Car problems, house problems, immigration problems.

DR Sunset

It was a short romance with Dominican Republic.  She wined and dined us ... then once we tied the knot she showed her true colors ... and they weren't all sun drenched beach sunsets!





Immigration Problems
(For anyone considering coming to DR - there is a lot of confusion over the immigration process.  If you plan on staying long-term and you can afford an immigration lawyer, get one!  There is a wide range in prices from $800 to $2,500+ US per person. So shop around and ask for references.  It is painful to go through the process without guidance as there are a lot of conflicting stories.)

Soon after arriving in the country we realized that, unlike what we had been told, it was no longer possible to apply for residency within the country. That advice was a few years outdated. So less than 2 months after we arrived in DR we had to fly home and spend 4 weeks in Canada getting paperwork for our 1 year Visa.  Arrggghhhh!

"It's not too bad to be in Canada you complainer!" you say? Well ... not only do I want you to quit reading right now but you also don't realize that in the West Coast time-zone I have to get up at 2:30 am to start my teaching job.  At least in DR I can get up at 5:30 am.

So back to the story ... We contacted the Dominican Embassy and fulfilled all their requirements. How pleased we were to get the Visa stamped in our passport and be on our way back to DR only 4 days after submitting the last of the paperwork to the Embassy. According to the Embassy we had completed all that we needed to do and we were now able to enjoy a year within the country.

HAH!!!!

Soon after getting back in daily routines of online teaching and fruitful yet sweaty ministry, we were advised to go see the local Immigration office as there might be a "hiccup". That perhaps the embassy had misinformed us about the complete process. "NOOOOOOOOoooooooo!!!!"

Well it turns out that the embassy was wrong. There was a process that we needed to complete within the DR that we had not been informed about AND they had sent us down with the wrong papers. Some of those papers we needed to get in person back in Canada. Well we tried talking to a few immigration lawyers to see if there was a way around it but their fees of $2000 - $2500 per person were too much for us to consider paying, especially knowing we had other documentation expenses in Canada yet to pay.  Even a trip to the Haitian boarder to extend our time was to no avail. The law had changed a few days earlier and we couldn't get an extension without paying a fine.

Restaurant near Haiti

The silver lining was finding a nice restaurant on the way back.

To get around the cost we paid for a 'one time consultation' with a lawyer to see if we could just use the documents the Embassy had sent us with. "No. Sorry." was the answer.  We didn't even get free coffee! Well that was money poorly spent.

At this point we were facing other challenges too and we were seriously considering leaving the country to serve elsewhere.  Although we had seen Jehovah's direction for moving to the DR we knew our limited resources would go a lot farther forwarding kingdom interests in another country with clear immigration requirements. We were very discouraged.  It was only because of the encouraging visit of dear friends from Canada that we started to see some light again in the immigration "pit of despair" (thank you very much Kevin and Nicole!)

Samana

They dragged us against our will, kicking and screaming (okay, maybe I took a few creative liberties on that last sentence) for a 3 day mini-vacation in Samaná before we returned to Canada.

Kevin & Nicole monkey fun

Along the way we stopped at Troy's favorite place - the Monkey Jungle.

In Samana we found the answer to our prayers.  We were wallowing in despair, drowning it with double cappuccinos, eggs and bacon at Frenchie's Restaurant when 2 sisters passed by and Kevin couldn't help but chase them down, interrupt their lunch and introduce our group.

Samana breakfast

In the ensuing conversation they mentioned there was a sister who is an immigration lawyer who just happened to be around the corner selling jewelry to cruise ship passenger on the scenic harbor front.  They took us to meet her and she gave us more free advice standing under a blue vendor's awning ocean side than we received in a paid half hour appointment at a stuffy, rather musty smelling lawyer's office. Literally, her advice saved us from needing a 3rd return trip to Canada as she informed us of some requirements that we had never heard.  Again, Jehovah and our brothers came to our rescue.

Ottawa coffee break

A few days later we were back on a plane to Canada for a stay of little more than 2 weeks, but now we had hope.  We opted to fly to Ottawa and stay with friends. This was a good/bad trade-off. It has a much better timezone for teaching (4:30 am start) but us West Coaster now living in the DR are way too wimpy for the Eastern Canada winter weather! First stop, VV Boutique for touques (that's beanies for the Aussies) scarves, sweaters and gloves. We borrowed some coats and we even braved a few days in the ministry while we were there.

