Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Pics from Sunday June 26th
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| my girls and I at Angel's after the Sat meeting |
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| Sunday Family Worship, doing a mock presentation |
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| a house in field service (check out the bushes lining their sidewalk) |
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| Aliah and Misty at a "door" |
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| us walking downtown David to get to Picadillys (not a food place) |
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| Tumberellis (sp?) for lunch..decisions, decisions.. |
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| Angel and I (not the most flattering pic of me but I thought you'd like a clear shot of Angel:) |
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| the 'wash' area at the restaurante (so you can see who does and doesn't wash their hands:) |
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| this is after lunch, after getting back to Angels, after napping..and now we are all walking to the bus stop to get to Paul's |
Then we rested at Angel's til the get together at Paul's.. then we bused on up to his house and partied Witness style all evening. It was sooo wonderful!! I took several pictures and a few videos (that I can't get posted on the blog:( The sad part is, when you take pics, yes it captures the visual moment, but only personal memories can capture the feelings you have on the inside as you experience such friendship. The brotherhood is soo diverse and soo loving. I wish everyone in the world could get to experience our brotherhood. And I guess for those that are reading this and aren't Jehovah's Witnesses, I hope you enjoy seeing such happiness amongst us. Some of the friends we've now known for 2 weeks, and others we met that week or day. {Jesus said one of the many identifying traits among his true followers is love. -John 13:35 "By this all will know that YOU are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves."- Not to get preachy, but think for one moment..what Christian religion do you personally know that loves their whole brotherhood without hypocracy, meaning doesn't fight in wars (there are same faiths on both sides of the war) and sees past all cultural differnces? If you thought of any that aren't Jehovah's Witnesses please let me know. I've done the research and haven't found any..} I guess my point is, the love that we share and shared Sunday night at the gathering is ineffable. I hope you can tell that from the pics :)
Monday, June 27, 2011
The Last 2 Days Have Been Awesome!! Again, of course :)
Wow!! I'm surprised I have a minute to write. We have been beyond busy!! I'm waiting in-line for the shower so I have a short while to write :)
Let me catch you interested ones up.. Currently my girls and I are staying at a sister's house near Dolega (it's between David and Boquete). That is where I am 'blogging' from.
So.. Yesterday started with us packing a bit more, and then going out in service in Volcan. Rochelle invited me to go on 3 of her studies that live in Bugaba, so Asa and I and she went. It was such a beautiful ride and I wish that we could stop every inch and take a picture..but we were going Down a mountain..ahhhh
Anyway.. We first went to a call of hers, Maria. Once we got there we saw her, her husband (holding their new baby) down at the river/stream that goes to the river, beside her house. She was washing clothes by hand because the water in that town had been not working for two days. I just love how hard working the Panamanians are and how adaptable they are. And they always, for the most part, keep a great attitude about life. Even if they don't have much. Anyway, Rochelle got down in the water with Maria to help her clean her clothes (I kinda just watched because she was on the last piece of clothing anyway). I was more interested in holding her baby :) hahaha Her name is Maria Victoria and she is now 2 months. She was sooo precious. I waited patiently-ish to hold her, but once it was my turn I rocked her and snuggled with her and really enjoyed her :) awww, the joys of holding an innocent, sweet, beautiful baby..sigh.. Maria, the mom, her study went wonderfully. Too much good stuff to mention, I really am on a time limit and have already been on longer than I meant to be.. (It's after 11p)
Well then we went to another study, and she was just as moved by the truth. And after our great visit with her, we had a small lunch and then went to the final call. It was with two young girls that are sisters, who both speak very good English. They both made very thoughtful comments regarding what they were learning. I have pictures of their home and will get them posted soon.
When we left their home it was 3p. So then we made the nearly 1 hour drive up to Volcan, then I finished packing and cleaning the house (since we were leaving there for good).. and some friends picked us up at 430 so we could get to the meeting in David for the last talks for the CO there. Now remember, in David, tho there are 7 Spanish congregation, there is only 1 English 'group'. And last night there were actually 57 people there!! At least 10 of them were studies (we don't have an official number of the studies tho). It was such a great meeting. Very thought provoking!! We have sooo many goals to work on when we get back home and can't wait to start them!!
