Charley & Rachel in Nicaragua: Putting up the sails for Jehovah's winds of change

Well, it's been almost three months and it never ceases to amaze me how time flies and things change!

Last time I blogged we were getting ready for Memorial season. We had a lovely Memorial. Charley was supposed to give the talk but unfortunately he got REALLY sick that day and for the first time ever, he missed the Memorial. The speaker from our sister congregation who was going to be giving the talk at the Memorial after ours very kindly volunteered to step in, much to the relief of our other elder as he wasn't exactly prepared to step in last minute! We literally realized a couple of hours before it was time to start that there was no way Charley was going to make it! We think he had Zika, which had him down for about 10 days. Ironically the only day he was so sick that he couldn't get out of bed, was that day! Of all the days in the year!! Oh well, he's made a full recovery and is just fine now. He doesn't like the attention so dont' tell him I blogged about that haha!

So the Memorial was tinged with a little sadness for me, being there without Charley, but I was very happy to see about a dozen people there who Charley and I had invited. And for our congregation of 85 publishers we had an amazing 298 in attendance! Not sure how we fit them all inside the Kingdom Hall, but we did. This was our first indoor Memorial since we moved down here. I have to admit there's something special about having it outdoors and being able to see the full moon, but it was a lot less work to get the inside of the hall ready this year!

Some of my studies at Memorial (they all arrived before me!)

Hall starting to fill up for Memorial

Ready to head out, alone!

The week after that was originally the special talk, but that was postponed to the following week since we had a Headquarters Representative Visit to the Central America Branch (located in Mexico City) and so we enjoyed a wonderful program recorded from Mexico. We had some technical difficulties about 2 hours into the program, but we managed to listen to the rest even if we couldn't all see the speaker! Lovely talks. Izak Marais gave a great talk about dealing with anxiety. Just taking one day at a time, or sometimes, just one hour at a time. It was very encouraging along with some interesting videos about the opposition our brothers faced in Mexico trying to build a Kingdom Hall, and the violence that our brothers in El Salvador have to deal with as they go about their ministry.

Back in August 2015 we had a flight voucher getting ready to expire so we booked a trip to visit my sister-in-law and her husband in NM and then a week in NY. The only dates we knew there was something special going on was the Memorial, and then the special talk. So we booked it to leave a few days after the Special Talk. Of course, then came the Branch visit, which changed the date of the Special Talk to the following week, and then we get our announcement of circuit assembly the week after that! It was too late to change our arrangements, so we just had to miss the Special Talk and Circuit Assembly. At least we had managed to go to the English assembly back in January so we didn't miss the program.

We had a fantastic time in NM and NY. My sister-in-law and husband are serving in an English congregation but also helping get the ministry going in the Tewa language. There are various reservations where the Tewa people live, although they don't allow door to door ministry there. But they are finding other ways to reach them. A brother in the congregation is fluent, and so they had their first talk in Tewa in April. Some from the territory came and it was a real success. It was so nice to see them and Charley's parents again, and to learn more about this newly opening field, and also to enjoy Jehovah's creation in a new part of the country that we hadn't visited before.

The view from my sister-in-law's house

The family at Bandilier National Park

Beautiful view at Bandilier National Park

My mother-in-law trying out cave-living!

Charley's sister and her husband

Part of the reservation where they live

Kingdom Hall platform. The congregation was very welcoming. They even had a little get together for us and interviewed us and saw pictures of life here in Nicaragua. Very encouraging time!

Looking out over the Rio Grande

Hot springs right by the freezing cold Rio Grande (ask Charley, I didn't get in the river, just the hot pool!)

And of course a trip to Bethel is always a fun time. We went to Walkill and Brooklyn. Got to spend some time with friends in Bethel who we hadn't seen for years. And said our goodbyes to Brooklyn Bethel! Also visited Charley's old congregations in the Bronx and spent some time with some of the friends there. Also enjoyed a beautiful stroll around the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (it's free on Tuesday's if you're ever there). Got there first thing in the morning before it got busy, and then headed to Bethel to see the Bible exhibit that wasn't there yet last time we had visited. Also got to sit and hang out with an old brother in Bethel who doesn't have the health to work anymore, but comes to the lobby every day and shares experiences and photographs from his years in International Construction. That was a TREAT for sure! Wonderful to see such faithful older ones. And we were able to do the second MET tour - Integrity. Had a great tour guide. Super interesting tour!

