Our new house and a bike update

After a hectic week with the CO and visitors, we also had things fall into place to move.  So Monday we vacated Casa del Sapo...for the record I do not wish upon anyone (well at least brothers and sisters) that place.  On the outside it looks very nice and when you walk in it is nice too...but out of 4 air conditioners only 2 were working when we moved in and by the end of the month only 1 was working. Thankfully there were fans in both bedrooms to help us stay cool and to circulate the air some. There are very few lights in the house.  Both bedrooms have a small lamp and that is it.  The kitchen is well lite, the bathroom when all lights work is ok, and the small hall way has a light but the living room which is rather big has a small lamp!  In the day there is lots of natural light, but in the night it gets dark!  Unfortunately, there was a leak in the bathroom before we got there and rot had set into the wood under the tiles.  I am sorry to say that Ray and I broke a few of the tiles just by stepping wrong.  The kitchen is well equipped and pretty nice.  We had no complaints there.  As well there was a lot of closet space and good cable.  The internet was slow and spotty and the laundry was a nightmare!!  For a couple it wouldn't be too bad, but for a family of 4 with a little boy...it was hard. 

That all said, our new place is much smaller, but very cute!  We have an air conditioned master bedroom and an adorable loft for the kids.  We still don't have much light, but Ray is on that after he finishes working on the boat.  He also is going to work on the fans.  The house has 3 ceiling fans that should keep the house cool, but we haven't figured out the trick for turning them on.  There is a beautiful staircase that goes up the loft and a very artistic kitchen.  We were told the internet was faster, but it wasn't fast enough, so we just bought a little box that is like a wireless router. It seems to go quite fast.  We are all moved in now and seem to be quite happy.  The Marina is very quite and full of English speakers.  Not so good for the kids to learn Spanish, but at least away from the worldly influences.  We do miss the island of Carenero...the people were nice and we were finally getting along with the boat drivers so that they sometimes charged us like we lived there:) and not like tourists.

Here is the new house and yard around it. 

As you enter the house, you are in the living room.

Turn left and look at the kitchen stair case up stairs.

At the kitchen take a quick right and there is the bathroom and another quick right the master bedroom.

Turn around and head up the stairs to the loft where the kids sleep.

If you go back out through the door near the living room you get to see all the boats in the marina.

That's it our cute little abode for a year.  It is less money so at least we will be able to save some.

Currently the marina is in the process of repainting so all the mismatched railing you see will be gone by next week.  It looks really nice.  We still have to take a boat to get into town and are right now working on getting the phone number of many boat drivers.  The Marina has a water taxi that costs $1 each way per adult to take into town but it only runs at 8am, 10am, 12noon, 1pm, 2pm, and 5pm.  Then you are on your own to find a ride.  It means on Tuesday night we head to town at 5pm and hang out until meeting at 6:30 then we find a taxi ride home after meeting.  On Sunday we have to find someone to take us and bring us home...hence all the number gathering.  Getting home isn't as hard, but getting into town is can be tough.  When the boat is done, we will be much more free to get into town for meeting and not as worried about it.  We will only have to determine where to dock the boat during the time we are there.  Working on that still... 

We also just rebought bikes.  A week after we bought bikes, two were stolen.  We just replaced them and now I've taken pictures.  When I took these though, Ray didn't have his yet.  It was getting a basket and seat put on.  I'll update later after I get a picture of it tomorrow.

 
 I guess last night there was a rampage through town and someone stole seats all the way down main street including Madi's...They tried to take Ray's, but it was too rusted in for them to fight it.  Ty and my bikes had a small lock keeping the seats on and to the frames.  We also bought huge chains for the bikes so it will be hard to steal them.  We will have to buy Madi a new seat tomorrow and a lock for it so that hopefully we are safe from stealing from this point on.  If anything else happens, we might be bringing our bikes onto the boat and taking them to the Marina.  It is a super safe place as it has 2 guards roaming around at night and all sorts of workers here during the day, including the marina office right below us! 

