Día 19-Predicando en La Quebrada

Nuestro vecindario aquí se llama La Quebrada, lo que se refiere a un arroyo, más o menos. Nos reunimos a las 8:30 a.m. y predicamos hasta la 1:00 p.m. Leah  y yo predicamos con una hermana que se llama Diana. Disfrutamos mucho del día. Leah tuvo una buena conversación con una señorita de 19 años (aunque parecía tener 13). Escuchó muy atentamente y contestó bien las preguntas. Conversamos con ella 30 minutos y, puesto que ya tiene el libro Enseña (es revisita de Verónica), se pusieron de acuerdo de estudiar capitulo 1 este viernes.  Regresamos con hambre y nuestros anfitriones habían preparado una ensalada de tomates, atún, cilantro, cebolla y limón acompañada de arroz y plántanos maduros.  Que semana tan emocionante. Viernes Leah comió cuero y hoy comió tomates crudos. ¡Nunca ha comido tomates crudos! Y siendo italiana, ¡que vergüenza! Pero, está  acostumbrándose a muchas cosas y yo, también.

Nos descansamos un rato y salimos otra vez a las 4:00 p.m. para visitar a una señora.  Nos contó que ella y su esposo estudiaba la Biblia con una hermana de los estados unidos hace un año y disfrutaron mucho de asistir las reuniones pero, debido a la presión  y las burlas de los vecinos, dejaron de estudiar. Vamos a estudiar con ella (y tal vez el) y ver si podemos ayudar. Tiene una buena actitud, muy humilde. Y como el trabajador merece su salario, nos regaló una papaya y 2 naranjas. El territorio aquí es fructífero pero no todo el mundo escucha. Hoy encontramos apatía pero, eso es el ministerio, ¿verdad? También, conocí a un muchacho que se llama Jaime el otro día cuando fui con Shawn Sisson a un estudio. Estaba visitando pero tenía mucha curiosidad. Desde aquel día lo hemos visto 3 veces y nos sigue mientras predicamos, platicando con nosotros. Hoy, nos sentamos a un banco y le leí el relato de la resurrección de Lázaro en Juan 11. Nos pidió visitarle en casa, entonces, lo haremos este viernes a las 2:00 p.m.

Llovió bastante hoy…y nos quemamos de todos modos. ¿Cómo es posible? Bueno, es mejor que limpiar nieve de la carretera.  

Mientras conversábamos con Herlinda (la señora del segundo párrafo), un señor vino en su carro deportivo para hacer compras…

Day 18 - Foodies

Mondays r relax & catch up day (and of course eating)
We made breakfast this morning: cinnamon french toast w/raisin bread w/homemade caramel sauce and bananas on top.
After that we definitely needed to excercise so we went for a walk - which around here means hike. This time we explored the road we live on but going up the mountain, away from town. Beautiful-big surprise right. It follows the river so you get the sounds of rushing water, a million birds, butterflies, cows grazing and as you climb the views are great. It is extremely tranquil here.

Sancocho de pescado

Got back just in time for...more food. Another cooking lesson for Leah.  Today's recipe:

Sancocho de pescado con arroz
8 cloves garlic
1 tomato
1 red onion
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 TB achiote (here it is with oil)
2 TB finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 Yucca (cut into thirds about 2 inches long, then quartered-12 pieces)
3 green plantains (sliced at angle, 1/4 inch thick)
salt
3 whole tilapia (cleaned, cut in half)
more cilantro
lime wedges
white rice
1) Put garlic, tomato & onion in blender with 1.5 cups water, pulse several times until all is rough chopped
2) Add to big sauce pot, add peanut butter, achiote, parsley, cilantro, salt and bring to a boil, stirring so all mixes together and doesn't stick
3) When it comes to a boil, add approx 2 cups more water and bring to a boil again
4) When boiling, add yucca and plantains together, bring back to boil
5) Add approx 2 more cups water & adjust salt, keep adding water & stirring occasionally until the plantains change color and the yucca is soft.
6) When yucca is cooked, add more water (and salt) if necessary and bring back to a boil. Water level should be close to top of pot so when you add fish they r completely covered.
7) When water is boiling, add fish halves in even layer on top, trying not to overlap. Add another 1/4 cup cilantro. Cover. Turn flame down a little. DON'T STIR - it will break up the fish. When fish had changed color turn off flame.
8) Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over and steamed white rice.
If you try this - we r sure you will love it as much as us. It was delicious!

