We have had some great service experiences lately too. The other day we found a lady in the territory and when we said we were there to talk about the Bible, she invited us in right away. So we sat and talked for a while, then when we made arrangements to come back, she said she is going to cook for us next time!
I manned (womanned?) the public witnessing cart by myself last week. That was fun, it was a quiet morning so there weren't a ton of people stopping by, but I still had some good experiences. A few people came by and said "My kid speaks English" so I recommended the Young People Ask for them. Pretty much everyone asked how much the books cost; when they found out everything is free, they were really shocked!
One thing I love about being here is that as soon as you hand someone a publication, they start reading it. There's no "O I'll read it later" and you get the feeling they won't ever look at it- they will start reading as they are walking down the street, which then makes me worried they are going to get hit by a car.
We did street work downtown a couple days ago. In about 20 minutes, we placed 28 magazines, just Zach and I. The other pair ran out of magazines too. Then we tried something new- we went to the hospital. They have wards- men/women/pregnant/something else- and many people are in one room. It definitely doesn't look like a hospital in the States, no TV or radio to keep you busy, you just sit there and die of boredom. So we went in and asked people if they would like something to read.
Now, keep in mind, I still don't really speak Spanish. And since there are separate wards, and I was with all brothers, I got to go to the women's ward by myself. That was super intimidating. First I had to ask the nurses if I could visit the patients, which was difficult to convey, but thankfully they said yes. Then I went into each room and asked "le gusta leer la Atalaya?" There were three women sitting in one room who were all happy and said that they do like to read it, then started laughing. Turns out they were sisters from out of town. That made me feel so much better because I wasn't in there alone. The brothers had a really good response too, they ran out of magazines again.
Three weeks ago, I was sick and missed meeting. Zach went and a family was visiting- Aunt, Uncle, Niece. The uncle and niece speak English, he lives out of town, but she lives not too far from the Kingdom Hall. While there, they asked for a study for the girl and gave Zach her phone number for me to call and study with her. So we call, and are told we can only come on Sundays because her grandmother, who is very opposed, comes to her house every other day of the week. Also, her mom is very protective, so we might have trouble getting her to agree to a study or bringing her to the meetings. However, the girl had previously studied English at the school a sister here runs, and the mom knows another sister, so that might make it a little easier. So we go on Sunday, they live above a pulperia, we go in there and ask for the girl. That's how we meet mom. Right away she says yes, we can study with her daughter and she can start going to meetings with us! Did not expect that at all. Then the mom says that just a little while earlier, someone else had come by to ask the same thing, but they hadn't met the daughter. She describes an older couple with a blue car and the man is very tall. Hmmm ok. So we are thinking and thinking, finally figure it out- our neighbors. No wonder she was agreeable to us, she already knew! It turns out, they had gone to both the Spanish and English meetings that day and asked for a study both times, since they don't live in the territory of the Spanish congregation they went to, the information got passed to the missionaries to call on her. But we talked about it and decided since I had met the girl, I would be the one to study with her. So we had our first study yesterday and she is going to start coming to the meetings next week!
Now for some pictures from the river.
