July Service

All is well in the Service department. Both Hannah and I are happily busy with our calls and studies... In fact, our studies at the moment are at an all time high. I am currently conducting 6 regular studies and 3 others that are not that reliable. Hannah is in the lead with 7 regulars with a couple irregulars. We limited our studies before so as to give us time to prepare the lessons, but we have now studied the Teach book, chapters 1-5 soooo many times with our studies and other sister's studies, that we no longer need to prepare each lesson, thereby giving us the chance to conduct as many as we have time for without too much extra prep time. I could probably quote the Teach Books first 2 or 3 chapters at least by memory. What would we do without that book??

As of late, we have not only been going out in the morning, but also every afternoon from 2:30-6 monday through thursday in order to conduct our studies that can't study in the morning. It's been good though because the service year is almost up and I am still behind on my time. My goal is to get 100 hours this month, and 70 next. I think I can make it, but it's been exhausting so far. It will be worth it however, to have a break next month for the English Convention.

We keep ourslelves from getting too tired by the schedue by remembering that this is our job here, our vocation. We calculate that between preparing for our studies and return visits, traveling to and from service, and actually being in service, we work about 40 hours a week here. And most of it is physically and very mentally draining, so we value the free evenings and dont' feel bad at all about not working secularly still. We've been able to make it this far without working and we hope to make it last through October, at which point Hannah will return to Hillsboro to work and I will either do the same or if miracles really do happen, might still find a decent job here. Keep ya posted...

My newest study asked us to stick around after our study today for coffee and cake. She loves the study so far and insists we get right into it when we arrive and that we can chat afterwards, which she always does. She accepted my invitation to go to meeting with us Saturday with her two kids, so I hope that works out. She is one of two studies that actually calls me the day of to confirm and calls ahead of time if she has to cancel. This is not a common practice here, so it is refreshing to see some students appreciating the study and taking some of the responsibility on themselves. She also always donates $2 for every set of magazines without me even asking.

Other congregation news: We got new DPA cards to fill out last week, which have to be legally notorized by a government official. The brothers went to negotiate a group rate, and an Official will be coming to the kingdom hall sometime this month to do everyone's notorizations at once, charging $10 per document, which for us is kind of a lot. We were surprised to here this announcement and hope that they don't plan the notoring meeting the weekend we are gone to the Coast for the English Assembly. Oh yeah! The assembly... it is coming us in like 3 weeks. We're pretty excited. We're staying in a hotel this year, as the hospitality arrangements are already full. We're pretty excited about it. Now we just have to figure out how we're getting there. This year, we decided we wanted to go on our own, instead of with friends. Last year, we didn't have the freedom to do what we wanted with the group we went with, so this year, we are flying solo. The bus to Guayaquil only costs $10, but it's 10 hours, not exactly the fresh start we'd like for the assembly. The flight is $90, but takes 45 minutes. The flight is sounding pretty good to us... The airlines were doing a brief promotion; 2 for one tickets, but when we went to buy, they were all sold out of the promotional tickets! grrrr.... what a disappointment. Anyway, no matter how we get there, this is the highlight of our year here. And we're excited to no longer be first timers this year. Hannah says hi to everyone and that she will add some of her favorite service experiences to this post soon. Like how little 5 year old Dominic, the adorable little brother of a bible study asked Hannah why so many mosquitos bit her face, becuase it was a little red, as it usually is. Well rosy we call it actually.

Hey everyone, this is Hannah. I have a few service experiences that I wanted to share. First of all in Kichwa. Now I am going out in service with the Kichwa group twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. And I have also started going to both the meetings every week. We have the public talk and Watchtower study as a group next door every Sunday. But for the other meeting we meet with the Kichwa congregation in Quito on Saturdays. It is a lovely congregation with 40 publishers, and 28 of them are regular pioneers!!! And a few others are regular auxiliary pioneers. And almost all of them are single sisters between the ages of 22 and 30. There are only a handful of brothers, but all of them are serving as either elders or MSs. I have realized that in order to keep progressing with the language I need to attend as many meetings as I can to get practice listening. It is still very hard for me to understand the native speakers because they speak so fast and they don’t speak clearly, very mumbled.

Yesterday we had several good calls in Kichwa. I talked at one door, did my short little presentation and read a scripture and left a tract, but then thankfully the other sister took over and started a study with her. So we made arrangements to go back together. Also we passed by a construction site and found that 10 Kichwa speakers were working there. There we all very friendly and said that they would like to study, and to come back on their lunch hour, between 12 and 1. So that same day 2 of the brothers went back and started the study with the whole group.

Each day I go out in service or to a meeting in Kichwa it encourages me to keep going, to keep learning. I still have a long long way to go, but little by little I am learning.

But I still have several good calls in Spanish. I am studying with one woman named Teresa. Another sister was calling on her, but when she moved away, she turned the call over to me. At first the woman didn’t seem very interested, and I didn’t think she liked me very much, but I just kept going back. And I am very glad that I did. She is now one of my best studies. Every week, no matter what, she dedicates an hour to the study. One Tuesday, a few hours before the study I ran into her in the street, I asked her how she was and she responded, oh, so, so busy. And she looked it too. So I asked her if she would still have time to study that afternoon, and she just looked at me and said, well of course, that comes first. Pretty cool. She is loving what she is learning, and has already started making comparisons with what she is learning now, with what her church teaches or does. For example, when we were reading in the appendix about the Divine Name, she thought it was so interesting, and said, “I cannot believe that I am 50 years old, and only just now learning this. Why did my church never teach me these things?” I always leave that study very encouraged. She is also very hospitable, and insists on sending us home with some fruits or vegetables, or serving us some treat after the study. Which of course I love, but also because it shows she really appreciates the study. Now I just have to get her to a meeting.... Ok, bye.