3rd World?

I have been called "Suzy Sunshine", and I know I have a tendency to put a positive spin on EVERYTHING. Sounds like a good trait, but it can have it's down side. I would never want anyone to make a life altering decision based on how I view things (unless, of course, it's the decision to learn what the bible really teaches).
I live in a really nice apartment. It is furnished with what looks like nice furniture. I am going to buy a wicker chair and ottoman because I have been here a month and sitting on the love seat everyday has already caused the foam to squish down. I have no hot water. The landlord is going to install a hot water heater, but only in the bathroom. We have special soap here so that we can wash our dishes in cold water, but most times I am boiling water because it just doesn't seem right.  The air conditioner never goes off in the bedroom.  You can't sleep in the oppressive humidity.  I am going to buy a big fan tomorrow so that might change things a bit. No one can complain about dust the way I can. I have to wipe down everything everyday. It doesn't help that there is a big construction site a block away. Don't come here if you can't climb stairs. Remember, I am on the third floor and we are always encountering stairs in our ministry.
I have been "sick" for a week now with what most would call "Montezuma's revenge". At first I thought I had gotten a parasite so I started to take the medication for that, but it should have gone away right quick, but it didn't so I am now taking my grapefruit seed extract with lots of lime juice and not eating very much. I have lost a lot of weight (the Suzy side of me) and can control things so that I can still be out in service then spend the rest of the day and evening close to the bathroom.
It's 6 am Sunday morning. I just went to make coffee and heard the big gate at the front of our property open. (Everything is behind locked gates here.) There is a big water truck out front which is really good news.  Last night I was cleaning up after cutting up some fruit and there was no water. I had been warned that this could happen. Our cistern was bone dry and my neighbor was trying to get a hold of the landlord.  We have a really good landlord. I know this because I have spoken with others who have had to wait for days for water.
AND Manta smells bad! Maybe not horrible all of the time (Suzy, again), and maybe I'm getting used to it, but when we go out of town, even just to the next town for service, when you come back you get a whiff of the fishy, port city that it is.
While trying to maneuver around my washer that I have to put in the bathroom to do laundry, I fell on the toilet seat and broke it.  Oh well, stuff happens, but you don't think about how you have to get a new toilet seat and carry it home in the taxi.
There is always good news and bad news. Yesterday I came home and there was a new microwave oven waiting for me. Only problem is I spent an hour trying to find a manual on line because all of the instructions are in Spanish.
So, is life easy here? Am I just on an extended vacation? Is this really retirement? If that was the case I would have picked an easier place to live and I could even find that here in Ecuador, but I will tell you what makes it all worthwhile. Yesterday I got to stand out in the heat and watch hundreds of people get off of a huge cruise ship and mill around the open market that was set up just for them.  I got to watch as they looked, with curiosity, at our literature cart.  I got to talk with a couple from Niagara Falls, Canada and give them a tract. We talked about JW.org and they had not heard of it before. Then I met a brother and sister from Austria. They were on a month cruise celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary, but the brother wanted to tell us how happy he was that he was able to witness to people on the ship everyday. He was so excited to be able to help people know Jehovah. That's how I feel.

