>Hi everyone! Well, we’ve passed the one year mark since we first came to Ecuador! Time goes so fast!
I’m finally able to carry on simple conversations in Spanish now, and can usually get the gist of what someone is saying even if I don’t know all the words they’ve said.
Our English group is still getting lots of attention with folks coming to ‘spy out the land’. Right now we have a group of 5 young sisters from British Columbia and Alberta, Canada who will be with us for 3 more months to help out. It’s awesome to have that vim and vigour that young ones add to the service and meetings. They’ve been joining us for our Friday phone census work, so it’s been lively and fun!
A couple from Kentucky and their 21 yr old son and 15 yr old daughter were here for a week or so also, checking out our area and group. They are also looking at Cuenca (further south and a larger city) where they have set up housekeeping for a few months while they visit the different places in Ecuador that have English groups/congregations. We’re excited to hear their report when they get back from visiting the English group in Manta. The C.O. had encouraged them to look into it because they really have a need there.
Ahhh.. the coast… warmth… I still find it too chilly here for my liking. Of course there are pros and cons with any place. The coastal region will likely have more insects, which is a big ‘con’, but I’m thinking the ‘pros’… warmer weather, the ocean (which we both miss very much), and because of the ocean, likely cleaner air… outweigh the few cons. Funny, isn’t it, when you think of someone living high in the Andes, you usually think ‘fresh clean mountain air’, right? uh-uh. The pollution from the zillion buses takes care of that!

Studies continue to be added. Can you believe I actually get up at 5AM on Saturdays now because one of my bible studies can only study at 7AM. She and her husband come from Cayumbe each Saturday for the Otavalo market and set up their booth at 5AM and by 7 they are all ready, but it is fairly quiet still at that time, so I go and sit in her booth and have maybe 20 minutes to 1/2 hr before the tourists start filing by. Then I head over to San  Juan for my 8:00 study with Elena. I have three more spread out over Saturday.
Sunday our meeting is at 8:30AM now… it’s a little tough, not having ever been a morning person, but surprising how adaptable we can be!
All for now.

>So… lots to catch up on… again 🙁
I’m sorry for always waiting so long between updates. It’s just that being somewhere where the need is great is well, just that, a place where we’re needed = lots of time spent filling the need.
This one will have to be in point form, otherwise, if I wrote it the way I feel it, it would be a novel 😉