We were all stuffed, but that didn't stop Shawn and Erik from making more banana bread from the now very ripe bunch of bananas out front.

...And then banana ice cream with fresh papaya on top. I guess more like sorbet bc it didn't have any dairy in it, but it was creamy like ice cream.

Life may be a little rough here for someone who doesn't like bananas.

So we didn't really eat dinner (for obvious reasons) but Erik did make himself his new favorite evening snack: a tamale stuffed with chicken & peas, with a fried egg on top and aji (kinda like a local hot sauce)

Ryan & Veronica's study, America makes tamales every Sunday and then delivers 15 of them to us-it doesn't get better than that!

and look who learned how to play poker?  But don't worry they r playing with buttons, the same one we use on the homemade sequence board.

Back to preaching tomorrow.

Day 17 - Service & Relaxation

Didn't sleep as soundly as the night before because I did wake up to the 5am squeals – but it's kinda starting to grow on me-wierd as that may be.  Sunday morning preaching in Cumbaratza.  Leah found 2 of 3 studies home.  Marisol (given to her from Veronica)-a very progressive study who attends meetings. She is a teacher and in Chapter 11 of the Bible Teach bk.  Then a study with Silvia. She is 20 something, has a 15 month old little boy, Santiago. We met her husband, William, too.  Her mom America (she makes tamales (filled w/chicken) every Sunday and delivers them to us) and her brothers also study. Silvia had studied briefly in the past, but is just starting up again and is in chapter 2.  They both had excellent questions and like to get homework.  Erik went with Shawn on a few studies but wasn't able to find his new study, David, home.

We walked by a man standing by his truck in the street and Ryan decided to go back to saludar el Senor.  He was very nice and has lived in Spain, France & England. His name is Paco and he told us he studied with JW's in France and really likes to read the mags. He told us where he lives and invited us to call on him there and we would definitely welcome a visit....Coincidence-I don't think so.

View from the restaurant of the bar/pool

At 1:30 we walked down to the Hosteria El Arenal (nice hotel with 2 pools, bar, restaurant, 30 rooms) about ½ mile from our house for lunch.  Erik had pollo a la plancha & I had ceviche de camarones, Peruvian style with plantain chips, sweet potato fries, and toasted choclo (corn kernals) – It was delicious and I can't believe I forgot to get a pic, again (sorry Lynnie). This was an expensive splurge with the water and beer it came to $19.60.

They have a half dozen or so beautiful parrots that they were feeding so we got some pics of them and the beautiful tropical flowers.  It is really a paradisiac property.

Double Hibiscus

The locals still stare like we r a circus freak show when we walk down the street – not sure when, if ever, that will change.

Came home to the delicious smell of fresh baked banana bread Shawn had made with mangos too. - Delicious.

Tried to hang out sheets to dry but the cruel joke this “rainforest” plays on me every time I get the clothes on the line it clouds up or rains – I gotta work on my timing.

The boys switched to basketball today – I think Veronica's gonna curse the day Erik came here with his sports website!

Day 16-”Mining for souls”

We went to preach in San Carlos, a mining town @ 30 minutes from the house on a pretty rough road. There were 17 of us, 8 hermanos y 9 hermanas (should've taken a pic-sorry). So we covered the whole town pretty much in 3 hours.  It's one of the farther territories & they only get here once every several months. It hasn't been preached nearly as much as Cumbaratza & the church seems to have a stronger influence on the people. So it was a little tougher, but we still had listening ears. Mining for gold is hard work, but even a little nugget produces satisfaction. “Mining for souls” is also hard work but even when just 1 person responds it brings joy.  Leah worked with an unbaptized publisher, Rosa, and her little son Pepito and granddaughter, Alondra. She took the bus there and got there around 7:30 am (for 8:30 service) so u can imagine what time she got up-what effort & appreciation! She's planning on getting baptized at the assembly in March – so we may get to see that.  I worked with Wilmer, a ministerial servant in the congregation.

Also there is a brother who lives there who has a lot of health problems and is in a wheelchair so we got to meet and visit with him too.  He lives up above town and has a beautiful view but I'm sure feels somewhat isolated, so hopefully the visits from the different friends was encouraging to him.  He was given an award for his artwork and was recognized by the city as an exemplary citizen who works despite being severely handicapped.

