Hello, we hope you are all doing well. Here's a bit of an update of what we have been up to. It has been a packed out month of activity and we'd like to share our experiences.
We had our circuit assembly in November, twelve were baptized, 3 from our congregation. The attendance was of 738 and of those about 500 were publishers. It was only a part of the circuit. The assembly hall is located amongst mango trees that provide shade and snacks. Monkeys and giant iguanas roam the trees. There were no fans, so it was a hot one! It was nice to meet so many friends.
We were invited to work on a kingdom hall build in San Jose. The hall the friends were previously attending held 11 congregations!!! It was on a dangerous road. They are so happy to have this beautiful hall. The country has two construction groups (ten in each) that are full-time kingdom hall builders. They had a list of 10 more halls to build after this one. And a total of 34 in the works!
We went to preach on Island Caballo, it hadnt been preached in 3 years. It has 200 fishermen and their families who have lived there their whole lives. They do not have electricity nor potable water. Just water from a well. Their livelihood is the fish. They were very receptive, many had never had a bible. They said they hadnt been visited for a long time, since those who live off the island, find no reason to visit. It was beautiful and it was fun to climb the rocks and preach on the beach. A brother who has a motor boat took us, we got soaked but quickly dried up in the heat. We packed our lunches and water bottles and spent the day there. Because the waves were pretty choppy, the brother was constantly looking at the sea to determine when would be the safest time to return. The following week we heard of a boat going to another island not too far from this one that was overturned by the waves! Thankfully the brother had much experience. We plan to go back soon for the return visits.
There is an area about 30 mins from our house that is the home to over 20 crocodiles. We walked the bridge and couldnt believe how close we were to these ferocious creatures...i hope our pictures give them justice...it was scary for me, cool for Albert.
We also had our circuit overseer visit and we had 15 from our congregation auxilary this month. It's been great, to go from about 10 of us in service to sometimes over 30 is so encouraging. Plus we get to cover the huge territory alot faster. Some pictures are from the group in service and from one of my favorite territories, its called San Geronimo and it is in the middle of the mountains, the homes are really humble with farms of animals and many fruit trees.
A study named Marielena said she had been praying all morning for someone to help her understand what she was reading in her bible....two hours later we knocked on her door. She asked to study two times a week. Another study named Ana, used to be a cocaine addict and has serious health conditions due to her former inmoral lifestyle. She recently had a little girl and is now clean. She loves to learn about Jehovah and always tells me "I cant wait to become one of you". There is this couple we study with Guillermo and Teresita, she made him accept the study in hopes that he would be "saved", she believed that she didnt need to study she was already "saved", he reluctantly agreed to give it a try but just doesnt believe God cares about humans. Teresita sat in on the first study to see if she approved. The first chapter of Bible teach answered Guillermo's doubts, he realized God doesnt put us to the test or cause bad situations. Teresita was shocked to read it in her own bible, since she said God needed to test us to see if we were faithful. Now both are doing so great in the study, they study before hand and study for 2 hours regularly because they say they want to cover as much info as possible. Teresita now uses Jehovah's name, something she had been taught wasnt important.Two studies Grace and Olga have lost their husbands recently, the chapter on resurrection have helped them cope with the pain, the thought of seeing them again has become real to them.
Other studies have been coming to the meetings and always tell us how different it is from the yelling and scary "holy spirit" scenes they see. It has been amazing to see these people learn.

Here are some pictures, hope you like them. Pretty soon I will be putting more pictures and videos on our website...
www.offexploring.com/bonnie-clyde

We miss you and hope to hear back from you soon,

Albert and Sadia