Argentina Bethel tour

In the heart of Buenos Aires is the Argentina Bethel of JW'S.  They have a museum and time line showing how the work has progressed over the years in Argentina and Uruguay.

 My favorite(Taylor) part of the tour was seeing this post of Brother Russel having a debate with differnt religious leaders of that time. Here they are drawn as lions to represent Daniel in the lions pit.  On the chalkboard behind brother Russel some of the ridiculous beliefs of the other religions are written in a very witty way.  

My favorite part of the tour (Kyria ) was getting to hold a working phonograph for the preaching work  it had a secret compartment for a Bible and magazines and it was quite an advanced invention for the time as it was able to be held vertically while continuing to play i almost dropped it in true Kyria style but i try not to dwell on that.

We enjoyed all of the exhibits.  Kyria enjoyed seeing the bike that belonged to one of the very first missionaries in Uruguay. So much so that she wanted to ride home on it. But I told her that stealing from the house of God is bad.  So she left it alone. 

There are lots of languages spoken in Agrentina. The need in all of these indigenous languages is very great in this country  .

How to make a pig go to sleep.

So anyway...  We woke up one morning ready for another day of preaching and sweating when we suddenly realized,"Brrrrrrrrr, Swifty it's cold, like really cold!" Then I see Taylors' eyes light up as she realizes that she can wear a jacket and boots even if for only one day. (In my defense... I am from Southern California and hardly ever had opportunities to wear boots. This was exciting! For a little while at least, then I realized how cold I was and wanted warmth again...)

Sabrina is visiting with her husband from France. They are learning Spanish very quickly being out in the ministry so much. We are benefiting from their French and Reunion Islander cuisines. And we are so very happy to be able to imitate them all the time saying, " Ooh La La!!!" 

 

This is Leo.  She is a special pioneer in our congregation and she is always finding new Bolivian wonders to show us.  This fruit is called - orange spikey fruit with red stuff in the middle. 

She said we could eat it...... So we did.......We are not dead yet but we both seem to be spending more time in the bathroom.

Then Leo's husband Euolifio decided to show us his ancient ninja trick of making a pig fall asleep.

Apparently if you rub it's belly...

...Keep rubbing...

The pig will get so relaxed it will just lie down and go to sleep.

Mission accomplished. 

Sigamos Buscando Primero el Reino de Dios

It's convention time and for the first time it was held in the assembly hall in Santa Cruz. We have been told that is a much better option to having it at the outdoor football stadium. There was 2,000 in attendance Friday and Saturday and close to 3,000 on Sunday with 38 Baptized. The information was so wonderful.  But we are still very excited to go to the English convention in Cochabamba in October. 

This is Julia an unbaptized publisher in our congregation, Julia and her three sisters were at the convention all three days with big smiles on their faces despite the fact they are going through some major trials in their lives. It was very encouraging for us.  (Notice my amazing dress that my beautiful sister made)

At the end of the convention everyone stays and helps to clean up even though it is so hot, like we mean really hot.  One brother said, when he had to put on his suit jacket," Ahora empiezan los aguas termales." (Now begin the thermal waters.) Finally when we were all done cleaning it was time to go home...

Just keep walking

The day before our convention we went to cover the last part of a certain unknown territory. Unbeknownst to us we were heading way out woop woop (aka- the middle of nowhere).

We walked for an hour and realized, "Dude... There are not that many houses out here." "Yea mate, I know. But the brothers want to keep going..."

Walking 2 more hours... saw 4 houses and a super cool birds nest, a sunflower field and sister Elizabeth preached to a lone bike rider just passing by. Elizabeth and I almost got trampled by a herd of angry cows. Once the Bolivian started running I knew I was able to as well.

At the 3 hour mark all of us were either starving or in desperate need of a toilet. That's when the dust storms rolled in... we found out that Bolivian dirt doesn't taste so good and that it has an amazing ability to accumulate and layer itself once it makes contact with your skin. For a while we thought we were getting super tan really fast, but the tan rubbed off.

