Circuit Assembly November 2012

Our Circuit Assembly was held in David this year. It was a nice room that they were able to rent. It was clean, the chairs were fairly comfortable and there was A/C. We were very excited for all that! We had 179 in attendance. The program as you all know was just amazing. So many good parts, demos and talks.  I'll relay some of the stats they announced for the English field. Costa Rica and Panama form one District. All of Panama forms one circuit. Because it's very difficult for ones to travel to the other side of Panama for the one and two day assemblies they have divided our circuit into 3 sections. A, B and C. We fall into the C side of our circuit. In all of Panama there are 218 regular pioneers. There are 111 in Costa Rica. For our side of the circuit there are 310 Bible studies. Just in the last year 10 new English congregations have been formed between Costa Rica and Panama. And numerous groups have been formed or are in the process of trying to become a group.
We were able to meet our district overseer and his wife for the first time. They are so nice. I really admire the sacrifices they have made. There is only one district overseer for all of Central America. So from week to week they are traveling great distances. He had such a love for all the kids and gave them Bible questions they had to research and then give him the answer.

Here's a picture of all the kids in our side of the circuit.

And then a picture of all the teenagers!

Here's a little girl Kaia took a great liking to.  And also a current family picture.

A day in the ministry

We had a mountain territory we were trying to finish up and we had left the hiking part to the last. So one morning it was our family and two more sisters. So off we set. The hike started on a very steep paved road that had a sign that said there was no where to turn around. So we parked the car and started on foot. Once we got to the bottom of the paved road there was a dirt path that picked up. So we kept going further and further down. Once we got to the bottom of the paved path we saw an abandoned house but then on further there were a couple more homes. The only way there was on a packed down grassy trail. So the 6 of us kept going. At the end of the grassy path was a creek that we had to cross to get to the 2 homes. We decided for Adam to cross over and head to the homes and see what was there. He said as he was walking up he noticed a little old lady sitting on her front porch swatting the dogs away with a broom while reading a magazine that looked like the Watchtower. So once he approached he asked if he could see what she was reading and it was! It was the current November Watchtower and Awake magazines. Now I feel I should tell you the date of this service day....It was only November 7th. What we found so encouraging about this experience is that here we hiked probably 45 minutes down this mountain to literally 2 houses in the middle of NO WHERE and even though Adam was unable to have a conversation with this woman...already by the 7th of November this householder had the current magazines. It really showed how Jehovah's word is being preached in the most remote parts of the world!

Puerto Armuelles

The beginning of November we were able to travel to a small beach town named Puerto Armuelles, Panama. There are 2 familes from the States trying to get an English group started there. Once a month they have a brother visit to give a talk. It's only a couple hour drive for us and we were excited to see another part of Panama. We arrived Saturday afternoon and they have their "Sunday" meeting on Saturday night. So Adam gave the talk and we had the Watchtower that was conducted using the Simplified Edition. There were a few Panamanians there and an American couple who are currently studying. I think in total there were about 16 people there. It was so nice getting to know new ones better. We got to talk with a family with 2 teenage boys and they've been here a few years. So getting their insight and seeing how spiritual their boys are was very encouraging. Then there is a new family that has 3 young kids. You'll see in the pictures how excited they all were to be playing with kids their ages!

Here was the group when we visited. There have since been 2 brothers move in to help as well.
We stayed over night so on Sunday we woke up and went to the beach! Here's just a few pictures of the kids playing.

Learning to surf using wood. The kids LOVED this! We've definantly learned it's the little things in life that matter the most.

FIrst Panama District Convention

Our convention this year was on September 8th and 9th. This year unfortunatly Panama had only 2 of the 3 days. We're hoping next year we will be able to have 3 again. It just shows how badly brothers are needed to care for the parts. For us it was about a 6 hour drive. I've never traveled for a convention before and never realized how much work is involved! It was overwhelming and felt we were moving all over again, but we made it with everything we needed. The assembly hall is on the grounds of the old branch. We drove through the gates and it was breathtaking how gorgeous it is! The grounds are kept up so beautifully. It literally brought tears to our eyes. It is an open air assembly hall. This year from what we heard some of Panama was sent to the Costa Rican convention so we weren't sure how many people would be there. On Saturday we had a grand total of 433. On Sunday there was around 600.  We met some very nice brothers and sisters from all over. Here is a picture from the front of the assembly hall.

 

 

And here is a picture from the back looking at the stage.

 

 

And this is from our seats looking out to the grounds

 

From the side looking in

 

 

And finally the baptism pool!

 

We realized the little mountain town we live in is quite nice. The weather here is so mild and cool at times. Where the convention is we really experienced true Panama weather. It was so hot and sticky. We literally were all drenched in sweat. Poor Kaia'a cheeks were so pink I thought she was going to overheat but she did ok. By the end of the first day we couldn't wait to jump in the pool at our house. We now understood why every home we passed on the way there had a pool!

 

Here is a picture of the girls with a dear sister from our congregation.



 

 

A family that is studying with a couple from our hall.  

 

 

 

Some of the sisters in our congregation

 

And here is a current picture of our family

 

 

 

 

Los Cangilones de Gualaca

We went with some friends to what we call as "the river" to go swimming. It's a beautiful river that has rocks to climb and rocks to jump off of.  The water was suprisingly clear. We could see down quite a ways. At first we were very leary of jumping off, especially the girls. But seeing our friends jump in and come back to the surface safely reassured us it was ok. :)  The water was so cold that it took our breaths away. But we soon got used to the temperature and really enjoyed it! The girls loved it. They kept jumping and jumping. Here's a picture of Whitney, Aribey and Cooper swimming.

