Chinese Preaching Outside of Cuenca

Last Sunday, a group of 14 left from Cuenca to try and locate a new project (a hydroelectric company near a dam) that had a rumored number of 20 Chinese people working on it. We left after the meeting in jeans because we did not want to draw too much attention to ourselves. There were 3 car groups that left the city together heading north for Azogues at about 12:30pm. 

We hit our first snag there when trying to get directions to the project. Getting directions here is one of the most confusing experiences that I have ever had. I never understand what people mean. They say down when we’re going up or vice versa or give a long series of turns that I would lose my way completely if I was the one trying to follow them.  We lost one of the cars (that happened to be the one that Ariel was in) while following those directions and had to wait nearly a half hour for them to find their way back to us. It didn't help that some of the roads were one giant pothole.

After we were all together again, we continued on our way towards Taday. "Somehow" our car group got ahead of everyone else and when we arrived in Taday, we were told that the Chinese were “in the next town.” We drove on for a while longer towards the dam and stopped for about a half hour (taking pictures) to see if the other cars were close behind us. They weren’t. 

Streets of Zhoray

We arrived in the town of Zhoray where we found the house that a new group of Chinese people were living in, but unfortunately they were not there. We left some literature and contact information with a local family at a restaurant that said they would pass it along to the Chinese workers. 

Chinese House

This town was almost in the Oriente (jungle) about 2 ½ hours from Mendez (where I harvested cacao last trip). We got to see quite a few interesting sites including this playful monkey:

But we had still not been about to speak with a Chinese person and it was now after 3 pm. I’m pretty sure that all five of us in the car group were praying so hard to speak with just one Chinese person.  We were so far out that we did not have any cell service, so we could not communicate with the other two car groups. We decided to head back to Taday, assuming that they had found the Chinese there that we had missed. Upon arrival we asked a different set of people where there were Chinese and they directed us to this house:

Liao

It had signs up in Chinese Characters so we knew that we had come to the right place. As we were parking the car, a Chinese man came out! Jehovah had answered our prayer! But he wasn’t done. We walked up to the house, because that man didn’t really want to talk to us at first, and as we were standing at the door knocking, a truck pulled up with 4 more Chinese people. One was dressed in a military uniform and was pretty wary of us, but a younger man name Liao (from Hunnan) and an older man Wu (from Beijing) both listened as Paola and Fernanda witnessed to them. I tried to take a discreet photo, but after talking for about 10 minutes everyone pulled out their cameras and even the military man had us pose for pictures with a smile on his face. We are sure that Jehovah had directed us there at that time (4:30-5:00) because we later learned that the other group had also stopped at that house, but only found the interpreter at home. 

Jehovah had answered our prayers beyond any of our expectations! New seeds have been planted, and if the soil is fertile, Jehovah will make them grow. :)

First Weekend In Cuenca

Remember Kaitlyn is purple!
Even though we didn’t get into Cuenca until 2pm on the 5^th, and if you read our first post, we were obviously exhausted, we decided to go to the Chinese meeting that night. We were all feeling a little spiritually drained since we had been traveling on the night of our meetings, so we thought a meeting was the best way to feel better!

We live about 10-15 minutes driving away from the hall. It’s too far to walk which means we must take a bus or taxi. That night we went by taxi.(It was my first time ever in a taxi!) Our taxi driver was new, so he wasn’t exactly sure where to go. Thankfully, Steph knew how to get there. (We’ll have to have a post all about transportation down here and it’s quirks.) We got to the hall about five minutes til 8 and the doors were still locked. I’ve come to realize that’s pretty common for meetings here. Most of the group was waiting outside so we got to meet them. The group down here has 9-12 publishers depending on the meeting. The first night there was the 4 of us, 7 of the publishers, and 1 study. One of the publishers is also a study. Progress! ;-)

Being at a Chinese meeting and trying to concentrate was such a mixed bag of emotions for me. It was nice to hear a language that I can actually somewhat understand, yet at the same time my brain was so tired from trying to translate Spanish, it kind of shut down.
Too bad I can’t say I got something out of the meetings we have went to. I have yet to understand anything at the meetings. Just have to do a serious in depth study on your own to understand what they are talking about. Sitting there so far away from home, far away from my friends, and far away from my studies, I had a moment of panic. This is one of the two times I’ve almost cried being here. I am not a crier, so tears even coming to my eyes is a big deal. All I could think is ‘What have I just done!?!’ Thankfully that feeling passed, although it does come back almost every time I sit through the Spanish meeting. Ha!

