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!