After our 'acclimating day' Tuesday, on Wednesday we felt better and were ready to roll! Josue picked us up in the morning and took us back to where he and Jania have settled, a town called Tumbaco which is about 20-30 minutes from Quito. Since we hadn't been more than a block from the hotel since we arrived, the ride there allowed us to see how beautiful the green mountain terrain around Quito is. Unfortunately, the pollution that just pours from the buses and cars is brutal and causes a stark contrast - emissions standards maybe aren't quite the same here. When we got to Tumbaco, we hung out in Josue & Jania's apartment to wait for Jania to come back from a study. She was running late and when she FINALLY made it back, she was completely unapolagetic about the study being so good that she couldn't leave...(can you believe that?).

We then split up - Samantha went with Jania and Elsie (a sister from Oregon) and I went with Josue - and headed out to their return visits and studies. The first stop was a study Josue has with a couple who operate a 'Porta Cabina', which seems to be some kind of small payphone shop and cell phone store (these shops are apparently everywhere here). The study was fantastic from what I could gather from my quiet, English-only perspective of a sometimes rapid Spanish conversation. I wasn't able to contribute at all (except smile and look up scriptures with them) but I thoroughly enjoyed watching Josue conduct the study with this couple. They were humble, asking questions, thoughtfully reasoning on the scriptures Josue was showing them, and were completely engaged in the study. At one point, the husband got a pen out and underlined a particular scripture that Josue had asked him to read. Everyone we talk to who has spent time preaching here says that sincere studies like this are common. Samantha also had some good experiences with Jania and Elsie. Apparently they gave her a brief presentation in Spanish for a tract and so she went over to offer it to a little old lady. Well, I guess the little lady was not too happy about it at all. She was Catholic and Sam says she basically chewed her out. Oh well, I guess it happens here, too! She did have some good experiences and has a couple of funny stories from the rest of the afternoon but I'll have to have her write about them and post.

There is one thing here that is apparently common but really caught me off guard: nursing mothers seem to have absolutely no issue with just popping it out and feeding their kids in public. In fact it is such an afterthought that they'll do this right in front of you, right in mid-sentence, and never lose a beat. This happened during Josue's study I mentioned above and it took me completely by surprise. One moment I am quietly marveling at how humble and sincere this couple is, the next moment I look up from my bible and the wife has lifted her shirt and is sticking her nino's mouth on the feeder. Ah!!! I guess Josue is used to it already because he never lost a beat either - he continued with his question like nothing happened and she went on to answer while nino had a late lunch.

Thursday we hung out in old town Quito with a missionary couple who has been in Ecuador for over 40 years. They had some good experiences to share and we really enjoyed their company.

It is amazing how many brothers and sisters from the NorthWest are down here or have been down here in the past. One sister, Rose Cyrus, used to be in the same congregation as Sam in Eatonville, WA and now lives in a town 2 1/2 hours North of Quito called Atuntaqui. She came down Thursday night so we could all ride the bus back up to her house Friday morning. Major round trip for her but I was too chicken to try getting up there byourselves. It's going to be interesting getting to our other destinations around the country next week. Maybe we'll know Spanish by then and it won't be so bad - we've been studying...

Rose took us around the last couple days and we went to a local fair that only occurs twice a year (good timing, huh), an amazing local weekly market, and to her meeting today (Saturday). The fair is apparently a big draw and turns this little quiet town into a busy and loud affair in the town center. A major draw for the fair is a long parade through the city streets of floats and groups of dancing children that I understand to represent nearby indigenous Indian tribes and maybe some other groups. The kids were adorable in their little matching outfits, and you have to hand it to the adults who got these little ninos and ninas to perform their little dance routines (more or less!) to the music down the parade route. We really enjoyed it! There was one exception for me, though. One group had an older boy and girl leading the dancing for the little ones. Well the boy just struck me odd. He had so much energy and was twirling and dancing and shaking it like I've never seen a man or boy be able to shake it. It was similar to the Hawaiin luau girls on the islands. I don't know if I will be able to ever go salsa dancing again for fear I might accidentally look like that. On another note, the music really cracked us up. You see, every float or group of kids (anywhere from 10-20 maybe) was preceeded by a 'sound system vehicle' that played their specific traditional music. These 'sound system vehicles' typically consisted of an old pick-up truck with 2 to 5 large speaker boxes precariously stacked high in the back of the truck. Of course, BUNGIE CORDS were placed around these large speaker boxes to keep these unweildy loads 'secure'. It's a good thing there aren't as many lawyers here as there are in the US. We were cheering just as much for the highest, most rediculously stacked sound trucks as the dancing kids. The other thing that was impossible not to notice was that many groups' 'sound system vehicle' operators had hearing issues. It's the only explanation as to why most had the music turned up so far beyond the distortion point that it was nearly impossible to understand the music. Maybe they used to be able to hear ok at one time but so many years in the 'sound system vehicle' business messed up their hearing. But the kids were really cute.

The local weekly market was also interesting. The locals, including ones like the Kichwa (hope I spelled that right) Indians, make amazing crafts. There is a really cool chess set that I hope to buy where the pieces are represented on one side by conquistadors and the other side by Indians. We did buy some gifts along with a neckless for Sam and had lots of fun bargaining. I think we got good deals, but who knows, they could be still laughing at us Gringos who paid 3 times what a local would.

Finally, I have to tell you about the congregation meeting. This was the first Spanish meeting I've attended in over 12 years, and it was Sam's first Spanish meeting period. We've been working overtime this last week or two trying to pick up as much Spanish as possible, especially as we contemplate whether we can make a move down here. Our Spanish is very limited - and that is an over-statement. At the meeting Sam really impressed me. Here it is, her first Spanish meeting, and she goes on to work up an answer and make a really nice comment in perfect Spanish. Shoot! I had also intended to see if I MAYBE could work up an answer but now I was locked in and simply didn't have a choice - she put the bar up there and now I was sweating it to reach it. I racked my brain and was trying to read ahead and find SOMETHING I felt like I could somewhat pronounce. Well, I'm happy to say that I finally pulled it out on the very last paragraph - whew!

It hasn't even been a week and we feel like we've experienced alot. I don't have time to upload the pics before I run out of battery right now but I will post them when I can. I hope you enjoy this post and we'll try to update you again in a few days if not sooner.

Philia, Clint & Sam