We arrive in Ecuador! (Time Travel series, Part 1)

(Note: In 1971, the Winder family of Mobile, Alabama (Bill, 41, Jean, 40, sons Jesse, 19, Joe 16, and daughter Eva, 13) sold their possessions and moved to Ibarra, Ecuador for 2 years to preach the good news of the Kingdom. Jesse returned once more in 1976 for a visit of a few months, but has not been back since. However an extended visit and possible move is planned for 2018. In preparation for that trip and to amuse the ex-pats who have moved to Ecuador in recent years, I will be publishing some “time-travel” blog entries as I might have back  in day if there had only been an Internet.)

Rodrigo Vaca conducting the Watchtower study

Spring 1971:

Several families in our congregation in Mobile were discussing moving to a foreign country to serve where the need was greater. The consensus seemed to be that Guatemala might be a good choice because we could drive there. However, an American couple, Robert and Pat Swartz who had been serving in Ecuador visited our Hall and regaled us with their experiences. My dad was sold- Ecuador would be it.

So we began the process of disposing of most of our possessions, house, cars, etc. Being 18 years old with a life of my own, I initially wasn’t too excited about moving, but my dad said just give it a year, and if I didn’t like it, he would send me home. Okay.

Summer 1971:

With my Kingdom Hall buddies

Me in front of the Kingdom Hall

We get off the Ecuatoriana jet in Quito. None of us know any Spanish. To my knowledge, I’ve never even met a Hispanic person. In Alabama, there’s basically just black people & white people.

So the Swartz’s meet us at the airport and we head for Ibarra, a city of about 50,000. In the entire province of Imbabura, there is only one congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are about 50 or so publishers, 17 of them Gringos, mostly Canadians. The Kingdom Hall was a rented room. (Now if you look up Imbabura on jw.org, 35 congregations pop up. What a difference 40 years makes!)

Ivan Morillo and his family

Want to meet them? There are 4 older single Canadian retired sisters living on their social security. There is the Convery family from Sudbury, Dave, Stella, two teenagers, Warren and Jocylyn. Larry & Janet Ginn, a young Canadian couple, the two Swartz’s, and now the Winders. Most are pioneering and there are a number of local Ecuadorian brothers who are special pioneers.

Carlos Salazar

The presiding overseer is a Gilead graduate (only the second from Ecuador), Carlos Salazar. He is Ecuadorian, but due to having lived in NYC speaks excellent English. You can see his picture in the 1989 YB page 218. The Watchtower conductor is Rodrigo Vaca who is blind and has only one hand due to an unfortunate encounter with black powder when he was younger. You can read his life story in the Awake!, September 8, 1985.

With Hugo Salas at the family business

It was great having the Swartz’s  as a connection, because they had already located us a place to live and showed us the ropes. I had already been pioneering for a year since I got out of High School (the requirement then was 100 hours a month) and the brothers let me know that I had to get in the swing of things quickly. So they gave me an index card with a 4 line magazine presentation written on. I would knock on the door and read the card. One of the first lines was “No hablo espanol”. Of course, I couldn’t get in too much trouble because I was working with another brother. But after the first day, I had the card memorized. So I could give a presentation, but I just couldn’t understand what the householder said.

One of my studies, David Saud

I noticed right away this was a different world than the Bible Belt of Alabama where we were used to preaching to church-going people who were generally not interested in talking to us. For one thing in Ibarra, almost everyone was home, and almost everyone invited us in. Naturally they were curious, because our group may have been the only gringos in town. Once when my brother and I went out in the street with our baseball mitts and started throwing a few balls, a crowd gathered. We let a couple of them try it, only to find out Ecuadorian guys throw like girls. (OK, most girls. My wife can throw a ball, but you know what I mean.) But thanks to soccer, they are really good with their feet. Because everyone had plenty of studies, I would go along, and have my English and Spanish Truth books side by side. Because Spanish is phonetic I could read the paragraphs no problem, but understanding wasn’t always so easy.

Before long we were meeting people our own age, either at the Hall or from studies, and hanging out

playing basketball or listening to music. None of the locals spoke English, which is good in the sense that your brain is force fed a new language at breakneck speed. Initially, there was that period of total confusion, but in just a few months I was able to communicate fairly well. Obviously the ministry was a big help. Some days I would leave the house early when the sun was just coming up and not get back until nearly dark. The whole day I might not speak a word of English.

Here was my schedule:

Monday: Get up early and take the bus to Otavalo and work there all day.

Tuesday: Same thing, but in Atuntaqui

Wednesday: Work in Ibarra

Thursday: Bus to Cotacachi where I would meet Dave Convery (he would come from Otavalo) and work territory.

Good friend Ivan Morillo. For
those who are wondering, yes
that is an Alabama Crimson Tide
jersey. Only one in Imbabura.

Fri, Sat, Sun: Work in Ibarra or San Antonio.

Back then, we were still taking contributions for the literature, and that was an issue for some householders. Ecuador was using the Sucre which was going 25 to the dollar, so they were worth about 4 cents. Most of the time we worked with the Truth book because we wanted to start Bible studies, but the books were placed for 7 sucres, which not everybody had. But if they really wanted the book, we placed it on the installment plan, meaning give me 2 or 3 sucres today, and then each week when I come back, pay me one sucre. It worked out pretty well, and you could study at least the first few chapters while they were paying off the book. No wonder just about all the pioneers had double-digit studies. I remember maxing out one month at 15 studies reported.

With a Bible study

I found out quickly from the guys my own age that Ecuadorians love music, and a lot play guitar. I’m the same way and had played in bands back home so I had brought my electric guitar with me and put all my vinyl on cassette tapes. So before long there were guys coming over and we were making music. I never did get into the serenade thing though, where they would go to a girl’s house at night and sing to her out in the street (until her dad ran them off).

Not long after arriving, we found out there was going to be a convention in Guyaquil. My brother and I and one of the Ecuadorian brothers our age hitched a ride in a truck to the convention. There was plenty of staring going on, as there were few gringos. So one day at the convention, this little girl comes up to me and says, “My sister wants to meet you”. (I only knew what she said because my friend Ivan Morillo spoke enough pidgin English to tell me. Then this beautiful sister comes over and we have a semblance of a conversation. “This never happens to me back in the State”, I thought to myself.

We ended writing a couple of letters, and then one day a month or so later I come in from service and my mother says, “you have company’

Edith, the girl who came to visit

I looked around and there was the sister from the assembly, complete with suitcases, ready to spend a couple of days. I guess it was fairly normal to just drop in when you’re travelling in the area. The fun part was explaining it to my mother.

Anyhow it was a pleasant visit, but I was so new in the country that there wasn’t a lot of communicating. It turned out I never saw her after that. But I remember. And I have pictures to prove.

Okay- this is part 1.

There will be more coming, including the bat massacre at the assembly in Santo Domingo de Los Colorados.

With my lora, Patricio