• Update on my study, Anabel: After she returned from her trip to Italy and Greece, she confessed she had not taken along her books, so did not look over the info on death, soul, spirit, etc. However, we’ve since gone over it together and she now accepts the truth about where the dead are. Later, during a study on the resurrection, she had issues with Judas…feeling that he was predestined to betray Jesus and therefore not accountable for that sin. After returning to her with my 2 hours of research material and going over it, she now understands that his was a wilful act and therefore in Gehenna.
     Another day I brought her a bible story book and a Learn from the Great Teacher book for her neices who live in the same house with her. She was turning the pages in the Bible Story Book and suddenly said “This looks familiar…did this book used to be yellow?” Turns out she remembered her older sister reading it to her every day when she was a little girl. I don’t think I’ve ever related how I first came to study with Anabel. One day Richie and another brother in our group, David, were doing followups from the census work and went to Anabel’s store looking for the man written on the follow up slip at that address. Anabel said there was no one there by that name. David asked if perhaps he lived on one of the floors above the store. She explained that the whole building is her parents house and no one by that name had ever lived there…then asked why they were looking for him. They explained what we do and she immediately said “If it’s ok, I would like to study the bible in English!” So they asked me if I would like to study with her. It’s going on a year now since then and it just gets better and better! She is so earnest and meek!
• A sister in our group, Charie, was living at Sisa Pacha for a couple of months, but decided she wanted to move into Otavalo, so we were keeping watch for an inexpensive apartment for her. One night after the meeting we hopped in a cab and the driver asked us (in Spanish) if we had any friends who might be looking for an apartment in Otavalo. When we said we did he gave us his phone number to arrange a viewing. Charie loved the apartment and the landlord and his family were so kind and friendly. He took us all in his cab to the bank so she could get money to give him the downpayment, but the machine wouldn’t give her any money (some error message), so while Rich took her to find a different bank machine, (the next one ate her card…another story 😉 ) I sat in the cab with the landlord. After an awkward silence, I remembered I had a Spanish ‘Truth’ tract, so I handed to him and said we were ‘Testigos de Jehova’. He thanked me profusely, and said his next door neighbour is one also…he seemed very excited and pleased to know that we were. He immediately started reading the tract and once in a while gave me the thumbs up, saying ‘Muy Bueno…muy bueno!!’ When he was half way through he asked if I had one in English, which I did and handed it to him. He excitedly showed me how he could learn English by comparing them side by side as he read.
  When he finished, he again expressed his delight in what he had read, so I offered him the latest magazines in Spanish, which he gratefully accepted.
     About a month later, Charie and I were in service and needed a cab… her landlord just happened to come along in his cab (there are literally thousands of cabs in Otavalo), so we hailed him and enroute to our destination, he reached down between the seats and picked up the two magazines I had given him… well worn, I might add, and started expressing how much he had enjoyed them. I said to him in my limited Spanish “Tu necesite un estudio de la Biblia” (you need a Bible study), to which he replied ‘Ci! Ci!’. So, Charie has now arranged with a brother from the Otavalo Spanish congregation to study with him! I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
• I have 13 bible studies now! I really needed something to help me keep everything organized with my schedule, so I ordered a smart phone from Ebay and had it shipped to a sister in our group who was visiting family in Florida and she brought it to me when she came back to Ecuador. It’s wonderful! I can keep track of everyone in organized directories and add notes and stuff. It’s such a problem here with studies not being there when you go on the scheduled day, then it has to be re-scheduled, and on and on… so this is a real help for that. It’s also nice because most of my studies have cell phones too, so I’m able to text them messages with scriptures, etc.
• One day Rich and I were getting copies made and had to stand in line behind another ‘Gringo’ who had stacks of stuff to copy. While we waited, she started talking to us…where were we from…etc. She had a German accent, so Rich was interested in that, etc. She was from Austria, but said now she is a buyer for a company in New York who sells Andean fashion accessories.(theandeancollection.com if anyone’s interested)  So, she lives in Quito, Ecuador, but spends a lot of time in Otavalo and told us the name of the hotel she stays in when here. Anyway, when she was finished her copying, she handed me her name and number on a piece of paper and said to visit her. At that point I realized I should be informal witnessing, so I said “Thank you…I’d love to…what we like to do is discuss the Bible. Do you have an interest in the bible?” She immediately replied ‘I do actually…I’d like that’.
  The trouble was, everytime I went to the hotel, she wasn’t there. I didn’t have a cellphone of my own yet, so couldn’t call her when I was in service. But…once my smart phone arrived, I was out in service and near the hotel she stays at. She wasn’t there again, then I remembered… hey, I can text her now! So I did…didn’t get an answer that day, but the next day, while we were doing door to door census work, a message arrived…it was from her (Chiara is her name btw). It said ‘I would love to get together. Is tomorrow ok?’. We arranged to meet at a restaurant.
  Right from the start she has shown a humble and meek attitude. She genuinely wants to get ‘back to God’ and asked things like whether her lifestyle would be a hindrance to her relationship with God and when shown answers from the bible is genuinely sincere in her acceptance of them and wants to start making changes. Often she’d say ‘Now that makes a lot of sense!’. We’ve had another study since and she is eager to continue.
• Another day, I was at my bible study with ‘Marisol’ (the one who left the Catholic church because she wasn’t getting anything out of it). Near the end of the study and younger woman dropped in. She asked Marisol to ask me if I was a  ‘Testigo de Jehovah’. When Marisol said yes, she said ‘Ask her if she’ll study with me too’. I told Marisol that I couldn’t unless she could speak English. When Marisol relayed that, the woman said to me in plain English ‘I can speak it but I can only understand if you speak very slowly’. So, now I’m studying with this young woman also, who, it turns out used to study a long time ago with a Spanish witness couple. For our first study, so she could show me how to get to her house, she actually picked me up at 9AM at my house. It also turns out, she is Marisol’s sister.
• I don’t think I’ve ever related how I came across another of my studies. One day during phone witnessing at our house on Fridays, I found a man who was interested, so I arranged for Richard to visit him. When Rich and I went to his home, which is on one of the main streets in Otavalo where, on Saturdays they have the street blocked off to traffic and they become lined with tables where the local folks sell their wares, he wasn’t there, but a man who has a store under his apartment, pointed to one of the Quichua women at a market table and said ‘That is his daughter’. So I went over to her and tried explaining in Spanish that we were looking for her father because he had asked for us to come and see him. She then told me that she speaks English and asked me why we wanted her father and when I showed her the Truth tract and explained what we do, she told me she had studied the bible with the Witnesses before and that she would like to start again. But since her husband is opposed, she wanted to just have short sessions right at her booth on Saturdays. So, that’s what we’ve been doing! She and her father both speak excellent English because they lived in Seatle Washington for 6 years when she was a teenager. Her father still spends 6 months of every year there, so kind of hard to get a study established with him.