A Need To Vent

Really, I need to talk. I've come to the realization that there is no one to talk to.  I went from so many to none.  I've always said that change is good and I still believe that, but sometimes change is hard.
I have had a bad week. I very rarely get sick, but I have been sick for a week.  I'm not dealing with it very well.  Started out with allergies, turned into sinus infection and now it has gone respiratory. Started coming on Monday night. I had to go to the legal office Tuesday to check on my visa or I wouldn't have left the house. I haven't left the house since. Perhaps I just need to get used to the weather or living with air conditioning or I just tried to do too much, I don't know, but I don't like being sick.  Sick males you feel sorry for yourself.  I have so much to be grateful for that I don't like the self pity.  Sick doesn't allow you to do what you want to do so that is upsetting. On the positive, sick has made me understand the chronically sick better.  I will pray for them even harder.
What I really want to do is be out in the preaching work.  I feel that this is my main purpose in life and when you can't do what you are meant to do it is worse than being sick. It's crippling.
The friends here are wonderful, but they don't really know me yet.  A few have checked in, but they don't know if I just don't want to be bothered.  How could they? I don't know that myself. I know I could call any one of them and they would be here with anything I needed, but I don't know what I need.
 I can't talk with my friends or family back in the States.  Phone calls don't happen because it's too expensive. Amanda and I have a plan and I can talk with her on the phone, but there are so many variables. The time difference is hard.  I am constantly considering what the family is doing 3 hours earlier. When I am most available they are sleeping.  I am assuming it's the same for them. They are busy with life as am I. It's not their fault that I have been isolated for almost a week and they are on vacation.  So, I went from talking to my daughter everyday ( sometimes many times in a day) to not talking to her for days. So there you are. No one to talk to.
In the middle of this I tried to blow myself up! It's kind of funny now, but it also made for some more revelations.  Still, even though not feeling well, my comfort comes from cooking.  There are so many things I want to try here because the ingredients are so different I am so curious as to how to make them work.  This week I made dinner rolls, cookies, spaghetti sauce, quiche, meatloaf. Yep, been experimenting. Most turned out pretty good.  My stove is hooked to a gas tank under the counter.  Probably because I couldn't smell (stuffy nose) I didn't realize I had turned the gas on much before I put the lighter to the oven.  HUGE explosion!  Well, it was to me.  It, of course, could have been much worse. After all, I'm still alive. When I realized that there was no fire and I was still alive I went to the door in time to hear my neighbors below me hollering up, "Are you okay"? I yelled back that I was and then ran to the bedroom to get the tea tree oil because I knew I was burned.  Mark was assessing the situation.  Basically the stove had blow UP.  Everything went up.  All of the racks inside went up, the burners went up and the pot of spaghetti sauce went up. When everything came back down it didn't land in its proper place.  Mark put the stove back together ( do you believe it, nothing was broken) I cleaned up sauce from everywhere.  Mark lit the stove and oven and I proceeded to bake the cookies that were waiting to go into the oven. My hand and arm hurt really bad for a couple of hours, but the tea tree oil did its trick and I don't have any residual effects. I do have singed hair on one side of my face, but I'm wearing that as a badge of survival (stupidity).
The revelations? I am not as invincible as I might think. Anything can happen at any moment. AND I still love it here.
This place is crazy. Mark said, "Welcome to Ecuador". I will learn, I just hope it isn't always the "hard way". Okay, I feel better. Not the sick, but the emotional.  Seems this might have worked, because I am thinking I am talking to you.  I'm okay, I hope you are too. Thanks for letting me vent.

A DAY

Yesterday I woke up at about 4:30 am. My alarm was set for 5, but I guess I was excited to start the day.  I had been invited by the Guyton family (the friends that live downstairs that have helped me so much to get settled into my new home) to go with them to the country (el campo) to help a small congregation in their seldom worked territory.  This congregation has about 20 publishers, one elder, but their meeting attendance is always around 70-80, which shows the interest.
We left about 6:30. Four Guyton's, Mark, Heather, Jonas (12) and Rylan (10), Karina, and myself.  It would be about an hour and a half drive through some beautiful country.  We made it to the Kingdom Hall just before the meeting for service. The Hall was built about 2 yrs ago. Modest and small with decorative, open pattern bricks between the roof and walls to let in the air that is then moved around by fans.  The seats were filled by the many from our Spanish congregation and the English group that had come to help. The greatest help comes from the brothers who have vehicles so that they can make it out to the territory which was about an hour from the Hall. One of our English brothers even rented an SUV in order to help. When we left the Hall our vehicle had 10.
The terrain was up and down steep hills and dirt roads.  We climbed higher and higher with cliffs that just seemed to drop off the edge of the road. Then we stopped at the side of the road which seemed to be no where.  Our Spanish brother took off up a side road where he had spotted a couple sitting on the side of the road.

This is where we stopped and this is what we were all looking at over the edge of the cliff. Not easy to see, but those are howler monkeys.  There were about a dozen in the trees. The sound they make is unbelievable. I googled them and found a great YouTube, but the sound echoing in the valley is even more awesome. 

