zone visit

last sunday was the zone visit for ecuador!  the visit is held in a stadium in guyaquil, and all are invited to attend there, if they wish.  of course being that we are about 10 hours from guyaquil, this is totally not an option for us (or for most of the publishers in the country).  every year the branch arranges for the 7 assembly halls in guyaquil, cuenca, quito, riobamba, manta, santo domingo and somewhere else (???? not in my notes???) to be connected remotely to the program.  then congregations are invited on a rotating basis to attend at the nearest assembly hall.  this year was the first year that 9 kingdom halls were also tied in remotely, and we had the privilege of being invited to attend at our local otavalo kingdom hall. 

the brothers worked really hard to get everything ready, we had to have internet installed at the hall specifically for this event!  due to limited space, only three congregations were invited to attend (otavalo south, kichwa, sign language) and they lovingly counted out the seats available and also invited the pioneers from the fourth congregation (ours, otavalo north). 

we were tied in remotely through the internet, and between a slow connection and my limited spanish i tried to get the most out of it that i could.  i want to share some fun facts with you: 

attendance: 

26,749 at the stadium in guyaquil

15,693 at the 7 assembly halls around the country

1,644 at the 9 kingdom halls around the country

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44,086 total in attendance

to put that in perspective, the 2013 yearbook cites 77,323 total publishers, so over 50% of the publishers in the country were privileged to attend!  

the first talk focused on the ministry and the progress we are seeing in ecuador.  we were reminded that it is a privilege to be jehovah's witnesses and jehovah does not give this privilege to just anyone.  

there are 140,000 bible studies being conducted in 12 languages throughout the country. 

sign language, kichwa, and shuar (another indigenous language found in the orient) were called out as needing help.  they asked if we could consider our circumstances to perhaps move to an area of greater need or learn a new language.  well, we're already doing that, so i think we're good!  

there are 33 sign language congregations and 31 groups throughout the country. 

there are 4 regional dialects of kichwa in ecuador.  the branch had been producing literature in "kichwa unified" as a means to streamline, but they found that this was simply not working.  now they are working on translating into all 4 of the different dialects.  we have the translation house for the kichwa imbabura dialect here in otavalo.  i cannot even begin to imagine this great undertaking! 

last year was the first special assembly day in shuar!  345 attended.  the speaker also made a point of noting that shuar is an extremely difficult language to learn... but there is a great need, so think about it!

also, although these 3 other languages have a great need, spanish does as well.  the speaker gave the example of a small group that began in june 2011 on the coast.  at the CO's first visit, they were still quite small.  by the 2nd visit they had 118 attending.  by the 3rd visit there were 137 attending the meetings.   so you can see just how quickly studies can be had here, and progress!

another incredible fact:  the branch is looking at what areas in ecuador do not have any groups or congregations.  there are over 187 locations in ecuador with 3,000 inhabitants or more that do not have a congregation or a group!  example:  in loja (a city of 8,000) the branch recently sent a pioneer pair to start a group.  within 2 months this pair had started 32 studies and had 28 attending the meetings. 

in april "la programa testificacion metropolitana"will begin in guayaquil.  directly translated this means "the metropolitan witnessing program".  you will all be familiar with the program that started in nyc and is rolling out to big cities throughout the usa, where pioneers man tables in highly populated areas of the cities.  there has been amazing success in new york and the program is being rolled out to ecuador now!  

there were also a few interviews, which were very encouraging.  one couple, marcus and cheryl brigham, have been in ecuador for over 20 years.  in 2000 they were appointed as special pioneers, then in 2012 missionaries.  they are in the orient preaching to the chinese.  there are some large industrial projects happening here in ecuador, run by chinese companies, and there are thousands of workers living in camps for the duration of the project (years).  the brighams are focusing on one area where there are 4 camps with about 1500 workers in each.  many of the workers are ecuadorian, but the others are chinese, many of whom are married with families at home in china.  last year they began 70 studies.  many of the workers have commented on the fact that life in the camps has improved since studying the bible started.  in the beginning they would have to trek out to find the interested ones to talk to them and give them the magazines - but now, when the workers see their car coming down the road, they come out to them asking for the magazines!  

another couple, jacob and inga roomf (spelling?) have been in ecuador since 2000.  in 2007 they were appointed as special pioneers, in 2010 they went into the travelling work, in 2011 they were invited to gilead, after graduation assigned back to ecuador, and now are travelling overseers taking care of all the foreign languages in ecuador.  this is a challenging assignment because of the huge number of different languages, the distance they must travel, and the amount of time they spend in the census work.

the program concluded with a beautiful talk about how keeping our spiritual vision strong can keep us focused on doing jehovah's will.  we reviewed the example of abraham, i especially liked the point that he and sarah left their comfortable life to go where jehovah would tell them... and at first they didn't even know where they would end up... and then of course we know they ended up living for more than half their life as foreigners.  but they kept their spiritual vision strong and focused on the promises of jehovah for the future... and this allowed them to remain faithful to the end. 

an amazing program, as always food at the proper time.  everyone in the hall was perfectly silent and paying rapt attention to the whole thing. we really feel like we are in the right place for us, right now.