After service the Romero family (Raquel & Damaris) invited us for lunch at their house.  They live outside San Carlos but alongside the river and the dad does mining to support his family.  It's hard work and on average he earns $20 a day (which is higher now bc the price of gold is up).

Damaris (9), Samuel (13), Raquel (6)

Shawn, Veronica, Damaris, Carmen, Cesar, Raquel, Samuel

Carmen, his wife, made a delicious lunch. First, a soup w/pasta (dicen fideos), papas (potatoes) and mani (peanuts). We were content with that and then she plopped down a huge plate with ground plantains, rice w/peas, turkey (that they raise) and a salsa/salad of cucumbers, onion, cilantro, & lime. They gave us each a leg which was a show of great hospitality. Turkey is super expensive compared to chicken here so it was very generous of them. We were stuffed and practically falling asleep on the way home.

Cutting up sugarcane for us with the machete

Poor Shawn can't find anything his size in Ecuador

We had a few hours to spare before the meeting at 5:30, which was good for me bc I needed to finish my Atalaya and a NAP! - Yes, I've adapted to this land of siestas, not every day, but de vez en cuando.  Erik, not so much.

A brother from Loja Oriental (East) Congregation gave the talk.  He is originally from Italy and was VERY enthusiastic. There were 53 at the meeting including an older man named Segundo.  Erik & Shawn had talked to him in the calle (street) earlier in the week and invited him to the meeting. He showed up for his first mtg (bc he said he couldn't make it Thursday) and gave two comments during the WT study.  I think he enjoyed it bc he said he'd be back.

We came home from meeting with 7 still-flopping tilapia in a bag and Ryan had a cong matter so he couldn't help Veronica clean them - & the three of us gringos definitely don't know how to “raspar pescado”. The closest I come is buying fillets from Wegmans. But Veronica was kind enough to give us a “hands on” lesson-from quitando las escalas (removing the scales) to sacando las tripas (yeah it's just what is sounds like-well, maybe only Shawn did that part).  After an hour or so they were all clean and waiting for us in the fridge, staring at me every time I go to get a snack.

Day 15 - “Yo planté, Apolos regó, pero Dios siguió haciéndo[lo] crecer”...

... Will God keep making it grow?

 After sweeping/mopping/cleaning bathroom at 10:30 we called back again on our neighbor, Sabina (that's 4 visits in less than a week if you've been counting-initial call Saturday, 1^st RV Tues, 2^nd Wed, then today).  Erik is certainly watering her. But she seems to enjoy the visits and as long as I keep the kids occupied she can concentrate and seems to understand the information pretty well, even about the prophesy about the destruction of Babylon. She has 3 little ones: Jesley who is maybe four, Wilmer-3, and Ivanca-1.5 yrs old. They r super cute and have the longest eyelashes ever.  She's supposed to leave today at 5pm to go up to the family farm for 3 weeks but unless it stops raining the road is impassable....I guess the rain is good for some things (like trapping interested ones).

Tropical flowers in front of a house in town

Met with the group in the afternoon and preached in the town of Cumbaratza.  At 4pm I went on Diana's study with Maria (we went to her house the Sunday before for Tamales) What I didn't tell you (bc Erik said I couldn't-but now it's pertinent to this story) was that inside the tamales were little pieces of chewy, grey spotted pig skin/fat-”cuerro”) I managed to pick around them, Erik ate a spoonful and thought I had escaped relatively unscathed....until today.

Maria is extremely hospitable, much like an Italian grandma that always wants to feed you-the flip side is she loves her cuerro. She was cooking when we got there and I just figured she was preparing food for her family. I noticed something in a pot that I thought was pieces of taglatelli (really wide pasta noodles). Then she put down in front of me a plate with fried sweet plantains (my fav) and those coils of.....what I quickly realized was not pasta. This time there was nowhere to hide. Diana could sense the horror on my face and asked if I knew what it was, & I said yes but I don't think I can eat it (but I definitely didn't want to offend her either). So as she was serving everyone else I “collected” myself and psyched myself up that I could do this-it was only two coils and I could take a bite of the plantain with each bite of this rubbbery flesh.  And look, I had less than Veronica. Phew! And then like a rocket, another coil of cuerro came flying over my shoulder and onto my plate, but only mine. Diana y Veronica couldn't even look at me for fear of cracking up. So I started in on the plate wrapping the cuerro around the delicious plantains trying to not think about exactly what I was eating & gulping down water to swallow without chewing. At one point I noticed Diana had moved her plate over next to mine and then tried to distract Maria, but she never gave me the go ahead eye signal so I wasn't sure she really wanted me to sneak a piece onto her plate.  But miraculously I did manage to get all 3 coils down (without it coming back up)-which is what Diana y Veronica were worried about they told me after.