Massachesetts Brennemans visit

As I mentioned in the last post, Marie and the girls came down for a visit...I still am so sorry for their entry in!  After a major snowstorm on the east coast and their flight being delayed.  They flew into Houston just to marathon dash to the gate and watch their plane pull back...The airlines had planned on putting them up for the night, but could only get them standby on another flight in the morning which would mess up their connection to Panama.  Thankfully the attendant took pity on them and got them redirected to Miami where they had to get a hotel and stay until very early the next morning.  Here they were supposed to get a wake up call and have a taxi waiting to take them to the airport.  Wake up call--check, taxi--uhmm.  Well to say the least, they eventually got locked out of the hotel by one way doors and had to flag down some driver to get them to the airport, where they again dashed through to catch their flight.  As they enter Panama air space things are looking up, hopefully their ride will be there.  Poor Marie has been attempting to text, call, email, contact me  but to no avail because our internet had been down at the house.  I only get text, phone, or email when there is Wifi access.  The last text I get is we are flying into Panama at this time.  My flight to Bocas is arriving at 7:30pm...Ray and I scratched our heads for quite some time over that one.  We were worried because we couldn't get a hold of Marie (her phone didn't work here and John had changed his number), but we thought her original email said her flight would be in at 4 and we didn't think any flights came in that late.  Well we decided to go to town and take some paperwork to the coordinator.  Funny enough we were there at around 5 when a flight went overhead.  We looked at each other and said thought that was her flight.  Oh well lets go get a snack and wait for them to eat in case they are hungry when they get in.  We are sitting in the park munching away when we get a phone call from our neighbor, a brother, saying that he had them sitting there on his porch and where were we!

Marie's side of the tale is that she did send an original email saying 4:00 and a text saying 7:30.  In her delirious state of none sleep and travel stress, she had sent the wrong time in the text mixing up their leave time with arrival time.  Poor things got here on the plane we thought humm about.  Then they were going to stay i the airport until we came for them except that the airport closed at 6.  They were kicked outside.   A nice local saw them and said it wasn't a good choice for them the stand around in that spot and they should leave.  A taxi drove by and asked them where they wanted to go. They couldn't remember the name of the house and of course the driver didn't know us, but it came out they were Jehovah's Witnesses.  So he took them to the kingdom hall.  A young brother who lives behind the hall happened to be going by and he did know us and sent the ladies to the Carenero boat dock where the loaded up and went over to the island and met Tom on the dock of our house.  Enter us totally confused and soo sorry for not being there to meet them.  We ended up getting food and anyway, they made it and a funny story to boot:)  Super Thanks to Marie, the girls, and Natalie for helping me get the books I needed for this semester of school!!

During the week, we had a wonderful time working together out in service and having fun!  Monday Raymond took the group out and the rest of us stayed home, rested, and visited.  Tuesday we visited in the morning and in the afternoon we all went out in service there in Carenero.

 I think it was on Tuesday morning Kianna did Madi's hair.  She's full of braids and beads! She loved it and it was very cute.  It took like 4 hours though...poor bums.

Wednesday we went out in service but mostly not together.  We all seemed to get separated for studies and territories etc.  Right now there is a census work going on in the congregation.  A couple of the brothers are remaking all of our territory cards and we are searching for all English speakers in the area and making note of it.  I have never really done this sort of work before and with no street names or house numbers anywhere it can be a challenge at times.  The new maps are AWESOME though and are being made from Google Earth shots so that we can number the houses and keep track of not at homes.  There is some doctoring that has to happen though because not all the shots are clear and there has been a lot of new building so some roofs are not visible.

On Thursday we went to Bastimentos and had a nice day.  Marie did some phenomenal informal witnessing and has a couple of great calls I'm following up on.  I went on studies then we all met up for lunch.  That afternoon we headed home and had meeting also.

Friday, we went out in service part day...the girls worked with me scouting a tough territory.  Again Marie found a lady who really touched her heart.  We happened to be in a very poor area and it sort of started to get to us all.  We ended up finishing the day with lunch and a shopping trip!!  The kids all seemed to have a good time since so much is so cheap and they could get trinkets for a steal.  Then we headed home to play on our beach, lay out, fish, and dive for shells.

