Out in service AT LAST!!

Well, hello everyone. Hope you all had a nice weekend. We spent a quiet Thursday in the house. It was a holiday here so stores were closed, not much to be done. I can’t remember what we did, but passed the day here cleaning I think, reading, preparing for the meeting, etc. Friday I can’t remember again what we did during the day! Luis came to work on the garden and fix the lock on the gate. We just pottered around the house. I’ve done a lot of reading lately, caught up on the latest magazines and finished reading Persuasion and read a new ebook that my dad sent me online. Thanks dad - it was great!! Read it all already!

Anyway, so Friday night was the meeting at Piedra Quemada. That’s the first hall we tried to go to our first week here but we went the wrong night and didn’t want to go back with the rental car because it was a really rough road. So, we still don’t have the truck – tomorrow maybe!!! Anyway, so we decided we needed the exercise so off we went walking! It was about 3 KM, altogether. We got to the hall sweaty but content! I made the mistake of wearing sandals. See below for the result!!

So we really enjoyed the meeting. Everyone was really friendly. Since it’s the closest hall and we don’t have transport and they only have two elders and about 75 publishers I think we’ve decided that’s the congregation we’re going to stay in. We didn’t know how we were going to get home since walking along the main highway in the dark at night was probably a bad idea! But Jehovah blessed our efforts of getting there and we found a sister, Milena and her son Moises, who live just outside the entrance of the houses we live in so she knew what time to get the bus. So we had to leave as soon as it finished to catch the bus, but at least we had someone to guide us home. Plus we didn’t get ripped off on the price of the bus because she was with us!! They are new to this congregation so weren’t familiar with where the group would be meeting for service on Saturday (they change the place weekly so you have to look at the board) but we made arrangements for her son to show us where to meet on Sunday, this morning. So that’s what we did.

Saturday was another day at home but we did walk to the nearest supermarket which is about a km or so down the road. It was an emergency though because we'd run out of coffee, and well, Charley is a Matthews, so we needed coffee!! We also got some basic groceries, mostly veggies and came home and read some more! I also washed some clothes which is a lot of work doing it by hand. And then we had our first house guests in the evening!!! Our friend Mario Robleto Jr and his older brother Philip. Philip gave the talk in Ticuantepe near here, and since it’s a two hour bus ride home, they came here for dinner and spent the night. It was lovely to see Philip again. His wife Louisa didn’t come because bus rides here are quite a rough experience, which maybe we’ll get to experience before too long! But the two of them came and we had a nice dinner, and breakfast with them this morning and off they went because Philip had to go home and give the talk at his hall this morning!

So, the best part, we went out in service this morning. AT LAST!!!!! It feels so good to have been out. They meet at 8am – yes, you read that right, 8:00 in the morning!! But you get up earlier here because the sun is out early, so that’s fine. Plus it gets hot to be out there later on! We had a good group out at a brother’s house. I worked with a sister called Paula who has a daughter my age, who was also out. It was great. We did a bit giant circle working the territory, and all of it walking of course. The house we met at was a very humble place with a tin roof and it looks like they do their cooking outside. They are a lovely family. So we had a great morning. Did three hours, all of it walking, but we got to sit down at one house for a while. 

People here are very open to listen and not in a hurry. Everyone was home, and they let you talk, read a few scriptures, express their opinions, and readily accept the literature. So by the end of the morning Charley and I have 6 Return Visits to go on, 2 his, 2 mine, and 2 guys that the sister I was with talked to. We got home about 11:15 sweaty and tired, but happy!! 

I think we’ll be taking two or three showers a day here which is fine – I enjoy my LUKEWARM showers now!! So, we ate lunch and took a nap, and the meeting is at 3:30. We’re meeting Milena at 3pm so that we can see how to get to the hall on the bus instead of walking!

We made arrangements for tomorrow for service already so we’re finally getting a schedule going. They meet for service every day so we’ll be out daily once we figure out how to get to the meeting place! And we should have time to talk to the elders after the meeting today to formally introduce ourselves, given them our letter of recommendation, and see if they’ll let us stay!!!  

Well, I think it’s time for that shower now! Hope you’re all well and sorry that most of you probably aren’t sweating where you are!