Meet the Students Part 2...and more!

I hardly know where to start with all the things I want to talk about in this post! I'll start with a few more pictures of the people I'm conducting Bible Studies with.

First of all, my dear, sweet little Miss Selina...

Ain't she cute?! I love this little, old lady. And she smiles all the time - just not in photographs apparently! I found her in the door-to-door ministry back when we were inviting people to the District Convention down here, so sometime mid-September. She is 77 and just quit working as a domestic (someone who cleans, cooks, washes, etc) this year! And that was only because her doctor forbid her from working anymore. I think I've told you about her before actually. So we're studying the Listen to God brochure and she seems like she retains at least some of what we study. She lives on very little, yet when someone gives her something she likes to share it. Someone gave her three oranges the other day and she ate one, and saved the other two for us. Isn't that sweet? So I've taken her some banana bread, and some of Charley's bread and she said she really enjoyed it.

Next, is Carla and her baby, Amanda who feel asleep too soon!

Carla's dad used to study with the Witnesses, but she's never studied before. But she's a very reliable study which I really appreciate. She told me last week, when I was commending her for always being home and ready for me, that someone asked her to go with them to Managua, but she told them she couldn't because she was having her Bible Study that afternoon. I was really impressed by that, since a lot of people don't think twice about going out and not letting you know! This past week I started teaching her how to underline her book and make notes on the Scriptures. She got the hang of it really quickly. And she also did the homework assignment I left her the previous week which was really nice to see.

Next up is Erica

She's always very busy but takes out the time for her study. Her dad is studying too. I just found her when we were going door-to-door one day too. For a while we studied standing up while she washed dishes or clothes, then we studied on the street corner where she sells fruit on a morning, and now we're studying at her house. I also started teaching her how to study her book this week too. She wasn't very pleased at the idea of getting her picture taken though!!

And these little girls are part of Erica's family. The two in the front are Naomi & Guadalupe. I study with their mam but I didn't get a picture of her this week for some reason. They're so cute and I love to see them running around in the dirt and playing. They also started sharing their snacks with me this week - handed straight to me in their dirty little hands!!!

So, those were a few more. I still have a few that I haven't taken a picture with yet, so there will be a Part 3 I suppose someday!

Now the other exciting thing was the English Circuit Assembly this past weekend. What a WONDERFUL program. And it was so encouraging to be there with so many others who have come from other countries to serve here. There are 6 English congregations in Nicaragua, and there were 330 at the assembly, although a lot of foreigners serving in Spanish like us were there too. There were two baptized, and the baptism talk was one of THE BEST ones I've ever heard. It was just beautiful and so personalized talking to the two getting baptized by name.

The DO and his wife are Juan & Sandra Tovar (I think that's their last name). He's a WONDERFUL teacher, such a pleasure to listen to, and entertaining at the same time. And the CO & his wife are Todd & Lori Schleper. They were in Honduras in Spanish, but then asked to step over to the English field. He was a very good speaker too, very relaxed and just really easy to listen to. Maybe next time I blog I'll share some of the points. It seems like this post is already too long. Here are a few pictures from the assembly. It was great to see friends we made last time we were here, and meet new ones that we've only known in cyber-space up until now! And Claudia, my study who is the niece of our landlord, came too on Sunday. She said she got some of it, she's trying to work on her English!

With Claudia - her first English assembly

It's so nice to see young families serving down here with their kids

With Shelina (sign-language) and Kim (Spanish) - I met both of these girls last year

Ann & Rob from Ontario serving in English down here, and Chante from Ohio serving in Spanish.
All of us had talked before via email so it was nice to meet in person this weekend!

Shawn - she serves in Spanish down here. Really enjoyed meeting her.

The Polden's are serving in English in Leon.
Also cyber-buddies meeting in person for the first time!

So, I think that's enough for today's post. Time to get some more laundry done - yay, my favorite task of all! I hope you're all doing well and not too cold. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous of you all. I'd love to complain about being cold for a while!!!

Oh, I almost forgot, here is a little video I made to give you an idea of the international flavor of the assembly. Nobody British or Scottish was on the program this year, and I forgot to record the Canadian accents, but here's an idea of how it sounded!

Meet the students - Part 1

Well, here we are, time just keeps flying by and every day off I think I'm going to blog. So, since we're hanging out at someone's house, and they just left for their meeting (different congregation), and Charley is watching American Football (they have cable here!), I thought I'd at least get started on a blog post.

All is well here. December is a pretty crazy month in Masaya and daily I'm grateful we live outside of the city! From yesterday through Christmas people go around blowing horns at 4am to wake people up for church or something. Our friends in the city are already complaining of lack of sleep and this is only the second day. Thankfully, nobody does that in the community we live in!

