Service etc

Here are some things we see in service and some shots of the fun we're having.

Super cool map created out of a log.  Shows all the islands in the area.

Heading to Bastimentos.  A beautiful island with lots of English speakers. Often they also speak a Creole of sorts.

The view of Bocas from our water taxi to town.

In service after meeting.  Ray's hat looks super cute on him.

I'm pretty sure that this rooster is the model for Goliath Rex wine...
It really is a pretty bird.

A beach break during service on Bastimentos.

Another really pretty rooster...and I am not really a bird person..Plus he can stand on one leg...

Ray swimming with Ty.  Ty wants to practice everyday now that he knows you can take surf lessons if you can swim.  He really wants to learn how to surf!

Fishing in Bocas and a baptism

Hi all! So we have been settling into a routine and are keeping ourselves busy.  After school, service, and meeting, we can always find time for fishing and fun.  Ty has found an addiction:  fishing off the dock in front of our house.  Tito, as the kids on the island (also Spanish for Titus), has seen some action: Here are his action shots:

He asks constantly to go, but we take him often since he has such a good time catching  "tiger fish."  No fishing pole needed, just line a hook and a plastic sprite bottle...good old fashion fun!

The kids also enjoy swimming and wading in our beach.  Speaking of swimming, here's another story for you...a "bocas baptism"

So about a week ago, Raymond had the privilege of taking the service group out on a Monday.  It was a rainy day, but he spent a nice long day in service and was coming home.  As you all know we take a boat from the main island of Bocas to our smaller island home of Carenero.  Raymond had on his service clothes, a backpack with his service stuff in it, and a water proof wind breaker.  He was just stepping of the dock when the boat sort of drifted away from the dock.  With an audience of water taxi drivers, that we see everyday, he tipped over the side.  One leg in the boat and one leg and half his body in the water...as you can imagine he was quite wet and his pride was slightly hurt at falling into the sea.  Thankfully he has a sense of humor and pinosh.  He righted himself on the dock, took a bow for all the laughing taxi drivers, and proceeded to taxi home half drenched and feeling fully like an islander.  He pauses at our door and proceeds to strip right then and there.  No literature nor his bible was wet although everything else he was wearing needed a washing  Our only true casualties were his pride and the ancient apple iphone 3G.  Yup it's dead.   I didn't take any pictures, but I'm sure you can visualize how funny this must have been!

The Amazing Case of Ricardo

We live on Isla Carenero which is a very short water taxi ride to the "main" island of Isla Colon where the Kingdom Hall is located.  Since we, along with another single brother (who is back in the US at the moment), are the only Witnesses living on Carenero it gives us a good opportunity to work the island as our personal territory.

Our first day in the ministry on Carenero, Val met a kind woman at the door who spoke no English but asked that we come back in an hour or so to speak with her husband, so we did just that.  Her husband's name is Ricardo.  Ricardo speaks english well and works as a police officer in Almirante (which is the nearest town on the mainland from Bocas del Toro).  He was very hospitable- invited us in, found each of his children to come shake our hands, and then (as is so typical) offers up whatever seating he has for us to sit on while his family stands, sits on the floor, etc.  We briefly discuss the tract, "Would You Like to Know the Truth?" and Ricardo is interested to know more.  His work schedule as a police officer is 1 week on/ 1 week off and he is set to leave the next day for one week so I arrange to meet with him when he returns.

I meet Ricardo at his home a week later and we begin to study article 8 in the "Good News From God!" brochure-- the end of suffering, violence and trouble is particularly interesting to him because of his work as a police officer.  He next explains to me that much of his family lives here in Carenero but he and his family are only here during the summer when their children are out of school-- they live the rest of the year in their family's home in Kankintu, Panama which is a one hour bus ride and then a four hour boat ride up a river (google map the location for extra credit).  He further explains that his mother-in-law is a witness and his wife studied years ago.  There is (from his description) a VERY rudimentary Kingdom Hall in Kankintu (a village with no power or road to it, btw).  The official address for the Kankintu Hall on the JW.org site is simply "on the main path"!

Upon sitting for an hour and discussing section 8 in the "Good News" brochure, I ask Ricardo if I can return another time to continue our bible discussion.  He tells me that he is on vacation from work and that he desires that I come everyday until he leaves for Kankintu!  And so everyday for the past four days Ricardo and I have met to continue our bible discussion.  His children begin school sometime around February 17th so my window of time with Ricardo is painfully too brief.  He soaks up bible truths, though, and seems so determined to apply Jehovah's word in his life.  Ricardo tells me that each night after we finish our study together, he shares what he has learned with his wife and children.  He also tells me that his younger son, Louis, loves Jehovah very much and often is bullied at school for standing up for what is right.  Indeed, yesterday afternoon Louis met Val walking along the sidewalk and proudly exclaimed, "I am a Testigo! (Witness)".

Ricardo asked me for a Spanish-language NWT bible.  He says his wife's grandmother has a New World translation that is very, very old.  He claims that it is brown-- I haven't even heard of such one?!  He wants to be able to share scriptures with his family that are easily read and understood.

Spending this brief amount of time with Ricardo, it is easy to see how Jesus described the fields as white for harvesting.  Jehovah is today drawing so many sheep to him and when we meet humble ones like Ricardo we are reminded of what a privilege it is to play a small part in Jehovah's purpose.

I'm off to go study with Ricardo but I have to first pick up a present-- a Spanish-language NWT!

Healthy eating in Bocas del Toro

Here is the current selection of fruits on our counter.

It is a treat to have truly fresh fruit here.  When you stop by the fruit stand, all the fruit has been grown locally and picked ripe.  Compared to much of the fruit we receive in the U.S. --which has been picked green, sprayed with pesticides, and then treated with chemicals to artificially ripen later-- the local fruit is sweet and very full-flavored!

I have developed the habit of making a fruit smoothy most mornings for breakfast... ice, orange juice, and any random combination of bananas, papaya, mango, passion fruit, pineapple, or whatever is fresh at the fruit vendor :)

The three round fruits in the middle of the picture next to the watermelon are passion fruit, a delicious tropical treat!  The two fruits on the end are mangos which grow quite large here in Panama and Costa Rica, sometimes as big as cantaloupes.

In line with Jehovah's promise in Isaiah 65:21 that we will "plant vineyards and eat their fruitage" I imagine a day when all people will have fresh, healthy, and delicious food in abundance like this.  My only question is: Will I have a blender so I can still make my morning smoothies?