Lost In Ecuador.....: December 2012

Hey guys!!! I just had a great idea to get me back on track with blogging! I often think about it, but can't really think of what to talk about. I know, it's hard to believe that I have a shortage of conversational topics. :-)

So, I decided to post some pictures of our house! We have been here for almost a year now I think! I know you are thinking that this is a huge place for just the two of us.. and you are absolutely right. But, remember that when we moved in here, our family was much bigger! In fact, the first month or two there were 6 of us! The whole James family, and us. And it was a perfect size! haha But, as you know, very slowly they have all gone there various ways. Mark and Beth returned to NZ to help take care of some family issues. BUT!!! a little birdie told me that there are some plans in the works for a future triumphant return!! YAY!! Here's hoping!! Aaron and Amanda decided that it was time for poor Amanda to move closer to her congregation and the Chinese group. So, they found a cute apartment much closer and have been enjoying the congregation over there.

So, here we are, all alone in this big house!! I am not bragging, but maybe trying to convince some of you who are pondering the idea of visiting, or even moving here...our small, humble abode consists of 4 bedrooms, 2 offices/very small bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths.... I took some pictures for you guys...Hopefully it gives you an idea.

On a congregational note, things are going really well. We have about 120 pubs and 13 pioneers right now. Quite a few bible students are attending the meetings. I think we have a few going over questions for baptism on our Special Assembly Day in January. It seems like every other day Chad is heading out to go over baptism questions with someone! lol Chad currently has 12? bible studies and I have 8. But, the number keeps growing!!

They did a very interesting thing here in Cuenca in June. The branch redivided all of the territories of the congregations. They made some territories bigger and dissolved some congregations. Then, they took all of the publisher record cards and just automatically sent you to the congregation that you belonged to!!! It was awesome. It took some getting used to for many brothers and sisters and, of course, we were sad to see some go. But we had a HUGE problem with this here in Cuenca. They growth has been so fast that the congregations divide almost every 2-3 years. Anyway, what happens is that you then have about 5 congregations meeting in the same KH and so some brothers were just picking the congregation that had a better schedule of meetings according to their jobs. I think Chad said that we lost about 30 brothers and sisters that did not live in our territory, and we gained about 60!!

The branch sent out a very kind and encouraging letter to all of the congregations prior to the change, with a detailed list of why this adjustment is beneficial, and why it is in our best interests to be obedient. One of the reasons was to cut back on costs and expenses. We had 5 congregations meeting in our KH, which, as you can imagine, meant a meeting in the hall everyday of the week. But they merged us into 3 congregations, which is less use of the hall and also means a larger and stronger elder body in each congregation. The branch also personally chose the coordinator, the secretary, the service overseer and the WT study conductor!!! It has been nice to see the brothers be submissive and to see the blessings that have come from the new arrangement.

You never do know.. maybe this is arrangement is coming to a city near you!!! hahaha

Well, that is about what I have for today! Oh, and we did indeed find jobs now. We are teaching English online for a company called OpenEnglish. I work 15 hours a week and chad works about 20. It is a nice job, the students are nice, the management is nice and there are a ton of witnesses who are working there! Mostly need-greaters trying to support themselves also. But, they don't care where we live, they are very flexible with the schedule and we can work from home!!! So, as always, Jehovah has arranged everything for us and better than we could have imagined!!