The 4th hour... trying to sing kingdom songs to keep up the morale of the group. Any taxi that passed we desperately tried to convince to take us back to the mainland and out of the sea of dirt. Kyria tried asking a tractor... finally we found our ride! Mission accomplished. After we got home we reflected on the 4 hour trek and decided it was one of the best service days yet. We love the adventure.

This Is a birds nest.  It actually has 2 levels inside. The birds make it themselves out of dirt and clay. They are apparently indestructible. 

2 new publishers

2 weeks ago we had a special day of preaching here in Pailon inviting everyone to our convention that weekend. 

Alejandro(In the Grey shirt) was preaching for the first time as a newly appointed publisher in the pail on group. Kyria asked him how it felt to be preaching and he replied,  " I feel like I am really living now!" Kyria teared up.

The young man next to Alejandro is named Roberto. He lives in Switzerland currently but was here visiting his family. He learned the truth in Switzerland by filling out an online request fir a bible study on JW.org. He was appointed as a publisher while being here in Bolivia. So this was his first day of preaching as well. 

Needless to say, our whole service group was overjoyed to have such great support and to see the brothers starting their new careers in Jehovahs service. 

It's time for ' Party Dance'! (As the Bolivians say)

That is Rudy. The dance maestro of Cotoca. 

This is Karen, Rudy's sister, also a very good dancer. She could show you a thing or two ( or one hundred things) about bachata dancing. When Rudy and Karen dance together it is something quite special to behold. I can't take my eyes off them, which means I start stepping all over the person that I am dancing with...

Chihoko, the Japanese sister in the back, is going to the neighboring Quechua congregation. She has served in Cotoca for around 8 years and has finally reached her goal to serve in one of the indigenous languages here is Bolivia. Chihoko is such a great support in the ministry and an amazing example for all of us in the congregation. We are happy and sad to see her go. 

Eric( the originator of ' Party Dance) has just gotten accepted to go to the school for single brothers in Chile.  He applied the day he turned 23 and he got accepted 5 months later. He is so excited about it he nearly cried when he told us about how he found out he was accepted. Eric is also very well known around the Santa Cruz area. He has about 5 or more different going away parties being planned for him. That is just a small testament to how great of a brother he is and how much he benefits not only our congregation but any congregation he visits. And we benefit as well because we are invited to all of his surprise ' party dances'! Well done Eric! (And us...)

Once again, once the music was on, we did not leave the dance floor. Kyria and I tore up the dance floor. The Bolivians can't take their eyes off of kyrias Aussie dance moves. ( I didn't allow Kyria to wear her Aussie onesie for those of you who know what that is.) It was salsa, merengue, bachata and other strange Bolivian dances lasting until midnight. 

The brothers and sisters practiced and performed a typical Bolivian dance for everyone. They put a lot of time and effort into preparing it. It was great to be able to see. 

Back in Bo-Lives (say it like an Aussie)

This is just a few hours after we arrived in Bolivia. We are on our way back to the infamous Pailon to visit bible studies and go to the meeting there. We tried to not show how jet lagged we were... Did it work?

This is Yanet. She is 10 years old and she is very smart. We did a review of 8 chapters in the good news brochure and she answered every question with no hesitation. 

Kyria keeps the young ones busy with Caleb videos and after when they show her how they can ride bikes she playfully just pushes them off... Somehow they still really like Kyria...( kyrias response,"that's because I am likable Taylor!")

Cool things we found or had given to us- Kyria found a cool stick bug. 

I was given a huge cherimoya. A return visit climbed up their huge tree to get that for us. We showed our appreciation by getting it all over our faces as we tried to eat it walking to our next return visit. 

At the meeting in Pailon (40 people attended!) the once crazy and loud Greta had just fallen asleep. The poor thing just tuckered herself out coloring. Kyria was on the other side being very jealous because she wanted to sleep too.