Ottawa friends

 Ottawa was the better choice for other reasons too. That way we would be able to go personally to the embassy and other government offices to work things out. We also got to enjoy the loving hospitality of new found friends. What a loving, warm brotherhood to which we belong. How wonderfully Jehovah cares for us through the kindnesses of our brothers. Thanks so much to our new family in Ottawa - Nikki, Denise, Arthur and Matt. 

After 2+ weeks and many dollars we were back on a plane returning to DR. A week later we finally made the trek to Santo Domingo for visiting the Immigration offices. While there we enjoyed the warm hospitality of Ruby, Laura and Marron, former Puerto Plateños (thank you very much sisters).

Arriving at the offices early the next day we hurried through 3 or 4 processes only to sit and wait, and wait and wait and wait ... While there we met another Witness family of 3 who had been to immigration 7 times trying to get their Visas approved. That was a shadow of things to come. After 3 hours waiting we got the call.  One of the documents from Canada had the wrong month for my birthday. Thanks to that error that piece of paper currently valued at $150 US will likely end up costing us $400 US once it is replaced.

So here we sit, determined to continue, yet battered and bruised by a needlessly confusing gauntlet of incompetence and misinformation. By ourselves this would be impossible, but with Jehovah's help all things are possible! We will endure.

House Problems
We were handed a gift on a silver platter.  When Rachel was having a hard time in Bolivia and we needed an option that would be emotionally and physically possible we had a furnished apartment waiting for us.  All we needed to do was board a plane and arrive with our clothes.  It has been like refreshing waters to our soul. Thanks to Kevin and Celina who helped arrange it for us and did so much when we arrived.

But gradually we realized that although this was a nice stepping off point it was not really a long-term solution. The center of town is convenient for shopping and walking to the Kingdom Hall, but us country bumpkins like a more rural life. The noise during Christmas celebrations was not heard but was felt. Neighbors are too close.  We were now ready to think long-term as we had invested so much into immigration, furniture and a vehicle. So we started looking for a long-term home.  Over the course of weeks we viewed 15 possible future homes.  Finally we had enough information to make a choice.

We contacted the rental agent and let him know we wanted the apartment. He urged us to get down there with the money immediately because someone else was interested.  We were there within minutes. He shuffled in 20 minutes later looking dejected and said; "Lo siento, it's already rented."

Disappointed we went to choice number two.  As we drove up we saw another rental agent showing it to an interested person. Even choice two was evaporating. "why?" we thought.  "Why isn't anything working out?"

Later that day, though, we get a phone call that a brother's house was now available.  It was everything we ever wanted but would never have imagined we would get. Jehovah and our brothers were truly kind to us again.


Car Problems
Here in the DR cars are expensive.  We bought a little 2003 Diahatsu Terios, a jeepita. The brother who sold it to us gave us a good price, but nonetheless cars here are expensive.  In Canada we might have paid $2,500 dollars for this car.  In DR it cost $6000.  Then on our first weekend with the car I had a talk scheduled in a neighboring city. A third of the way into the journey the engine overheated and blew the head gasket.  The brother had warned me that it had heating issues but I hadn't been paying close enough attention to the gauges as I was preoccupied protecting us from the rather suicidal manner everyone drives here to which I wasn't accustomed.

Thanks to the dear brothers, Dave and Kevin, who came and dragged the carcass of my car back to the mechanics where Kevin wrangled a deal and got us a motor with only 100,000 km and a refurbished radiator for $1000 US including installation.

The Conclusion of the Matter
 Through all of the problems we see that Jehovah was beside us all of the way.  We didn't always see it at the time, but he never left us on our own. He helped us learn patience and endurance but he gave us even more than we ever thought.

Dinner with the Pioneers

In the end we had the opportunity to get to know some of our wonderful and kind brothers even better, we have online work that is a gift, we live in a beautiful country where there is a fruitful ministry, we have nice home even if only for a short while, we now have a car with a very reliable engine and we're almost fully immigrated residents.

What lies ahead?  Uncertainty!  But we need not be afraid.
 

Update about changes

Yes, we were in Canada for 5 hectic weeks. We traveled from Vancouver to Summerland to Castlegar to Calgary to Duncan to Lake Cowichan to Sooke to Salt Spring Island to Victoria to Parksville and back to Sooke.  We wanted to see EVERYBODY but it just WAS NOT possible.

