Mountain bike hiking

 Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Several bike trips into unknown, seldom or never reached territory are planned, and we just did one today. Our team - Halden, Luke, Aaron and myself went to an area we knew had likely never been visited by volunteers before. Above, you see a pretty nice dirt road. Before we got there though,

 Luke had a number of misfortunes, including a flat tire.

 The nice road soon turned into a not so nice road.

But fortunately, the bridge was well designed and built.

 Amazing views all around. This is cattle country, and all vistas are gorgeous.

 No vistas here though. We did very little riding once we got to the rough sections.

 One of the people we spoke to told us this was a very easy shortcut. Yeah. Right. Must be his idea of a joke.

 Every circle identifies a residence we visited or plan to visit. There are ten houses in all this morning, plus about another ten planned for next time.

 Another gorgeous view.

 This shot was of about 85 volunteers who went up to the border. The opportunity to be with friends made the long distance and tiring efforts worthwhile.

I couldn't resist this shot. The little baby was waiting for father to finish his study with me. The ngäby father is learning english as he studies, and is doing very well.

Old Friends...

 So, how do four people do 30 studies in one day - 24 of them being in the afternoon? That was our little problem. We came to this area to do our initial 7, then asked for help from our friends when we realized that we were over our heads. When they came, family of studies came around and asked for studies themselves, and studying with a 'tienda' owner means that everyone who comes to buy something usually hangs around to listen, generating more studies.
So, how is it done?

 Start early, and finish VERY late.

 We're facing a serious problem in our territory. Many people are ngäby and have studied at one time or another in the past, but have now been been left behind or forgotten.

We don't preach in Ngäby as we're in the Spanish congregation, but every week we have a handful who stop by the tienda or hang around family that's studying to mention that ______ used to visit and study, but hasn't come back in months, or even over a year.

Because people's lives are at stake, a conscientious minister will make every effort to return regularly at the scheduled time, but we've found that to not be the case among the ngäby community. Many end up literally begging for us to study with them, simply because they see our truck pass by every week, visiting friends punctually, while they wait for someone who says he will come but doesn't.

In turn, they themselves have come to meetings and want to study.

In an effort to support our ngäby brothers, we have decided to follow the faithful slave's recommendation to study with these interested ones - in group studies if necessary - until they can be taken care of weekly in their own language. The service overseer in the ngäby congregation is very happy these sincere, humble people are being looked after now, and it has worked out very well.

 There's nothing quite like belonging to an organization composed of real friends. Here, we had a chance to visit an old group we were associated with about 2 1/2 years ago. The group meets at a school on the Panama / Costa Rica border, and is doing very well. Our C.O. was visiting, and there were about 35 in attendance. Our friends Antonio and Carmen had come along to meet new faces, and were greeted very warmly.

 On the way there, we passed this massive ant hill. In Canada, Ant hills can be measured in centimeters. Not here. This one was about 3 meters wide (9 feet). Tunnels popped out nearly everywhere, and I had to be careful where I walked to keep from having the ground collapse under me.

You may have seen Danilo's face before. He's doing exceptionally well in his study. Chris is in the background helping a native person learn to read.

 Monaco, my friend and Thursday companion, is mystified at the object laying a few yards away.

 A serious problem found in central american countries is the sub-standard living conditions. Back home, places like these would be condemned, but here, everything goes as long as the building is standing.

 Same house. Look at the floorboards. On the left, a still warm pot of 'frijoles', or beans, is left smouldering for the worker's lunch.

 EVERY pig likes his head scratched. Mama pig here is kept for breeding purposes. Father was in the earlier picture at the river.

 This stunning beauty is rare. When the bush flowers, dozens of these can be seen. You can see more pictures like this here.

 What in the...
Mystified? Look below...

Yes, they baby is in this traditional ngäby hammock. Mom swings it to keep the baby sleeping. She had never heard the bible message, and laughed when she saw the picture. For some reason, most ngäby do.

We saw this well worn trail leading off into the bush, and Monaco guessed correctly that it led to a ngäby home...

 ...some distance away.
I wanted to take pics of the home, but a Peace Corps volunteer was there, and was none too happy with our visit. This is a first for us. We've met half a dozen P.C. volunteers, and they were all very friendly. Not this one - her faced changed immediately when she saw us pulling out our literature. Everyone else in the household was very quite, which was odd. Monaco did a quick presentation and we left without taking a single picture. Better to come back when she isn't around.

Another ngäby home. All these homes belong to latinos. Most ngäby have their homes in the Comarca, and leave temporarily to work on farm fields to raise cash.

Of course, all work and no play makes for a dull day, so we have this little hideaway:

 A deserted tropical island only two hours away from here.

 Nobody is permitted to live permanently on the island, and we usually spend a few days there every few months.

 Waters are crystal clear and perfect for snorkeling.

 Everything is carry in and carry out, but that doesn't stop us from enjoying a good meal.

RAIN!

(Just so you know, pictures are added to the monthly blog pretty much daily. For those who want to see what service is like here in Central America, just scroll down to see the new pics.)