We've been busy with the usual activities. Friday we were invited to lunch by a couple who have been serving here 3 1/2 years. He's from England, she's from Romania but lived in England for a while too. They go to a congregation here in Masaya too. We had a really nice time, good food and good company. The highlight however was dessert. I haven't had a good piece of chocolate since arriving in Nicaragua, and I have been craving it lately! But this brother makes his own chocolate, from scratch. He buys the beans here in Nicaragua, and has a grinder that the Indians use to make dahl. It was AMAZING!!!! So we had that, warm over ice-cream and fruit, including a fresh coconut that he split open. Man, that just made my week, or I think probably my month! I told him it also makes all my homemade products seem like nothing. I mean, how can I beat someone who makes their own chocolate?!

So, this week has been a good week for studies. I decided to carry my camera around with me so that you can "meet" some of the people I study with here.

First, here is Raquel. 

She runs a little store at her mother's house, and although we hadn't managed to study for a while, we got her study going again this week. This is a study that the other pioneer sister in our hall gave to me when we first got here. She is involved with the Charismatic (spelling?) church, but she really enjoys her Bible study with us too. I think might have mentioned her one time. She's the one that was just astounded to learn that Jesus existed before coming to the earth. So, we had a good study. We have to keep pausing as people come in and buy stuff, mostly little kids (some in their underwear!) buying junk food for a couple of pesos! But we were able to finish up Chapter 4 in the Bible Teach book this week.

Next, here we are with Mirna (on the end), Yuliana (in the middle) & Jessica. 

Brenda (the other sister in the picture) studies with Jessica (the young girl) and I study with Mirna & Yuliana. Yuliana is a doctor but works mostly in the afternoons. Mirna is her cousin and they live in the same house. Mirna always has a lot of stories to tell that get us a bit off course at times, but we always have a good time there. They both have a good sense of humor and like to make fun of me whenever they can find reason to do so, which is often!! We've already watched a few of the videos together and they've really appreciated seeing how organized Jehovah's Witnesses are and how all our work is supported entirely by voluntary donations. I found this study just going from door to door one day. Then when we had CO visit the CO's wife called there and met Yuliana who I hadn't seen yet at the house. So, then they both started studying.

This lady is Idalia, and her daughters, Ashley (the little one), and Lesley. And that's her nephew Christopher. 

She also has another teenage girl, Anielka. I met Idalia in the first week or two that I was here and just left her the Family Life tract. When I went back she said the advice in it had really been helpful in her family. So we started studying in the new brochure, Good News, and then eventually I moved her over to the Bible Teach book. She always has really good questions and seems to really appreciate the fact that we always answer her questions from the Bible. She always compares what we show her, with what others have said to her in the past, and sees that the Bible often teaches something quite different to what a lot of people try to pass of as Bible-based.

I also study with her daughter Lesley now. She was having a hard time understanding so this week I started studying with her in the Listen to God & Live Forever brochure and that went a lot better. It will give her a good foundation to then later move on to the Bible Teach book. And the other day I asked Lesley if her sister was interested in studying, and she said Yes. I felt bad actually because the other day I went and only her sister, Anielka was there, and for some reason I didn't talk to her about the Bible, just ask edfor her sister. Turns out she said to her sister "I'd like to study too but Rachel only comes to see you or mam". I felt terrible when I hard that! Just shows you should never assume a person isn't interested! I learned my lesson. So I'm going to start studying with her on Saturday. Unfortunately, they'll be moving out of our territory next month, but I'm going to have someone continue the study.

Here I am with Noelia. And yes, that's a real dove in her hands! 

Her grandmother and sister are witnesses, but her mam isn't. So her grandma's husband asked me to study with her and we've been studying a couple of months now. She's a funny little thing. I think I blogged about her once - that she had a double-yoke egg for me and cried inconsolably when her mam cooked it before she had chance to give it to me. She gives us an egg or two from her chicken every week now, which I have to carry around in my bag trying not to squash the rest of the day! She actually lives in the territory of the South congregation though. At first she was coming to our meetings, so I said I'd study with her, but now she is going more to the South, so I'll get her passed over. She reportedly said she won't study unless it's me who studies with her, but we'll see if we can persuade her otherwise!!

And here I am with Socorro. 

I found her going house-to-house one day. One of her sons has studied on and off since he was a teenager, and her aunt is a publisher in our congregation. I started out visiting her using one of the articles from page 16 of the Watchtower. Then moved on to the Bible Teach book. She also has a lot of questions. This last two weeks she's had us sit down, so we've been able to stay a little longer and she seems to be really getting into her study now. We finished Chapter 1 today. She also has a cyber cafe in her house so I was able to show her how to listen to the magazines and Bible, etc online.

