Field Service Report

Well, we are hitting it hard this month, as we somehow managed to get behind in hours, despite the whole "not working here" thing. But as usual, even for pioneers, the more we exert ourselves, the more success we have, so we're enjoying this month more than usual. Already this month, I've started two studies. Good ones this time! I think they will both be very regular and they both have shown a real appreciation for our time and efforts, which shows they will respect and appreciate the study. Both of them have been very irregular calls for months, so the lesson here is persistence pays off I guess.

The first women immediately took to our visits, inviting us in and listening attentively. She asked for a bible and even gave a donation. She said that she was uninterested in studying with other religions because they are hipocritical. However, she believed that the Witnesses were different. Sadly, after starting the study, I never saw her again for 3 months. I tried to get her every possible time of day, but never found her home again. Today, as I was walking to a call with my "Pioneer Assist Other's" partner Lourdes, guess who I heard calling my name from across the street. It was Yolanda, my long lost study. After giving me the scarf around her neck because I said I liked it, we made plans to study at her business, since she is obviously never home.

The other study also is very exciting. Maybe the best one so far. When my parents were here, my dad and I talked to this really nice lady at our last door of the day. She worked in the house as the Empleada, you know, doing the cooking and cleaning, taking care of the babies, etc... Anyway, we talked for a while on the initial call. She said she had studied the Live Forever book 13 years ago, but stopped due to opposition from her husband. But she was ready to start again, whether her husband liked it or not. It helps that he is working in the Orient 20 days out of the month right now. Her 13 year old is also currently studying with a sister in another hall. Anyway, so we arranged to study in the evening at her home after she left work. Unfortunately, I could never find her at her house, so I checked back at her place of work and found out that she had moved to another town. Thus the difficulty in finding her at home. I arranged to have the sisters in that town call on her, but for some reason, they never did. Last week, which would be 3 months later, I stopped by her work again to make sure the sisters had found her. The owners of the home didn't want me talking to her while she worked but I just had to make sure she was studying. She informed me that she had moved back to Tumbaco after all and was THRILLED that I came to see her again. She said that she feels like Jehovah sent me at the perfect time. She is now ready to take her study serious. She has so many questions and her daughter told her that she doesn't want to be in paradise alone. That was the motivation she needed. So today, we had our first study and it went super great. She was very excited to do it even though she is scared of the changes she might have to make. But she is willing to do it...for Jehovah. She offered her employer to go to work early Thursday in order to make sure to get off on time every Wednesday for our study. Well, i'm really excited about getting to study with her. The more advanced studies become, the more pressure I feel to train them right. It's like raising children in a way. It's a big responsibility and that can be scary. But it has been proven time and time again here that it is Jehovah bringing these people in, definitely not us.

I've been visiting with the lady who runs the newspaper stand in the park for the last few months. At first, she only liked to talk about us and fluffy stuff, but I was slowly able to get it around to a study. She is the one who always sees us walking around town and runs over to give us a hug. She is really nice. So we finally made arrangements to visit her at her home, as it was hard to study at the stand. As usual, she gave us bad directions. It is impossible here, as you probably realize by our constant complaining. Homes have no numbers, streets have mutiple names, and no one knows anything. So after 3 attemps to find it, we finally did. The next time we saw her in the park, she introduced us to her son, recently home from Spain. A lot of Ecuadorians go to Spain to work and go to school. He told us that he had studied in Spain with an Elder and his wife. I offered to bring a brother with me the next time I visit his mom so they could make arrangements to renew his study. He agreed, but when we went to the house to find them, the father came out, obviously upset. He tried chasing us away with words and a gruff voice, about how his famikly is Catholic, has always been, will always be, he doesn't appreciate us taking his family's beliefs without his permission, which he will never give. He respects our beliefs, so we need to respect his, etc... But we stood firm and
praised his zeal for God and his love for his family, which made him happy. We continued talking for a while about how nice his family was and how much we like being friends with his wife. We wanted to make sure to at least leave on friendly terms. So we did, but decided to only visiit the mom and son in the park from now on. Well... the other day, I passed by the newspaper stand, but only saw the father, so I kept walking. To my surprise, he called me over to greet us with a big smile and strong handshake. He said he was very upset with me, then stopped to await my reaction. Then he broke out in a big smile and asked why we haven't come back by the house to visit more?! He's been waiting! Then realizing how funny his own little joke was, broke out in a hearty belly laugh at our reaction. I told him he must be a comedian, he's so funny. He had a few laughs, then went on our way. So I'm confused, but felt like I have permission now to go back. I wonder what changed his mind...?