We had a great study with her (and the chancho sat ok in my belly-which is what I was worried about). Then we studied with her granddaughter. We were getting ready to go and she said “No, you have to stay and have something to eat!” - you can imagine the “deer in headlights” look of horror on my face again.  So we sat back down and I was as anxious as I've ever been.  You can't imagine my delight as she put a humita (delicious corn tamale filled with CHEESE) down in front of me and a cup of tea. Perfect ending to another great day in the ministry.  It was dark by the time we left and met up with the guys at the KH.

No story-I just liked this one

We can't believe we have been in Cumbaratza a week already.
 It has been awesome but has flown by!


Unfortunately, that means we're back to the weekend...............Hope I can sleep!

Day 14-RAIN

Today was our first day of consistent rain since we got to the-imagine the irony-Rainforest. It rained gatos y perros. And there is no such thing as driving territory here. But we still managed to have some good calls in the town of Santa Rosa (Holy Rose). Leah called back on a woman named Alexandra in the nearby town of Los Almendros. She had a nice conversation with her the day before and we stopped back to start a study with her. We found out that her husband died a year and a half ago and she is alone raising 6 children-one of her children died of pneumonia when he was 8. It’s pretty easy to feel compassion for Alexandra. Anyway, we shared scriptures about the condition of the dead and she had questions about the soul and the spirit. She understood from the conversation the day before that the dead are conscious of nothing it all. She just can’t figure out what all the noises are in her husband’s tool room. She thinks it may be him. She is very sweet and humble and hopefully hungry. We’ll keep you posted. Here's a map of our territory. Maybe you can blow it up.

We arrived home and lunch was already made-again. Chicken with pasta and rice. That’s right, a little carb loading. Hadn’t ever eaten that together but when in Rome…

We walked down to a sister’s house so Leah could practice her talk with her. The meeting was at 6:00. Nice time to start. Leah had a talk and I had 3 parts. Ryan isn’t messing around. The good news is with so many parts expectations are low. And I think I may have delivered. We came home and Leah, Ryan, Veronica y Shawn played Sequence and had some delicious Havana Club. If you don’t know what it is, you ain’t Cuban baby! If you noted that ain’t isn’t a word, lighten up. 

Gracias, Gabriel. Le debemos.

   

While they played I made the Service Meeting schedule for February and March for the Albion Spanish congregation. Albion Spanish……….kinda has a nice ring to it.

Sorry no pix today. Leah said she should’ve taken a picture of her nasty, insect bitten legs because as bad as they were yesterday they were much worse today in the rain. I, on the other hand, think they are quite lovely-bites and all.

PS: The fruit from yesterday was Guava, not Guayaba. Sorry.

Day 13 - Predicamos y predicamos y predicamos

Today was our first really LONG day in the ministry and by that I mean we met @ 8:30am and got home at approximately 8:30 pm - Not that we haven't done long days in Albion, but these 12 hours were done on foot. Very tiring physically but very rewarding mentally and spiritually.

This is actually where the conductor sits-
this country was not built for the Sissons (or Sillens)

In the morning we met at the house of an 81 year old sister, Cristina Cajas, and preached in the nearby town of Namirez.  She's been baptized since 1991 and has always preached in that little town so she knows everyone and everyone knows her.  (Imagine Hermana Velez but more direct with the people in the territory) But she is a very sweet and hospitable sister.  When we took her home she invited us to stay for some jugo de naranjilla (fresh squeezed juice from her fruit trees) y homemade pan dulce (sweet bread) - Delicious!