Tubing down the Cowichan River

Although it was busy we did manage to get some relaxation time.  We spent 2 days camping in Cowichan Lake and we got to tube down the Cowichan River on the August 1 long weekend.

Victoria Symphony Splash fireworks

 We also took time to see the Victoria Symphony Splash - where they float a large barge in the Victoria Inner Harbour and have the local orchestra put on a free concert. It ends with Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture set to an amazing fireworks display.

Victoria Symphony Splash

This year over 40,000 people attended. So it was very nice that we were able to run into a few friends.  We even saw Joel and Stef who are serving as Need Greaters in St. Kitts but were back visiting family and friends.

Parksville Sandcastle Competition

And at the end of our trip we even made it up to Parksville to visit friends and check out the Annual Sandcastle competition.  This year's theme was 'Good vs Evil', or something to that effect.











For those we missed seeing this time, we will be back to Canada in May, which is not too long from now.  We hope to see you then.  Please send us an email to let us know how things are going for you.  We'll try to keep you updated with the blog as things happen.  If you subscribe you will get emails directly to your inbox every time we post an update.

By now likely most of you have heard that we moved to a new country. If not, here is an overdue update.

It was a hard decision to make. Incredibly hard.  With 6 days left until our return ticket flight back to Canada we were struggling to make a decision ... 'what to do? Stay the course and hope for the best? Make a change?'

After almost a full year in Bolivia we were enjoying the service and results but we were burning out because of so many reasons ... the largest being the language hurdle.  We were feeling awful about considering abandoning our congregation, but we were becoming less and less useful as the stress added to constant bouts of sickness and induced negative emotions.

For 2 months we considered other options within the country.  We checked out the 2 English options, one brand new group in La Paz and one brand new congregation in Santa Cruz. We also checked out a Spanish congregation in Sucre that our CO wanted us to support.  But we had waited too long to consider making a change.  As Paul had said, it was as if we had been 'poured out' and now didn't have much left to give.

So here we were with a decision to make.  Our lives have been blessed very well to enable us to reach out as need-greaters; I have the online job, we currently have no family obligations in Canada, we are young enough to handle some of the rougher living conditions of developing countries and we have a burning desire to do 'what we can' within our new found limits. We didn't want to give it up and head home.

So back to 6 days before our return ticket flight back to Canada.  We were in Sucre at the time.  As usual I got up at 5:40 am to start my online job at 6:00 am.  Rachel was laying in bed knowing we needed a decision. She decided she wanted to move to the country that was our second choice when we wrote the branches a year earlier, the Dominican Republic.  We have long time friends there, it has many English congregations, it is closer to home, and it has many other benefits.  Knowing that it would require a lot of upheaval in our lives she prayed that Jehovah reassure her that it is the right choice by having our friends from the DR call right away.  We usually talk every couple of months and we had already talked recently and were not expecting a call.

She continued to lay in bed while I taught.  At the end of my class I checked on her and asked if she was any closer to a decision.  She told me she wanted to move to the DR.  I said good and we should call our friends there as they had tried to phone on Skype as I was just starting my class and I didn't answer. After we contacted them we found out they had a two bedroom furnished apartment they used as an income earning suite that they had just informed the landlord they wouldn't be needing.  After talking with us they called him right away and reserved it for us. An hour later I had the flights booked.

We wondered how we could 'tie up' loose ends in Bolivia in just 6 days.  We didn't want to have a garage sale - too much stress.  So we called the landlord and offered him everything in the suite for 25% of what we had paid for it on one condition - that he let friends stay there until the end of August.  We had paid rent until the end of August because we knew that we would be in Canada for parts of July and August.  Because of that trip we also had promised some potential need-greaters that they could stay at our place. They had contacted us months earlier through this blog and had requested to stay for a month in Oruro while they "spied out the land".  We asked our landlord to honor our commitment to them.   He agreed and bought everything.

So the next day we flew to Oruro and packed our things. Two teary-eyed days later we were in La Paz celebrating an early anniversary before our return to Canada.

Through the process of learning our limits we have drawn ever closer to our wonderful creator who is so patient and full of loyal love.  What a reassurance knowing he listens to us and answers in such a timely way.  Truly, as he promised, he is close to those who 'are crushed in spirit' and he saves them.

