Convention in a nutshell

 Ok - without giving too much away - the convention was just great and we enjoyed every minute of it. It really reinforced why we have sold out house and come to serve where the need is great and given us greater impetus to carry on. What a wonderful organization we belong to - we met so many different nationalities - in the assembly hall and out of it - yes Aaron - we wore our badges and it did open up some lovely experiences for us. To relate one  -last night when we walked down to the Malecon (waterfront) for a fish dinner - there were some brothers there. Naturally they came over to say Hi - turns out they are in the Chinese group and of course Amanda was able to speak to them - you should have seen the looks on their faces when this little white girl started speaking - I was so proud of her. It's funny to think how we can identify and be friends immediately with our brothers all over the world - can't quite imagine a group of Catholics, Anglicans or Baptists going up  to strangers and getting the same reception! (Amanda has a photo of this group - hope she puts it on for you to see)

Something real special about the English convention is that here in Ecuador there is so many needgreaters like us and the happy spirit was infectious. on all 3 days. In one of the talks the Brother asked all those in the audience, who were in some form of full time service to raise their hands - nearly brought tears to my eyes to see over 75% of the audience put their hands up (out of around 900 people). No wonder everyone is so happy! If anyone is thinking of doing something like this - I have said it before and no doubt will say it again - get yourselves over here - you will never regret it!

So this year it was very very hot and I couldn't get myself cool enough to take many photos - had to take the customary kiwi photo though and have included on or two others you may find interesting.

Customary Kiwi Photo - a little down on the previous two years

. Come on Kiwi's we need more of you here!

3 of the familia Scarborough - I am sure I haven't given anything away here with the book - you can't tell what it's about!
The Scarboroughs you may remember came  to Cuenca from Georgia - they now serve on the coast

Really didn't eat this - but if I was braver I might have(yep don't think I will ever be that brave). Kid on the bus selling "Choclo con queso" ( maize and cheese)

But I did get to enjoy a yummy mango swirl pina colada (obviously one was enough)

Chad shows how much he enjoyed his food at Tony Roma's

Amanda got to enjoy riding in the back of a truck in peak traffic - it's quite fun really except for all the exhaust fumes - our lungs will never be quite the same!

Quite a few are now learning Quichwa - this young sister is dressed in Native Otavalan Clothes (she was one of many)

Pick a random girl at the bus station and make her point at my son's name - hehe (actually she's not random - this is Megan, one of two chica's who are serving in our congo - from Canada)