Today, I went to one of Hannah's studies. She is one of two women we study with who work in a Hair Salon. One is the owner and the other an employee. Sometimes when we study with one, the other one sits in too, even though it might be a review of what she already studied. Anyway, the owner sheepishly asked how much she owed for the books and bibles that the recieved many weeks ago, embarrassed that she hadn't asked sooner. After explaining the arrangement, she told us to come 'round Saturday to pick up a donation. When I went today to study with the employee, she gave me $20 for the books. I couldn't believe it!! I've never got such a donation before. It's not as if they have a lot of money, so it must be a reflection of their appreciation for the Bible Study.


Hi everyone, it's Hannah. I just have one experience that I am going to relate, but's it's a long one. I first talked to my study Fanny about two months after we came. We were working a territory right around the park, and of course I was still nervous all the time out in service. That day I must not have been very well prepared or something, because all I really remember about my presentation was that it was terrible! The words just wouldn't come out. But Fanny was super patient, I think trying to understand what I was saying, and she came outside and sat down on the steps to talk to us. After a while, and no help from my super shy partner, I just showed her the Bible Teach book, as I was out of things to say. She said that she had always wanted to know the answers to these question. So I offered to go back and study, and she said yes. This experience just goes to show that it is Jehovah who is drawing the people, and if he wants someone to learn the truth, he will make it happen. I left there so embarassed, thinking, could I possibly have handled that worse? But in the end, I got a study out if it, so something was right.

I put off going back for a few weeks because I was so nervous, but one day, me and Elsie's partners both left really early, and we wanted to keep going out, so we were trying to think of something to do when I thought of Fanny. This was the first time me and Elsie were working together in Spanish, so we wondered if this was a good idea, but we decided to go ahead and do it, and just hope that she didn't ask anything we couldn't understand. Right away Fanny invited us in, we chatted for a minute or so, but then just got right into the BT book. She is from the coast, and while that means it's much harder to understand her because of the accent, it also means that she is really warm and hospitable. I'm glad that my first study here was with someone like her. She also mentioned that she had a 1o year old daughter who is really interested in the bible, that she reads it every night.

We only had one more study I think, when her work schedule changed. Her husband has a hereditary disease that affects his abililty to walk and talk, and he can no longer work, so she works to support her whole family. She worked 7 days a week, all day long until 9 at night. The only time she had off, which was used for house cleaning and laundry, was mondays after 2. For a while we tried to study then, but it just didn't work for her. So, sadly she stopped studying. In the meantime, I began to study with her daughters, Pamela, ten years old, and Michelle, six.

Pamela is the one who read the bible every night. But as she said, she didn't understand anything. So we started studying in the book, Learn From the Great Teacher. And with Michelle we read the Bible Story book. And they often have friends or cousins that sit in on their studies.

Happily, Fanny's work schedule just changed, and we are now studying again. She always has a ton of questions, and wants to makes sure that she understands everything well before we move on. She has now been to two meetings, with both the girls, and they all love the meetings. Pamela, the 10 year old, enjoys helping the "new ones" find scriptures and share her Watchtower with them. I always bring different sisters with me on the studies, so they already know lots of sisters in the hall and feel very comfortable. She asked a couple weeks ago what we do for "la semana santa", the holy week, which is the week of the memorial, because she knows that it is important to remember the death of Jesus, but she wants to do it right, and believes that we probably do it the right way.

She is already getting opposition from her husband's family, who are very Protestant. But she is sticking firm, and defending what she is learning. She even told them that the "sermons" that she has heard at the meetings have been better than any she ever heard in the Catholic or Protestant churches. She told them what she learned there, and how it is all based in the Bible. She was also very surprised to learn that the Elders are not paid. The problem is that she is still working a lot, and only has every other saturday free, which is when we have meetings. Hopefully she will start coming to Thursday night meetings. While her husband is very nice and welcoming, he has made it clear that he doesn't wish to study, which I was surprised to hear that when Elsie did the study the other week, he actually asked to sit in! It sounds like he really enjoyed it too. So, you never know...

These are just a few experiences of late. More to come!