 

The is the area where we get out of the water.

Here is a local climbing the rocks. The guys are so comfortable and know every inch of these rocks. You can tell they have been coming here since they could walk. 

As we were getting ready to leave several locals showed up. The show they put on I can't even describe. So here's a video to watch.

Day Off!!!

Several from our hall went to the beach one day. We started early since it's a 1.5 hour drive. The weather was perfect and didn't rain on us. The waves were a great size and the girls even got to where they would dive through them. We brought lunches and snacks, beach toys and boogie boards. It was a great day to get to know each other better and relax.

 

 

Here's Cooper and Dave having fun with the kite.

 

 

There's little crabs running everywhere. The girls tried to catch one. After several attempts a crab was caught.

 

What's better after a long day in the sun at the beach? Chinese food... That's what we thought anyways. Most in our group was sick the next day.

Random Panama tidbits

Well some things don't change for a mom. I'm home with a sick kid today.  So I'll make some good use of time and update the blog. We have decided to homeschool the girls so we ordered a homeschool program that we should get the books for in a few weeks. (hopefully)  We're still trying to figure out the shipping process. That's a big relief though. We were going to make our own schooling schedule up, but both of us were extremely intimidated at the process and all the prep work involved.

 

Our little congregation is doing good. We had some visitors last month that just left. It's hard to get close to ones for such a brief period of time. But we realize we're making friendships for a lifetime. Here are a few pictures of our scenery out in service. You'll notice the girls wearing sweaters. People are often suprised to hear that we don't live in a hot climate. This time of year it rains usually every day in the afternoon for a couple hours. We don't have a thermometer, and there's no daily forecast but I would guess that the temp ranges from 70s-low 80s. Some days cooler.  But we enjoy pulling out our hoodies to wear sometimes.

Here is a little stand set up on the way into the mountains. It's a stand where indians sell jewelry, purses, hammocks and such. The purses they sell are just amazing. The work and colors they use are just gorgeous. 

Here's some of the kids that have visited. The girls have really enjoyed having other kids their ages to play with, even if they're "boys."

 

Many have asked what local Panamanian food is like. In our town, we have several restaurants of different varieties. There is great pizza available, seafood restaurants, and some grill and bar type restaurants. While we occasionally splurge and go out, with trying to keep to a budget we usually cook at home or there is a restaurant called Nelvis that has the local type food. You can get a plate of food for $2-$3. It usually consists of white or fried rice, stewed chicken with vegetables, beef stewed with vegetables, fried chicken, fried fish, beans or lentils, mashed potatoes and salad. So I would say that's a description of Panamanian food. They don't have spicey food. There are hot sauces available though if you want to add flavor.

Here's just a sign we saw that is funny. The roads here are unbelievably curvy, windy and steep!

Boquete Ingles Congregation

WE'RE A CONGREGATION!!!! We had our Special Assembly Day this past Saturday and they announced that we are officially our own congregation. What an exciting day it was.
The building we had the assembly at was very nice. It was in David so we didn't have to travel far. There were only 18 parking spaces and everyone else had to find street parking which was easy to do.  Here is the building where the assembly was at. Sorry about the quality but I think the humidity got the better of my camera. 

Half of the chairs were metal folding chairs and half were the white plastic outdoor chairs that had armrests. It really just felt like a big all day meeting.

The friends were so kind and welcoming. It was a bit overwhelming meeting so many new people but encouraging at the same time. While we're truly enjoying the ministry and finding ones that want to learn what the Bible teaches, I think for me at this part in our adventure it's so exciting meeting the friends here who are either permanent or traveling through looking at the area for a possible move in the future. The stories they have in how the learned the truth gives me goosebumps and brings tears to my eyes. Being one of Jehovah's Witnesses my whole life, I've truly seen how I've taken it for granted. But we've met ones that never knew Jehovah and then in their late teens or early 20's have dedicated their lives to him. Sometimes on their own and sometimes with other family members. And they're embracing any way possible to serve Jehovah to the fullest their circumstances allow. It's so motivating to see their zeal and determination to keep busy in the full time work. The gifts they have given us just by sharing their stories will stay with us for a lifetime. I only got a couple pictures of some of the friends at the assembly but here they are.

One of my favorite parts on the assembly was a brother who said, if you're thinking of making a decision that will help you and your family spiritually, DO IT NOW and Jehovah will bless you. Obviously this move has changed our family's lives forever, but not everyone can experience it. So do whatever you can to to move forward in whatever form of service you are able to do, and it may seem scary but Jehovah WILL bless your efforts! We love and miss you all!

Las Lajas Beach

Hey everyone---Here is a video that I took one day while at the beach. The beach is very secluded and we can pull our car right up onto the sand. We have yet to see anyone else there when we go. We try to get there early because we're in rainy season which means it usually rains in the afternoon. It's amazing the clouds that come rolling in.

The ministry is very diverse here. There are lots of Americans retiring here so we have them as part of the field. Then there's the local Panamanians who know enough English to have a basic Bible study. Our generation of the locals especially know basic English. We also take our time in the ministry to make it fun for us and the kids. Here's a picture when we saw a horse tied up on the side of the road. We decided to feed it some.

There is also a hydroponic lettuce greenhouse here. They grow Bibb lettuce and green and red lettuce. It's only $.85 for a head. They also have fresh eggs and tomatoes.  It's the best lettuce we've ever had.

And here's a couple spots we stopped to take some pictures. I know Adam and Coop aren't in these I'll get more of them soon. They were in another car group. 

We really enjoy getting the emails from you all so thanks for taking the time to do that. Much love!