Preaching with Hermanita Cristina in Namirez

In the house of Hermana Cajas

Stopped by the neighbor, Sabina's house, for another brief study on the way home.  We had another good study with her. She mentioned she was leaving Friday to go to her family's farm (several hours away) for 3 weeks so we said we'd see her when she gets back and she said she wasn't leaving til          5 o'clock Friday so we could come back around 10am.

Got home - a delicious lunch was waiting for us again (I will never get sick of that). Then we went back out with Ryan and Veronica on some RV's and studies before meeting back with the group at 3pm in Santa Rosa.  One of Ryan's RV's, Flor, said i could come back Tues to start a study with her (We think they may be bribing us by giving us good studies/RV's????????)

Then I went with Veronica on her study with a young girl, Paquita, (13 yrs old?) who really gets the information and has a lot of good questions. - But I got "chowed" by some bug that I thought was a harmless fruit fly.  I had dime-sized bite marks on my legs with little dark dots in them where those dumb bugs attacked me. Oh well, a few bug bites never hurt anyone - i guess a few bug bites have actually killed people here.

We met up with the group and I continued with Veronica. I had 2 nice conversations. One woman, Alexandra accepted the Truth tract and said i could come back tomorrow to discuss the last question about happiness. Then I went with Veronica on another of her excellent studies, Jessica, who has a very cute 6 month old baby - that I held, of course. We finished up the night with one last study of Veronica's, a young girl, who also seemed to understand the information very well.

Erik worked with Ryan and they went off by themselves down a long road that follows a small river. At the end is a beautiful waterfall.  After dipping their heads in the water they spoke to a man who is a teacher in town.  He had just seen Ryan give a funeral service for a brother in the neigboring congregation who had been in charge of education in this province.  It opened up a good avenue for conversation.  After about 3.5 hours and covering about 5 houses we went back to one of his RV's.  She was making dinner for her husband but invited us in, asked one of her kids to turn down the stove and spoke with us for about half an hour. We discussed why God permits suffering and studied 3 paragraphs out of the Teach bk. She was very interested and looks forward to us coming back.  She was also kind enough to give us a huge papaya and a head of lettuce from her garden.  As we walked back to meet the group her husband passed by.  We spoke with him for about 10 minutes and thanked him for the fruit/veg that he didn't realize he had given us.  He will welcome our visit. We finished with a bible study with an unbaptized publisher whose wife is a sister. Ryan & Veronica dropped us off at home and went to try one more study - they get an A+ for effort today.

We were tired but very content!

Day 12 - Shopping

Met for service at the corner again this morning.  I worked with an older sister named Rosita and Erik with Shawn and a young brother named Cristian. (they almost always asign just sisters with sisters and brothers together-except husband and wife) We followed up on some RV's and honestly I was happy to stop after the morning because it was already super hot and sunny by 9am and i've been sweating like crazy since we got here.  Erik called back on our neighbor, Sabina, who he spoke with Saturday and had a brief study in chapter 2 of the Ensena book. (she already had the book because she may be someones RV but that didn't seem to stop him-or from visiting her again tomorrow) She has 3 little kids and told us she used to go to the mtgs with her brother, who was an upbaptized publisher.  But about a yr and a half ago he was murdered on the family farm.  She seems very timid but really understands the information. We'll keep you posted.

After service we went with Shawn to Loja (about 1.25 hours) for the big grocery trip to the Supermaxi (kinda like a Tops but 1/2 the size). It's kind of an all day project here but they only do it once a month or so. It's not as easy as you think when all the products are in spanish and you don't recognize any brands. Not to mention trying to do the metric conversions on everything, ugggghhh. Oh, we decided it would be a good idea to not shop hungry so we stopped at the food court first to get a "snack" - Ryan had told us the ribs were good so we decided to try them-he was right! But, thank goodness we decided to share them. For $7.50 (I thought was expensive before I saw the plate - we are getting acclamated) Erik and I shared a plate and took the leftovers home to Ryan. They were smokeyliscious!

I have to say the ride home didn't bother us because the scenery is truly spectacular! Very difficult to capture with pictures and we must have passed a dozen waterfalls, all different shapes and sizes. But they looked even different today as there was no rain and it was a beautiful, sunny day. 

We stopped by a market in Zamora to get some fruit ($1.50 for a pineapple, $1.00 for a huge papaya the size of a football - crazy, right?)
& Managed to get Erik home for his first elder's meeting with the brothers in the new Albion congregation (although the internet was not cooperating-they probably think he was just slacking off already).
Tried to go to bed a little early because Wednesday is our long day in service.

