It's Been a Very Good Few Days!

Like any territory, we have our good days and bad days....but, it just so happens that it has been a very good few days for us. Tuesday, Chad placed 3 "Bible Teach" Books and has 4 potential bible studies. Yesterday, I placed 2 books and now have 4 potential bible studies. The one young woman, Carina, owns her own little store and so she is always there. She was really excited to learn that we were Jehovah's Witnesses and to see the Bible Teach Book because she said she used to work in a Dental Office and one of her patients witnessed to her, but they never could find a good time to actually study. Since she no longer works there, she lost contact. She was really sweet, and since she has the store at her house, hopefully she will be there when I go next week!

Our friend, Beth, who is serving here from New Zealand, asked me to go along with her yesterday morning on a return visit which turned into a very good bible study. The woman ran right into the house to get her book and followed along, answering every question. She seemed comforted to know that God does care about suffering. She was mislead by her minister who tells everyone that when something bad happens, it is because God is punishing you. What a sad misrepresentation of God. But, by the end of the study, she felt better knowing that God is not indifferent, and does not cause our problems. We'll keep you posted on her progress!

On another note, we met in the center of the city yesterday for lunch in between morning service and afternoon service. The other "gringos" in the city have established a regular Thursday "Gringos Anonymous" Meeting. There are usually between 2-5 families that eat there. It is just a nice time to actually speak English and share crazy and good experiences had by all for the week. I hope to formally introduce each family to you all via blog in the next few weeks as each one of them has had there own struggles and challenges, as well as wonderful blessings from serving here in Ecuador. It is always very encouraging to be with them.

I have enclosed a few pictures of the food that we had there at the restaurant. The juice is "jugo de mora" which is basically berry juice. The mora berry is a name for blackberries/rasberries that are very common here. It is sooooo good! The green soup is split pea soup, but the interesting thing is that here they put popcorn in their soups! I guess it is like us putting crackers in ours! It is very good! The other picture is of our dessert. It is a slice of "queso fresco" which is cheese that is basically unpasteurized, but very good, and then they drizzle it with cane syrup...it is syrup that comes from a sugar cane (I think). It was the first time for us to try that dessert, but it was delicious! And the great thing is that the meal costs $2.90 per person, for soup, lunch, dessert and juice!