We feel thankful to still be able to serve in an area where year after year there is great increase.  Not because we personally get to help many learn the truth, but more because it is teaching us to rely on Jehovah and to include him in our decision making.  He becomes more and more of a close friend to us as we put him 'to the test.'

Mofongo

So that is why we moved to the Dominican Republic.

Once we arrived it brought back memories of our last visit in November of 2012.  We got to eat 'mofongo' again.  It's a mixture of plantains, cheese and bacon - all mashed together in an over-sized egg cup.  Delicious!!!

MotoTaxi -there's 3 of us on a 150cc

One of our first experiences here was going to the English Convention in Santiago. Of course, the method of transportation is not quite the same as Canada or Bolivia.  We caught a 'Moto Taxi' (a motorcycle taxi) to the bus station. The bus dropped us on the side of the highway and we had to run to make it 'almost' on time to the convention.

2015 RC with Kevin, Celina and Suzi

 It's a beautiful open air Assembly Hall.  Our only complaint was the heat. We have been told that it's an especially hot summer.  However, we enjoyed the program immensely! It was our first Regional Convention this year.  We have also been reunited with our long-lost friends from Pachuca, Mexico.  The picture is after the Friday program with them and their English speaking bible study from Germany.

We moved ...

Update coming soon.

Learning our limits

The last month we did some traveling. I was in need of a change. Let's just say in Oruro I learned my limits.  It was a much tougher assignment than I would like to admit. Both the Spanish language and the poor living conditions took their toll on me. I was curious of what other options there are in the country.  Thus we went to check out 2 newly started English groups and a Spanish congregation the Circuit Overseer suggested as they are in desperate need of help.

Service group in La Paz English

Our first stop was La Paz. In the past we spent plenty of time in the city for immigration paperwork. This time we were here with the idea of possibly supporting a new English group.  It was refreshing to enjoy a meeting in English delivered by a local missionary brother.  The La Paz English group is a small group of 12 publishers that is more like a family than a congregation. Yesterday we heard that they just started weekly Public talks and Watchtower studies.  We joined them in the ministry for a couple of days.  There is some house-to-house territory, but mostly the preaching is approach work in the plazas.  We can see that there is plenty of work to do as the city is full of tourists and foreigners who live here. Thus there is a desperate need for more help if anyone wants to come "apoyar".  The couple assigned to start the English group (Pablo and Candi - on the far left in the picture) are also assigned to start the La Paz Chinese group.  One big draw to La Paz is the international feel, we enjoyed a variety of food - Japanese, Chinese and Western cuisine. What a nice change from the usual greasy chicken and fries we get in Oruro!
 

Bolivian Bethel - Santa Cruz

Residence buildings at Bolivian Branch

Our next stop was Santa Cruz. It is on the other side of the country, about a one hour flight away from La Paz.  It is a much lower elevation (400 m / 1,400 feet compared to 3,650 m / 12,000 feet) and tropical.  Unfortunately we did not get to enjoy the tropical feel as it was overcast and raining the whole week.  But it was a real treat to visit the branch and even enjoy a night's accommodation and a few meals there. It's interesting how the building isn't constructed according to local building standards but, as everything with Jehovah's organization, it was done right. 

Lidia, Andrea, Miguel, family and friends

After our stay at Bethel, we were invited to stay with a family close to Bethel.  The sister (Lidia) is a single mother with 4 children.  Her oldest daughter works in Patterson.  Her other two daughters (Andrea and Mariaella) live at home but are day-time workers at the Bolivian Bethel and attend the English congregation. We first saw them repairing the air-conditioning units while on our tour. They are repair women at Bethel. Her son (Miguel), the youngest, also lives at home and understands English, so it was easy to get to know them and their amazing, "make you want to cry" story. I don't want to post their personal life on the blog but if anyone is interested send us an email or ask us in person and we'll relate their account.

Dinner with Santa Cruz English Congregation

Next, we visited Santa Cruz to check out English group. There were only 25 or so publishers. The week following our visit they officially became the first English congregation in the country, having all their meetings in English.  They also moved to a Kingdom Hall closer to the Bolivian branch.  Many of the Bethelites were encouraged to attend and learn English so that they would have the opportunity to go to Gilead.  With the Bethelites that are now attending there are about 40 publishers and 11 elders in the congregation. But there is still a huge need for native English speakers to help in the congregation and support the midweek service as the Bethelites cannot. 