Before I start, I read an interesting article this morning on MSNBC.com that I thought I'd share with friends. Read it here. Is this a sign of the development in the king of the North / king of the South prophecy?

Wife and I are constantly amazed at how humble people are here. We study with evangelicals, adventists, catholics and others who will read a scripture, think for a moment, and usually reply, "Hold on a second. Does this text mean..." soon followed by an openmouthed amazement.

In the picture below, Alex and I decided to motocross a route that we hadn't done since Luke had joined us months before. This time, we'd use our motorcycles, which meant we could cover far more ground and work areas we had never been before. 

Rains are steady here, which means knee deep mud. I stopped to take pictures on the easy stretches (literally) and this was one of them.
On this path, we met an older man and I did my presentation on last month's "5 lies" magazine, focusing on the first one - God is a mystery. After mentioning the common conception that Jesus is God and then refutting it with bible texts, he paused and said, "Hold on a second...".

I had to smile. Oh, and no one had ever gone to this part before.

 This was another good spot to take an easy shot. We had dropped down a hill so steep that we had refused to go down with our bicycles months ago, and climbed various hills that had us hanging over our bars to keep the front wheel as down as possible.
But,
there was a problem. I had fallen twice already - my front wheel would slip out on the loose rocks. I soon found the problem...

 I'm all smiles here, but I had already fallen five times on the incredibly steep drops. We had passed numerous cars that had been abandoned - with the rains, they wouldn't come out again until summer, starting December.
This bridge leads back to La Esperanca - a huge, circuitous route and the easy one to return on from where we were in no man's land.

Before we reached the bridge, we had spoken to a woman who had heard of witnesses but had never  received our visits. She had received a visit from the Adventists, who search out people to quickly baptize so they can start paying they're 20% income tithe.

To get the money from these poor and humble folk, they tell them to sell their cow or pig. At their church, names go up on the wall of those who haven't paid, and the names are further announced to the flock in a further attempt to get the dues. Because of this, most adventists here baptize within 7 days, and some pastors have ignored the fact those they baptize aren't legally married. Unfortunately, the tithe has become the means to the pastor's new Hylux, and this has become a common joke among pretty much every panamanian here.
So why do people listen to these 'Pastors'? Because they're told that all they have to do is hold the sabbath and pay the tithe. If they do that, salvation is pretty much guaranteed.

 Once there, it was easy to come back. Alex here is showing off.

 Ahhhh. Why didn't my rear brake work anymore? No wonder I kept falling - with front brakes only on steep descents - descents so steep I couldn't walk down them without falling - things had turned nasty very quickly.
When I bled the rear brake, this milk and coffee mixture came out. There's a lesson in this.

LESSON #1
Latinos love pretty colors. It doesn't matter if something doesn't work, as long as it's painted a vivid green or has lots of chrome. They have a special work for this. If they see a lada with a plywood wing on the back painted a bright red, numerous scoops hanging out the sides, blinking blue strobe LED lights flashing in unison as the .8 litre engine coughs and spits out unburned fuel, they call the monster "'Tá pretty!"

LESSON #2
Latinos here only fix what broke. They have no idea what maintenance is. And what they fix must be fixed with bubble gum and carpenter's glue because that's cheap. In this case, they put something as brake fluid - I'm guessing it's coffee. It certainly didn't feel like brake fluid.

I've replaced many badly repaired parts on the bike, and am waiting for more from ebay. Below, you can see a bushing missing on my brake caliper support. I've found much worse - cylinder head bolts tightened by gut feelings, silicone doubling as brake cylinder seals, masking tape wrapped around electrical connections and much worse.

O

 Xavier, who is a real gentleman, is helping my wife out. I'm not as I'm having fun watching the action. I have yet to see anyone fall, but if they do, I'm determined to catch them in the act.

Carmen actually has a smile on her face! Does she know this is cow caca?

Katie, below, used to be Chris's study on the frontera. Chris found her sitting by the river and decided to share a bible message with her (Acts 16:13)
We immediately started a study with her and returned every two weeks (it was a four hour drive there and back) but had to pass the study on after two months because of the distance.
We saw her at the assembly (picture). Her study is progressing very well. Her husband, and evangelical, is now studying and wants to be a publisher. He's making arrangements to get married so he can fulfill the requirements. Katie was overjoyed to see Chris, and we'll be meeting them again this sunday.

Speaking of evangelicals, people here have the same issue with them as mentioned earlier. Evangelicals don't hold to the mosaic law, but they do insist that the tithe law be followed. Worse yet, many evangelical ministers are in open arrangements - meaning that they live with someone of the opposite sex without being married. These male and female 'Pastors' preach morality, but have a long string of openly immoral relationships and are known for using the bible to steal other people's wives.

We have a serious problem counteracting their misinformation. In one isolated community, the evangelicals had gone through telling people their children were dying because of evil spirits - not contaminated water - and that they needed exorcisms, not purified water. Later, several children died in the community.