The meeting was pretty hilarious in itself just because we had no idea what to expect. On Saturdays, the meeting is held in an apartment type room above the main hall. The other Spanish congregation has their meeting Saturday night so we can hear them singing and talking. Also, you can hear dogs on the street and every car that goes by. It was distracting at first, but now we’ve gotten used to it. (The picture to the right is from last time Steph was down here, but it should give you a general idea!)
There is also a huge hole in the ceiling and that’s all I could concentrate on while sitting through the Chinese meeting. So I tried to focus on studying my English Watchtower for the next morning. Have to keep myself occupied somehow, other than looking at a big hole.


It was really nice to be able to meet the friends and talk to the studies. It helped a lot! Just proving our theory that going to the meeting was encouraging. Okay, okay, maybe that’s a scripture, but still! It made us feel better about being so far away from home! After chatting for a while on the street, we caught a taxi and came back to the apartment.

The next morning, we woke up early to head to our Spanish meeting. It starts at 9! Thankfully after sleeping, my brain could understand a bit of what was going on, but it was still very overwhelming. The friends are so sweet and nice down here, It helped a lot to “talk” to them, even though are communication is difficult. I’m trying to learn some phrases I can ask to get to know everyone better. Right now, our congregation has over 100 people! Something surprising I’ve learned is that many Ecuadorians can speak English. I try to speak in Spanish, but it’s definitely awesome that they may be able to understand me if I don’t know what to say in Spanish. At the meeting, we all commented. I think it took a lot of courage and holy spirit for Kaitlyn and me to be able too.
To be able to get through these two weeks, I’ve had to pray so much. We probably are going to say this more than people want to hear, but its super overwhelming when you are living somewhere and you can’t communicate with the people. It’s sad, but sometimes I just nod and agree because no one is around to help and I have no idea what to say.

Later in the day, we went to SuperMaxi which is the major grocery chain here. It was so funny because most of the music playing as we shopped was American music! It was also really fun trying to decipher what various products were. I think I stood in the hair aisle for at least 15 minutes trying to find a leave in conditioner! The trip was sooooo long and tiring, but we got a lot necessities.
Yes, we got more probably than was needed! But I’m sure it will come in need. We had to take a taxi back to our apartment with all of our purchases. The workers at Supermaxi and our driver were commenting on how much stuff we had bought. Besides our looks, it was the most telling sign we were foreigners.

That night, we were invited to our first Ecuadorian party! Amanda, one of the awesome sisters from the Chinese group, and her brother, Aaron had just moved to an apartment and were having a “housewarming” party. (Their apartment is Allison’s old apartment. Allison now lives in the apartment above them. Their building has eight apartments, and witnesses live in five of them.) Because the apartment isn’t a big as their old house, we went to the house for the party. Their old house is on the southern outskirts of the city. Because of this, the taxi driver didn’t know where we were going, we didn’t know where we were going, and we got very lost. Thankfully we got to the party around 9:15. (Everything here is done late. I don’t know how the locals do it! They’re up and at it early the next morning. I don’t know when they sleep.) This party had about half locals and half gringos. It was nice to hear English, although I’ve found the more Spanish I’m around, the easier it gets.

All parties down here involve dancing, so I struggled my way through the night. :-) The one time I tried to sit down, I was pulled back to the dance floor. That’s when I learned one of the most important lessons…if there’s music, you DANCE! I’m pretty sure they don’t know what it means to take a break in between songs. No, they just continue to go and NEVER stop :) . After dancing for a while, Aaron and Marcello’s band performed some songs. Marcello is one of the brothers in Chinese. It was a lot of fun.

We left the party at 12:15. When we got home, Stephanie, Ashley, and I were so wired we ended up staying up all night long. I eventually crashed at 8, but the two of them went out in service! The rest of Monday, we spent recuperating from the previous five days. It was much needed to prepare ourselves for the next few days in our new routine. Although, in Ecuador I don’t know if there is a such thing as recuperating, because if you do in the next several days will take every piece of energy your body has. It’s insane trying to get use to the go, go, go. It’s so much fun though. We have all made awesome friends, and have has awesome experiences in the first few days of being here. We can’t wait for even more!

