Ryan had the public talk in Yantzaza and I had the public talk in Guayzimi. The problem is that his talk was earlier and right down the street from the Chorozo’s food truck. The earlier you get there, the more options you have. Plus, Ryan can eat like 3 plates of food. I wasn’t too worried (man must not live on bread alone) but it did cross my mind. I’ll get back to that later.
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| It seems none of the natives had ever seen 3 gringos dressed up in a car. |
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| View along the road |
The trip there was quite an adventure. The pavement ends after about 1/2 hour & for the remaining hour+ of the trip it's as bumpy & potholed as you can imagine. Then winding up & down the mountains, sometimes w/green foliage that seems like it's going to engulf the car on both sides. Or someone w/poison tipped darts is going to jump out &attack at any moment.
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| We couldn't believe a town this size was this isolated from civilazation. But it was pretty desolate. |
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| They rent the building so there's no sign out, but they just painted (I mean right before the meeting-inside and out) |
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| Apparently they made the announcement Erik was coming |
We got to the meeting and they were still cleaning up the kh. They had spent the day painting the inside. Guayzimi is a group supported by the Yantzaza congregation. They had about 40 (they run out of chairs) at the meeting, with a lot of young people. I didn’t bring my outline “Veamos a los jovenes como los ve Jehova” but it applied so I gave it anyway. The majority in attendance are not Jehovah’s Witnesses but they are studying and did really well with commenting during the Watchtower.
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| They are accepting donations |
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| This family sat next to us. They are studying and in the 2nd book. Their daughter could not have been more precious |
As desolate as the town was, the group was warm and outgoing. They were very friendly and approached us after the meeting to talk to us. It was the friendliest group/cong. we have been to so far. You can see Jehovah blessing them.
On the way down (an hour trip down the mountain on a really bad road) we were detained by a derrumbe (mud slide). A combination of mud and a tree was covering the road and a guy in a brand new pickup truck (sticker still on the window) was stuck trying to drive over the mess. He got pulled out by another guy in a pickup. Shawn put his in 4 wheel drive and we got through no problem…PIECE OF CAKE. We gave a brother and an UBP a ride home. The brother had a really great story. In 2001 he started reading the bible on his own. He lived in a very isolated town. He read the whole bible in a year. He read in Revelation that only 144,000 go to heaven and thought “I know I am not part of the 144,000. Where is there a place for me?” He would later get his answer. He went to a village where a cousin invited him to the Kingdom Hall. He said he didn’t listen; he just looked around at the people. Then after the meeting, he was flooded with friends coming to meet him, very surprised and moved. Every 2 months he would walk 4 hours and ride 2 hours to get to a meeting. He would load up on literature and go home and read. He eventually started studying with a brother and was baptized in 2003. He now serves as an elder and supports the group.
Well, we got to the bottom by 10:45 and you guessed it…Ryan had pretty much emptied the food cart. But, we did eat to contentment and we were joined by a brother, his wife and 2 daughters who had been in the meeting with us up above.
We were reminded of the great amount of work that remains in preaching and teaching. There is a group up in the mountains in Guayzimi, Ecuador. They are hospitable, hardworking and waiting for some more help. Any takers?
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