New Place, New Experiences.... Congregation Photo below.

Finally, here are some pictures of our place and our neighborhood. We really like the area we're in; it's fairly quiet and calm, albeit far from pretty much everything. First, there are some pictures below of our apartment. Our official address: Los Condominios Narancay, Bloque B, Ed. B1, #301. (even though it's actually on the fourth floor.

Since mom left yesterday, we are now offically on a regular schedule. Well, the CO visit is changing it around a bit this week, but it is a welcome change. Jacob and Inga Rumph are their names. They are a young couple who both came to serve in Ecuador quite a few years ago, met here, got married and are now in curcuit work. After being in the Spanish field for many years, they are now serving in the foreign language circuit. I think the brother Jacob speaks about 5 languages including English, Spanish, Sign, Chinese and something else.

Anyway, we worked with them in service today. The territory was actually our own neighborhood, which was very convenient and it was fun getting to walk all around and know the area better. After the apt. pics, you will see some photos of the service today and more of our neighborhood. (They were taken with my phone, so they might not be as clear.) Lets see, what else?... While it's still pretty cold at night, the days are warming up thank goodness.

We enjoyed our 24 hour vacation, taking mom to the airport in Guayaquil, after which we remained at the hotel enjoying a rare slice of heaven for the morning, eg: Hotel gym, pool, sauna, hot tub, sushi bar, big screens, air conditioning (guayaquil is hot) and yummy espresso drinks. For only $4 more, we took the executive bus to and from Cuenca, which is 100 times better than the local buses. It is a small van seating 8 total. The views from Cuenca to Guayaquil were amazing! Too bad I didn't have the camera. There is a part of the trip where you have to pass through the clouds. It is kind of scary because you can't see anything, but the view from above the clouds is insane. Maybe I will google the location and get you a few snapshots so you can see what I mean. OK, well enjoy the pics.
Ugh! Complaint of the day: Since tap water is a no-no here, we rely on large 5 gallon bottles delivered to us. Well, we ran out last week, brought the bottles down to the guys in charge of getting us water and were assured it would be here the next day. Well it wasn't. It wasn't even here when we got back yesterday from the Coast. On top of that, we ran out of gas mid-shower last night. Running out of gas=cold shower! These services of water and gas seem a bit less dependable here than in Quito, but we were warned that that would be the case, so I guess we can't complain too much. And oh, how I miss the days of paying bills on line, or by phone, or automatic withdrawl. Here, all bills have to be paid in person at the company's office downtown. The lines are always so long and there is always only 1 person working them. Boo.

Wooded area out the back of the building.

 

View of neighborhood from my room.

View from living room. Cuenca is known for its red roofs.

Walking up toward our apartment.

Leaving the complex, heading down to the neighborhood.

Kingdom Hall downtown.

Living Room

Entry way. Nice security, eh?

The Bar. ;)

Dining room/Office

Kitchen with our friend Andres cooking lasagna.

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2



The house is full of lovely, character-making cracks!


SERVICE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD:





Inga Rumph, CO wife on left.





Jacob Rumph on left and another Brother from Spanish with him.





With Gimena, a very nice single sister in our hall very determined to learn English. (Now, you will have to learn a whole new set of faces and names!)


Below are a few pics from around town. For more pictures of Cuenca Downtown, you can go back to the June Cuenca post.

We are sampling liquers at an Eduardo Vega Art Gallery.



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This is a misleading photo of our English Congregation. We had 60 people at the Sunday meeting for the CO visit when we took this photo. Our official publisher count is 20 in the English.