It doesn't take long!

Hello everyone! Here we are a new month, and a new service year. How time flies.

It’s been a rather exciting couple of days for us. Our heads are full of names and faces that we can’t seem to match up, but poco a poco as they say!

So, I last blogged on Thursday I think. Friday we went out in service in the morning for a while with a nice big group at Piedra Quemada. Then after lunch at home, we decided to get the GPS out and see if it could take us to the new Kingdom Hall that we’ve been assigned to. It worked well, again, although after the main streets then it ran out of names like the other day and just said “Turn left on street”, but the map shows you where it means so all is good. We found the hall, and were about to drive on, when I noticed someone in the grounds. So, we got out and went to say Hello. There was a brother from our new congregation, San Sebastian, there doing work on the apartment at the back of the Kingdom Hall.

The apartment was inhabited by the Balladares, the CO who assigned us to San Sebastian, and now the new couple has moved in. Felipe & Elizabeth Olivares, that’s the new Circuit Overseer and his wife. They’re from Mexico but have served in Nicaragua for 9 years now. She has a sister in Indiana, but somewhere up north. I don't know what the name of the place was but it begins with Sh! (Note to the Lovett side of the family – I know you’re laughing your heads off at that statement!) Anyway, so we had a nice little chat with them. On the way home Charley got a $1.25 haircut! I would have too, well, mine is more expensive - $1. 50, but we ran out of time.

Friday night we went to our 2^nd and last meeting at Piedra Quemada. They are all sorry to see us go to a different congregation this time, but glad to have us closer than when we’re in the States! I hope things don’t get so busy and that we will still have time to visit them now and then.

So, Saturday we stayed home and chilled, prepared our WT, got a really bad internet connection and got rather mad at it (well, I did, not Charley!), then got ready for our first meeting at San Sebastian!

The meeting at the sauna, I mean, Kingdom Hall, started at 4pm. I’ve never felt so suffocated in a hall before! There were fans, but I wasn’t sure I could feel the benefit of them. I think the difference with this hall is that since it’s in the city it’s right in between other buildings. There aren’t trees and open space to allow air flow through the windows like there is at Piedra Quemada’s hall. So, that will be something to get used to.

But the congregation was even warmer than the hall itself!! I think every single member of the congregation came and introduced themselves. It was lovely. They made us feel EXTREMELY welcome. There are two other Raquel’s in the congregation, so I’m going to try going by Rachel, see how that works out. At the end of the meeting, the Watchtower Study conductor announced us as being part of the congregation, and we got a very hearty applause.

They also invited us to a going away party. One of their elders has just moved to the sister congregation that meets in the same hall. This was our third invitation for Saturday night, so we had to decline. We also declined an invitation to a congregation get together at Piedra Quemada, because another family had already invited us over for dinner. Invitations are like the buses in England – none, and then three all at once. Seems to always be how it goes! But we enjoyed a lovely dinner and got to hear experiences from the pioneer route (like unassigned territory) that two of the girls went on so that was a treat. I have no pictures from the evening because my batteries died and I didn't have any more with me. But here are some from the meeting.

Inside Sen Sebastian Kingdom Hall

Nicolas sitting down, the 11 year old regular pioneer in the middle, and Francisco 

Today, we met for field service with the group that meets at the hall since that’s the only place we know how to get to at the minute! We had a nice morning getting to know our new family, and our new territory. It’s all city territory, different to what we’d experienced before, but it was good. Not everyone listened, but it’s like that wherever you go. For the most part people were pleasant. We also ran in to another religious group going door to door. We overlapped each other a bit, which meant we had to skip a house here and there. That was interesting. Never experienced that before. They said that was something new in the area.

After a couple of hours in service, there was an elder’s meeting, which Charley went to! Like I said in the title – it doesn’t take long! So I hung out at the hall and finished studying my new Teach book. We were there almost 2 hours, but it went by quickly. I wish I’d thought to take a picture of the three of them. They’re the youngest body of elders I’ve seen. I’m not sure how old the other two are, but I doubt either of them is any older than Charley. Walter was just appointed in January, and Juan Carlos, I’m not sure how long he’s been an elder, but he’s been in San Sebastian for 18 months now.

They also gave Charley a set of keys to the Kingdom Hall, and a part on the service meeting this coming Thursday. Oh, and Sunday Charley had the privilege of saying the concluding prayer since the speaker didn’t stay! So, he’s been put to use already, which is nice. That’s why we’re here and it’s nice to feel that we are needed. We’ve been told by a couple of people that we are a blessing from Jehovah and just what the congregation needed, so we hope we can live up to that and be of assistance in whatever small way we can. On Sunday a couple of brothers already started talking about how close they get to those who come to serve, and then they leave and it’s so hard to say Goodbye. I think our first day is a bit too soon to worry about that though!

Saturday night at dinner, some friends from Nindiri congregation came over, and ended up inviting us to a cook out at their house this evening, so that’s the plan for later today. Last time we came we didn’t really meet too many from neighboring congregations, or do a lot socially outside of the house, so it’s fun to be getting to meet so many new people so early on in our stay. Maybe someone is planning on us staying longer, and making sure we get thoroughly attached to as many people as possible!!

Well, I’ve written this offline, so now I’m going to see if I can get a decent internet connection to post it. We really enjoy hearing from everyone, and will try our best to always reply, but I imagine as of tomorrow things will start getting busier and we might get a bit slower about responding. But it doesn’t mean we’re not thinking of you all and appreciating your emails and comments on the blog.