2012 District Convention - "Safeguard Your Heart"

 All our efforts and planning paid off......we made it to the English District Convention!  Three beautiful days of spiritual instruction and meeting new friends.  It was a wonderful experience.  The program was nearly identical to the one in the U.S. Even the skits were nearly word for word the same.  A few of the illustrations were different because they were tailored to the local area.  It was impressive to see the unified instructions we receive no matter where we are located.  One interesting difference was that most of the speakers were missionaries, branch committee members, bethelites, and pioneers.  Many, many years of experience in full-time service.

The assembly hall is located on the same grounds as the local branch just down the hill a ways.  It is an open air facility, only a large metal roof. The temperature peaked in the high 80's each day but there was a nice cool breeze that substituted for air-conditioning.

 Our hotel was in the historic part of downtown and the assembly hall was outside of town about 20 miles.  So, there was a pre-arranged private hire bus that took everyone from our hotel to the convention.  The ride took anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic.  But we didn't mind the ride at all because it gave us time to get know some new friends.

 The bus dropped us off right at the front door.  Then came back at the end of the day to take us back to the hotel.  The parking lot was quite small compared to what we are used to.  Most of the attendees arrived by bus or walked down the hill from the branch.

The restrooms......there was never a line!

There was one person baptized on Saturday.  Because English is a foreign language the number of baptism candidates is usually quite small, ranging from 0 to 2.

The grounds are beautiful, covered with a variety of flowers. This time of year is the dry season so the grass is turning brown and going dormant but many plants bloom year round. Bougainvillea grows huge and is seen everywhere in many different colors.

Liv enjoyed wandering thru the patches of bamboo surrounding a picnic area.  Bamboo is seen is a variety of sizes and colors all over the place.

 We met new friends from many different countries around the world........Australia, UK, Canada, Phillipines, Peru, Colombia, US to name just a few.  Some have lived here in Ecuador for many years and others are visiting for a few months.  We also found a few friends from Jacksonville!

A familiar face from home.

Although we have no kids in our little group there were lots of kids at the convention.  We were able to exchange email addresses with family all over the country.  And we received several invitation to visit different areas.

We thoroughly enjoyed the three day convention. The attendance was 823 on Friday, 896 on Saturday, and a whopping 1,155 on Sunday.  We hope we can attend here again next year.

Emily's First Post

 So this afternoon we went to iguana park, the iguanas got HUGE but could be born at 4 inches long. Iguanas can get up TEN feet long! That's almost the size of a komodo dragon! But of course we didn't see any that long. So after that we went to the river. It basically looked like mud. Here are some pictures of iguana park

A Day in Guayaquil

Today we had a chance to walk around town and explore.  After breakfast our first stop was the grocery store to buy food for lunch at the convention. We met some new  friends at breakfast that are also here for the convention.  They knew where the grocery store was so we joined them for the walk. We stopped at a fountain to snap a quick picture.

After our grocery store adventure we went to a park a couple blocks from the hotel.  It's known as Iguana Park.  Check out the pictures and you'll see why.  No zoom needed on the camera.

Then we ate lunch at.......KFC!  We had heard it is much better here than in the states so we gave it a try.  Everyone was right, it was delicious.  Then we walked along the Malecon.  It's a really nice area along the Guayas river.  There are lots of trees, fountains, statues, and stores.

Weather today was typical of Guayaquil......86 degrees and lots of sun.  In the shade it was breezy and very comfortable.  We are looking forward to the convention tomorrow. We'll let you know about it in a few days.

Guayaquil

We are in Guayaquil for the English District Convention. This has been our primary goal in getting to Ecuador this month. And it is finally here. We arrived yesterday morning after a hour and a half drive from Cotacachi to Quito and a 55 minute flight to Guayaquil. We got checked in at the Hotel Malecon Inn which is located on the Malecon, the restored river walk area. When we arrived yesterday most of the area was closed off for an annual celebration of the founding of Guayaquil. The hotel staff had to walk about 4 blocks to meet us to walk us to the hotel. They have been very helpful.

We had a tour of the Branch office scheduled in the afternoon, so after a quick bite to eat we took the taxi to the Branch and took our tour. What a beautiful location about 23km outside of the city.

Girls at the entrance of the Branch

One of the many iguanas 

More to come later....Lorie and the kids are going to try to post some things later today. 

We welcome any questions or comments that you might have.

Ecuador Branch of Jehovah's Witnesses

This morning we traveled from Cotacachi to Guayaquil.  That required a 2 hour drive  south through the mountains into Quito.  Then we boarded an airbus 320 jet and flew another hour south to Guayaquil at sea level. Once we checked into our hotel we changed and hired a taxi to drive us to the branch.  We were anxious to meet some more brothers and sisters in our new country.  The branch is located outside the city so it took us about 40 minutes to drive there. The countryside is quite interesting here.  It's very common to see horses or goats grazing along the highway.  At last we arrived at the branch.  The grounds were perfectly clean and beautifully groomed, of course.  So, it really stands out against the rest of its surroundings. Here are some pictures.

The bethel family is about 140-160 people.  The dining room seats 200.

This branch doesn't handle the printing of any publications but their shipping department is very busy.  All publications and magazines are received here then re-distributed to the congregations all over the country.

We toured the branch with these sisters.  On the left if is Missy.  She lives in the mountains near where we are staying and is from Kansas.  In the middle is Gretchen.  She lives in Kansas and is here visiting Missy.  And on the right is Cloris, our tour guide.  She is a missionary of many years here in Ecuador and is currently a bethelite at this branch.

Our complete tour lasted about 40 minutes.  And we met many friends along way. On our way out we were able to see the Assembly Hall where we will attend the convention later this weekend.  Here are a couple pictures of it.

A solid roof for shade and some plastic lawn chairs for seating.  It's usually in the high 80's during the day here and the only air-conditioning is the breeze.  We are keeping a positive attitude and thinking "cool" thoughts for this weekend!

Cotacachi Apartment

So here are some photos of the apartment.

View from Street. We have the second floor. 3rd floor is available if anyone wants to join us.

View of living room from Kitchen. Kids found their games.

View of market and square across the street. This is a daily craft market of the local vendors. All sorts of neat items.

View of Kitchen from living room.

View from the roof. We have access to that because that is where we dry our clothes.

Did I mention that it has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. And we can rent month at a time....no long term contracts....things are much more simple here.

We have found an apartment in the beautiful town of Cotacatchi. Now we can unpack and begin to feel at home. We have already met several friends that live close by. One couple lives just across the square from us. I will post pictures later today as we have lots still to get packed away.

We have arrived in Otovalo after a long day of traveling. Our flight left Miami on time and the flight went well until we got to Quito....It seems that there were high winds so we circled for about an hour waiting to land. When the pilot finally attempted it we got to about 300 ft and and he pulled out ...then announced that we were out of fuel and needed to go to Guayaquil to get more fuel to try again.
That is all behind us now.


We made it to Otovalo and got checked into Hostal El Pedregal. These are some pictures of the courtyard area and the views of the 2 mountains that Otovalo is between, Mt Cotacatchi and Mt Imbaburra. between the travel and the altitude we are all exhausted. Last night was good night to go to bed early and rest. Our hosts served us a wonderful breakfast typical for Ecuadorians; huevos, cafe con leche, juegas frutas, y pan. Still not too sure about the coffee situation here, it seems I need more caffeine than their coffee has. 

We are going to go visit some of the friends that we made during our visit back in march and start looking for a more permanent place to live for the next few months.