Finally we arrived in Guayaquil for the convention and we were immediately greeted by the brothers and sisters as we got off our bus from Cuenca.
After we received our welcome bags and met the brothers and sisters at the bus station/airport a sister took us to our hotel. We were staying pretty close to the airport but it was nice to get to know her a bit with our limited Spanish.
Upon arriving at the hotel we were greeted by another group of brothers and sisters which and we were checked in at the hotel and then we had to check in for the convention. We got some additional welcome gifts, a bag for service, our badges, and things like that.
At that point it was fairly late so we just grabbed some dinner at the hotel restaurant and went to bed so that we could get up and go bright and early the next morning. Our convention activity schedule was pretty full, we arrived on Monday afternoon and had activities Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then of course the convention started on Friday.
Our activity for Tuesday was field ministry and the evening gathering. This day was the favorite for both of us. We started off by joining a local Spanish congregation for a morning in the ministry. We arrived to the kingdom by bus and the whole congregation was outside when we arrived, singing and waving banners and welcoming us.
Our service partners were assigned in advance so as we were walking through the crowd we had to keep an eye out for a sign with our name on it. Our partners had made sweet gifts for us and they also had printed out little presentations in Spanish for us to use in the ministry. That was super helpful however Ryan ended up with a nice short one and min was two paragraphs so it was a little hard to remember, I just ended up reading off the paper.
We had a really nice morning in the ministry inviting people to the convention. Our territory was just a short walk from the kingdom hall and later we found out the brothers and sisters had actually cleaned up the streets in advance for our morning in service. We couldn’t believe that, they really went above and beyond and really gave the community an amazing witness. We were able to place some invitations and show some videos and get to know some of our fellow delegates and local brothers and sisters.
Upon returning to the Kingdom Hall it had been set up for a fancy lunch. The brothers and sisters who were serving even had monogrammed the napkins with the JW.org logo! For lunch we got to try some different local Ecuadorian foods and enjoyed some entertainment in skits and songs prepared by the brothers and sisters from the local congregation.
After our wonderful morning with the local brothers and sisters we were brought back to the hotel for just an hour before we were picked up again to go to the evening gathering.
The held the evening gathering at a theatre that they had rented in town. It was fancier than I was expecting with multiple floors, a professional stage, red carpets, etc. The whole thing was done in Spanish so we had to use our limited skills but we were able to understand almost all of it. They had a whole bunch of cultural dances from different areas of the country which was really amazing. Then they followed that with a play that told some of the history of how the truth came to Ecuador. The play ended with scenes of the paradise where they had brothers and sisters dressed as animals moving through they audience. It was an amazing Broadway level production and was so moving.
After the play was done we moved outside where they had dinner waiting for us. We ate (the best ceviche ever!), listened to some live music and wandered around the grounds getting to know some of our fellow delegates. It was such an amazing day and looking back Ryan and I both agree this one was our favorite.
On Wednesday we went to Bethel. This was unlike any Bethel tour I have ever done. They had it set up almost like a carnival with lots of booths and activities, things like flying drones, dressing up as bible characters on green screens, learning about the type of hats they make or the kind of foods unique to Ecuador.
They also had some different buildings set up to explore. There was an timey movie theatre that showed a film about Ecuador, a museum about the history of the truth in Ecuador, an original Kingdom Hall made out of bamboo, an escape room, and a display about the current work in Ecuador and serving where the need is greater.
After having time to explore some of these things (we didn’t have enough time to do everything, there was so much!) they had some performances from some of the brothers and sisters at Bethel. Then we had dinner and were entertained by some of the children from nearby congregation.
On Thursday we went to Cajas National Park. We had to leave early because it was 3 hours away from our hotel. On the way we stopped a few times, once some local brothers and sisters came onto our bus and gave us some snacks for the trip, the second time we stopped at a gas station which the brothers and sisters had cleaned, repaired, and painted just for us to use for our visit. The third time we stopped part way up the mountain at another rest stop that they had prepared for us. There were brothers and sisters singing and dancing, they had snacks and drinks for us, and they had hand made hats, gloves, and scarves for all of us delegates because it was cold up in the mountains.
Cajas National Park is up at the top of the mountains/volcanoes at 14,000ft above sea level. The air was so fresh and the scenery was so beautiful. We stopped at the top where there were even more brothers and sisters were waiting to greet us! We had some time to walk around and they had a small museum about the kind of climate, foliage and animals located in this specific area.
After finishing in the national park we continued out the other side where they had prepared a lunch for us with entertainment from the local brothers and sisters. Afterwards we were able to walk around the grounds which were absolutely breathtaking! They even had a couple of alpacas that you could take your picture with.
After we were done we were headed back to the hotel but we had to go back through the national park and back through the mountains to return to Guayaquil. On the way back the sun was starting to go down and we were treated to these views of a cloud ocean as we descended which was amazing to see.
Finally Friday had come and it was time for the convention! It was amazing to be there with so many brothers and sisters particularly for the “Love Never Fails” convention. There was so much love shown to us by the brothers and sisters in Ecuador. Everyday of the convention there was no end to the number of people who wanted to talk to you and take a picture.
We also got to meet so many of our fellow delegates who were from all over the world. It was really neat to see all the different styles of dress and culture in one place. The talks were fantastic, we really enjoyed the ones given by Brother Cook. And the baptism! We must have been clapping for a half and hour there were so many who got baptized, it was amazing! There were people getting baptized while others were still filing out of their seats there were so many.
When the convention was over no one wanted to leave. They kept sending “the wave” around and around in the stadium, there was singing and dancing. We have so many more pictures and wonderful experiences than I can possibly include in this post so if you want to see more just ask! It was an amazing privilege to be there and one that we will treasure forever.
