Day 87 – Last meeting in Cumbaratza!

Sabina with Ivana & Wilmer

Sunday we had our special talk; so one more sponge bath with about 2 liters of water and we were off. We were really happy that Sabina and the 3 kids came again (the memorial Thursday was her first meeting). When I arrived, Ryan said “did you bring your Special talk outline? The CO can’t give it-he didn’t finish working it up.” I said no and Br. Feijoo asked if I could give it so Ryan took me home to get it. When we got back Br. Feijoo said, “I was just kidding. Did you really go home to get it?” I said, “yes, and I am now going to call the branch and let them know what a great sense of humor you have.” All in good fun.

Sabina’s kids were a handful but everyone pitched in so she could pay attention. It is a joy to see her appreciation growing. It was our last meeting with the congregation and the Feijoo’s last visit too, so it was bittersweet. We stayed quite a while snapping pictures and saying our tearful good-byes. It doesn’t take long to forge relationships in Jehovah’s organization.  

The Romero Family

Silvia & Luis Feijoo

 

Marisol & Jesley

Adrian Guerrero, Diana & Victor Vivanco & Sabina's kids

Our family in Ecuador

Our extended family in Ecuador

 We went back to the house and finished packing (and Leah had to do something with all that damp, clean laundry). Br. Feijoo challenged me to a game of Ping-Pong…pobrecito. We said good-bye to Ryan, Veronica and Zully. Poor Ryan cried like a baby but the rest of us really held it together. Ok, maybe it didn’t go just like that but I know he’ll miss us, as we will miss them. They and Shawn were great hosts and everyone got along really well.

We went next door to say goodbye to Sabina and the kids-that was really hard. She said we were like her family and it was really hard that we were leaving. The kids watched us crying but it’s good they couldn’t fully understand that they wouldn’t see us again. It tore our hearts out.

Our "home" for 5.5 hours.

At about 1:00 we headed out to Milagro, a trip of about 8-10 hours…typically! We stopped by the grocery store in Zamora and filled up on snacks/drinks and we were off. Unfortunately, about an hour past Loja and 2.5 hours short of Cuenca the clutch started to fail. Anyone reading this that has made that trip knows that a clutch gets constant use. Long story short…the clutch pedal weld came apart and that is why it failed. It seemed like the problem was in the box and nobody in that town “fixes clutch boxes”. Yikes! They wanted $300.00 to tow it to Cuenca. But then, the people who owned the store/repair shop where we stopped said a friend would tow us behind his pickup. Not with a rope or chain but a firm bar. I was imagining him passing buses and tractor trailers on those curvy roads and said “no way!”  I’m sorry; you said $90 instead of $300.00? We’ll take it. When he got there he disappeared into the woods. We asked where he was and they told us he was looking for a firm tree branch to stabilize the car. I’m not joking.

His "home" for 5.5 hours

About that time the pedal broke and we felt like it would be a quick fix. The father and son that owned the place worked on it for several hours into the evening, running back and forth to the welding shop and we were finally on the road by 9:00pm. We arrived in Cuenca at 11:30 and found a really nice hostel with 2 double beds, very clean and $25.00 total. Yep, the eve of our 18^th anniversary, Leah, me and Shawn…very romantic.