Saturday we went into service in a hoighty toighty area called Red Frog.  It's on the opposite side of the island of Bastimentos.  On the boat ride there though we had a GREAT experience!!  DOLPHINS sighted off the boat.  They swam along with us for a bit.

The people in the Red Frog development are very well off and these are private second homes for most.  We had to walk a long way to get there and were kicked out after about a half hour of working the territory.

Since we were there, we decided to go to the beautiful beach located on that part of the island.  It is a public beach with some breathtaking views.  Marie and I searched for red frogs, but didn't find any:(

But we had to take care since the undercurrent can be strong.  Notice Ray in the water with Ty holding on tight!

After we tired of this beach and needed some lunch we headed back to Bocas.  Then we grabbed a cab to head up to Starfish beach.  I don't have many shots there since A. My phone battery was getting low and B.  I was super worried about Raymond.  Here's that tale:  So after a 20 minute taxi ride at speeds of 55 around hairpin corners ( I thought I would get sick we were going so fast), we made it to a little beach town called Bocas del Drago.  We then were to catch a boat ride over to Starfish.  You can walk there, but we didn't because our feet were hurting from the long walk up hills on Red Frog.  As we were catching the boat everyone had gotten into the craft except Raymond and the driver.  Ray was helping him push us off the shore when he suddenly yelped and jumped into the boat.  His foot was bleeding and he was in a lot of stinging pain.  We weren't sure what had happened at that point and just were trying to stop the bleeding and determine if he would need stitches or medical care.  As he was holding his foot, the rest of us callously noticed the beauty of the birds.

The boat driver said it was probably a coral cut.  We worried about an infection.  When we got to the beach, we got Ray off the boat and onto a lounge chair, where we noticed his foot had a spreading red rash like thing on it and it was swelling a bit.  With the bleeding stopped though we were able to get a better view of it.  Strange thing, it wasn't a slice like you would expect from coral.  It had one cut then another little poked hole... like it had been hooked by something.  I was worrying about a stingray when the boat driver assured us it was coral.  He left and I went down the beach for some ice to help with the stinging and swelling.  The ice burned but helped a little.

The kids all played and swam in the gentle water.  Starfish actually abound here and are watched by a man that makes sure they are safe and not picked up or hurt by tourists.  We helped move a couple away from the shore as the tide went out.  Then while Ty played in the water, the girls did dance shots and took pictures of each other.  (I don't have any of those but they were really cool.)

 Later the bar keeper came down the beach...I figured he would know a coral cut etc...he told us yes coral and went to get some alcohol.  I think that helped the most.  After that we got home and did some research...it looks like it was fire coral from the descriptions.  The alcohol helped a lot.  For the first week Ray put alcohol and Neosporine on it all the time to take the sting out.  Now he still has a cut, but it appears to be healing.

That night we got ready and went to eat sushi (said shushi here).

CO Visit

The week of February 10-16 brought much activity for the family.  We began with the extreme drama of attempting to pick up Ray's step mom and sisters but that is in a different blog entry:)  Then Tuesday brought our first CO visit.  We enjoyed the company of Cesar and Valda Pascal subbing from their assignment as special pioneers in Colon a suburb of Panama City.  They have been assigned to Panama for about 14 years.  I was able to take Valda out on Wednesday afternoon before the Pioneer Meeting and Ray took Cesar on Friday morning before the Servants meeting.

** (sidenote) Ray and I have finally figured out a schedule that will enable us to school the kids and get out in service.  Monday Ray takes the group out so he is able to be out all day if he chooses while the kids and I do school, Tuesday we were going as a family in the afternoon to work on Carenero, but that has changed since our move (another blog) so now Tuesday is school and home until meeting.  Wednesday Ray stays home and does school while I go in service all day.  Thursday is now our long day in service as a family...often we go to Bastimentos.  Friday we all get to stay home...I do school while Ray does what he does.  Saturday continues to be our family day where we have fun together...the first Saturday of the month we are going in service though.  Then Sunday we go to meeting and out in service too.  This seems to be working so far...**

She is amazing!  Not only is she a great conversationalist, she is very good at drawing out the people in the territory.  I hadn't had much time out to develop any good calls, studies, or real skill at talking to the people here...so to say the least, I felt totally inadequate.  I learned a lot from her and way so glad to have the humbling experience of service with her.  She is very good!  I know I can't really do it justice with words, but I will take the experience with me the entire time I am here in Panama and hopefully be able to bring it home too.  

