Cycling and Return Visits...

So, I'm combining two blogs here to save space...because space conservation of the internet is my constant concern...

First, I wanted to post a few pics of our cycling trip today. As it's a holiday, as usual, we went on a day trip, this time with a group of 12 on the ciclo via, an old train track route that hasn't been used for years. Now it is home to cyclists and runners. We took the route all the way from Tumbaco to the river of Puembo. It was tough in a few places, as the way is mostly up hill. This was the first time in probably 10 years that I've been on a bike, and I was surprised that the saying really is true, you never forget. I loved it and now am looking for a bike to buy. As soon as I find a cheap one, I'm gonna start taking it out on the weekends. Josue and Jania want to start biking too. There are so many great places to bike, hike, camp, etc...

These pics are in reverse order.

Resting on the futbol field after playing for an hour. No day's activity is complete without ending with a friendly game of futbol. No matter how tired or dead you feel...

We met Cris along the way. She is a frecuent meeting attender and friend to all, although not actually studying...she just likes the meetings and the brothers... Anyway, she rides the ciclo via every single morning. I can't imagine.

There were some great views from the trail above of the Puembo river

The happy group, at the mid point of our treck

We don't want you to tear a muscle, stretch well...

Ready, set....

Hmmm, if we move this one over here, I think we can fit another 20 bikes in here...

Hopefully, we'll get copies of the others pictures, including the photo of our most impressive car stuffing yet. After about 4 hours on the trail, we came to a quinta, which is a country home used only part time with families of money. Most of them are for entertaining really, and as such, have tennis courts, futbol fields and large grassy areas. This particular quinta belonged to a family member of one of the brothers in our group, so we helped ourselves to the futbol field, the bathroom and the shade. From there, the plan was to rent a truck to bring our bikes back to the rental place and we would all take the bus back. By that time, it was too late in the day to try to make it back via the trail before dark.

But all we could find was a small, old toyota twin cab pickup for hire. So we fit 11 bikes in the back, only taking an hour to figure out how to do that. Then we decided we'd try to fit all the girls in the truck and the boys would take the bus. There were 6 girls plus the driver, so we had to fit 7 people in 5 seats. No problem. But then the boys decided to try to stuff themselves in to get dropped off at the bearby bus station. After some uncomfortable manuevering, we managed to get all 12 people in the 5 seats of the tiny pickup. You can imagine the scene for yourself. How we did it, I know not...It is truly miraculous how the Ecuadorians can find space in vehicles for one more person.

On the way home, we played a game called "who's leg is this?" It was quite entertaining and challenging too, as most of the appendages being tapped were too asleep to be identified as any particular person's.

.......Service Report......

Here in Ecuador, you don't actually have to leave your house to start magazine routes. For example, today we started one from the comfort of our living room.

As most know, the water here is not potable, so we have delivered 5 gallon bottles of drinking water each week. You just call the company and say you need water and they come bring it to you. Our delivery guy, Lisardo, is really nice and always likes to chat when he comes. We are constantly seeing him driving his water truck around town, and he always waves and sometimes stops to offer us a ride if we need it.

So this morning, he came up to our apt with our water bottles and we asked him if he knew why we're always walking around the streets, dressed up. We explained the ministry work and asked if he'd read our literature before. We showed him the latest magazine about Jesus and he said he saw a copy of it in his brother's truck and started reading it. He thinks the articles are really interesting and so we will try to keep him updated with all the latest issues.

There are a ton of informal witnessing opportunities here, as religion is not a taboo subject like it is back home. The other day we were in a book store that sells english books, owned by an American-turned -Ecuadorian. We had been there once before, but he didn't remember us. So we explained why we are here to him once again, and so did Josue. The owner asked Josue if he knew a "lady" who was here to build a "kingdom hall" (he's got some of the lingo down). The sister is serving up north, but strangely enough, Jania did know her from their previous trip here. He asked us the same thing last time we were there, if we knew of this sister as she is the only Witness he knows. So I told him that he needs to start asking people if they know of these two fleshly sisters serving in Tumbaco. We plan to try witnessing to him little by little every time we go to his bookstore. It's a challenge, as he is American, not Ecuadorian, and so the witnessing situation is a bit more fragile. Those westerners are so darn sensitive!

The fact that Religion is not yet taboo here if very helpful in getting people to listen. For example, a sister and I were calling on a Senora the other day and decided to start studying with her from chapter one of the teach book. During the study, her 15 year old daughter and 19 year old son arrived home, and instead of looking around like "what are you guys doing," and quickly scooting off to their rooms, they greeted us both with kisses on the cheeks and asked if they could join the study. Studying the bible here is kind of a passtime more than a study. They don't really expect to learn anything knew, but it's a cultural passtime and so enjoy doing it. This doesn't go for all obviously, but it is a fairly accurate generalization. The 19 year old was especially interested and participated more than the mother. We arranged to, all 5 of us, study again monday afternoon, today. The last study with them was miserable for me, as I couldn't formulate any constructive spanish conversation at all. This is a problem, as the sisters take turns conducting paragraph by paragraph. There is no one person conducting. So you always have to be ready to conduct every other paragraph. Anyway, I hope to redeem myself today.