are serving where the need is greater here in Ecuador, so there was an amazing sense of spirituality!

We left that spiritual feast and headed for the coast for a ‘sea fix’…right away I’m reminded of the poem ‘Sea Fever’ by John Masefield, so here is an excerpt:

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

So, we chose a route that would take us through the winding mountain passes, through a cloud forest and land us in the coastal village of Pedernales, about 2 hours north of our destination, Canoa, then we would catch another bus to take us south along the coastal road which would allow views of the Pacific all along the way (save that thought).
All went splendidly (albeit the bus ride through the mountains was a tad hair-raising) plus when we saw our first gorgeous waterfall in the cloud forest, we realized we had left the camera at home! We arrived in Pedernales right on time and bought tickets to Canoa at the terminal. The tickets said ‘6:22pm’. So, we had to wait about an hour so we found a decent looking pizza place and had supper. We headed back to the terminal and there were met with some frantic Spanish speaking workers who rushed at us, grabbed our arms and while yelling loudly at each other and us pulled us to a ‘moto-taxi’ (a three-wheeled motorcycle rickshaw thingy) and instructed the driver to hurry and catch our bus (we gathered this anyway). Somehow we had missed our bus although it was still only about 6:10. It was kind of fun racing along beside the sea as the sun was setting, getting cooled off in the sweltering coastal heat… for about a minute! The driver turned abruptly away from the ocean and stopped at a corner a couple of blocks up, gesturing for us to get out and stand on the corner and (we gathered) wait for the bus. It seemed odd, however that we had not passed any buses!
We stood there wondering, as the daylight was fading, what was going to happen…how would we get to Canoa where we had reservations at a beach side hostel yet two hours away! Just then, another moto-taxi pulled up and let out a few more passengers on our corner… then another a couple of minutes later. Apparently they (and we) had all missed the last bus to Canoa! We noticed one woman was speaking English to her teenage son, so we asked her what we were supposed to do and she said… hitchhike… it’s the only way, she said. Well… that was absolutely out of the question in my mind. A pickup truck came along, the woman ran out and flagged him down, leaned into the window, had a few words with the driver, turned to us and gestured that we should hop in… the cab was already full… she meant IN THE BACK! With only seconds to decide (or not) Richie grabbed my arm and said ‘let’s go!’ and something to the effect of… we’re on an exciting Ecuadorian adventure!
 In we climbed, along with all the others that had been dumped off on the corner, along with our backpacks, and sat on whatever was the cargo (I still don’t know). The driver tore off down the highway like he had a plane to catch and my thoughts went dark, along with the sky. Rich says he could see the speedometer reaching 100 miles/hr. And this highway suddenly became extremely bumpy as it was under construction!
It seemed like forever… I really didn’t think we were going to get to Canoa alive! I was sooo cold, and trying desperately to hang on so as not to be flung out onto the dark highway, sore because I kept slipping off my perch (whatever it was) and hitting the metal floor of the pickup box, but once in a while the clouds would part and Rich would say ‘look!’. I tried to crank my head around to see in the direction he gestured to and there it was! Off in the distance, the Pacific Ocean sparkling in the moonlight bringing a strange calm to my shattered nerves. “At least I had seen one breathtaking view… before I die”, I thought.

Suddenly, the driver slowed down and stopped, gesturing for us to get out. “Where are we?” Richard asked the English-speaking lady. “Jama” she replied. “This is as far as he’s going”. “Oh, great”, I thought… I was sure we hadn’t passed any buses, so now what?!! Just then, her teenage son pointed down into the town and said “There’s the bus!”
What a relief… we had caught the bus! It came up out of the town and stopped where we were all waiting and when we got on and handed the conductor our tickets, he did a double-take…showed them to the driver who looked very confused… looked up at us, back at the tickets… scratched his head and motioned us to go ahead and sit down. I guess he couldn’t for the life of him figure out how we had tickets for that bus from Pedernales, but we beat him to Jama!
All’s well that ends well…. almost. We did reach Canoa at the same time as planned, but the hostel had no record of our reservation, he did give us a room, but it was obviously not ‘ready’. It was dirty but we reluctantly slept in the bed, being absolutely exhausted from our ‘Ecuadorian adventure’ and moved out the next day. Goes to show you just can’t believe everything you see on a business’s website (LOL). Don’t let that get around 🙂

We spent nearly the whole of the next day walking up and down the beach (I know, I know, I hear the whining violins) looking for suitable accommodations that were reasonably priced. And that we did and spent a wonderful rest of the week beach-bumming. Canoa is a surfing destination so we had an awesome time body surfing in the huge waves!
Actually, earlier I said we went to the coast for a ‘sea-fix’, but that wasn’t the whole reason we went there. It was to check out the town of Bahia de Caraquez to see if the congregation there had (or were planning to have) an English group. We had done a lot of research when Isaac first mentioned coming to Ecuador and had settled on Bahia as a place we would love to live in. Clean, safe and by the ocean. But, alas, they were not planning on an English group… as yet anyway. 😉 But we did enjoy going to the meeting there and meeting many new friends, even though it was all in Spanish!
The trip to the coast was wonderful while we were there, but we were both left with the feeling that we would never do it again. The stressful trip there and back made it seem not really worth it. But, me thinks that feeling is already fading… can hear those waves crashing and seagulls cries …. ahhhh I must go down to the sea again!

So, this is how I would sum up my feelings after our first three months (note: these are my personal feelings, not Richie’s)
1. At first there was culture shock, mostly because of a) the garbage b) the living conditions of the poor and c) the crazy driving
2. I always felt like I wished summer would arrive… but it never does. That’s why it’s dubbed ‘land of eternal spring’. I am always chilly when we’re in our apartment or outside when it’s cloudy. It’s only warm when the sun is shining directly on me.
3. I know I should ignore the above because the need here is obvious and the people we meet who want to study are more than worth putting up with garbage, poverty, maniac drivers and chilliness.