EPIC DAY!!!!!!

Back in Sept/Oct when we had our C.O. visit, our C.O. Bro. Garcia talked to our elders about the interest that we are finding across the lake in San Marcos and San Pedro. When he learned of the many R.V.'s and studies that we being conducted, he suggested having a public talk across the lake for those or any others that are interested. What did the brothers do? They said "That sounds great, we'll get that scheduled." So they got in touch with the brothers in the Spanish congregation in San Juan, a town situated between San Marcos and San Pedro, to see if we could use their Kingdom Hall for the public talk. They agreed, so began the work of getting invitations made up, figure out who would give the talk, who would be the chairman, deciding on what talk would be good and getting out there to invite return visits, Bible students and anyone else that spoke English and wanted to come. The brothers also decided that after the public talk that we would show the video "Why Study the Bible?", so there was also the work of getting the appropriate equipment to do that as well. The talk decided on was, "Bible Principles - Can They Help Us To Cope With Today's Problems?". Mike gave the talk, our secretary Mitchell Wright was chairman. Austin was put in charge of getting the video ready for viewing. All involved did a great job! The date Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014 at 1:30pm was another first for the Lago Atitlan Ingles Congregation, the first time a public talk in English was given across the lake. The RESULTS? We had an attendance of 35, 5 of those being interested ones! Jehovah blessed our efforts! We'll see what will become of the hard work that was put into this special day! Below is some pics from this epic day for us!!!!

The invitation that was put together. Sorry the pic isn't so good!




Some have arrived!

That is Daryl on the left with an interested person he met in the ministry. His name is Gene.




Group pic right before the meeting was going to start. Aren't Ashlie and Austin sooo cute? And there is another cutie sitting right behind Terri! Yes that is Morgan! :0)

 

Mike delivering the talk.

 

 

View from the back of the audience.

 

 

 

 

 

This is Mitchell Wright. He is our secretary. Originally from Texas. Today he was chairman.

 

 

 

 

View from the K. Hall. What does it look like to you? It is called D'Noz. Can you see it? 

 

 

 

 

Misc Pics

 

 

Here it is December already! It is hard to believe it is that time of year when your weather is sunny and in the high 60's compared to freezing in Missouri! But we're definitely NOT complaining! Wish you all could get away from the cold and visit the warmth! Again I have gotten behind in posting so instead of multiple posts of what we've been enjoying here, I'm doing it all in one. So these following pics cover different days here in Pana and around the lake and in the big city of Guatemala City.

Mike and a few other brothers went on an overnight trip to help a brother with some plumbing issues at his house. They also went on a uneventful fishing excursion on the coast. They didn't catch any fish but Mike brought home some coconuts, put them in the fridge and as you can see, later pulled it out, cut a hole in the top and drank the cold refreshing milk! He loves those!


 

 Lake Atitlan

These are pics of Lake Atitlan during one day in the ministry! Just beautiful!


 

 Guatemala City

At the end of Oct., Andy & Natalie Perez took us (Mike, Morgan, myself, Ashlie, Austin and another brother) to Guatemala City for the day. It's about a 2 1/2 hr drive one way. One of the MUST stops was Papa John's Pizza! This one you can actually go in and sit and eat. Morgan was so excited because she could actually eat the breadsticks and pizza and not have the after effects of eating gluten. For some reason in Mexico and here it doesn't bother her. Boy was she and myself very happy!!! It tasted just like Papa John's back home!

Another must stop was Starbucks! (Mel & Emma, we were looking for you, but you must not have been working that day! :0(  )

Morgan, Ashlie & Natalie
Other stops we made were: the Oakland Mall, Walmart, & PriceSmart (their Sam's Club). We had a lot of fun and brought back some goodies that you can't get here in Pana!




San Marcos

 

 

 

 

 

This is a tree house being built across the lake in San Marcos. Pretty neat huh?


Panajachel



Here is the service group one Monday morning heading to Sololá. Instead of taking the chicken bus up the hill, we wanted to try another mode of transportation. This ride costs you 2.50Q pp or 33 cents pp. The views from this means is a lot prettier than from the chicken buses. This is how we travel now on Monday mornings to Sololá for service. We ride the chicken bus back down in the afternoons. We can only imagine what the locals are thinking when they see us gringos riding through town in this! (The next two pics are views of the lake from the back of the truck.)

 

A view of the lake from Sololá while out in the ministry.

Here is a view of one of the daunting hills we climb out in service in Sololá. Yes that is Austin on the right! No that is not Ashlie on the left! That is Natalie, who just happened to be walking beside him, when I took the pic.




Santa Catarina

One Thursday morning, Mike and I went with Netto & Krystina Garcia to Santa Catarina to go on their Kaqchikel Bible studies. Netto and Krystina have moved over to our cong, but they continue to do their studies because the Bros & Sis in the Kaqchikel Cong. can't handle them because of all the ones they have. This is a view from Santa Catarina.



The oldest girl in the background is Krystina's Bible student. The youngest is the sister of the Bible student. I wish I could remember their names, but they are adorable! The cat is just sleeping away!



From where I'm standing and taking the pic, we had walked all the way from the the hill in the background. A lot of walking and stair climbing! Although we didn't understand a word that was said at the studies, Mike and I had a really good time going with them and doing something different in the ministry!




Panajachel

(Hope this loads!)

We had a Brother (Jonathon Gil) from the Spanish Cong. come and give a talk at ours. He gave it in Spanish and Netto Garcia translated it into English for us. That was our first experience of seeing this done!

 

 

Well that wraps it up for this blog! Hope you enjoy and please know that we love and miss you all! And if you ever want to experience some of the things that you saw in the pics for yourself, always know that you are welcome to come and visit any time!

 

Service in Solola

On Mondays the congregation has arrangements to go up the hill to Sololá to find English speaking people. It's about a 15 minute bus ride and about a 1500 ft climb up. These are pics from last Monday in the Convention invitation campaign.

Yes we had to go up!

View from the top!

 

View of the lake from Sololá.

 

Circuit Overseer visit

Sept. 30th-Oct. 5th was our visit of the C.O. Rueben & Kathy Garcia. When we were here last Sept., the congregation had their first C.O. visit from Bro. & Sis. Garcia. We had a great visit! We had for the pioneer meeting, 26 reg. pioneers and 6 aux. pioneers. We have a total of 34 pubs. After the visit we have went from 3 elders and 1 m.s. to 6 elders! Yay!!!

Bro. & Sis. Garcia

A Little Congregation Fun!!!

I'm sorry I'm a little behind on posting. On Sept. 27th we had a Karaoke afternoon at the Welkers. Everyone brought snacks to share. We all had a great time, so much so the Welkers want to have one every 6 weeks or so. Here are some pics from the party.

Diego started us out with Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Attie singing Payphone.

Ashlie & Austin

On the left is Jill (queen of karaoke, Sing Star & Just Dance) & on the right is Natalie (our Mrs. Miller of Karaoke)

Austin taking a turn

Melinda Minette (our Aretha Franklin of karaoke)

Chad & Rue doing their Justin Bieber act.

Jason Breneman(in the gray shirt) & others joining in on Friends in Low Places

Natalie & Ashlie

Andy Burns & Melinda Minette singing Proud Mary

Andy was getting her Tina Turner on!

Tony Minette & Jill Wright

Attie & Katie

Elizabeth McComas & Nancy Gross

Austin & Josh Moran

Tony & Melinda Minette

Service today in San Marcos

Today there were seven of us that went across the lake to San Marcos. Diego Garcia, Alec Stam, Ashlie & Austin, and Mike, Morgan and I. Here are pics from our morning in the ministry!