Some of you may have read of the hard work a group of our brothers are doing in Cuesta da Piedra. All told, there are 30 ngäby studies and 30 latinos, making for a decent number - enough to have convinced the Mexican branch to decide to form a full meetings group there, now in its third week.

In today´s meeting, there were 32 in attendance, with 22 being studies. Some there have only studied once before coming to the meeting. Most of the studies commented, with some being so excited they blurted out answers before their names could be called. They were very happy to be there. A number of our studies went too, and a few others were to go but couldn't because of unforeseen circumstances. Here's two families out of the ten that came with us:

Here's another family that came last week and was to return but had an illness in the family:

The mother in the family above, Verginia, hasn't even started studying yet. Being native, she is typically EXTREMELY shy, but has come out of her shell by our third visit.
The picture below is of one of the other natives of Panama, one we hope to not run into - or at least, not as often as we have...

Snakes are very common in Panama, and most of them are extremely poisonous. They are also very shy and tend to slither off when confronted, and avoid human areas for the reason seen immediately above. In this case, the snake wandered too close to a back porch. For some unexplained reason, when killed, the locals enjoy hanging these large things from sticks on their front lawns, and sit and wait for praise.
While witnessing (and my daily bike rides), we've come across a number of them but have never had any problems. Hopefully there won't be a first time.

There are also five species of cat here, as you can see from the fine picture below. And yes, my wife took this picture. At first he was shy, and then he became angry. We stopped taking pictures.
(By the way, if you love pictures like this and want to see more gorgeous shots, you can click HERE.)

Sometimes, pictures we take and post give a distorted view of the work that is done here by our hardworking brothers. Pictures like this one:

In the shot above, there´s a house I've eyed for a while now, but can't figure out how to get there. I can see people off in the distance (trust me, they're there) but have no idea how they get to their place. Here's a close up of the house.

Can you spot it in the picture above?





Try now:

This is extreme stuff - in fact, this area really has no name. There are likely 'many' houses that have been missed simply because we can't find them or get to them. Fortunately, most of our territory is much easier. However, Los Mercedes has never been done, and there's another stretch we've only done once.
As mentioned before, a number of us do some of these extreme territories in dirt bikes, which is a... ahem, tough job but someone's got to do it. This scree-filled trail needed two attempts from Alex and one from me.

In this path, a number of houses exist that haven't been done in about a year and Alex had a return visit from last time.

After his first attempt, a large rock drove his shifter in, so he had to come down and fix it before trying again.

 Contemplating the looooonnnnng, very muddy axle-deep 'road' ahead...

We've given up trying to keep dry and relatively clean. I have a pair of Rockport XCS boots which help, but many of the trails are so rough and the mud so deep it's virtually impossible to keep water out. My waterproof pants don't work, and neither does my waterproof jacket - the massive downpours drive right through the 'breathable' skin.
Aside from the water, trails are so rough even the best of boots don't last. My old pair of Rockports lasted only 1 year before the soles disintegrated. Of course, the caldera on the last volcano I climbed didn't help, but that's another story.
Hikers are a must - they protect against mud, parasites and snakes of course.
Now, I've given up. I will get wet no matter what, and use cheap, easily washable clothing.

Our ngäby brother, below, has mentioned a number of territories his congregation can't do and has asked for company and help from someone with a rugged 4x4.

Here, Monico is witnessing to a ngäby family housed in the sugar cane press workshop. Substandard living conditions like this one is normal, and everyone is used to it. I'm sure their health suffers - parasites live in the soil and everyone walks around barefoot. Some parasites can burrow into the skin, and many locals, both indigenous and latino suffer from parasite issues.

As many have heard, there have been intense rains in Central America, with subsequent flooding and landslides. Part of the reason is simply bad planning / construction. Unfortunately, some have died and about 50 houses in chiriquí seriously affected. Martinelli designated the area a national disaster and is now taking steps to repair the damage. Pictures courtesy of LaPrensa.

 Rains continue, and Puerto Armuelles is now affected as they normally are at this time every year. Low bridges usually get flooded and washed away there, only to be rebuilt exactly the same way. We would know - we spent three days trying to get our truck out of there last year after burying it in a river that should have been a small stream. Severe flooding washed away roads and made passage to Punta Burica impossible.

Intense rain and the resultant humidity also affects our literature. We found that our publications just don't last anymore, especially when it comes to the glue that holds the pages together. Everyone has been experiencing this problem, both with bibles and books. This is a shot of my 8 month old BT:

After losing pages, I had it wire-ringed, but that only lasted two months. Although the book is well used (wife and I have over 30 studies) I found that by the time I underlined my new book, it was already losing pages. Soooo...

I downloaded the PDF from jw.org, opened it with nitro, underlined right on my computer screen and wrote the gist of bible texts in red. Nitro prints in the center of the page, which means I can print both sides. After printing, I trimmed with wider margins and stitched together the pages, which means I now have a book that will last, hopefully for a year at least :) And yes, this is for my own personal use.