There are numerous reasons that made it attractive. Adventure, novelty, travel, getting out of a rut? Probably all were contributing factors.
But the main reason from the start was the ministry.
Jehovah's Witnesses are teaching the Bible all over the earth. 15 years ago there were 5.6 million teachers in 85,000 congregations, now it is 7.6 million in 111,000 congregations. That's a 35% increase in that time. Critics will give all sorts of excuses to negate any praise of this. But the fact remains there is a global demand for what is being taught. Those who become Witnesses are immediately motivated to share unpaid what they have learned. In countries where the work has been going for many decades, it seems to have reached a kind of saturation point and growth is slow. But in many lands the growth is just taking off.
Such areas where demand exceeds supply are highlighted and ones who are able and willing move to "where the need is greater." Usually this involves leaving behind house, job and comforts to do what they sincerely believe is the right thing to do.
Whether because it is inspired by God or some inexplicable delusion, the organisation is most unique in this. (Consider if the United Nations asked for 7 million unpaid volunteers to start teaching an unpopular subject to strangers - would they even get 7 hundred?)
Regardless, that is what we have gotten ourselves into. My wife Syntyche was planning to move to Mexico before I came along. Getting married, and her husband (me) getting into regular pioneer and elder type stuff postponed the plan for a few years. But then with her parent's (Paul and Lois) planning to move to Bolivia for the "need greater" reason, we suddenly decided to come too. From the start we made it clear we were our own agents and weren't coming along as their apprentices or dependents. (A kind of: "We are going to take advantage of you to get there, but don't tell us what to do when we arrive" arrangement)
So we sold up our furniture, rented out our house, quit our jobs, and on October 29, 2013 departed New Zealand for Santiago. Santiago is in Chile of course, but that's on the way. So is Buenos Aries and Salta. Two other cities we flew into in Argentina before we could make the midnight dash across the border into Bolivia.
Do you want to hear tales of Airport frustrations, taxi transport dramas, poor decision making and language confusions in Argentina?
Of course not! The story will never actually get to Bolivia at this rate!
Instead I will add another photo of the same plaza in Salta. The lancers are just assembling behind me and I have a very thoughtful look on my face. Perhaps I'm looking for inspiration to say something fantastic. Or more likely, just breaking the mold of the "here is a photo of me smiling with something more interesting in the background" photo some tourists fill their albums with.
Next stop, Bolivia!