After waiting about 30 minutes for the brother to talk with these people (they were very interested and took a lot of literature) we drove up that steep road to find the one house that was up there. There were several open windows so while Alfredo and Heather were talking with this young woman there were other family members listening.  She had never heard God's name before and was amazed when they showed it to her in the bible at Palms 83:18. 

When we turned around in the driveway to go back down the hill these people were coming out of a path with large bags full of cacao. Our brothers jumped out of the car to talk with them.  Not included in the picture are another couple of the friends talking with some more who came out of the trees. Again, they talked for a very long time and placed much literature as these people have probably never heard anything about the bible, but they love God. Hard for us to believe in this day and age that there are still those who have not been contacted, but down the road a little bit we stopped and two of our brothers left us for a twenty minute hike back to a house where they found an older man who had never talked to witnesses before. He was very happy to have company, but very surprised that someone would make that trek through vegetation that harbored snakes.  Thankfully Brother Guyton isn't fearful, but the 40 minutes he spent in the bush not easy.  Slipped in the mud, climbed steep hills, etc. The other car group that was with us had stopped to visit 4 homes down one road. It took them over an hour as the homes were difficult to get to. Our sisters bravely climbed hills and encountered many critters.  I got to get out of the car one time.  The homeowner was not there which was very unusual but the dog was and it didn't like us being there. The Spanish sister I was with had suffered a bad dog bite so she was also very cautious.  The brother came out of the car and placed literature in the gate.  

By now it is after noon so we head back to the town where one of the sisters from the congregation has prepared lunch for us.  She made ceviche and a chicken with rice and spaghetti noodles.  Plantain chips and plenty of water or soda to drink.  We were tired and dirty, but were told that the congregation was planning a little get together for us, so we took a drive over to the brother's house.  We were so happy to be there. We danced and laughed and talked with our new friends, but the best part was eating fresh fruit off of the trees that were all around us.  We were dancing under a cacao tree. That is where chocolate comes from.  The brother opened one of the pods and I was so surprised to see the seeds were green with some fruit around them.  We put them in our mouth and the fruit is sweet and kind of tastes like mango.  When they are dried they turn the brown color we know as chocolate and that amazing flavor comes out.  We stopped at a little place where they sell the dried cacao. You grate it right off the bean.  I bought a piece that would probably cost about $30.00 at Whole Foods for just $2.50.

So, we danced and had a wonderful time and then the brothers started to talk to the crowd about their appreciation for the help.  There were experiences told and hugs and kisses all around.  They brought out a cake and I cried.  This was an experience that I had only read about or seen pictures in the magazines.  I was so blessed to be a part of it.  Two weeks in this country and I am able to see that Jehovah's promise that "this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth" (Matt 24:14) is being fulfilled.

Made the long trip back home.  Got detoured in town by a parade (any excuse here) for the Ecuadorian Soccer team. Stopped at a restaurant for dinner. Mark had the car washed by a guy on the street while we ate. So funny, these guys hang out at busy restaurants and they do a pretty good job.
Life here is great. I wish everyone I know and love could experience this.  I know that isn't possible, but I do believe it is a glimpse of the new world and we will all be living the "real" life soon.

Little Annoyances

Some irritations are because I am in a third world country, but some are because I'm in a third world country and I'm still thinking like I'm not. The washing machine is cute. Sherry will remember the one we used in Otavalo that's called manual even thought it is electric. You put a hose on your faucet turn on the water and fill the tub. Put the clothes in and turn it on and it agitates. When it's done you open the valve so that it will drain. Here in lies the problem. The drain hose comes out of the bottom and I have to drain into my sink. Funny thing is water doesn't want to run uphill. Undaunted, I drained the water into a big trash can a little at a time and dumped it into the sink. Then fill again for the rinse. Drain again, ( I moved the washer into the bathroom so that I could drain into the shower. Still the little lip into the shower was to high) refill, agitate, drain. Then you take the clothes out and put them into the spinner. Standby with the bucket to catch the water spinning off of the clothes. Exhausting, but do-able until you forget to close the drain when you go to fill the tub with the rinse water and by the time you figure this out your apartment is flooded. I've never been so thankful for tile floors. I'm sure the 2 apartments below me are too. And now I have a load of towels to do. Yes, a third world modern convenience, but a brain that just can't grasp that some things don't just turn on and do it all for you. All of you with your fancy washers and dryers (hanging my clean clothes on the line 3 flights down) don't take them for granted.  Isn't it cute?