So, those are a few of the studies I have so far. Later I'll get a few more pictures and write about some more of them. We're going to a Kindergarten graduation party this evening - I didn't think they did those here, but it turns out they do! But it's a nice excuse to eat, dance, and hang out with the congregation. Maybe I'll get some more pictures of our congregation too. We're really looking forward to next weekend. The English circuit has their Circuit Assembly in Ticuantepe (15 mins from the house) so we're planning on going the whole weekend. It's nice to get to hear the program in English and to meet all the foreigners serving down here! I think maybe I've mentioned that in a previous post already?! I feel like I've typed that line before!

Oh, and here are the twin boys of a new study that Charley has. Aren't they cute?! They're only like five months old, but they're chunky!

Well, that's all for now. I have a project up my sleeve to blog about things you'd think were impossible, but that people find ways around here, but it involves having my camera ready for those strange moments when things go on around you that leave you thinking "WHAT?!". Hmmm, I don't think any of that made sense but if I ever get that blog post together you'll see what I'm talking about!

Take care. Bye for now!

What a transformation!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to share some pictures of a transformation that took place over the last couple of days!

The owner of the house bought the following plant, complete with pot, last year. The plant didn't survive but the pot did. However, it was a bit dull looking as you can see in this picture. And since this picture it had got a bit more rough looking and just sat empty in a corner of the yard.

So Charley bought a houseplant when we went to buy plants for the Kingdom Hall the other day, which I'll have pictures of next week maybe to show how much we got for very little money. Anyway, so the houseplant needed a home.

Here is it's new home after a few layers of paint courtesy of Charley, and some stenciling and sponging courtesy of yours truly. I'm quite proud of the result.

We didn't end up going out in service today. I wasn't feeling all that great in the morning, just a combination of being extremely tired and probably not drinking enough water yesterday. Sometimes I forget to drink as much water when I'm just in the house. And the truck needed a little tiny job doing on it. And because La Griteria starts today in Masaya.

They say it gets pretty crazy in Masaya this evening, and that the hubub starts earlier because people get off work at noon today, so we decided to just keep our distance! It shouldn't be too noisy where we live since we're away from the noise of the city celebrations!

Here's a little info from vianica.com about what that is. I highlighted a sentence that I thought was funny and very true I'm sure!

At 6PM every December 7th, a common yell is heard in different cathedrals and churches: Quién causa tanta alegría? (Who causes so much happiness?). This is how another ancient tradition starts along with the massive response ‘La Concepción de María’ (Mary’s Conception).

At that time, in cities and towns people start exploding fireworks and firecrackers. In the biggest cities, it gets so noisy that any uninformed tourist might think that a war has just started in Nicaragua. At midnight, firecrackers explode once again (the same happens at 6AM and 12PM, but on a smaller scale).

During ‘La Gritería’ Virgen Mary is also venerated. It is a celebration used by people to thank the virgin for miracles and it takes place before the official day. Faithful people decorate altars in their houses in a place were it can be seen from the street. In some neighborhoods you can find more than three altars in just one block.

Then, at 6PM sharp, thousands of Nicaraguans go to the streets to ‘shout’ to the virgin (the word gritería could be translated as ‘shouting’), which means visiting each altar and singing to the virgin Maria. This is basically how it is done: people hang around in groups, stop at an altar, intone traditional songs (the same as in ‘La Purísima’), house owners give fruits, candies, toys, instruments to make noise, natural drinks, and other type of gifts; finally, they move on to another altar. House owners who have placed altars wait until another group comes to sing. This is how ‘La Gritería’ is celebrated, lasting until the house owners have no more gifts to give away or until streets have no more singers.

Meet San Sebastian - Group #1

Well, things are going well here. We miss our other couple that moved to the South congregation, but we're getting by! We still spend time at their house when we want to rest during the service day. Our groups for service have been quite small during the week, but just another reason to make good arrangements and encourage others to come out. I got to work with three sisters in this past week that I'd never worked with before. Part of the reason being that we don't go out Thursday's and we meet in separate groups on Sundays. But we had a good time getting to know each other and made plans for future afternoons out doing studies and calls.

I can't think of anything terribly amazing or unusual having happened lately. No bus stories this time. Mostly because for one reason or another we've taken the truck nearly every day. We got to help someone move the other evening so that was nice to be of service. We're the only people in the congregation with any kind of vehicle bigger than a bicycle so it's nice to be able to help others out using the truck.