After the meeting we said a little bit of goodbyes.. but since we were relying on someone to take us to Angel's house we had to be super quick loading our stuff in a truck and practically running out the Kingdom Hall. So there wasn't much time for tears. Actually tho, when I went to tell Doug and Peggy goodbye I started crying. It was totally unplanned, of course, and caught me by surprise that I cried. They have been sooo loving and kind and it really is impressive to see their zeal for the ministry and for Jehovah and the local brothers/sisters. You would be sooo proud of them (as I am sure you already are:). Well at Angel's we all chatted around for about an hour and then called it a night.
This morning we woke at 630a (at least I did- to go thru our stuff and pull out things for the day).. We all got ready by 8a and then had Family Worship together :) It was great. We each took turns practicing a presentation and that was really fun :) (I got to later use it in the ministry, yay!!) Then we each mentioned an instance of recent of where we could see Jehovah's hand in our lives. That was great to hear my girls say what they felt regarding Jehovah's dealings in our lives, and it made me tear up ;) After FW we caught a bus down to David for service with the CO.
My girls and I were invited to work with the CO and his wife (Shane & Misty) and we had a really enjoyable time!! My girls adore them and so do I. We went to my return visit and that's where I got to use the presentation. It went well and the wife of the house took the tract I was offering about Peace in the New World. All went great this morning in service, unfortunately no outstanding calls, but still we made some progress ourselves.
After service different friends met up with us and we went to Tumbarelis (sp?) for lunch. It was pretty good. I have to say the atmosphere is what really made the place nice. It was the nicest in looks of a restaurante I have been to in Panama. The food was decent, and prices were midranged..
After dinner we bused to Angel's and decided to nap for an hour before going to the brother, Paul's house for association with the friends, volleyball, and food. It was beyond!!! a great time!!! I have pics but will have to wait to post them until tomorrow or so.. I'd love to post them now but would have to dig out my SD computer adapter.. and I can barely move to type.. so .. :(
Anyway, at Paul's we laughed and played and danced and laughed some more and danced some more and played volleyball somemore.. You get the picture. My girls were saying how it was the BEST time!! Agreed. Words cannot express the happiness that you feel when you are having fun with the friends and everyone is loving each other as Jehovah made us to love. It was just beyond words.
Let me catch you interested ones up.. Currently my girls and I are staying at a sister's house near Dolega (it's between David and Boquete). That is where I am 'blogging' from.
So.. Yesterday started with us packing a bit more, and then going out in service in Volcan. Rochelle invited me to go on 3 of her studies that live in Bugaba, so Asa and I and she went. It was such a beautiful ride and I wish that we could stop every inch and take a picture..but we were going Down a mountain..ahhhh
Anyway.. We first went to a call of hers, Maria. Once we got there we saw her, her husband (holding their new baby) down at the river/stream that goes to the river, beside her house. She was washing clothes by hand because the water in that town had been not working for two days. I just love how hard working the Panamanians are and how adaptable they are. And they always, for the most part, keep a great attitude about life. Even if they don't have much. Anyway, Rochelle got down in the water with Maria to help her clean her clothes (I kinda just watched because she was on the last piece of clothing anyway). I was more interested in holding her baby :) hahaha Her name is Maria Victoria and she is now 2 months. She was sooo precious. I waited patiently-ish to hold her, but once it was my turn I rocked her and snuggled with her and really enjoyed her :) awww, the joys of holding an innocent, sweet, beautiful baby..sigh.. Maria, the mom, her study went wonderfully. Too much good stuff to mention, I really am on a time limit and have already been on longer than I meant to be.. (It's after 11p)
Well then we went to another study, and she was just as moved by the truth. And after our great visit with her, we had a small lunch and then went to the final call. It was with two young girls that are sisters, who both speak very good English. They both made very thoughtful comments regarding what they were learning. I have pictures of their home and will get them posted soon.
When we left their home it was 3p. So then we made the nearly 1 hour drive up to Volcan, then I finished packing and cleaning the house (since we were leaving there for good).. and some friends picked us up at 430 so we could get to the meeting in David for the last talks for the CO there. Now remember, in David, tho there are 7 Spanish congregation, there is only 1 English 'group'. And last night there were actually 57 people there!! At least 10 of them were studies (we don't have an official number of the studies tho). It was such a great meeting. Very thought provoking!! We have sooo many goals to work on when we get back home and can't wait to start them!!
