Preparation for the Quito International Convention

The International Convention January 23-25 in Quito, is fast approaching.  This past weekend, many elders, pioneers and their mates who are host tour guides from our English Atuntaqui congregation went to Quito to get their final training.  It was an amazing dress rehearsal.  The bottom photo shows the local Quito congregations of publishers coming out to the main town square practicing their welcome for the delegates.  The tour guides are in red jackets.  They played the part of the arriving delegates.

Last night at dinner with the returning guides, we were told that the towns people came out and were wondering what was going on.  They thought Barak Obama or Brad Pitt had arrived!  The capital of Ecuador is in store for an enormous witness, all to Jehovah's praise!

Below are Jens & Kristin Kessling, pioneers and our WT conductor, at one their designated tour route stops.  Here they're at the official "centre of the world" tourist spot.  It's the place where you're smack dab at the centre of the earth here in Ecuador.  They're Canadians from Winnipeg.  Been here some 4 years now.

New Arrivals

Yesterday we had 2 new senior need-greaters arrive here in Ecuador, Tom & Veronica Hargrove.  The Hargrove's come from Southern California where he served as a service overseer in their former congregation.  They did their research and never having been here made a decision to move outright carrying their publisher record cards and a letter of introduction with them.  They've come with all the paperwork needed to apply for residency.  Tom & Veronica are our tenants renting the apartment attached to our home.  We're enjoying getting to know them and having a share in introducing them to Ecuador.  This picture was taken at their first meeting here this afternoon.  Still smiling after sitting through my public talk.

It's also mango season.  Here a vendor in downtown Cotacachi has a lunch break next to his wheelbarrow full.  Wheelbarrows seem to be the most common way to sell sweet cherries, strawberries and other produce on the streets.

Huge, lets say gigantic, sugar apples on a truck driving by.

Practice Time

To get ready for the January service meeting a group of us got together this afternoon to practice the new Kingdom songs.

Refrehments, pictionary and a nice evening of association followed.

Sprucing Up

The sign at the main road identifying our settlement of homes in the countryside needed a bit of sprucing up.  It was getting difficult for visitors and delivery people to find.  Below, the before and after.

Unpredictable Ministry

You never know who you'll meet in the ministry here.  When calling door to door at this house today, a happy clown answered and came out to talk.

Some have wondered how hot is it here since we're at 0º latitude - right on the equator?  Below is a typical temperature mid afternoon in the shade - 65ºF. and often up to 68ºF.  The temps in the sun are usually between 72º - 74ºF.  It's because the altitude we're at here in the Andes mountains - 8,200 ft. above sea level makes living here  be called perpetual spring.  There are no seasonal changes, each day is like the previous.  And along with those temps the humidity is very low too so it's never muggy.

Caesar Goes for a Run

Caesar, our next door neighbour's German Shepherd, loves to run next to their car at high speed for exercise.

San Antonio, Ibarra is a town famous for it's wood sculptures and wood artisans.  Here are some examples in one shop.

These are carved from one solid piece

Copyright Infringement?

We hadn't noticed until recently that both doors in our house were built with "Watchtowers" in their design by the original Witness owners back in 2006.

Maintenance Work

Most people have backup potable water tanks and ours were not used for years nor did they have any pump system installed if needed.  We hired 2 local workers to service them and below we're picking up pipe in town early yesterday morning.  This truck is actually a taxi.  You call this type of taxi when you need materials or large items moved.

The water tanks are 500 gallons apiece and sit in the ground.  Here we're having a pressure tank / pump system installed which will pump the water into the house if the municipal piped water system is off line.

Roberto (in the FBI cap) was the smallest so in he went, baling out the old water and scrubbing down the insides until they were spotless.

Images from our first 2 weeks

Our Home

Cutting the grass is exhausting, it's thicker than I've ever seen.  After doing it once I hired a local brother who cuts it with a riding mower.

Above - While walking to the next territory we were stopped by a young Spanish man asking us for magazines

Above - Family fruit stand with baby in a swing on board

Edison is a brother from the Spanish congregation who's our favourite waiter in a restaurant in Cotacachi

Huge bags of animal crackers are popular with the children here

Sisters from the Spanish congregation doing cart work in Otavalo

Taking a selfie in Otavalo park, I see a doggie having a drink from the fountain behind me

More infrastructure work.  These two were splicing fibre optic cable out on the street in Otavalo

Ice cream is hugely popular and cheap here.  A double cone - 90 cents

Our friends next door, Roger & Debbie Morrison grilling a meal for us to enjoy together

San Antonio a suburb of Ibarra is a town that is renowned for it's wood carvings and beautiful Amazon hardwood handcrafted cabinetry.  In one shop it seemed odd that these pieces of furniture were staged with beer bottles?

Below - The window of one shop displaying hand made chess sets.  They ranged in the vicinity of only $20.00 a set that includes a handmade wooden box.

This moth outside our back door caught me by surprise - it's HUGE!

The Spanish congregation's field service group meeting mid week.

Part of our field service group in the territory.  Backpacks are commonly used here.  Makes it easier to travel on and off the buses.

My partner Chris stopped in the block we were working to get a few bananas as a snack before our "proper" ice cream break.

5 cents a piece

Ruth and Roger placing a tract

Chris witnessing to a Cabina owner.  Cabinas are all throughout the territory.  They enable families without Internet at home to have access cheaply by the hour.

Sewer grates are frequently missing and other walking hazards abound.  Walking the streets means keeping your eyes down to take responsibility for your own safety.  The unspoken motto is, if you trip or otherwise get injured, it's your own fault.

Look at these stairs in a furniture store from the 2nd. floor down to the first floor.  Do you see and railings or a safety banister?  It's a long hard drop to the ground floor.

The brother above from the Spanish congregation has a hardware store where the Branch drops the literature and magazines for local pickup

We picked up the literature for the 2 Spanish congregations and 1 English that use our Kingdom Hall

A mother with a baby on board pushes a wheel barrow of mangoes and strawberries for sale

Sisters from a Spanish congregation do cart witnessing in the Otavalo market

Young and old reach for seeds of truth

We are at the Otavalo produce market.  Our field service group was assigned to bring fruit for after the memorial service of a faithful sister who passed away in our congregation.

This is an overview of the Otavalo fruit and vegetable market.

In a nearby grocery store I was amazed at how many sugary cereals there are in stock for children (and adults)

Very few people smoke in Ecuador.  I photographed these cigarette packages through a locked store cabinet.  Do you think the pictures on the packs might discourage smoking?  Probably.

Ruth buying sweet cherries in Cotacachi.  Just coming into season.

Besides operating a grocery store, Luis also provides excursions in the area.  We used him for a fishing trip last year and airport pickup.  Notice the huge 22kg. bags of animal crackers for children (and adults)

On our way out of our driveway to the Sunday afternoon meeting.  That's Mt. Imbabura, an extinct volcano behind me.

After the meeting we went out for supper.  That's a mighty large bottle of beer for $1.00

This photo was taken in the morning, the opposite direction to Mt. Imbabura.  This is Mt. Cotacachi.

Gas prices are much lower than we're used to.  That's $1.48 / gallon for regular gasoline and $1.03 / gallon for diesel.  All prices in U.S. dollars and gallons are U.S. gallons.

Not many McDonalds in Ecuador but here's one in Quito.  The drive through was strange, you drive through a tunnel to order and pickup your food.