quepos english memorial

the memorial here was awesome. we were thrilled to have 53 total at the memorial, 10 of which were interested ones.

there was an older couple from quepos that came because they received an invitation from a need-greater couple that was visiting in the weeks prior to the memorial. they were staying in the same apartment group. a sister in our hall was able to follow up with them a few times before they left to return to canada, and the husband even came to the meeting this past sunday (despite the fact that he likes to sleep in)!

another visitor was a younger guy who drove nearly an hour to attend the memorial. he had received the invitation during the campaign the week before, and he drove all the way to quepos, which was so cool!

there are three sisters in our congregation who are staying in a gated apartment complex. they periodically witness to their neighbor, who is an older gentleman, and he attended the memorial. he told us that he thought we were all doing such a great work, and he loved how he didnt feel pressured from anyone at all, he really enjoyed it. as 2 of the girls and the neighbor were walking down to the kingdom hall, they ran into another neighbor, a young guy, who had just recently moved in. he asked where they were going and they said "to the kingdom hall." he was like "what's that?" and so they explained about the memorial and said "you should come." so he was like, yeah awesome, i have to go change and have dinner with my uncle first. so they told him that it started in 15 minutes so he wouldnt really have time to do all that. so he asked them to explain where the hall was, and he was like "see you later." they honestly didnt think he would come, but he did! and he had a great time, really enjoyed the memorial and grabbed a bible teach book as soon as it was over. his dad died not too long ago and he has been travelling around the world for the past few months, and now he is spending some time in costa rica with his uncle. he said he's looking to "get his head straight." so we told him he was in the right place for that :) he is being followed up on by some in the hall.

the only bad thing about the memorial is that a TON of people left in the days after. naomi had to return to bermuda, keith and vivien had to return to canada, and the taylors left to check out panama before heading back to vermont. so the congregation lost 8 overnight! we are already feeling like one of the locals and are so sad to see people leave. i cant imagine what it will be like in may, as we are leaving at the end of the month and several others are leaving during the month of april.

here is a photo of nearly the entire congregation as it stood the night before the memorial (including need greaters):

and here is a picture of the permanent members of the congregation:

you can see how badly they need the help!