So, I'm not complaining (even though it does sound like it) just making some comparisons in my own mind.
Now, here's a complaint. You all know I'm a cook. Love to cook, it's my passion, it's my joy, it's what keeps me sane, mostly. My complaint is that things don't taste the same here.
Case in point:
Side story - Tonight there is a going away party for 4 friends that have been here for a month. They are young people who took a month off of work to come to Ecuador to help where the need is great. They are from Germany and they are very sweet wonderful new friends. The group is making Mexican food for the party so I said I would make chicken enchiladas.
I did, but they only vaguely resemble what I made in the States. That's mostly because nothing tastes the same here. I spent over an hour in the local grocery just trying to figure out it they had anything resembling green chilies. I bought a few things that might come close, but when I got to the produce I was excited to find pablano peppers. Not in a can so should be even better, right? Not as much flavor as I would have liked, but I just used more of them. Cream cheese is about the right consistency, but it just tastes like thick cream. The cheese here is just weird. It does melt nice, but the flavor of cheddar and jack is just not what you expect. I'm told that the package says "sour cream" but it is not even sour. Flour tortillas aren't bad, but very expensive. I may have to learn how to make them from scratch. So what I have is not what I want to have, but think most here expect that. They have been dealing with it for longer than me. Good news is that my Butter Almond Cake turned out great and I have won the heart of my neighbor, Rylan. At 10 he has very discerning taste.

Sorry Karina

The last couple of days I have run my friend Karina all over this town. Karina is Ecuadorian and she was so helpful to Sherry and I when we were here in July. She arranged for me to have the apartment I'm in now and is always there to help me with my next requirement. Yesterday it was to a government office to find out the requirements for my 6 month visa. Today it was a washing machine and a phone.
The day started out with me hailing a taxi and this time I got a very rude young guy. Never spoke a word to me. I gave him the address to the Kingdom Hall and he started driving. When ever we passed a pretty girl on the street he honked and starred, but he got me to the right place so guess I'll just be grateful for that.
I got to work with a sister that is visiting from Ohio. We were right on the boardwalk at the beach with the cart. Here's proof. Look at those palm trees. They are loaded with coconuts.

The afternoon was crazy with Karina and I running around from one taxi to another trying to get my phone fixed (didn't happen) and buying a washing machine. Karina had to go help someone else (don't know what any of us would do without her) and I got in a taxi and headed to the shopping center by the apartment. I did a little shopping for incidentals, pot holders, bath rack, cutting board, hooks, cake pan, pie plate, you know, the necessary things in life. The amazing thing was that by the time I got back to the house Karina was there and so was the washer! That's like record time for an Ecuadorian delivery.  Mark, the brother downstairs had unpacked it and checked it all out with the delivery guy and it was on my doorstep.  Wonderful friends are a blessing.

