"...test me out, please..."

So, since my last post we've been back to the US to work and we have been back in Nicaragua for almost a month already. 

Our trip to the States went very well, although work seemed to take up most of our time on this trip. This is the first work trip we'd done since Sept-Nov 2013 and we worked more hours in less time. I felt like we didn't get enough time with our family and friends, but we at least got to see most of them for a little bit.

When we were planning this trip we were trying to decide how long to work this year. We still have some savings, so we weren't completely broke yet, but looking to earn about a year's worth of expenses if at all possible. At first we talked about 2-3 months, but then we felt we were relying too much on ourselves and decided to put Malachi 3:10 into action. So, six weeks it was.

It truly was amazing to see how Jehovah lived up to that promise. After all was said and done, and we got back and did our calculations, we earned as much in 6 weeks, and perhaps even a little more, than we did in 10 weeks in 2013. Charley had two particularly busy weeks at Pepsi. And my old job had a big project going on (even some at work said they thought a higher power was at work in the timing of this trip!) and they gave me full-time work for the entire time we were there. And with the sale of the tract holders, and the generosity of our dear friends and family, we were able to earn enough (if we stick to last year's budget!) to last another year down here. Plus, me working full-time meant I had very little free time for shopping, so that saved us money too!! And I was able to stock up on new service clothes thanks to a fabulous sale a friend of mine had the day after we arrived (all the sweating down here makes you burn through your tops in a year). And my sister-in-law loaned us her amazingly economic car so we saved a fortune on gas too!

So, once again we saw Jehovah's hand at work in our lives. I'm sure we'll be seeing it again in these upcoming weeks or months. Unfortunately, the house we live in is up for sale now, and in the first week on the market two people came to see it already. The brother who owns it just isn't going to be able to come back and serve here, and they want to help out elsewhere, so the house is an unnecessary asset for them now, which we totally understand. So, we'll see what happens! But we've already had two offers of places to move to, so we're not worried. We know that Jehovah will take care of us. I'm actually rather impressed with how calm I've been about this whole thing! The Rachel of 5 years ago would have been panicking, but I've learned such a lot being down here, and from Charley and his endless patience and calmness, that I'm really not worried about it at all!

If anyone is interested in buying it and renting it to us though, let me know!! Haha!!

Thanks to everyone who bought a bag while we were in Indy. All of the bags were sold and with the funds we bought a projector for our hall and even have some left over for some other Kingdom Hall expenses. We've shown the August broadcast, and hope to be showing the September one this Sunday.

We ended another service year thankful to Jehovah for the privilege of serving him full-time. We spent the last day of the year at the Laguna Beach Club, our local "beach" with some other need-greaters and their visitors. All nine of us there that day are in full-time service, and we calculated 135 years of full-time service between us all, so that was pretty cool!

Charley finished up his 10th consecutive year as a regular pioneer, so now I've had him as a pioneer partner just over half of my pioneering career. We also had a wonderful circuit visit after we got back. Unfortunately, due to changes in the circuit, it was our first and last visit from that particular couple. But we're glad we at least got to know them and hope to keep in touch since they're not too far away. They were super cool, really enjoyed our week with them. And he got our SKE application forwarded on to Mexico, so we'll see if anything comes of that. In the meantime, there's plenty to do here.

We also had another ministerial servant appointed - 2nd one of our young ones appointed this year. So, now we're rather spoiled with SEVEN ministerial servants in the congregation. They are a HUGE help to our body of elders, since the body consists of two!

We'll be off to Managua English congregation in a couple of weeks. Charley is going to give the talk, and we're going to stay the weekend with a Geordie couple (from the NE of England) who are serving there, so really excited about that! It's the closest we'll get to a trip home to England anytime soon!

Well, that's the last 2 1/2 months in a nutshell. It's good to be back into the swing of things, with new goals for this service year, primarily that of dedicating more time to our studies to help them make spiritual progress. Going for quality rather than quantity. 

Hope you're all having a good start to the service year. When I get some pictures uploaded I'll make a separate post of those. For those who follow us on Instagram, you'll have seen all the pictures already.

Goodbye for now!