Newark Airport

FINALLY got to meet Sophia and Caleb!

Walkill dining room with a couple whose congregation Charley was in back in his Bethel days

We even got a personal tour of the slaughter house at Walkill!

Hiking near Walkill

Charley triplets on the Bridge across the Hudson

Taking a break on our hike with our friends who serve in Walkill.

Charley's old Kingdom Hall in the Bronx

These kids were 6 and 10 when Charley was in the same congregation with them! Now the son is in Bethel. How time flies!

Enjoyed some wonderful hospitality from these dear friends in the Bronx.

Ran into some old friends unexpectedly! Fabulous views from 90 Sands residence building

Buildings that used to be Bethel, now sold and being repurposed! So strange to see!

Our trip away also meant that I missed being present for a very exciting occasion. One of my bible students got baptized at the assembly that we missed. I'm so very proud of her and it's been such a joy to see her make spiritual progress. It was a very emotional day for her, so it was probably just as well that I wasn't here, otherwise we might have flooded the assembly hall with tears!! But my good friend took lots of pictures and a video that she sent to me that night so I got to enjoy it from afar! This is my first study here that I've been able to see through to baptism, so it was so sad not to be there but in a way it helped prepare me and her for the separation that was to come. (see next paragraph!)

Since we've come back we've been reassigned to a new congregation. The CO talked to us about it before we traveled, and then it was confirmed when we got back. We had been in our congregation since it was formed almost 3 years ago and it was very difficult to say Goodbye. We're still close by, in the same city, same section of the circuit, but it was still tough to leave. Our new congregation has welcomed us with open arms. They had a need-greater couple in their congregation since it formed three years ago too, who were also our very close friends, but they had to head back to the States. That left the congregation with just one elder, who was just recently appointed, so off we went to support them! We're still settling in, getting to know a new part of our family and finding our way around the territory. The couple who left passed on studies to us so that's helped with the transition. We all miss the other couple so very much, but such is life in this ever-changing world.

So we've enjoyed over the past two weeks a welcome party at our new hall, and a goodbye party at our old hall. I'm all partied out now!!

Some of the friends at our new congregation

They danced Marimba for us

And the kids sang the Life of a Pioneer song

At our going away party with our old congregation. And I finally had an excuse to wear my Indian tunic!

Since the last post another SKE class came and went too! We again got to enjoy helping with their special lunch the final day of class. This time it was an Hawaiian themed event. I got to be a waitress again and felt a lot less nervous this time since we'd done it once before! We didn't go to the graduation this time, but enjoyed being a part of the lunch that day.

SKE Hawaiian lunch complete with pina colada in real pineapple cups!

So, now we have the wonderful privilege of cooking for the School for Circuit Overseer's and Their Wives. I'm not sure if that's the proper title, but you get what I mean! They just started arriving on Thursday so we cooked, but only half of them were there. The school starts today so this coming Thursday we'll get to see them all together. One of our previous CO's is in the class so it was nice to see them arriving. And I met one brother who is a CO in El Salvador. So they have come from across the region to the school. The course lasts a month, and I think there will be three classes, so we'll get to see a lot of CO's come and go! Charley has been covering on Tuesday's too in the kitchen while someone else is out of the country, so it's been a busy time, what with that, and the move to a new congregation, and some other privileges that he has coming up that I'll blog about as they happen! I've learned a lot from Charley about never turning down assignments. "No" is not in his vocabulary and I really admire him for that.

There's also a new hall under construction in the next town along from us, so we've been a couple of times to help out. It's always fun to get to help and spend time working with friends from around the area and the hard-working construction group who make such sacrifices to help get Kingdom Halls built all over the country.

At construction in nearby Nindiri

Well, that's enough for now. Hope you're all doing well. "Talk" to you again maybe in September?! Enjoy Regional Convention season and remember not to talk to me about it until after September 25th! This is the first year we've had to wait until the new service year to get to a convention, so we'll see if we can make it through without hearing anything!! I've heard it's incredible, so we're really looking forward to it. The way time flies it'll be September before we know it!

I leave you with some other random pictures from daily Nica life!