I'M BACK

Needless to say I am very bad at sitting down and writing when there is so much more to do.  When last I wrote I was making plans, the plans turned into doing and bottom line is the target date was met and I am now sitting in my apartment in Manta, Ecuador. I am happy.
Where to start. Maybe I'll just start with today since there was a milestone reached. I live on the third floor of a very nice apartment building that has 4 apartments. There are about 30 stairs that spiral up to my place, very nice tile.  I love it up here because people don't seem to look up.  I can spy on my neighbors and they don't know it. It's a nice neighborhood, very quiet, except for the dogs. Everyone has at least one. There are a lot of cats here too, but they are mostly strays and only appear when you put the trash out. Then it's like you have brought them catnip and they practically attack you. The best part of living here is that there is a family of Witnesses on the second floor just below me.  Mark, Heather, Jonas and Rylan.  Very sweet family that has helped me so much with everything, starting with picking me up at the airport with the family of 4 that I traveled with and all of my luggage.  A blessing for sure.  Mark has an old Toyota Land Cruiser which, he claims, has seem many adventures. It's a rare thing here as I think that among the brothers in our English group there are only 3 or 4 with vehicles. So it's a ride to the Kingdom Hall for me.  Except when I'm going and they are not.  That happened today. My service days are Wednesday through Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off. The family wasn't going today so I had to make my way there all on my own.  I did it! But not without some amusement. My friend Karina (the Ecuadorian sister who has helped me through all of this) wrote down on a piece of paper what to tell the taxi driver.  I handed him the paper and he couldn't read it. He stopped a couple of girls that were passing by and they read it to him.  I managed to understand him when he asked me how much Spanish I spoke and we laughed a lot when I told him Hello, Goodbye, I'm sorry and how much? We got to one corner and he didn't know which way to go and neither did I. We took a chance and went left and sure enough we ran into the Kingdom Hall.  I walked in with the meeting in progress, but everyone was so happy to see me. Trust in Jehovah and you will find your way to the Kingdom Hall.
We had our Circuit Overseer visit last week. First one ever in English for this group. We have the Spanish Overseer next week.  Sunday meeting was a record.  53 in attendance with 7 bible studies! The English group only has 20 publishers.  Service here is so amazing. It's an ongoing census work then calling on interested ones.  We find more Spanish that want to talk about the bible than we do English.  They will talk to us because they like to talk to foreigners.  They may never have heard the Truth if we weren't doing this work otherwise, because they are really steeped in their religious rituals.
So, I'm hoping this will be a trend because it really does help me to put my (all but scattered) thoughts down in writing. There is so much to say, but it can be overwhelming.

This Is Why

I'm sure the feeling will lessen as time goes on, but right now I don't want to be here.  I want to be in Manta, Ecuador.  Actually, I would love to be in the mountains of Otavalo, Ecuador, but Manta is where I will start out.  November 1st is the target date.
After traveling throughout the country and visiting in the mountains, the big city, the beach, small towns, even the rain forest,  I have found that I love this country for its amazing beauty, friendly people, unique way of life, not to mention the food.  If you know me at all you know that the food would be a big draw.  Sherry asked me towards the end of our trip if there was something I was craving from home.  What I was actually craving was Ecuadorian food.  We spent so much time looking for American food in Ecuador that I really didn't try as much of it as I would have liked.  That will be part of my life in the new country.
There is a big rumor that other countries are dangerous.  I had more fear in the LA airport and on the streets of Portland than I did in any town, city or village in Ecuador.  When we walked out of the airport in Portland to get a taxi I was hit in the face with cigarette smoke.  I had not realized that I hadn't smelled or seen anyone smoke in a month! Sherry and I walked the streets after dark in Otavalo with no fear.  We rode on the bus with locals for short trips and long 5 hour trips without a care.  The only time I felt sad was when a taxi driver looked at us with animosity and drove past us.  I'm sure he had probably been treated badly by a Gringo and now didn't want anything to do with us. I fell in love with the indigenous mountain people.  They are meek, gentle, industrious people who run the country.  Isn't that a concept; a country run by the people.  The president wants to change the law that says he can only be in power for so long because he's coming to the end of his term.  Because he is good to the Quichua people and he does what they want he will probably get the law changed. All they want is to live life the way they have for centuries.
I will settle in Manta, a port town right on the beach, because that is where there is a great need for kingdom proclaimers.  There is an English group there and they are affiliated with one of the Spanish Congregations.  When I spoke with the Service Department at the Branch it was suggested that this would be the best fit for me.  Part of the meeting is in Spanish so it will help me to learn the language. There is so much territory that needs to be covered that I will always be busy.  I love the English speaking people there also.  They were so welcoming and helpful. Lots of families with amazing stories of how they ended up in the country.  I am looking forward to sharing those stories with you later.
So, decision made.  I will keep you posted as to how it goes here with the selling of stuff and the visa process, which I hear is a nightmare, and still relating what happened during this visit because there is still so much.  If you are still with me, thanks.