Goodbyes and Memories

This post has lots of highlights in one this time. Mostly because lots happened including many goodbyes. So get ready for lots of pics :-)

An update on the Public Table Witnessing we highlighted in Our March Post
In 3.5 Months at the table in Manzanillo:

4,900 Magazines were placed, many books and 179 people requested bible studies.  The Circuit Overseer confirmed that the studies that we turned over to the Spanish congregations are being cared for as well.

We've been busy with this work and look forward to the great increase it will provide.

We had the privilege of "attending" the Mexico Zone Visit. It was held in Mexico city, but broadcast for us to view in Manzanillo.  It was so encouraging!  Our favorite point was a discussion showing how generosity in hospitality is a function of faith, not of means - it was very inspiring.


We got to take Leah and Levi Seims to El Salto!

Do you see the Ninja jumping?


LOTS of Goodbyes will be highlighted in this post  : (  The first was Sweet Jenny.  Olga organized a surprise party where she would be tricked into coming upstairs. There we waited, we had to be silent for half an hour, I think we set a record!  ; )

And surprised she was!



Jenny moved back to Seattle to pursue the next phase of her spiritual journey.

We'll miss you so much!  But we're happy for you to be moving forward.  We know Jehovah will bless your great zeal as you continue to serve him.

The next was the whole Pierce family. Sorry for the fuzzy pic, my camera just wouldn't focus that night!

The Pierce family left us to go to New York.  Nathan and Kat will be Commuter Bethalites working as a couple doing electrical work.  Their daughter Chelan got accepted for a 2 week assignment at Bethel.  We're excited to see what adventures they'll all have in the coming months as they sacrifice for Jehovah.  They're leaving a huge hole in our little congregation but they left for such a good cause and we know Jehovah will care for our group.

The next goodbye was the hardest for me.  Sunday morning May 5th I got a text from Holly saying that my dear studies Melina and Yolanda were moving to the states - the NEXT DAY!   We were driving to Colima : Dane had the Public Talk in Colima that day so Holly had picked them up for meeting.  I couldn't believe I was going to miss their last meeting and barely get to say "goodbye" to them!!!   We had plans the whole day in Colima so we didn't know what to do.  I started crying as I tried to get a hold of them.  Jehovah of course saw the whole situation and in his generosity made sure that we had some time together.  We picked the girls up Monday morning and were able to keep them all the way until Tuesday NIGHT.  We'll miss their mother Stacy a lot too.
 
 
 
We picked plums in our side yard:
 
Even our hermit crabs liked them!

I couldn't find a good place for this pic, but it had to be shown ; )

We had such a neat last two days together.  We got to spend the day Monday at a beautiful river.
It was a scenery-rich drive

 











The last night we were able to spend with them, a group of us went to a fair that was in Manzanillo.





Melina and I went on a crazy roller coaster ride together. The video below shows some highlights. Take your Dramamine and press play ;-)
Melina & Yolanda Final Goodbyes from DaneAndEmily on Vimeo.

Oh, and we forgot to tell you the plans we had that Sunday Dane had his talk in Colima:
After the talk and a great lunch we were able to visit Oscar, Cloudia and Jesse in Colima. The Colima volcano has been erupting!  At night you can see the lava spilling out!
 
 Oscar and Claudia treated us all to a carriage ride around Comala
 


As with most of our Mexican experiences it is somewhat like what we're used to in the states but with a fun extra flavor.  Like on the carriage ride everyone waved to us.


I hosted a Little Girl party. I had my new bible study Paulina join us!





The girls cut out pictures from the magazines and made "Paradise Collages" and cut out pictures that made them think of Jehovah and his personality.  Then they shared what the pics meant to them.




We're hoping this next one isn't a "goodbye" but a "see ya soon".  Evan left to work in the states like we do for the summer.  Then we found out he got accepted for a six week Bethel assignment!  We're so excited for him!


The last "goodbye" also left us teary eyed.  We feel so blessed to have had the Seims family with us for these last six months.
 
 
As of now we're back in Oregon to work for the summer. As a final picture this was on the wall at the Dallas airport Lol...


We hope to get a chance to see you all soon.

Much Agape.