It's Been a Great Winter

Wednesday Morning service meeting in November - I can't believe it's been so long since we posted!!!

It was great to have so many visitors at once from California. Most Italian, some not. Great news is Anthony and Mariana (2nd row back very left) were visiting for their second visit and were encouraged so much they decided to move to Mexico English to help.  They moved to Oaxaca and are loving it!


Sometimes the rain can get pretty intense here. Its hard to get a photo of, but this is us driving in it...  We tried to get to Paulina's for her study but had to turn back.





Afternoon cerveza and horse ride...



As you can see some doors are a bit more difficult to get to. This "front door" was located on the roof! Chris and Olga pictured here successfully found it.





You never know if someones home ;-)  I think Rob is a bit dubious as to the success of this door.  But it had all the markers we look for:  A clear house address and an electric meter with a green tag - which means in use!

Only one problem - no house!

Upon further investigation the meter is feeding a home up the side of the cliff...



Lots of hills and lots of walking...



This bird sanctuary is a couple of blocks from our new Kingdom Hall.





It's always delightful working with the different publishers in the hall.  Here is Alba with her son Hector.  Her husband Yaz had a difficult time with work this year.  His job was interfering with spiritual activities so he decided to quit.  It took a while to find better work but he really wanted to spend more time with his family and in service.  As he was looking he and Alba and Hector were out in the ministry a lot with us.  It was delightful!  He now has good work with a better schedule.



Public Witnessing Table - Lydia shows JW.org video skills to the little ones.




Port Witnessing has been a mainstay form of witnessing for us here in Manzanillo for years now.  In fact the branch backed this and sent Brothers specifically to assist with it and organize the efforts.  Recently the local government has put this form of service on hold here.  The Mexico Branch has decided instead of backing this work as an organization / legal entity it is now up to the individual Congregation Elder Bodies to apply to do this work for us.  After that change the new Supervisor of Manzanillo's Port has put a stop to our approval for doing Port Witnessing.  Until recently Manzanillo was the only port in Mexico that had ship witnessing going.  A number of other port cities have been working to get approval and the brothers have seen many situations where they see Jehovah's guidance and support.  We have been enjoying hearing the good experiences they've been having as they work to get this approved again.  They have asked that we put this continually in our prayers until it is resolved.

 Jehovah has in mind why this is being blocked for now, and he has a plan we are sure.  As Isaiah 55:9 tells us about Jahs thoughts and actions "my ways are higher than your ways. And my thoughts than your thoughts."  We look forward to seeing the outcome and continuing this form of service.

What some of the walkways look like as we are on the ships.

Here is an example of the types of ships we preach on.  The back side is usually full of cargo containers or raw materials of some sort.




Fun Times with Friends

Josh and Holly's Going Away Party
After 4 years serving together we were sad to see our dear and great friends Josh and Holly Sinclair move away.  They had gone to Couples School in 2014 and were initially assigned back to Manzanillo.  But from there they received their next assignment: Belize.  Language: Belizean Kriol








A few examples of the language. The trick to understanding the words is to sound them out-loud. Pretty funny though.

Translation: Kriol English Dictionary

Translation: The New Testament in Belize Kriol

Makes sense when you sound it out, but a bit tough to use it every day... We are proud of our buddies Josh and Holly for their hard work and willing spirit.  They've already been having great experiences - especially preaching in the prisons.


Below are some great pics of one of our favorite places to take visitors.  El Salto waterfall area.


















Cantoya Balloon Festival - An event that involves "Mini Hot Air balloons"  At one point 500 - 1000 were released at once.






We went with our dear friends Luis Alberto and Betty and their kids Frida and Grecko.  It was so fun to watch the kids playing with the balloons and watching them fly away.

One of the highlights for everyone of course was when they caught on fire in mid air.

Then rapidly disintegrated.




A highlight of course for us all is visitors - a delightful couple from Montreal Canada on the left.



This was the best strawberry ice cream I've had so far.  It tasted like Dreyers!


During the Memorial invitation work in '14 Dane came across a young man who was raised in the states.  He was eager to have a study and has been doing great for over a year.
Rudy's sister Sandra also requested to study and I have been thoroughly enjoying studying with her.  She is such a sweet girl and we've developed a nice bond.  She really thinks about things - she has tons of great questions which are a treat for me because it gives me a reason to do extra research.  She has 2 adorable little ones - which we've shown on another blog.  You may recognize her little boy Eric - Olga came over and entertained him for part of their first meeting.









We heard some rustling in our back yard and went to go see what it was..........................

  It was a Four Foot Long Iguana!


I can't believe it took so long to get this post up.  We have more to share - coming soon!

May Jehovah bless your hard work and faithfulness as we all endure this system together. 

~ Emily and Dane