Wednesday, May 23, 2012

We have heard from both congregations and are eager to visit them in person! The first congregation to respond also responded to my request to email with a sister in the congregation.  Luly has been charming.  She has sent me an invitation to look at pictures of their Kingdom Hall and of the congregation.  The brothers do not seem to have to wear ties in service but at the Hall they do.  Robin is excited about the no-tie-in-service since ties have always bothered him.  Otherwise the brothers and sisters could be in service anywhere in the United States.  They do seem to use more umbrellas for shade.  Luly said that her congregation's territory is half of the State of Tabasco and has 5 or 6 municipalities which I am thinking are counties but she says that they have only almost covered 2 of them.  Lots of work left to be done! They have also moved the English Congregation to another city since the Branch wrote us.  Most of the friends live in this city so meetings are more convenient.
The second congregation has also had a sister write me.  She restated that there are no foreign brothers or sisters helping out their congregation. (The first congregation has a couple from Florida and a sister from Belize helping.) The city is about 200,000 with the outlaying areas bringing it to 400,000. The brother said that it was a small city of 700,000 so he may be counting more area but in any case the congregation of 24 have a huge territory to cover! Pretty incredible to think about!
We are very excited about traveling down to meet everyone and to see the areas.  We are counting that Jehovah makes it very clear which congregation will work best for us.  Right now I think I am leaning towards the first congregation in the smaller town but if our goal is help out then we need to go where we can best be used. Anyone who knows me well knows how terrible I am about making choices!! Lots of prayer I am sure will be involved.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Today we heard from the second congregation.  The brother said that there are 25 in the congregation. Half are pioneers.  3 elders. 3 ministerial servants. The brother said that the town is small, only 700,000!! Now that is funny! Clifton is about 1700! The University requires that the students learn English.  There are many English speaking workers with the oil company.  From the email it seems that the entire city is the congregation's territory. Wow! There are no native English speakers in the congregation.  I have asked for the address of the Kingdom Hall so that I can Google Earth it.  I have written to the brother to ask if there is a sister in the congregation to email with ...it would be helpful, informative and fun!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

First we tried calling Mexico by just dialing the phone number that we had.  Wrong.  So we called Verizon to ask about calling Mexico and found out that it is about 45 cents a minute to a land line and about 69 cents a minute to a mobile line. There is a monthly plan available where the cost is about 9 cents a minute to a land line and about 25 cents a minute to a mobile line.  When the customer service went to add the service to our line she said---"you already have that service!" Now this is after we have called and called Verizon about lowering our bill to just the bare minimum.  Paying for a service we didn't use...bummer.  Anyway we dialed through and spoke with the brother.  His family does not understand English very well.  There was great commotion getting him on the line and then we had to call back in 5 minutes.  His English is very choppy but he is happy to say that it has been less than 5 years since he started speaking English! So very good indeed! He said that the congregation is around 38 publishers with 3 elders and 10 regular pioneers.  They have a very large territory covering many cities.  So, the plan is to attend the English convention in Merida in September and then to follow or go with them back to their town.  It would give them opportunity to meet us and us them! He said that there is a brother who owns apartments.  We could check out the territory, the Kingdom Hall, housing, stores, etc.  The brother thought that it would be a good idea to go for an extended visit before actually moving.  So we would like to come home and then plan a trip back if it seems like it will work out.  The brother reassured us that it is very safe there! I hope so!! Funny thing is that I was looking forward to living in a city where we could walk to cafe-s and stores, take the bus, and so on but this area sounds much like Clifton but in Mexico.  I am anxious to find out how it really is...wish I could Google Earth it!

Monday, May 14, 2012

We are still waiting to receive a response from our emails to the brothers named in the Mexico Branch's letter.  In the meantime I have used Google Earth to check out the cities.  It is so cool to walk the streets virtually.  Poza Rica looks exactly like I had thought it would.  Lots of concrete and glass buildings.  I still need to do more exploring.  The other city has not been video-ed by Google but it allows me to fly over the area. It is very verdant.  We are excited to explore more about these cities.  For now we are going to focus on getting our life in order here.  Rob needs some medical things done.  Our plan is to attend the English convention in Merida in September.  On that trip we will explore both areas and visit some friends in Mazatlan. For now we will be busy with the convention invitation work here in Clifton and continue simplifying our lives. Tomorrow we will call the brothers in Mexico!!