¡Viaje al Ecuador! – 2011

The happy couple

So we’re back in town… We had to leave our friends and spiritual family down in Ecuador. It was heart-wrenching to leave, but also a joy to see everyone back in Humboldt.

After sight-seeing and gift-shopping in Ambato, we took a taxi from there to the capital, Quito. On the way, we enjoyed lively conversation with the driver and a fellow passenger, who was a government official. Both seemed to be quite sincere, as well as genuinely concerned with the troubles plaguing the world these days. One thing that concerned everyone was the general lack of fellow-feeling and a failure to accept personal responsibility by many in the world. (2 Timothy 3:1-5) To underscore that fact, we saw someone who had been ran over on the side of the road. *sick feeling* – This is all too common in Ecuador lately. Later, we changed upon our fellow passenger in the airport, and we gave him a Bible-based publication that deals with the subjects that we had talked about. Hopefully he too can benefit from the Bible’s clear message of the hope of God’s heavenly Kingdom government. (Mathew 6:9,10; Daniel 2:44; Isaiah 65)

On Wednesday we went preaching in a little town called “Triunfo.” The unusual thing about that day was that it was cold – in Ecuador! Strange weather indeed. I had to wear a thermal undershirt until around 10AM.

We trudged through the mud and grass and swampy puddles up and down hills and over a bridge to reach the people with the Bible’s message. We talked about John 16:33, where shortly before his death, Jesus states that “in the world you are experiencing tribulation. But take courage! I have conquered the world.” We talked about how any one can “conquer the world,” not in a military sense, but by our example of integrity, refusing to be molded by this world dominated by the wicked spirit creature known as Satan the Devil. (Proverbs 27:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19)

Later that morning we went to a school and the teachers let us talk for a few minutes with the students. They lined up in rows and stood at attention. It was so adorable! We discussed Ephesians 6:1-3 and the need for children to be obedient to their parents ‘so that it may go well for them and they may endure a long time on the earth.’ We showed them an artist’s rendition of the earthly paradise promised in the Bible and they liked it a lot.

Is this a river or a stream?

Near where we’re staying, a cute little turtle decided to take up residence. It walked by and started taking little turtle bites from this papaya.

Who has a papaya face!

This morning I looked in the backyard and saw an incredible trail of leaf-cutter ants. I just had to get this picture!

The ants go marching one by one...

I couldn’t help but think of Proverbs 6:6-8, which says, “Go to the ant, you lazy one; see its ways and become wise. Although it has no commander, officer or ruler, it prepares its food even in the summer; it has gathered its food supplies even in the harvest.” Uhhh-huh!

On Thursday we traveled to the city of Ambato, which the locals informed us was at an elevation of around 6,000 feet with a population of around 400,000. Being a city, there is much more crime that we find within the cozy confines of our little jungle town.

Ambato skyline

What impressed me about the trip was the incredible worldwide hermandad, or brotherhood, that we enjoy as Jehovah’s Witnesses. We arrived in Ambato at 4AM Friday morning and the brothers (fellow Witnesses) got up and showed us to our comfy beds. We immediately noticed the lack of noise from the jungle wildlife we had become so accustomed to. (Sorry about the dangling participle. )

The following morning we got up to a yummy breakfast of hot milk with instant coffee, fresh bread with cheese, and fresh jugo de piña.   Later, when they had to leave the house, they left us with the spare keys… Remember that this was the first time we had ever met these brothers. Instant trust.

That morning, we took a taxi to the dentist (the best dentist I’ve ever been to in my life!) who also happened to be a Witness. After the visit, he even drove us back to the house where we were staying. I really appreciated that after the anesthetic. We stayed there with the brothers one more night, enjoying spiritually upbuilding conversations. Though they wanted us to stay another night, we decided to shove off on Saturday.

As Witnesses, we sometimes take our brotherly love for granted, since we’re constantly surrounded and embraced by it, but it certainly underscores the words of Jesus Christ at John 13:35: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” (Emphasis mine).

Preparing for a Bible discourse

Yesterday (Sunday) we had the meeting in the Shuar language. I don’t speak the Shuar language, but I was invited to give a 30 minute Bible talk in Spanish.

The talk was entitled What Is Your Relationship With God, and encourages all in attendance to examine their own relationship with their Creator and see if there are ways it can be improved.

I was loaned a Shuar Bible so I read a few scriptures in both Shuar and Spanish. Of course my Shuar reading wasn’t very fluent, but those in attendance seemed appreciative. It was an enjoyable experience and hopefully everyone benefited from the Bible’s counsel.

Yum! This was a delicious omelet!

Happy eggs

So the other day we’re preaching in a village and it starts to drizzle. I’m preaching with a friend at the last house. Dusk has fallen and frequent bolts of lightning rip across the sky, followed up by the inevitable rumble of thunder.

I’m in the middle of sharing Psalm 83:18 with a woman and her son, sharing God’s name from the Bible. I’m reading: “…that people may know that you,whose name is Jehovah…” [BOOM! An enormous peal of thunder rolls across the plateau.] I thought it was funny – punctuating the moment like in the movies – as well as appropriate, since we were talking about the Most High.