Bienvenidos a Guasave

 Hard to believe it but we have been here for a month now. I guess time really does fly when you are having fun! After a rocky first couple of weeks we have settled in well here in Guasave. I won't go  into detail but suffice it to say we were Turistas  in every sense of the word :-)
   The past couple of weeks in the field ministry have been particularly exciting for us as Danielle was able to start a new bible study with a young lady she met in house-to-house work. We have also had a few experiences showing us the potential that exists here to find new interest. For example on a Saturday after service we were hungry but longing for something non-tortilla related. We finally gave in and wandered into the McDonald's here in town (the Golden Arches are everywhere!)  We were looking at the board and placing our order with some minor complication (the Spanish IS getting better though) when a woman behind the counter asks us in perfect English: "would you like to try a smoothie with your meal?" We talked to her for a moment and it turns out she used to live in San Jose, California. We will keep her in mind and have a tract on hand the next time we go in there.

"would you like fries with that?"

   On another occasion we were at the park swimming and a gentleman there struck up a conversation with me. I was able to converse with him in Spanish for a bit but to my surprise he switched to English without my prompting him to do so. He then told me that he had lived in Los Angeles back in the 1980s and gave me a little synopsis of his life. He then asked what I was doing in Guasave (remember this is not a tourist town) and that gave me an opportunity to explain to him the work we are doing here.

   We have many opportunities like this to witness informally. As I stated in an earlier post we stand out in Guasave and many people flat out ask us: what are you doing here? I love that because it's an easy opening to tell them we are Testigos de Jehova and helping people to learn the Bible's message in the English language. The local brothers have said it is good for our family to be here. It seems that many Mexicans hold all things American in high regard. So in their eyes the fact that some Americans are here to preach adds an "air of importance" to our work. Guasave is also a relatively small town so we often see the same people as we go about town. We hope that in time by being friendly and approachable we will get a chance to witness to some of the folks we meet.

   We had our C.O. visit last week and for two days we did street and business witnessing only. Hard to believe but all my years in the Truth and I have never done business witnessing before! It was very productive as we were able to find many English speakers and Dani, Suzanne and I each have several r.v. because of doing this work. People here are so friendly we simply walk in and explain what we are doing and ask if anyone in the business speaks English. We were never turned away and had several good conversations over the two days.  Hopefully we can continue to build on the interest we have found.

   So that's a bit about life here south of the border. We are working hard, searching out interest wherever we may find it. We pray that Jehovah may bless on our work here and to have more workers join us in  the harvest!

Some photos of Guasave:

La Congregacion Guasave Ingles

our two latest publishers

Daniel....this kid is a comedian !

the mercado in downtown Guasave

"...order for Mr. Fred Flintstone?"

"...hmmm, what to buy?"

this guy was scary with that knife :-)

the neighborhood watch

:

We have Wally World!

Dani and Suzanne in front of our casita

I guess we got the memo