After the meeting we said a little bit of goodbyes.. but since we were relying on someone to take us to Angel's house we had to be super quick loading our stuff in a truck and practically running out the Kingdom Hall. So there wasn't much time for tears. Actually tho, when I went to tell Doug and Peggy goodbye I started crying. It was totally unplanned, of course, and caught me by surprise that I cried. They have been sooo loving and kind and it really is impressive to see their zeal for the ministry and for Jehovah and the local brothers/sisters. You would be sooo proud of them (as I am sure you already are:). Well at Angel's we all chatted around for about an hour and then called it a night.
This morning we woke at 630a (at least I did- to go thru our stuff and pull out things for the day).. We all got ready by 8a and then had Family Worship together :) It was great. We each took turns practicing a presentation and that was really fun :) (I got to later use it in the ministry, yay!!) Then we each mentioned an instance of recent of where we could see Jehovah's hand in our lives. That was great to hear my girls say what they felt regarding Jehovah's dealings in our lives, and it made me tear up ;) After FW we caught a bus down to David for service with the CO.
My girls and I were invited to work with the CO and his wife (Shane & Misty) and we had a really enjoyable time!! My girls adore them and so do I. We went to my return visit and that's where I got to use the presentation. It went well and the wife of the house took the tract I was offering about Peace in the New World. All went great this morning in service, unfortunately no outstanding calls, but still we made some progress ourselves.
After service different friends met up with us and we went to Tumbarelis (sp?) for lunch. It was pretty good. I have to say the atmosphere is what really made the place nice. It was the nicest in looks of a restaurante I have been to in Panama. The food was decent, and prices were midranged..
After dinner we bused to Angel's and decided to nap for an hour before going to the brother, Paul's house for association with the friends, volleyball, and food. It was beyond!!! a great time!!! I have pics but will have to wait to post them until tomorrow or so.. I'd love to post them now but would have to dig out my SD computer adapter.. and I can barely move to type.. so .. :(
Anyway, at Paul's we laughed and played and danced and laughed some more and danced some more and played volleyball somemore.. You get the picture. My girls were saying how it was the BEST time!! Agreed. Words cannot express the happiness that you feel when you are having fun with the friends and everyone is loving each other as Jehovah made us to love. It was just beyond words.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
One of THE BEST DAYS EVER!! again :)
Wow!!
I'd like to leave the blog at simply the word... WOW!!! But I'm sure that won't suffice you ;) or me :)
Today we were in for an adventure! We woke at 6.. caught a ride to Bugaba from Doug. Had a fascinating discussion about (brace yourself.. 9/11, Fema, camps, NWO, pharmasueticals, food, government, homeopathis.. and NO, I didn't initiate the conversation, and I kept my thoughts to a minimum..see, people DO change, hahaha) Anyway, we made it to Bugaba to a bus stop (one of the many).. We took the bus on in to David. While on the bus I played musical chairs for a minute and got 'settled in' infront of my girls. I ended up beside a Panamenos (Panamanian). He actually initiated the conversation with me in English. He was a young man that is currently attending the University in David. and learning English. We had a nice conversation and he took some English literature. The only thing is, is that he isn't fluent enough to comprehend a Bible Study in English, and so as I was getting his number to pass on to a local Spanish brother.. the bus made a turn and we had to literally jump off so we didn't have to pay to back-track and waste time :( so I nearly had to abandon him.. I'm convinced that if he really wants to study the Bible Jehovah will send someone to him.
Anyway, so we leave the bus and there are taxi's lined up at this particular bus stop.. So we get in a taxi and in the haste of everything I forget to ask the driver if he speaks English. So ignorantly I'm saying "izquerda" and "direcha" and "directa".. hahaha and come to find out he speaks REALLY good English :) I was soo embarrassed! Anyway, he said he didn't really read well in English so I just placed a small Spanish tract with him. But he totally knew how to get the the Kingdom Hall, but we never got the chance to ask how he knew.. like if he has been there before..or has family that goes.. etc.. But it was a pleasant experience.
Once at the Hall friends started piling in :) I have some pics from the Hall this morning, and our in front of it I have a pic of our group that was out and will post it on here shortly. But first I will post a pic of Aliah from last night. As I was blogging, or just finishing up last night, Aliah slept walked.. She came out of her room, looked me in the eye, grabbed a pineapple (pina) and layed down in a chair -snuggling with the pina, and went to sleep. It was soo funny to see!