We had a really good weekend. Yesterday we stayed home because Charley had the talk at Ticuantepe North congregation which is just about 15 minutes down the road from us. It's actually quite a bit closer than our congregation, but we're not even in the same circuit. Anyway, so he did a good job with his talk about young ones. It was funny seeing him in a suit actually. That's about the only time anyone wears their suit jacket down here, if they're giving a public talk, so it almost looks strange to see someone you know wearing one! The congregation was very nice and the Kingdom Hall is lovely. And the brother conducting the Watchtower is from Spain originally - he has an awesome accent! We really enjoying listening to his Spanish!

Then today Charley, as service overseer, visited Group #1. So we decided to take advantage of the arrangement to invite the group to our house after field service. We had a good group out, about 12 which was most of the group, and we all had a good time out.  I worked with a sister I hadn't had chance to go out with before and we had two good Bible Studies. One of them I hadn't found in a few weeks but we had a great study today. She's about 20 and is super sharp. She amazes me how she answers and explains the Scriptures. And the other study I got to show her how to use the website www.jw.org to be able to listen to the Bible and the magazines and find information. Not many people have internet here, but her house is a "cyber" (internet cafe type thing) so she has a few computers, so that was cool. Then everyone went home, and at 1pm we all met back at the hall, piled all 15 of us in the truck and came to the house. We had prepared snacks and they were devoured and enjoyed it seemed like!

Here are some pictures of what we spent most of Saturday making:

I made a couple of quiches. Some were afraid to try it so we still have one left - yum!

Two banana breads, and I also made two cream cheese pound cakes
but they were gone before they got their photos taken!

And we made about thirty of these little sausage rolls, using bread dough that Charley made.
The rest of the dough was used to make two french breads which were also eaten up!

And then we had a couple of bags of chips, a bag of candy which the young ones devoured in no time, a bowl of fruit and yogurt and drinks. It all seemed to go down well. Only the quiche remains!

And this picture is dedicated to my mother-in-law - yes, Katie, I washed all those! And I also washed about 15 plastic plates too. All but 4 of the plastic forks ended up in the trash though - and that was nothing to do with me!

And here are some pictures of the group. First we played a game that my mam told me about the other day. We played mixed teams, then guys against girls, and I managed to never be on the winning team! But we sure did laugh a lot playing it! And then we played the game where you have to guess which Bible character name is on your back as you'll see in the pictures. Mine was really hard - Michal - that one took me a good while!

Juan Carlos was Nebuchadnezzar - it took him a good half an hour! 

And we had a good laugh during the process

Juan Carlos thinking deeply about the name on this back!
He's our Coordinator in the congregation. 

And Edward was Paul

And here is the whole group together. Spot the difference - not difficult!

Jose Sr., Conchita, Marlene, Carolina, Norma, Helen, Jorge, Dixie, Juan Carlos, Jose Jr., Nicolas, Edward, Carlos & me

Charley just got home from taking everyone in the truck back to Masaya. He sends his greetings to you all! Here's one last picture of everyone ready to head back.

Plus four more inside the truck! We know how to pack 'em in here!

So, we plan on doing the same thing each month when Charley visits another group. It seemed to work out well and we really enjoyed having everyone over. Stay tuned to meet Group #2 in January!

Random observations

I wonder sometimes if people down here who were shirts with English writing on know what their shirt says. I saw a middle-aged guy in our territory the other day whose shirt had a picture of a can of beans on it and it said "I make my own gas"!!!! And then the other day near Central Park I saw a middle-aged lady selling food on a corner and her shirt said "If idiots could fly the place I work at would be an airport"! I liked that one!!!!!

Another thing that people do down here is point with their lips. If you ask where something is they kind of tilt their head back a bit and stick their lips out in the direction of the thing. Funny thing is, I've caught myself doing it at least twice now!! A lot of times they even do it while their talking, so they're pointing and explaining at the same time!

I found a picture online that shows what I'm talking about. Judging by what I read online there's a lot of other countries that point with their lips too!

And I discovered the other day that there is a toy schedule in this country! I suddenly as of about two weeks ago noticed everyone playing with trompos which are spinning tops. I mean like EVERY single kid in the city. And the tops all look the same. I asked if they'd been given them at school as a present since they'll be out for their "summer" break this week. But they told me that no, this is the time for tops. That before that it was marbles which they call chibolas down here. And after trompos it will be something else, yo-yo's I think it was. And some other toy after that, I can't remember what now. So yeah, thought that was interesting. Every year they play with the same things, but in certain seasons!

Well, that's all for today!