>

After many long worrisome months… it’s finally arrived! Yesterday my passport was delivered in the mail with my long awaited Visa stamped into it. I’ve been in such suspense wondering how long it would be for… was hoping for 2 years, but hey, 1 is better than nothing! Yep, I have 1 year before I have to renew… haha… but if it’s going to take 6 months *every* time… then in actuality, I’ll have to start on the paperwork in only 6 months from now… sigh!!
I thought when it finally came, I was going to want to whoop it up and celebrate, but it’s weird, it just seems kinda anticlimactic now.
Also… bible studies are now at 10!
Here are some scenes I took one day on my way to one of my new studies. (you can click them to make them larger)

Also, for any who didn’t realize it, you can use the menu to the right to see earlier blog posts.
Or at the bottom of each page there is a link to go to ‘older posts’ or ‘newer posts’.
Miss you all!
Ginny and Rich

>Great news! On Friday we made one of our frequent trips to Quito to chase more paper (jumping hoops trying to obtain visas and/or visa extensions). Well, this time I believe we have a breakthrough! Hopefully I have jumped my last hoop for a while. They approved all the papers for me as the ‘general manager’ for the corporation we set up here and are issuing my 12-VI work visa. I don’t quite have it in hand yet… it’s supposed to be ready to be picked up today by our lawyer and sent by mail or courier to us here in Otavalo. So… no celebrating until it actually arrives 😉
Update on our ministry: Rich and I have two new studies that both came as a result of the phone witnessing on Friday afternoons! Richard’s is a Quichua man named Robert who speaks excellent English. When I talked with him on the phone and told him that we have Bible literature in English, he was very excited to have some. And when I explained our Bible study program, he was even more excited and said ‘Oh! that would be wonderful for me!…when came someone come?’. Richard visited him the following Monday and had an excellent study with him, which he wishes to continue.
The other is a woman who speaks a little English, but when I told her about our English bible literature, said she would like to have that so she can improve her English. When I delivered her magazines, I showed her the ‘Truth tract’ in both English and Spanish. Her husband was there also, who speaks no English at all, but wanted to see the tract in Spanish, so I gave him one also, which he immediately began reading.
The woman, Marisol, told me they used to go to the Catholic church, but stopped because they ‘weren’t getting anything out of it’.
To make a long story short, she accepted a bible study, which is a wonderful situation for all involved. We use the Bible Teach book, both the English and the Spanish versions. Marisol wants me to increase my Spanish, so she insists the I read each paragraph from the Spanish book (and she corrects my mistakes) and she follows by reading the same paragraph from the English book (and I correct her mistakes). Her husband sat in last time and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying hearing the Spanish version (not quite sure yet whether it was my poor reading or the truth he was enjoying… we’ll see).

My study, Anabel is on a trip to Italy for 2 weeks. The last study before she left she had a tough time with the lesson about where the dead are. She said she was going to take along her ‘Teach’ book and read the appendix about it, plus the October magazine on the ‘Five Lies’. It’s a cruise, so she’ll have lots of time to read… we’ll see what happens!

One of Richard’s studies, David, a young single man who is a school teacher, is so profoundly affected by the Bible truths he is learning that he asked “How much do I have to know before I can start teaching others about this?” then added “People aren’t hearing these things… they need to be told!”.
It’s so exciting to be meeting and teaching people who are actually ‘hungering and thirsting’ and who are so appreciative when they ‘find refreshment’!

All for today, I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

>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.

crossing the bridge

sidewalk scene

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!