¿Es Dios Indiferente e Insensible?

Yesterday I gave my first talk in Spanish (title above)! I'm so happy to have it over with ~ such relief!!! It went pretty well considering my limited skills with the language.

My householder was Rosita. She is an unbaptized publisher whose family faithfully attends all the meetings, despite their son Lucas having throat cancer. He's only 6, and when he's not at Solca, the cancer clinic, for treatments, he's at the meetings with his family. They're such an encouraging example for everyone. She and her husband have two other children, and their oldest daughter is also an unbaptized publisher. Her husband is studying.

I didn't understand all of my counsel from the stage after my talk, but the first thing the School Servant said, which I clearly understood, was "I'm surprised!" And the new sister in our hall from Ohio told me that he said I sounded like a "big Ecuadorian"! Haha!! I'm not sure what that exactly means, but I think it's a good thing? ;)

If you'd like to see the talk, click here!

An Education in Cuenca Culture and Tradition

We thought Christmas was loud. We had no idea what was in store for us just six days later. Wild celebrations. Fires. Firecrackers. Fireworks. Loud parties. Revelry.

New Year's Eve is a big deal here. People dress up in costumes, mostly men dressed as old widows. They rope off traffic, begging passing cars for money, which they will use to "bury" their dead husbands. This they do at midnight with the burning. The burning of what you ask?

(This is in our parking lot at midnight)

Muñecas. Sawdust dummies. Effigies representing politicians, celebrities, cartoon characters. The dolls are made with clothes, stuffed with sawdust and firecrackers, and have papier mâché masks for heads. They parody the year's top news stories and scandals, and at midnight these dummies are beaten and burned for all the trouble they caused the previous year. An "out with old, in with the new" superstition.

Michael Scott once said "I'm not superstitious...but I am a little stitious." The average Cuecano can be said to be MAJORLY-stitious. As Jehovah's Witnesses, we are of course not even a little stitious. So it has been interesting to watch all this "old year" fervor, all the while hoping to knock on their doors this year to show them the real solution to our problems, and what the future truly holds! Photo credits: Damaris© copyright 2009

(We have a new album posted, all about Cuenca's fabulous mannequins!)