A few photos of the homecoming

 

We had a nice surprise when our friends Trevor and Lucy turned up early at the airport - (not a great photo of any of us but I am sure you realize it was very early in the morning and we had not had much sleep) it was nice to pass the time waiting for Amanda catching up.

Some of Amanda's and Tania's friends arrived with this hard case sign to welcome them home. It drew a bit of attention when one of the balloons popped - everyone needed to wake up anyway!




Cuddles all round when a very tired and overwhelmed daughter finally came through the doors!

Marks Mum makes us a flash celebration drink along with a delicious

roast lamb dinner! (she is very happy to have all her family home in one

place for a little while)

We arrived

Well we are back in good old NZ after an awfully long trip. Mark of course slept no problem and I of course did not, even after taking a supposedly strong sleeping pill. I just decided in the end to roll with it and watch every movie available. I was pretty tired of course when we arrived in Auckland but we had a little wait until Amanda come in from Taiwan. It was exciting though because in between our arrival and her flight - the Brothers and Sisters who had been attending the Hawaiian International Convention came in. So it was quite neat. There was a brother iand sister there waiting for someone who were worried about their son who lives in Ecuador. The hadn't heard from him for 4 or 5 days and they were quite worried. Amazingly we were able to give them good news as he was at the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at in Guayaquil (run by witnesses). So that was a relief for them.
My mum in law made us a delicious lamb lunch and we caught up with my sisters and Mum along with Marks family. So the day went by fast and I fell into bed at around 7pm - and slept until 9.30 am - sure did need it.
We have been sorting ourselves out today and hopefully we will be already to go our witnessing tomorrow. Got to get back into routine as soon as possible.

Ya Extrañar Cuenca!

Just a little something to show you some of the things we will miss about being here in Cuenca. Of course the sights are amazing but it is the people that we have met who have really made our time here so wonderful. You would have been watching an hour long video if I could have put everyone in that we have gotten close to so apologies to anyone in Cuenca that wonders why their photo doesn't appear. You are definitely in our hearts none the less!

Of course there are some things that we won't miss i.e: dogs barking (at us and at night when we are trying to sleep), buses not stopping for you either to get on or off, coming home with aching sore feet everyday, mud (not that there has been a lot of that lately), the power going off at the most inopportune time for hours,or having to limit the amount of coffee drunken for breakfast cause you don't know when you will see a clean toilet next but as a whole the joys we have received here far out way the frustrating things.

Saying goodbye to our "roomies" is the most difficult part and we can't thank them enough for having the courage to live with us. It is really amazing how well we have gotten on together especially as Michele and I worked 12 - 14 hours a day together in the kitchen for the remodel. You know what they say about 2 women in a kitchen! Anyway we have enjoyed immensely the fun times we have had together. Keep up the good work Chad and Michele - we will miss you terribly. Let's hope it is only for a couple of months and we can continue on being your surrogate Mum and Dad (oops Mom and Dad). Oh and Chad thanks for all the yummy scrambled egg breakfasts!

Doug and Lisa and the kids have played a big part in making our time here great too. They have steadfastly encouraged and supported us especially when we were first here, with very limited language skills - so thanks a million guys. Doug we will be thinking of you with your mammoth task of the only elder in this huge congo. Mark will be hankering to get back and help, never fear.

Mark and Rebeka McLesky too - thanks for the help you have given us with our spanish - I hope we don't forget all you have taught us.

Entonces nuestros amigos - muchas gracias por todos! Tenemos mucho cariño para ti! Nunca será olvidaremos nuestra tiempo aquí en Cuenca o nuestros amigos amables y por favor nunca olvidarais nosotros!. Te quiero mucho!
(sorry if my spanish is a little off - as you can see I am still not very good - even with all the help from M &R)

Ok well that's enough from me - I am signing off now and packing the computer away for a few days. I will try and post now and again while we are in NZ so that you can keep up with our comings and goings if you are interested.

Thanks to everybody for watching and reading our
"Experience in Ecuador"

Pioneer Meeting

We had our end of year meeting early to accommodate Mark and I and I wanted to show you our group. There is actually 18 - you can only see 17 as one of the sisters is a master at hiding - she hates photos. Some of you may recognize Christian (5th from left standing) he has just been appointed as a pioneer along with 4 other young men. Christian is still going to school so has to work very hard for his hours. He is also a fatherless and motherless boy - having been brought up by his grandmother when he was abandoned at 3 years old. She obviously did an awesome job!

Mark's first PT

Just a quick snippet from Mark's first public talk here - in front of a large crowd of 199.

He did very well (of course I am no judge of good spanish) and I was told by many people afterwards that they could understand most of the talk. I'm so proud!!!

This photo cracks me up - I know I have said it before how much we feel like giants but it's still funny all the same! Especially Hermano Jacinto tucked under Mark's armpit - it's hilarious. This family has only recently moved into our congregation (even though they have been in our territory for ages). They are really cute and so zealous. The boys are both baptized and although very quiet lads, they are slowly coming out of their shells.

Last Saturday in Service

With Alexandra a new unbaptized publisher - she asked me to go out with her before we left so I happily obliged as it meant we had to go up to the mountains for the group!

Fitting final day out witnessing (well it probably is as I haven't packed yet) - we got to go in Normas' truck for the last time. You may remember climbing in the back of her truck to go to the territory was our first experience, witnessing here so to finish on the same note was awesome!

Holding on for dear life on the trip down the mountain - as Mark enjoys the ride (of course)

Michele and I stopped by to see this little family yesterday in our travels. They had not been at the meeting lately and I had been missing the kids as they always come up for cuddles when they are there. The Mum and Dad have some troubles and  have become a little discouraged but hopefully they will get back on track soon. Of course I wanted to say goodbye to them so it was a good excuse to stop and let them know we were thinking of them.

What a marathon day it was yesterday - we must have walked the lenght and breadth of our territory and then some. My feet sure take a pounding here and I had to give them a bit of TLC when the day was done. We also had Telephone Witnessing which is getting easier for me but still not my favorite.

Today we are having to get some last minute things done - time is ticking away fast - also we have lunch booked with the Scarborough Family which will be nice. It's going to be a mad last week, with every bit of spare time taken up with saying goodbye to folks. Oh and of course Mark gives his PT tomorrow night and we have invited all our studies to come and listen. It will be great if they all come but I am not holding my breath.