Anyhow, service went very well. The missionary sister was out today (she was a few seconds late to the service meeting and so when the CO was assigning car groups he said the sis's name and I looked back sharply to her in surprise. The CO noticed and looked at me like "what's up" and I just said "I love her".. he said he would keep that in mind and so he put us in the same car group! Thank you Jehovah!!) So we all got in where we fit in.. There was 15 of us and only 3 vehicles :) It worked out great and everyone seemed to have a blast! 2 of the car groups went to the same roads to work them together, and I tell you, there is nothing like seeing so many happy, friendly people in one area. You know what I'm talking about! How ofter do people not in Jehovah's organization see more than 3 happy people that aren't laughing because they are on drugs or doing something inappropriate (that to them is funny)?! At least I don't see that happening. So I think in itself, just our presence is encouraging to people who don't know us. Long story short, it was aWeSoMe!! Most of us met for lunch at a different Chinese Restaurant. Would you believe it if I told you there was 10 of us and the lady serving us didn't write our orders down, didn't made separate checks..nothing, and she remembered it ALL!! And got our bills straight too!! Talk about a genius!! (at least in my book she is)
So lunch was great. So great that I cried a little.. It's the rounding out of our trip (the first day that we had to start saying some goodbyes, or 'see you later's'.. and a sister was talking about how great of a trip this is and has been and will be for my girls, and it all hit me at once the magnitude of our trip, and too that soon-ish we will be heading back to OOSA (USA..that's how they say it here, more like ew-sah). Moving on, so I don't cry again...
After lunch some of walked to the KH (because one of the friends with a vehicle had to leave us).. it was a nice walk.. Then we met for the afternoon servivce. There were so many of us and not enough vehicles that we did walking territory around the KH. I got to work with/walk with:) the CO's wife for about 45 mintues (that's all the time we had until we had to bus over to meet with our ride back to Volcan). Aliah got to work with the CO, I of course with his wife, Zoe with a single sis who just got back from the states, and Asa with a different sis from the states. We all had a blast getting to know each other, and you know how we all cut up.. It was great!!
Well the time came for us to have to leave the group, and things worked out to meet our ride in David so we didn't have to bus to Bugaba. It worked out beautifully!! We got to informal witness a little bit and it went very well :) and of course seems to be more fun than going door-to-door..
We made it home by 430p..quickly changed clothes and caught a ride over to some local friends house..who were sort of throwing a 'goodbye' get-togther for us. It was sooooooooo much fun!! We stayed there until 9, it was THAT much fun. I took several pics and so did my girls. They are helping me pick which pics to post..so bare with me please.. :)
Anyway, we are of course home now..and I just got all my girls in bed and so I thought I'd write on here.. That's the extent of our day..but the experiences and fun and love are beyond what I have the time and ability to write.. You will just have to come here yourself to get ther experience!!
All my love. Goodnight for now <3
I'd like to leave the blog at simply the word... WOW!!! But I'm sure that won't suffice you ;) or me :)
Today we were in for an adventure! We woke at 6.. caught a ride to Bugaba from Doug. Had a fascinating discussion about (brace yourself.. 9/11, Fema, camps, NWO, pharmasueticals, food, government, homeopathis.. and NO, I didn't initiate the conversation, and I kept my thoughts to a minimum..see, people DO change, hahaha) Anyway, we made it to Bugaba to a bus stop (one of the many).. We took the bus on in to David. While on the bus I played musical chairs for a minute and got 'settled in' infront of my girls. I ended up beside a Panamenos (Panamanian). He actually initiated the conversation with me in English. He was a young man that is currently attending the University in David. and learning English. We had a nice conversation and he took some English literature. The only thing is, is that he isn't fluent enough to comprehend a Bible Study in English, and so as I was getting his number to pass on to a local Spanish brother.. the bus made a turn and we had to literally jump off so we didn't have to pay to back-track and waste time :( so I nearly had to abandon him.. I'm convinced that if he really wants to study the Bible Jehovah will send someone to him.
Anyway, so we leave the bus and there are taxi's lined up at this particular bus stop.. So we get in a taxi and in the haste of everything I forget to ask the driver if he speaks English. So ignorantly I'm saying "izquerda" and "direcha" and "directa".. hahaha and come to find out he speaks REALLY good English :) I was soo embarrassed! Anyway, he said he didn't really read well in English so I just placed a small Spanish tract with him. But he totally knew how to get the the Kingdom Hall, but we never got the chance to ask how he knew.. like if he has been there before..or has family that goes.. etc.. But it was a pleasant experience.
