Talk about busy!!

It seems like a long time since I've blogged. It's been non-stop hectic since my last post. 

We helped some friends move recently. I think that might have been a while ago but I only posted pictures of that on Instagram. Here are a few shots of moving, Nica-style!

This was just the trip from the store to the house they were moving out of

Then we loaded up their futon too in addition to the fridge, stove and bed already on there!

So the only place left for our friends was the little shelf behind the driver and passenger! These girls are both pretty tall too! Good job it wasn't a very long drive!

We had company over the weekend, so Thursday was a 12 hour day getting all kinds of stuff done, including quite a bit of food preparation!

Two banana bread loaves

Lentil soup for dinner that day, egg salad sandwiches for lunch the following day

If I do say so myself, this potato soup was DELISH!

And made from scratch spaghetti sauce for Saturday's dinner

We had our dear friends, the Robleto's, stay with us for the weekend since the assembly hall is just a few minutes away and they were all going to the District Convention together. They almost all had parts on the program, unfortunately we had so much going on we couldn't go with them to the assembly at all. But we had a good time in the mornings and evenings with them! They had 1800 at their convention on Saturday, but 56 got baptized!! Philip gave the talk and he said he didn't realize how many he was addressing his talk to until about 5 rows of people stood up!! 

Left to right - Mario, Luisa, Mario Jr and Wanda Robleto

I suggested Philip use my apron to keep his white shirt clean - spaghetti can be a messy business. 

We also had a clothes giveaway this past Saturday. Friends from English and Spanish back in the States donated clothes, the suitcases to put them in, and the funds to take them on the plane with us. So, Saturday we invited the friends over to someone's house in the territory to pick out whatever might fit them. It went well, and the friends were really excited and grateful. So, thank you to all of you who participated in that. I wish we could have taken more, since there were others who wanted to donate, but there just wasn't space.

Some of the friends going through the clothes.

There's nothing you can't transport on a motorbike down here!

What else? Hmmm......we went to help out with the construction of a new Kingdom Hall in Monte Tabor. It's the town we almost ended up serving in when we came for three months, since it's near El Crucero where we visited the first time, and it has furnished apartments. But then we got offered this house and so we ended up in Masaya. They had been meeting for a long time in what was basically designed to be a small store, and they wouldn't fit and have to sit outside too. So, it's exciting to see them finally getting their own Kingdom Hall. I don't know if I was just tired when I got there this time, but it felt like much harder work than the two days we went to Casares a few months ago. I'm still a bit sore from it!

They had to chop up quite a couple of big trees on the site

Left to right - Cristina, Jennifer, Jose & Jason

Construction methods are a lot different than in the US. It was fun watching how they splatter the concrete on the walls

Jason working on the last set of blocks up top

Jennifer and I moving the pile of gravel from here to there! No such thing as heavy machinery on the Kingdom Hall sites down here! It took us most of the day to move it!

That's Josue up on the ladder, and Wilber (our COBE) with the striped shirt. He used to be on the full-time construction crew when he was single, so he always does welding when he goes. Seems like much easier work than the rest of us get!

This is what Charley did all day. His shoulder is all bruised up from lifting the buckets of gravel and sand up to pour into the mixer. He also had to carry the 94lb bags of concrete from around the other side of the hall!

The pile of gravel slowly moving over!

The hall from the front.

Service was good this week. My new study, Dinora, the one that energized me that one day I was so tired, is going to be a really good one! We had a lovely study again on Wednesday - finished the chapter about suffering. She's amazing. And we got to chat for a while and get to know each other too. I feel an instant bond with her. I think it's going to be a lovely friendship, so hopefully we'll study again this Wednesday morning, starting the book from the beginning now. And her little 5 year old girl brought me a glass of water - just of her own accord. So sweet!

I also had fun on Sunday watching the Noah video with my little friend, Anai. She's the cutest little thing. Charley is studying with her dad, who doesn't know how to read. I think probably since his mam is deaf, he likely had to work from a young age, and since she doesn't read, he never learned to either. Since I took the tablet to show Anai the Noah video, I took advantage of the chance to take a few pictures. A lot of our new territory is very poor, and I got a chance to take some pictures so that you can see what I mean by that.

Charley's study Walter, and his wife, Mayra who we haven't convinced to join in yet!

Walter Jr - 6 months old

This is where they sit for the study. That little rocking chair that Walter is in is a kid's one. They tried to have me sit in it last week, but much to my dismay, I couldn't get my hips in it!!! Hahahaha, not embarrassing at all!

This is the rest of their "house". Basically it's just a room with two beds in and a dirt floor. 

Anai and me taking a "selfie"! 

We left District Convention invitations on this block on Sunday. It's right in the city, but there are still a lot of people with dirt floors, and makeshift houses.

It's not unusual to see pigs, even in the city!

Well, I can't think of any other stories right now although I'm sure I had some other ones. I finally sat down the other day and worked out how much we earned in the States, and was pleased to discover after all the calculating that we made enough for 9 1/2 months, which makes a full year really. 2 1/2 months working, leaves 9 1/2 months in the year. Jehovah always provides just what we need. I would like to say Thank You to those who made it possible for us to earn that, since it wasn't all just what we made at work, it was also due to the wonderful generosity of our dear friends and family.

We couldn't be serving down here without the support of our wonderful family and worldwide brotherhood. Thank you for helping us live this amazing life. 

Well, I am now sitting in absolute pitch blackness. Amazing how quickly it gets dark, and how early. I still can't get used to darkness at 6pm year round! Charley is in Masaya doing baptism questions. We have 4 or 5 candidates so we'll see if we manage to have 56 baptized at our convention next weekend too! Although we went already in English, we're really looking forward to hearing the program in Spanish. I'm sure I'll have plenty to share from that next time I blog.

Goodbye for now.