Progressive Bible Studies...

What in the world... Read on and you'll find out.


The few times we've visited back home, wife and I would regularly hear that, 'Sure, you can get a ton of bible studies, but they don't progress...'

Where that thought comes from we have no idea. Those that say this have never visited, and usually aren't keen of hearing experiences from those who have experienced this first hand. The truth is we're swamped with people who want to study, but we have to ignore many of the requests simply because we've run out of time in the day. Our days are loooooong, and coming home after the moon is high in the sky is an all too common occurrence.
Typically, we have this reaction of those that do study...

...we have various members of this family that are studying. In total, there are four studies with five different people here. They have come to the meeting for the second time, and have only studied five times. They have made arrangements to come regularly to the meetings, and have already started making changes in their lives.

Of course, not everyone progresses so quickly. In this family photo, we study with two people. The father, Orlando, has been studying five months and has only now been written up in the school :)...

His first talk!

 Why is it that studies progress so well? It can have something to do with their study habits. Look closely at their bible teach books...

Of course, there are others studying too:

In this last photo, the man in the pic plies me with questions, and as I finally walk away (usually two hours later) he plops two or three more questions for next time.

What's the territory like where we find these people?
Many can be found in the city. Although daylight territory in Volcan is done every 7 days, we still can find one study a day while preaching. Nighttime territory is a different ballgame. It is seldom worked, and of those who have gone out evening witnessing they have had tremendous success.
However, Chris and I have made a purchase that allows the both of us to go to territory that rarely gets done. Some may remember my dirtbike, which is now sold:

 And wasn't very good here:

Or here:

So we've lately been using this:

Which has allowed us to get into some very extreme territories. Yes, I am using the winch in this picture. The gradient is VERY STEEP, and I had snapped a driveshaft too. I only had front wheel drive which brought us home but couldn't get us over the big climbs.

As the rains are coming, we've now equipped it to handle knee deep mud and heavy downpours, which should allow us to keep preaching as we ford instantly formed rivers:

Instead of wading, haha, we can now do this:

 Look at the background...There's a river there :)

 
And another one there...

Sometimes we get a little wet, but I think you'll agree our coordinator thinks it's worth it.

Below is a tiny leak I still haven't quite fixed.

Of course, even with this vehicle, it doesn't mean we can get everywhere in the comfort of our buggy seat. We still have tons of walking to do.

(Yeah, that's me...)

(No, that's not me, but the same trip though)
But it's worth it, as meeting attendance at the Brisas group and congregation will show:

And along the way, we come across all sorts of interesting things that add spice and variety to the service done here:

 (Sugar canes being pressed)

 (A visitor who dropped into our little home)

May is tarantula season - it's the time Tarantulas get out to mate. If you're driving or riding a bike along a road, you'll be sure to encounter one or more. Most of the ones I've seen are hand-sized - massive creatures that carefully walk across a roadway - until they're threatened. Then they can run surprisingly fast.

In Panama - Banana country may I remind  you, we have HUGE bananas, as you can see:

 ...and pretty parisitic flowers.

 One of our publishers impressed with this tree

 A hotel in Colón, a town named after Cristobal Colón when he 'discovered' America

 A common goody given us by our study. The cakes are baked in coffee leaves.

In short, studies progress very well here. It's unfortunate that so many who want to study aren't able to for lack of workers. For this reason, Luke's words resound in our hearts: "The harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few. Therefore beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest."