First week in Facatativa Colombia

Hello Everybody!  No we haven't been captured by the Colombian Cartel!  We finally got internet access and a telephone in our room.  So now we can start posting.  Hope you enjoy the pics! 
Love,
Boyd & Crystal

The Branch was built about 20 years ago, and a new residence building was added 6 years ago.  During the construction and renovation, International Volunteers, and Servants were a regular fixture at the Branch.  Many of the brothers learned a little bit of English from the brothers, and they love getting a chance to try it out on us!

The grounds around the Branch are beautiful!  There is a small pond with fountain, and flowers everywhere.  We are about 8000 feet in the Andes mountains.  The elevation did make us a little tired at first!

This is the family pet here at the branch.  He loves attention, and loves to show off his feathers. When Crystal was trying to get out of the door, he blocked her off, and fanned out his feathers.  She had to wait until he was done showing off to get out! The brothers say when he looses his feathers, he goes into hiding until he gets them back. 

This is our room- it is really nice, we have a kitchenette, living room, bath, bedroom, and nice sized closet! 

Colombia has several indigenous languages, along with Spanish Sign language.  The branch produces the Sign language videos here.  See the 1 Ingles (English) Congregation in the country?  Thats where we were assigned!  We drive about 1 hour 45 min to Bogota.  The Congregation is new, and has about 30+ publishers, many of whom are learning English.  They have the entire city of Bogota- which has 8 million people! 

The Branch prints the Watchtower and Awake for 5 countries in South America.

Some of the faithful older ones, who have served for years in South America.  The sister        ( next to Crystal) Graduated from Gilead (28th Class I think)  And has served faithfully ever since.  She is a ball of fire.  The couple on the left  were Missionaries, then Circuit Overseers, then into the Branch.  He is from Kalispell MT! 

These are our friends Jason and Shannon.  They are from Arkansas, and this is their second assignment.  Their first was in Haiti- they left 9 days before the earthquake. We get along very well, and we are looking forward to spending the next 3 months together!

Sunday was Family Day- a very special day for the Bethel family in Colombia.  They all stay home and play games.  The entire family gets involved. This year was the first ever women's football tournament (Soccer) They really get into their sports, there were cheerleaders, and hecklers, they did the wave, and had endorsement posters from each dept.  They play a game called Tajo (Tay-ho)  In which you throw metal pucks at boards that are at a slant, and are coated in a thick wax.  In the middle of the board is a target, with firecrackers.  If you hit the board, and it sticks, it is 1 point, hitting the outside of the target 2 points, if you light off the firecrackers, 3 points, and 6 points for a bullseye. 

Brothers love to sing- and they are pretty good!

Family day culminates with a special meal called Lechona.  It is a whole pig, stuffed with rice, and cooked all day.  It is a specialty of one of the departments (states) of Colombia.   It is really good! 

The waiters dress in traditional Colombian Vacero dress for the day, and the family comes to lunch in more informal comfortable clothes. 

The other blond!    The brothers are so friendly, and loving.  We speak Spanish almost everywhere, but a few do speak a little English.

This brother bought a kitten for a sister who was going through a hard time in his hall. 

We went walking the town of Facatativa where the branch is located.  In the town center were native Combian dancers - take a look!

Shannon with some of the little sisters in one of the nearby Congregations

Our Crew with the hard working Colombian brothers

Our job at the branch is to install a new tile floor in the kitchen and surrounding areas.  It is around 5900 sq ft.  The tiles are 20x20, so we do cover area pretty fast. 

Lots of work to do! 

This brother is from the coastal region- lots of fun!

The Girls work hard- the brothers were a little surprised that they work along with us!

Here is the next phase of the project-the brothers will remove the existing tile, and an outside company comes in to ground down the concrete.