Take the Bad with the Good...

I guess you always have to be ready to take the bad with the good. This month has really been teaching me that lesson! Ecuador is an amazing place to be and I just LOVE it here. However.....

As you all know, this is a crazy month here as far as water balloons and water guns go...but, we had an experience on Saturday that tops all of that hoopla...

I guess Saturday was the first official day of "carnaval", but they didn't cancel service and I had a few studies to do, so the girls and I hesitantly went out. We passed by many groups having water fights, and a huge group covering each other with flour. (Which by the way, they were looking at us with gleams in their eyes...) We sure picked up the pace and walked faster at that prospect!! We survived the battle, had a really good study, and our "safety zone" (the apartment) was in sight! We got off the bus, noticed some kids with water balloons on the side of the road, so crossed over to avoid them. We were just chatting and walking when out of nowhere, comes this young guy and walks in front of our path and stops us...He looks at me and says, "I want your cell phones, I just want your cell phones!" I obviously have some changes to make in my personality, because, guess what I did? I LIED!! I told him I didn't have one, which I did...no idea why I did that...anyway, at this point, he pulls out a pretty big knife and is showing it to us and now turns to Kami...."I want your cell phone...give it to me!" What does Kami do? Follows the example of her lying friend and says she doesn't have one either (which she did, too). For whatever reason...I like to think Jehovah's help, he just looks at us, puts the knife away, and walks away. I was half laughing, half crying, Sara was crying and Kami laughing..it is interesting how each person deals with pure terror differently! We couldn't get inside the house fast enough! So, fortunately, we haven't really had to leave the house for the last few days, and if we did, our friend picked us up in the car so we wouldn't have to walk.

But, you know what they always say, "you just have to get right back on the horse", right? So, I plan to stick to my routine and not panic about walking around, what else can I do, right?

But, I have to admit, that even I was scared...it has taken me a few days to even have the desire to relive it enough in my mind to blog about it. Don't worry, it is the first time anything like that has happened to me in the last 2 years, and it turned out OK. We are fine, just a little shaken up. And the friends here have been wonderful. Two brothers walked us home from the meeting the other night, and as I said, our friend Fernando has been driving us everywhere or walking with us. His family even calls at night to make sure we are OK. There is always security in Jehovah's organization! And Chad will be home next Thursday!!! FINALLY!

Other than that, we are having a blast! Preaching, eating, playing games and watching movies...it's the stuff dreams are made of!

I have a few pictures of the trip so far...

The Criollo family that I study with in the mountains...
well, it seems more like a book study here!

Yes, the "gringas" brought the rain, but that didn't stop us from preaching!