Preaching Photos Part 3 (last set)

Last set of preaching photos from the route!

Singing Kingdom Melodies in the mountains

bridge

As you can see, the territory is physically challenging at times.  Many days we would preach for hours on end until the one brother with a truck would pick us up.  We were sore, dusty, muddy, thirsty and sometimes soaked through with rain.  But in the pitch black darkness we would squeeze together--the only light being from the moon and hundreds of stars above. The air was filled with the sounds of giggling and joking.  Someone would without fail pull out a cell phone with the Kingdom Melodies and everyone would sing at the tops of their lungs-- so happy to be serving such a wonderful God!

Outhouse Impossible

Sometimes we just don't realize how great life's little pleasures are until we don't have them.  I didn't realize just how great indoor bathrooms are until I had to go three months with out one.  The simple act of using the restroom at night became an adventure in itself.  I lacked the self control that everyone else had to stop drinking water after 6 or 7 in the evening so that I wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the outhouse.  It was so hot and I was so thirsty that I decided to face the consequences night after night.   They preferred for us not to use the outhouse after 9 PM so I would have to sneak to the bathroom almost every night.  First, I'd wake up and grab the toilet paper and a flashlight.  I had to use the flash light in one second intervals so as not to wake my roommates.  I'd take a few steps in the dark, then flash it on to make sure I was headed towards the door.  Once I got out of the room and to the living room, the kitten would wake up and start meowing loudly at my ankles, wanting to know where I was going at this time of night.  I had to move fast to get three locks off the door without waking everyone else in the house.  Once I got outside, the real challenge began.  I'd turn on the flashlight which looks like a miners light on my forehead and there they are.  Four glow in the dark eyes like the ones on Animal Planet with the night vision goggles.  The two dogs would wake up and play a game to see who could knock me down first.  All I could see was the eyes coming.  Since I was half asleep, it wasn't too difficult to knock me off balance.  They would take turns pouncing on me from each side and playfully biting at my pajama pants to try and get me to trip. At this point the bugs and moths found their way to my miners light and are entranced by the glow.  So now I'm fanning the bugs from my face, trying not to fall over the kitten and trying to keep my balance from the dogs.  I get to the back of the yard and there is another obstacle.  The hog.  For some reason she likes to sleep near the outhouse.  The only way to get around her is to squeeze between a tree and the barbed wire fence while she grunts a warning not to get too close to her.  Without fail, right as I'm squeezing through, one of the dogs would circle and pounce on me, knocking me into the fence to get tangled.  Once I got untangled from the barbed wire and wedged past the hog I was home free-until I opened the door and had to make sure there were no hopping spiders or scorpions slithering around the toilet.  Do you know how unnerving it is to see nothing but antennaes emerging from inside the toilet!?  Once the coast was clear of bugs, I'd shut the door.  The kitten would crawl under the door--still meowing and the dogs would wait outside peering through the cracks trying to figure out what I was doing in the little room.  Once I exited, they immediately started pouncing again and I had to do the whole thing backwards.  Once I got back to the room, I would creep back into my bed which creaked at every move I made.  I'd lay there thinking there is no way I'm going through this tomorrow, but knowing that I would have to take on the outhouse impossible mission again the very next night.

Gira

What's a gira (pronounced hee-rah)?  It's a preaching trip that typically lasts anywhere from 1-7 days where you venture deep into the territory carrying all of your literature and supplies.  Usually, these are areas that are so far out that by the end of the day, we've barely made a dent.  Solution?  Sleep there and keep going in the morning!  Our territory is mountainous so imagine climbing mountains and crossing rivers in sweltering heat while carrying all of your literature, food and water for days on end, clothes, sleeping bag etc.  Sounds awful right?  It was great!  We did several giras some as far as 40 miles in one day in one direction.  Normally, the congregation does these far and in between but because rainy season was fast approaching, we were doing 1 or 2 per week to get to people before the rivers filled.  After that happens, we have to wait till summer to get back to them.  Here are some pictures from the giras.  Enjoy!

The sisters had to teach me how to shimmy through barbed wire fences like a lady.  Not easy with those long skirts!

Lunch break

Refilling our water at a watering hole.

Stove for making tortllas

Meal for the tortillas

On one particular gira we started out about 5:30 am and went until just before sun down.  It was imperative to get to the stopping point while there was still light because the family who let us stay at their house did not have electricity.  We had to drop our stuff and immediately use the outhouse and get the hammocks up while there was light.  The family was nice enough to make us tortillas for dinner.  We were still wide awake at 6 though it was dark.  We stayed up flashing each other with flashlights until about 7 or 8 then all were fast asleep.

The brothers stayed up all night keeping watch over the group and didn't get to sleep until  3 or 4AM when we sisters got up.  Why three am?  Because there is also no running water at the house.  So, we get up while it's still dark and no one can see us and go jump in the river behind the house to bathe.  Everyone is fully clothed and thank goodness the water is warm.  It was pitch black dark which is good because I didn't want to see the crabs, fish and who knows what else while we bathed.  The sun started coming up early and once the cows spotted us, they decided to alert the world that we were in their river, lol.

We are dressed like it's freezing outside but it's actually blazing hot.  Everyone is covered to try to escape the searing heat.

Random shoe pic.  After day one one sister's shoe broke completely open.  We found a red ribbon (look closely) and tied it back up!  About 15 minutes in, my back pack fell apart and the friends also helped me with safety pins until it was strong enough.  Where there's a will, there's a way!

I'm really glad this one was behind a fence.  Usually they, are not.

Score!  Sister was given a tortilla as thanks for the Bible message she shared.

School kids listening in to the Bible discussion.

At this point we were over an hour away from the next house.  Often there are not many houses in these areas but the friends still anxiously go to share Bible truth.

Blessing from Jehovah- A dump truck came by and agreed to give us a ride at least half way to the next house as long as we moved fast.  Of course there is no easy way to get into a dump truck since it's not meant  for passengers.  We just had to hoist each other up at record speed!

Huddled together holding on in the truck!

We made it!

We preached to a few of the workers and then carried on!

Off the Grid

I'm dropping off the grid again for a little while.  I'll be back in the rurals for a week.  When I return, I'll post the rest of the pictures from the pioneer route.  I'll also have a chance to tell you some of thestories of the friends and the Bible students.  Not to mention experiences fighting scorpions, bathing in rivers and more!  So stay tuned and I'll talk to you in a week or so!

Nica Chica 

Preaching Pictures Part 2