CASEROS :D

Caseros.  The single best thing about Ecuador.  Next to the weather of course.  They are these ice cream popsicles that come in a few different flavors.  Mora (like raspberry), chocolate ( and it has a fudge covering over top), fresa (strawberry), coco (coconut), raisin, ...maybe one more which I haven't tried.  Anyway, Saturday I was feeling a little homesick so Steph and Ariel each bought me a casero :) I love those chicas.  So I eat my casero and the popsicle stick says vale otro casero (worth another casero), silly me who thought it was a joke said yeah good thing I have another in the freezer and tossed it.  The next day a brother in service was telling Steph about the caseros being on promotion and you can win either a free casero or a trip to the Galapagos Islands.  When she was telling me the story I jumped up and realized I had I free casero in the trash can...at least I hoped.  So I dug through and found it, danced a jig and haven't stop bragging about it since haha 

I feel really bad for Kaitlyn because she is lactose intolerant, so before she eats ice cream, milk, cheese,etc, she has to take this really gross pill.  She really wanted a coconut casero after Steph and Ariel talked about how good they were.  Thankfully, there is a place that sells them literally across the street...I can see them from my window.  It's lovely :)  So we left yesterday to get two caseros.  They didn't have any coconut but she got to try chocolate.  Below you can see the look of excitement on her face.  As for me, I am saving my freebie for a really hot day :) Now you know how silly things have been at home.

Getting to Our New Home

Ariel's thoughts are in Black. Stephanie's in blue. Ashley in orange. And Kaitlyn in purple. We'll post more soon. :-)

Hey everyone! So we’re now officially living in Ecuador…well for a bit at least. :-) The trip to get here was quite eventful. Ashley, Kaitlyn, and Ariel left Ohio last Wednesday to fly to Miami. An older brother, “Uncle” Don picked us up from the airport. We also met his wife, Maureen. They were such a sweet couple. Don took us girls out to dinner and then to the assembly hall where we had the privilege of staying(!!!). It was very strange to be the only 3 people in the assembly hall and be able to walk and look around. It was very nice and we appreciated it very much.

Uncle Don and Aunt Mo

The next morning, Don picked us up and took us to the airport. We got there about 3 hours before our flight and good thing we did!! We had a bit of a problem with our luggage and only got our boarding passes 45 min before we had to be at the gate. We got there with about 10 min to spare. We flew into Quito, where we went through customs. Ariel and Kaitlyn were worried about customs but it went by very quickly and easily. The Quito airport is pretty sketchy, but thankfully we had no problems. We landed in Guayaquil around 11pm(12 Ohio time). Stephanie was there already and came to the airport with the couple we were staying with, Jonathan and Estefani, and another couple, Johnny and Gaby.

Us girls at Jonathan and Estefani's

Stephanie’s trip to Ecuador was a little different than the girls. She flew directly from Ohio to Guayaquil on Wednesday. It was a long day of short flights and layovers (4 total). Fortunately, Stephanie was able to fly first class with her airline miles. It was really nice not to worry about baggage. It also presented her with a unique witnessing opportunity.

On her last leg into Ecuador a young guy came and sat next to her. As all of the other plane passengers boarded they were shrieking and wanting to take pictures with this guy, because, as Steph found out later, he is part of a pretty popular singing duo in South America “Chino y Nacho.” He asked why she was going to Ecuador and she explained that she was one of Jehovah‘s Witnesses and was coming to preach for a year. He had some interesting questions about why there is suffering and death and they talked a little about God’s purpose for human beings and the Our Father Prayer. A little while later, we were interrupted, but she’s glad she had the chance to talk with him. We don’t imagine he often is found in the house to house ministry. J

Nacho is the one with the shaved head.

Ari’s main thought of Guayaquil is BOILING HOT! Just going from the airport to the parking lot felt like walking through a sauna, and this was at 11 at night! The heat means that you wake up pretty early cause it’s just so hot. We all got about 5 hours of sleep Thursday night.
Even though now in Cuenca, Ariel’s number one saying is “I miss Guayaquil”. She’s out of her mind completely. Cuenca is amazing and not so hot you have to do everything at night. Even though they do everything at night anyways.

On Friday morning, we went to Estefani’s grandfather’s funeral. He had just passed away on Wednesday. Jonathan and Estefani are such a loving couple. Even though this happened, they still let us stay with them and went out of their way to be hospitable. The funeral was very much like an American one. The main difference was after the talk, everyone walked to the gravesite. We stayed there until they buried the casket and completely seal it up. So just longer than an American funeral.