Book fair public witnessing in Santa Cruz

While we were in Santa Cruz we had the opportunity to share in field ministry one morning doing business witnessing.  We also got to see the preaching stand set up in a book fair, much like the one that was highlighted on the May JW Broadcasting program. Near the end of our visit Troy had the privilege of giving a public talk.  After the meeting we were invited out by the congregation to enjoy some delicious Italian food with the brothers at a local restaurant. As you can see, most of the congregation came.

Toucan paid us a visit

Troy with a Tapir

There is a large zoo in Santa Cruz that we visited.  It is a little sad as all the animal enclosures are quite small.  But at the same time it was nice to get interactive with some of the animals. Troy got up close and personal with this odd looking Tapir, even getting a kiss.  The highlight was visiting the large bird enclosure. Walking along the elevated boardwalks hundreds of different types of birds were flying and screeching overhead, some even landing near and pecking us.

Early morning view from our window in Sucre

Our 3rd stop, Sucre, was a beautiful, colonial city.  It is more in the middle of the country with an elevation of around 2,800 m / 9000 feet.  That is about the same elevation as when we lived in Pachuca, Mexico, but with much warmer weather as it's closer to the equator.  It's a quaint, historic city of white buildings with red clay rooftops.  It offers nice restaurants and actual supermarkets. We saw many tourists in the city and there are several brothers from different countries supporting the local congregations. 

Selfie with Carmen and Sonia

 This was the city with the congregation the Circuit Overseer asked us to consider supporting. They have 2 elders but both were out of the country for 3 months for work, overlapping during parts of June and July.  They have a large territory to cover including the isolated territory village of Yotala, 45 minutes out of town.  As a comparison in Oruro we "covered" our territory every month whereas in Sucre it is "covered" every 3 months. As well, they just started conducting one meeting a month out in Yotala (isolated territory). At the June Yotala meeting, 11 people from the community attended and 2 of them commented at the Watchtower study.  What a joy it was to meet the 2 missionaries from Mexico, fleshly sisters, who are assigned to congregation America.  They are 2 of the most loving sisters we have ever met. The congregation really reflects their love. Everyone in the congregation was very loving and hospitable. While we were there for a week we were invited to stay with a couple from Arizona. Alonzo and Judith were a great help to the congregation but needed to return to the USA to help the infirm parents.

Troy's first Spanish talk

Finally we returned to Oruro after 3 weeks on the road.  After changing elevation 4 times I learned that not taking the altitude medication was a bad idea.  I was sick again but my body fought back and after a few days I was back to normal.  We stayed for a week in Oruro before temporarily moving to Sucre to help during the time period that it was without elders.

While in Oruro Troy finally gave his first public talk in Spanish. It went fairly well considering he only had 9 months of Spanish learning.

Dinosaur footprints

We stayed in Sucre another 4 weeks helping out. Sucre is also known for the largest paleontological site in the world (or so they claim).  When we finally found it, we saw thousands of dinosaur footprints.

While we were there Troy was invited to give his second talk in Spanish for a neighboring congregation. This one went much better!

Anniversary dinner.

Now we are in La Paz once again ready for our flight back to Canada for a few weeks.  Seems that we are leaving just in time.  It's snowing!!!! 

It's our anniversary this month so we treated ourselves to a nice hotel and dinner out. 

We are excited to see friends and family soon.  We have 2 weeks in the Okanagan before heading to Vancouver Island.  We hope to see as many of you as possible while we are back.

See you soon.

Memorial Season update

Back in February we talked about the zone visit. Recently we received an exciting update that despite having only about 24,000 publishers in the country we had over 34,000 in attendance for the Zone Visit, all either recieved the live broadcast or the recorded program later that same day.  Quickly following our Zone Visit we started preparations for the Memorial, Circuit Pioneer Meeting and Circuit Assembly.

2015 Memorial (Friday, April 3)

Stage for the Memorial 2015

What a joy to experience memorials in a land of growth.  We had almost triple our publisher base at the memorial.  We have about 85 publishers and we had 240 at our memorial.  Our Kingdom Hall only seats about 220 with chairs crammed in well beyond what safety regulations or common sense would dictate. We even had to move chairs to provide access to emergency exits.  The extra 20 people that couldn't fit in the main auditorium received the meeting by television / Skype hook up in the second school which is located behind the stage and accessed by walking outside, down the length of the Kingdom Hall and into a separate building. 

