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.