Día 11- Día de Descanso



Vista del pueblito de Cumbaratza como una milla de nuestra casa

Dormimos hasta a las 8:00 y las aves ya estaban cantando como locas. Pero, nos encanta despertarnos a esta música. Ya hay mucho sol y será muy caliente. 



cruzando el Rio Zamora

10:30-fuimos a caminar con Veronica y Ryan y subimos una loma cerca de la casa desde la cual tomamos varias fotos.

Our house is on the street farthest away going up the hill about 1/4 mile.

Para el almuerzo, Ryan y Verónica ensenaron a Leah como preparar “repe”. Es una sopa hecha de cebolla, papas, plántanos  verdes, cilantro y, cuando ya esta casi cocinada echa queso.  Suele echar frijoles pero no había, por lo tanto añadimos zanahoria. Salió muy rico. Además, tuvimos ensalada de cebolla, tomates, cilantro, jugo de limón, vinagre, aceite y sardinas. (Y arroz, por supuesto). Todos estuvieron de acuerdo que aprendiste bien. En mi opinión sabe como sopa de papas. ¡Me gustó mucho!

Pasamos el resto de la tarde lavando la ropa, estudiando,  llamando a amigos y mandando correos electrónicos. (Por si acaso ustedes ya no hayan escuchado, Albion es ahora una congregación que empieza a funcionar el 1 de Febrero. ¡Que buenas noticias!)

Queremos introducirles a nuestros anfitriones aquí en Cumbaratza, Ecuador. Hermano Ryan Sisson y su esposa, Verónica. Ryan fue criado en Albion (ingles) y su mudo a Ecuador hace 9 años. Sirvió en la ciudad de Milagros 5 años y  se casó con Verónica allí. Hace aproximadamente 4 años se mudaron por aquí y tienen un ministerio muy productivo. Ryan es el único anciano en la congregación (más o menos 30 publicadores-parece como Albion). Nos han tratado como sus mejores amigos, con mucha bondad. Nos han introducido a muchos platos Ecuatorianos y podemos decir honestamente que hemos disfrutado de todos. Viviendo aquí con ellos y Shawn es como vivir un un hogar misionero (o “misional”-no estoy seguro-todavía aprendiendo). Comemos juntos cada mañana y hacemos el texto diario. Compartimos la limpieza y tareas de casa. ¡Es un ambiente muy espiritual! Nos sentimos muy bendecidos.

No nos falta nada-tenemos plantas (no son arboles como yo pensaba) de guineo (bananas)

from our banana plant, guyabas on top

firepit

un lugar donde tener fogatas

Neighbor kids climbing guyaba tree

arboles de fruta (guayaba-kind of wierd-looks like a fuzzy marshmallow and has a big black pit, limón, aguacate) y      caña (sugarcane)

guyaba fruit and the pit

y de una cortadora de césped automática.

¡Les queremos mucho a todos ustedes! Espero que todo les vaya bien y les echamos mucho de menos.

No hemos cambiado aunque hemos bajado un poco de peso.  Lo que es muy extraño, puesto que estamos comiendo como…

Candy y Bridgette

Here are pics of Candy & Bridgette with their husbands. Sorry, we forgot to add them after we had dinner with them in Milagro. (Papito has been whining like a baby)

Candy y Alberto

Orlando (un estudio de Jairo), Jairo y Bridgette

They both seem to have chosen very nice husbands and seem very happy. We enjoyed getting to know them a little bit and finally meeting the famous "Alberto" that Candy always talked so much about-yes, he lived up the hype

Day 10 - Football (& Preaching of course!)

Only one squeal @ 5AM and Erik slept right through it. I guess he’s already accustomed to the sweet sounds of Cumbaratza.

8:30AM-Met for service at KH in Cumbaratza. Leah preached with Ryan’s wife, Veronica, and Rosita. At the first door, Leah started a study with one of Ryan’s RV, a young girl named Evelyn-going back next Sunday morning.  Then she went on a study with a very progressive student named Marisol, which Veronica handed over to her.

Erik preached with Ryan and Shawn. He went on 3 studies with Ryan and he handed over one too. Hey, we’ll take whatever we can get.