As punctuality is not one of the strengths here in Bolivia, we likely had more than the official count at our memorial.  For instance, as we were finishing handing the wine around in the second school someone showed up.  So, we went back to serve him.  It became obvious he was one who attended in response to the invitation and was not a study because he hung onto the wine glass not knowing what to do. I suppose he was thinking 'no one else has wine, I should wait until they are all served.' Being late he did not get the benefit of the Memorial Talk's clear explanation on who should partake.  Our Ministerial Servant quite humorously began to wrestle with him over the wineglass as he started raising it to his mouth and before he could take a sip.  Despite what seemed like an eternity of arm wrestling, nothing was spilled and we were able to return to the Kingdom Hall without incident.

We were happy to have 3 of our bible studies at the Memorial and we took them out for a late dinner afterwards.  What a joy to already see results in our ministry.  I even had the privilege of saying the prayer over the bread. Thanks be given to our neighbor who helped me get the wording right so I didn't say anything stumbling during our most special annual observance.

Full house at the Pioneer Meeting

Circuit Pioneer Meeting (Saturday, April 4)

The day after our Memorial we had the privilege of going to our first Circuit Pioneer Meeting in Bolivia. Again the Kingdom Hall was packed to bursting ... I believe the unofficial attendance was 210 regular pioneers and that was only part of our circuit. 

Demo at Pioneer Meeting

Statistics
2013 service year - 384 RPs in our Circuit (Sucre, Potosi, Oruro)
2014 service year - 456 RPs  (72 more in one year)

Sept 2014 - 1743 publishers
Mar 2015 - 1832 publishers (89 more publishers in 7 months)

A new congregation is formed every year in our circuit.  The circuit is growing so fast that it was announced that we would be forming a new circuit as of July 1, 2015.  For the first year the Pioneer Schools we be held in all 3 cities (Sucre, Potosi and Oruro) to help with the backlog of Pioneers waiting to go through the school for the first and second times.

Rachel and I even got to be in a demonstration at the Pioneer meeting.  I loved hamming up the "bad pioneer" bit.


Circuit Assembly (Sunday, April 5)

Rented arena set up for the Circuit Assembly

Immediately after the pioneer meeting ended we rushed home, gulped down some lunch and sprinted back to the Kingdom Hall to collect the cleaning supplies from the 'deposito' (or storage locker).  And then raced to the assembly site and we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more, until about 10:00 pm at night.  Rented facilities here are not handed over in good condition.  You could literally write your name in the dust that blanketed every nook and cranny of the facility.  We swept and washed the floors, we washed the lime stained, brick walls, we scrubbed and disinfected the washrooms, we covered the basketball floors with rubber carpets we rented - which of course had to be swept and washed clean of the confetti and spilled beer from the last event, we washed the windows, we removed bags of garbage from the outside lot ... the list is endless!  It was hard work and it was lovely to see the willing spirit of all the brothers that helped.

The assembly started. I relaxed into my chair in the cleaning department office and was just about to start taking notes when one of the brothers who was involved with the morning washroom clean came running into the room. "We're out of water in the washrooms!" he blurted out.  Well our department head was the morning program chairman and our first assistant was in the president's office waiting for his turn to give the 3rd talk of the morning. "Oh joy!" as 2nd assistant I get all the fun! That was the last moment I had to enjoy the program all day.  From that point on we were trucking barrels of water from a tap 500 meters away, quite appropriately situated in the middle of what seemed to be a small bog, to the convention site. Once there we carried them by bucket up to second floor washrooms where temporary hot-tub sized water drums were waiting to be filled.  From there brothers and sisters scooped water to flush toilets and wash hands. It wouldn't have been too bad except it started to pour in the early afternoon and the tap we were using to fill the barrels slowed to a mere trickle.  Thus we had to close 3 of the 4 washrooms by the late afternoon and we were soaked just keeping the 1 washroom supplied with water.

The clean up after the assembly was assisted by even more brothers.  We fortunately had the baptismal pool water we could use for cleaning.  Still we didn't get home until about 9:00 pm that night after finishing the final clean and making sure all the dinky little trucks used for trucking were loaded and dispatched to the 'deposito' once more. 

Rachel's interview during the Baptism Talk

So I'm looking forward to working in a different department next assembly!  ;-) (nudge, nudge, winky face to you know who).

