Charley's Talk & An Awkward Request - Sunday, October 24, 2010

Today we went to the meeting bright and early - 9:00am. Charley did a very good job with his talk.  Don't tell Charley I posted this picture - it's not the most flattering!

Watchtower Study went well too. Mario Sr. went to the assembly today to do the drama so Charley was the only elder there! But everything went very smoothly. Met some more people that we didn't meet on Saturday. I'm working on remembering everyone's names and I've surprised myself. It's actually not that hard if you really make the effort to learn them.


After the meeting, the study that I was asked to conduct the other day, with Juana, pulled me to one side to ask me something. She wanted to know if we could help her buy some chairs because she's embarrassed when we go and there isn't anywhere to sit but on a little shelf of dirt. People here ask for money a lot, especially when they see white skin. They see dollar signs in our eyes. So I told her I'd talk to Charley about it. I mentioned it to the Robleto's and they said it's not really a good idea to give them money, which is what I was thinking. So I'm not quite sure what I'm going to say when I see her next. If it was a brother or sister that would be different. But this lady has only had one study. It was good to see her at the meeting today though. And the study I went with Nora on yesterday was there too with her son.


After that, Charley and I managed to find our way to the return visits I had made plans with. The first one invited us in, and it turns out she's already studying with a sister in the congregation. Her name is Michelle, and her brother is Brian. He's the coordinator here. But they're in Colorado (that's where they're from) right now, so someone else is doing the study while she's gone. I don't know why she didn't tell me that yesterday. So I thought I was going to start a study, then realized I was a bit late!! She's been to meetings too. But I was glad to know that she's studying. The other call wasn't home, well, they were but didn't open. But on the way to that call we walked past a bunch of guys drinking. They had pretty much finished a bottle of clear liquid and were about ready to fall over. One of them decided to talk to Charley and we couldn't get away. He wanted us to teach him English! He said he was interested in studying, but he had no clue what he was talking about. He couldn't even stand up straight. It was rather interesting, but made me a little nervous too! But then some older lady, mother of one of them, told them to let us get on our way and she encouraged us to leave! So we found a different way back because we could hear them yelling at each other!


The rest of the afternoon was spent eating, reading, sitting around, chatting with some of the brothers that were over and playing with their kids, and learning how to spin a top. I didn't get to try it for too long, but I got it to spin once for a really long time.

Ethan wrapping the spinning top

We have big plans for tomorrow if we can get ourselves out of the house early enough. Hopefully we won't be too late and tired to blog in the evening, but I make no promises! This week looks to be a bit more full of field service too, although there are no guarantees this time of year since it suddenly rains whenever it fancies.


I realized I never blogged about the clothes I kept ruining when I got here. I'll blog about it some other time, but rest assured I haven't ruined any clothes (that I'm aware of) in a good few days.