Once at the Hall friends started piling in :) I have some pics from the Hall this morning, and our in front of it I have a pic of our group that was out and will post it on here shortly. But first I will post a pic of Aliah from last night. As I was blogging, or just finishing up last night, Aliah slept walked.. She came out of her room, looked me in the eye, grabbed a pineapple (pina) and layed down in a chair -snuggling with the pina, and went to sleep. It was soo funny to see!
Anyhow, service went very well. The missionary sister was out today (she was a few seconds late to the service meeting and so when the CO was assigning car groups he said the sis's name and I looked back sharply to her in surprise. The CO noticed and looked at me like "what's up" and I just said "I love her".. he said he would keep that in mind and so he put us in the same car group! Thank you Jehovah!!) So we all got in where we fit in.. There was 15 of us and only 3 vehicles :) It worked out great and everyone seemed to have a blast! 2 of the car groups went to the same roads to work them together, and I tell you, there is nothing like seeing so many happy, friendly people in one area. You know what I'm talking about! How ofter do people not in Jehovah's organization see more than 3 happy people that aren't laughing because they are on drugs or doing something inappropriate (that to them is funny)?! At least I don't see that happening. So I think in itself, just our presence is encouraging to people who don't know us. Long story short, it was aWeSoMe!! Most of us met for lunch at a different Chinese Restaurant. Would you believe it if I told you there was 10 of us and the lady serving us didn't write our orders down, didn't made separate checks..nothing, and she remembered it ALL!! And got our bills straight too!! Talk about a genius!! (at least in my book she is)
So lunch was great. So great that I cried a little.. It's the rounding out of our trip (the first day that we had to start saying some goodbyes, or 'see you later's'.. and a sister was talking about how great of a trip this is and has been and will be for my girls, and it all hit me at once the magnitude of our trip, and too that soon-ish we will be heading back to OOSA (USA..that's how they say it here, more like ew-sah). Moving on, so I don't cry again...
After lunch some of walked to the KH (because one of the friends with a vehicle had to leave us).. it was a nice walk.. Then we met for the afternoon servivce. There were so many of us and not enough vehicles that we did walking territory around the KH. I got to work with/walk with:) the CO's wife for about 45 mintues (that's all the time we had until we had to bus over to meet with our ride back to Volcan). Aliah got to work with the CO, I of course with his wife, Zoe with a single sis who just got back from the states, and Asa with a different sis from the states. We all had a blast getting to know each other, and you know how we all cut up.. It was great!!
Well the time came for us to have to leave the group, and things worked out to meet our ride in David so we didn't have to bus to Bugaba. It worked out beautifully!! We got to informal witness a little bit and it went very well :) and of course seems to be more fun than going door-to-door..
We made it home by 430p..quickly changed clothes and caught a ride over to some local friends house..who were sort of throwing a 'goodbye' get-togther for us. It was sooooooooo much fun!! We stayed there until 9, it was THAT much fun. I took several pics and so did my girls. They are helping me pick which pics to post..so bare with me please.. :)
Anyway, we are of course home now..and I just got all my girls in bed and so I thought I'd write on here.. That's the extent of our day..but the experiences and fun and love are beyond what I have the time and ability to write.. You will just have to come here yourself to get ther experience!!
All my love. Goodnight for now <3
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| Aliah and her new BFF Pina :) |
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| some of the friends in David, 3 of the 4 are from Panamana! |
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| Group Photo :) |
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| a beautiful sight to see going door-to-door |
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| Paul saying Goodbye |
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| some friends |
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| this looks like an oversized Aloe plant or Agave plant |
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| part of our group :) |
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| Very awsome experience, please ask me why... |
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| walking to the KH from Lunch |
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| this is what your house could look like if unattened for long in David |
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| confirming plans for Boquete while waiting on afternoon service to start |
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| Asa hugging Nigelles when we got home from Service |
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| Lassie our protector dog ;) |
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| Jade jumping ;) |
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| kidlets playing 'red light green light' |
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| the Lee Family |
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| hanging out with the kids ;) |
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| a 'perty' moth :) |
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