During the circuit overseer visit we had a nice time visiting Bastimentos as is now the norm on Thursday.  This week I chose to photograph a hostel of a man I met on the boat over.  He had spent some time in the US during his life and spoke English very well.  This is an amazing display of artistic talent.  I asked if he had painted the picture, but he stated that he had hired it done by someone he knew there on the island.

Unfortunately, this week there was also a funeral.  Now musical instruments are not easy to find on Bocas, but this man had arrived from the main island Tuba in hand with an entire band to play at the woman's funeral.  She was 59 years old and knew or was related to everyone on the island.  We pretty much felt it was time to leave around 2:00 as the entire island was attending her funeral at 3:00 and were getting ready to go or had already left their homes.   Right before lunch, the COs wife, Valda, met a woman who was the daughter in law of the deceased.  She struck up a conversation with the lady just because she looked sad...placed a new tract on what hope there is for the dead.  She shared one scripture.  It was very nice of her and a good example to follow (more about that later).

Sometimes we have to take a break while we are in service.  Bastimentos gets really hot.  I haven't figured out why yet, but it is always warmer and sunnier here than in Bocas.    Here is where we take a break.  It's not Starbucks, but I don't think "Little Man" minds.

I realized that I hadn't included any photos of the Kingdom Hall yet.  We arrived really early this day so I took a couple of shots while no one was here so you can get a feel for it.  There are only like 60 seats inside.  The Spanish congregation often has standing room only while we tend to have many open seats.  We were busting at the seams though for the COs talk on Sunday!  Cesar did a really nice job with the final talk and moved many to tears. The CO assigned here is responsible for not only all of Panama, but also a chunk of Costa Rica as well.  At times, the distance between his congregations is too far to make in a couple of days, so there are, I think, 3 subs here in Panama to help him out.  Our coordinator is one as well and recently was down in their congregation for their visit.

Raymond and I signed up to take the CO and his wife to lunch on Sunday.  Carenero is sort of far to go so we chose instead to take them to lunch at this little stand.  The place is called Empanada George's.  His girlfriend makes the BEST empanadas I have ever eaten.  She had charred vegetables, with chicken, and ginger ones on this day along with pumpkin and onion and vegetables.  They were both amazing!  She also has our favorite drink there...fresh lemonade with cucumber and mint. YUM!  We have started making it at home now.  They had a wonderful time and thankfully got all full too.  We were all starving, there had been a follow-up servants meeting right after the public meeting then Bro. Pascall had to meet with our Coordinator after that.  We left to eat at about 2:00.  Meeting is at 9:30....it was a long wait.  George is quick though because everything just needs to be warmed up.  Here's the shot before and after:

After a wonderful week of service and nice meeting parts, we were able to enjoy a Panamanian tradition (I guess).  On Sunday afternoon around 4:00 we went to a brothers house for dinner to celebrate a great visit and send the CO off on his journey home (They left on Monday).  We grilled and ate hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken.  There were chips, tapenad and hummus with crackers, and salad.  Later we popped pop corn.  We had planned on playing beach volleyball, but it rained so instead we got out dominoes and played that while other talked.  Then to everyone's delight a brother got out a guitar, Raymond grabbed an upside down trashcan for a drum, another had a harmonica, and a tambourine and we sang songs some theocratic and some not.  It was so much fun!!  What a nice end to a great week.  It was pretty dark at that time, so my camera didn't take good pictures.  I'm waiting for some to send me their shots to include in the blog for you all.  I really enjoyed getting to know the Pascals, not just as COs, but as real people who enjoy fellowship and downtime like the rest of us. 

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?