Got back home around 1:30. Ryan & Veronica made beef cooked in water/garlic/soy sauce with homemade patacones and cheese – Delicious!

 3:30-The boys managed to find live streaming coverage of the playoff game. But there joy was quickly diminished as we had to leave to go to Maria’s house. She is a study that invited us over for tamales and coffee. She hand ground the corn and then stuffs it with veggies and pork and serves it with black coffee with sugar. 

She has a beautiful patio with spectacular views and filled with flowers – almost like the countryside in Italy.  That was really nice of her to be so hospitable and invite us all over; we enjoyed it.

Shawn, Leah, Veronica, Maria, Erik, her son & grandson, Ryan

We came back home and Shawn and Erik watched the 2^nd game while Veronica and Leah went for a long walk. It was a perfect night-breezy, temps cooled down to 70ish and gorgeous scenery on all sides. A perfect ending to a beautiful day in Cumbaratza.

Day 9 - Bienvenidos a Cumbaratza

3:12 AM – the rooster starts and then the next on and they start dueling. I thought R u serious, it’s not even light out – I thought they crowed at the crack of dawn – not here.

3:30 AM – The “sounds of nature” were about to get way worse!  We were awakened from an 18 minute sleep by the sound of something squealing like a dying pig…it was a dying pig (chancho).

Leah: “Uhhhhh, what was that?” (now you have to remember this is our first night in the rainforest, it’s pitch black outside my window and we’ve heard horror stories about spiders the size of a car)

Erik: “It’s a pig”

Leah: “What is it doing?”

Erik: “Dying”

But it wasn’t just one.  It would stop after a minute or so, we’d fall back asleep, and then be jerked awake again by that horrific noise.

Leah: “How many are they killing?”

Erik: “Sounds like 3 or 4”

Fast forward to daylight.

Erik: “Ryan, how many pigs did they kill last night?”

Ryan: “Just one, yeah I forgot to mention that my neighbor slaughters one to sell Saturday and one for Sunday.”

We thought “que bueno” we arrived Friday night. And so it was, 1 poor pig, 20 minutes of squealing.  But just when you thought the story about “Wilbur” was over…Fast forward to 8:30am and the meeting for field service. Walked down to the corner at Monica & Elmer’s house. Broke into our groups of two, got our territory assignments and we were off. 

Hoseas smelling flowers at the Hosteria

Leah went with Daniela and her 4 year old son, Hoseas, rounded the corner to start their first door and who do they meet? It was Wilbur; hanging there by his head, not making a peep. We stood there for the next 20 minutes talking to the man as he cut long strips of fat off of Wilbur’s back. Leah felt a bit relieved as she walked away – after all, that would be her last encounter with Wilbur….or would it?

Fast forward to 1:30 – we r back home for lunch and lo and behold the Sissons had invited a guest.

Yuca, arroz y Wilbur

We thought we may have gained a little weight our first week in Ecuador and that was confirmed by one of Erik’s service partners. He worked with Hermano Cesar Romero and his spunky 5 year old daughter Raquel.  Each time it was Erik’s turn to talk she turned to her dad and said “le toca al gordo, si papi?” (It’s fatties turn, right dad?) But she couldn’t have been more adorable.

Raquel, Gordo y Damaris (Raquel's sister)

Other than calling Erik gordo, she is so well trained in the ministry that she takes doors.  Also, her father was excellent using the scriptures. One thing we’ve noticed so far is that the friends really know how to use their Bibles in the ministry-young and old.

5:30-We went to our first meeting in Cumbaratza; there were 63 in attendance.

Erik gave the talk. But since they share speakers with the nearby congregation we left during the WT study to get to Zamora by 7pm – where Shawn and Leah got to hear the same talk. That congregation is a little bigger.  This time we stayed for the WT study and then afterward we went around the corner with a brother and his son for, you guessed it, FOOD! We were starving and it was delicious bbq chicken and chuleta ”pork chop”. They pound it very thin and then cook it to perfection over charcoal. Served with rice, beans & patacones (tostones). Sorry, no pics. Leah got a drink they call “Kwaka”(sp?). Guess what it’s made from? Oatmeal, yes specifically Quaker. Hehe

Went to bed full and tired, but spiritually refreshed. But Leah was a bit uneasy. After all, it was Saturday night and “Wilbur” surely had family.