During one of the times the barrels were being filled, I managed to sneak away and record Rachel being interviewed during the baptism talk.  It was wonderful to see her speaking Spanish before a large crowd of 1,300+ attendees.  It brought tears to my eyes!  It was either that or the sting of the salty sweat that was rolling down my face.  Either way my very shaky, overworked arms captured the worst quality recording you will ever be blessed to see.

Service Updates

We are up to 7 regular, sit-down style studies now.  We have about double that in studies but it is hard to keep them regular - whether because of our sicknesses (yes, I'm home sick in bed now and that is why you are getting an update) or cancellations on their part. 

For the first time a couple of weeks ago, the mother of a 20 year old that we study with sat in on the study.  The daughter was holding her baby in arms, her mother and 8 year old sister were seated beside her.  As we sat on chairs in the yard enjoying an outdoor study in the warmth of the sun, it was nice to reflect on the fact that we were helping 3 generations of that family draw close to Jehovah ... 4 if you count the cocoa chewing, Pachamama worshiping, grand-mother who was busily working in the yard pretending to ignore us.

Rachel Public Witnessing at the AutoVenta

Just last week we got one of our irregular studies pinned down to an appointment.  Their 13 year old daughter has been haranguing them to get us over again (it was likely 2 months since our last visit). They were ones with whom I got irritated because they kept missing appointments and they live at the far end of our territory, 20 minutes away by bus and 5 minutes of walking.  So I uttered the words "they're dead to me."  Well, while we were walking down the street in service the other day, they drove by us, stopped the car and made another appointment.  We went back Thursday and had a study with the oldest daughter (17), mother and baby.  She stated her 13 year old daughter was heart-broken that she had school and couldn't be there for the study. So she begged us to come back on Saturday when the whole family could be there.  So Saturday we trudged back, half expecting they wouldn't be there, but - Lo and Behold - they were all there!  They even invited over a 20 year old niece for the hour-long study.  What a joy it was to study with a group of 5 eager students sitting around us on bricks and stumps.  If only we can keep them regular from this point forward!

And finally there is our public witnessing.  Just some quick stats - last month the totals placed at our literature cart - 469 mags, 137 brochures, 37 books and 165 tracts. We also placed about 20 DVDs with all the Caleb, White Board Animations and many other videos burned onto them for the numerous kids that frequent our stand. 

Demonstrating a study at Public Witnessing

What results do we get other than just placements?  In just 2 days we received 8 requests for bible studies.  Also, a 14 year old boy that frequents the stand came by 3 times in just one day last week. The second visit he brought his friend and her mother who also requested a bible study. With him he had one of the magazines with the coupon filled out on the back and asked where he should send it to get his free copy of the Bible Teach book.  So I gave him one from my service bag and showed him the Bible Study process.  The third visit he brought his little brother.  Now they were some of the children who received the DVD the month before. The wonderful effects of the videos on the young ones can be clearly seen.  We were elated hearing him and his brother say they wanted to be Jehovah's Witnesses when they grow up.  And the 2 of them stood there and sang along to the Caleb song that was playing on the tablet (we usually display videos while doing the public witnessing as it draws more attention).  They had already memorized the words and were singing along with the Bethel video song.  I would have taken a video if I could have done so discretely. We are currently trying to get his parents to allow him to study.

So our hearts are brimming with joy.  It even helps reflecting on some of the highlights of our past month or so while I lie here in bed.  Hopefully my improved mood will be curative for my health.

Steak and Ale pie at English Pub

Paperwork

Yes, we are still doing paperwork for living here.  We loved how in a recent Watchtower it talked about the conditions being just right for the expansion of the Good News in the First Century and how Paul would have traveled without needing to worry about immigration and customs.  How we LONG to live in such conditions. Last weekend we decided on a last minute trip to the Embassy in La Paz to procure a legalized copy of my passport.  Bank machines are changing here and many do not work with our bank cards. Thus the need to get the paperwork in place for online, international, electronic funds transfers. 

While in La Paz we gorged ourselves on traditional English food at the English Pub. What a wonderful treat!  It was a whirlwind 2 day trip and the likely cause of my current sickness, but it was a refreshing break from the everyday.

Lots of love from us to you.  We are missing and looking forward to visiting many of you on our return to Canada in July 8 - Aug 14.  If you have some free time, drop us an email and we can let you know our itinerary.  We would love to see you!