Afterwards, we went out to eat with Estefani’s family. Ariel and Stephanie tried seco de chivo, which is rice with goat parts. Kaitlyn and Ashley had rice with shrimp. It was all muy delicioso. (Oh! That morning, Jonathan’s mom had made us a Colombian bread called arepa. It has a certain type of flour cooked with cheese on a grill. It too was amazing!) After lunch, we took a taxi to Bethel. It was about 45 min outside of the city. It was very neat to us to see how uniform Jehovah’s organization is. It was just like visiting Bethel back home, just smaller. Our tour guide was Becky, a sister originally from Wales, who has lived in Ecuador for a pretty long time. Her husband and her attend the sign language congregation in Guayaquil.

Some pictures of Ecuador inside of Bethel

The main building

Becky posing with her car

After the tour, Estefani’s brother in law, who is a Bethelite, drove us back to the apartment. It was 7 at this point and we hadn’t eaten anything since lunch at 2pm. Jonathan and Estefani weren’t home yet, so we just had to wait in the apartment downstairs that belongs to Jonathan‘s parents.
While we waited, we learned how to make arepa and we had a chance to get to know Jonathon’s mom well. Jonathan and Estefani got home, and after much confusion in plans (a fruitless stop at McDonalds), we finally ate about 9:30 at a sweltering taco stand on the side of the road. Haha.

After that, we drove to meet Johnny and Gabi who then took us to the Malecon 2000, a park similar to Newport on the Levee. Two friends from the Chinese group in Guayaquil also went with us. Near the Malecon is this giant hill that has 444 steps to get to the top where you can see the whole city. We were VERY tired at this point(It was 10:30) but we decided we would climb to the top because Johnny and Gaby really wanted us to see it. The last 20 or 30 steps, Steph and I(Ashley) raced a brother from the Chinese group to get to the top, just to show you how much energy we now had haha. And I (Kaitlyn) came in last what a surprise! Despite the late hour and our lack of energy we were very glad to make it all the way to the top. It was beautiful! We took a lot of pictures up there and just had a really good time.

Halfway up!!!

View of Guayaquil

Johnny, Kailtyn, and Gaby climbing down the lighthouse stairs. They were very steep!

Another view of the city.

Why is there an anchor on top of a hill? We have no idea...

Cristi, Christian, Kaitlyn, Ashley, Ariel, Stephanie, and Gaby "rowing" a boat.

On the way back down the 444 steps, Steph and Ashley were on a casero hunt. It’s this really delicious ice cream with fruit mixed in but it’s on a popsicle stick. I(Ashley) wish we had it in the States. Sadly Kaitlyn couldn’t eat one. Anyway, that put us out a wee bit late but totally worth it. We eventually got back to the apartment around 1:30 am. We had to be up the next morning before 9 because that is when our shuttle was coming to take us to Cuenca.

Saturday morning- Well…this is Ecuador, so our shuttle didn’t arrive until 9:40. We started to load our luggage into the van, when the driver started to have a fit. He told us we had too much luggage and we’d have to rent another van. Please note, this van, which we had rented the entire thing, was meant for 8 passengers and the driver. He just was being difficult. After a 45 minute discussion (and by that I mean argument), where police may or may not have been involved(read as most definitely were), we finally loaded our luggage and got on our way. All of us were worried about driving with him after the whole ordeal, but he was a surprisingly good driver by Ecuador standards. Although when going around turns, he was going so fast his tires would squeal, so yes, scary . And at one point a balloon, that was our welcome sign at the airport, busted because of the altitude and we’re pretty sure the driver thought he popped a tire. We were especially worried because on the ride home from the airport, when we first arrived in Guayaquil, Gaby told Ashley a news story about how a bus driver got inpatient waiting for the brothers after an assembly very recently, and he ended up being so angry that he crashed the bus. He ended up killing a few people and injuring many more. It was a very sad story, but the brothers of course have been visiting the families, helping when they can. Jehovah always takes care of us. It took us about 3 hours to get to Cuenca, safe and sound.

We arrived around 2pm and Allison (Steph’s cousin) was waiting in the apartment to welcome us. She had come by to let us in but also took really good care of us by making us lunch and coffee and bringing us some staples to get by until we could make it to the store. After catching up for a while, Allison left and Ashley, Ariel and Stephanie went on a walk around the block to get to know our new neighborhood. Welcome to Cuenca!