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.

So proud of our Laynori

Here she is! It's in Spanish of course but even if you don't understand the words you get an idea still of how well she did. No notes at all! The sound is not that great. The acoustics in the hall are atrocious! If you want to skip to the end it's funny to see her listening to the School Overseer as he talks to her. She's so very grown up!

Click here to see the video

Philippians 2:13 in action

I LOVE how the revised NWT renders Phil. 2:13 - "For God is the one who for the sake of his good pleasure energizes you, giving you both the desire and the power to act."

"energizes you" - love that wording!! I got to experience this scripture in action this week. We usually take Thursday's off, but since Wednesday we only went out a half day, we went out Thursday morning too - plus we wanted to be there to kick off the District Convention invitation campaign.

So, on Friday I was EXHAUSTED! I mean, I didn't do much Thursday afternoon, but apparently that morning off makes a big difference to my energy levels! And on top of that, Friday was looking to be a long day since I arranged to go see an old study of mine at 6pm, and then go listen to one of my old students give her first part on the school.

We met with the group, and Charley and I ended up working together, and he wanted to take me to a return visit that was about 10 minutes walk. I was two steps behind him all the way to his return visit, I just couldn't seem to get myself moving! So, I silently prayed to Jehovah as I lagged behind that he energize me, that he give me both the desire and the power to act since I didn't feel like I had either of those things! I thought to myself how nice it would be to have a return visit that would invite us to sit down.

So, we get to his return visit and the young mother, Dinora, comes and opens the gate, and ushers us in. I don't think she even said Hello! And then she got chairs out and put them in the shade! So, we decided I'd do the call and just go right to the Bible Teach book. Turns out she used to study when she was 13, but then moved and lost contact. She chose Chapter 11 from the book about why God permits suffering. So, we launch right into the study, and she was amazing! She had such good input, and she explained what we read in the Scriptures really well. Since she wasn't expecting us, and said she'd been busy cleaning, I suggested we stop after we read paragraph 4, but she said we could continue. When we got to paragraph 9 I said well, I've taken a lot of your time, do you want to continue another day. She was like, "No, let's continue, I don't want to be left hanging, I need to know the answer now"!!!! So we did all the way through paragraph 14! When we were about to read paragraph 12 I drew her attention to the picture of the teacher and student, and rhetorically asked "What does that have to do with what we're talking about?" Before I said, let's read on to find out, she was giving her version of what she thought the picture meant. And she was pretty much spot on!! We were totally impressed!!

So, instant Bible Study - I came out from there ENERGIZED beyond words!!! I told Charley what I had prayed along the way - talk about an instant answer!!

The rest of the day was excellent. I conducted another two studies, one of whom is working 7 days a week right now but happened to be off yesterday so we studied in the afternoon. The other was Sujey, who I mentioned in the last post. Had a nice little study with her. 

So, we finished service around 7pm, my old study that I went to see in the evening gave us something to eat, and then we went to the meeting to see Laynori give her part on the Theocratic Ministry School. She was AMAZING, as I knew she would be because she's one of the quickest little 8 year olds I know! I'll have a video of that for you soon - it's currently uploading.

Well, we're going to do Family Worship now since Charley's meeting interfered with our plans earlier in the week! Take care and be energized!

I just love the ministry here!

I miss seeing my family regularly, no doubt about it, but man, I just love it down here!! It's so good to be getting back into the swing of things. 

We helped finish up the campaign as you all did worldwide this past month. The first week back we were host congregation, which was wonderful. Our new District Overseer and his wife are from El Salvador. They've been in the travelling work for years, but this is the first time they've served outside of El Salvador. We had a really good time with them. And I had some really good calls with the tract that week too. I did the return visits the very next day, and have started a new study which hopefully as of tomorrow I'll be able to start counting!

So, here are some pictures from the circuit assembly first, then some experiences.

That's our dear Jennifer (dark hair) making her dedication public

And up she comes!

Jennifer and her mam. It was an emotional moment. 

My girls - Laynori & Noelia. They're both publishers now, and Laynori (the little one) has her first part on the school tomorrow night, so we'll be stopping by for that!

Yasuara, Rut, Marbel, Jocelyn & Bicri - all lovely girls in our current congregation, Pancasan Masaya

And the boys - Yader, Yisak & Ismael and their friend!

Escarlet, Brenda & Javiera - three different congregations, but all really close and favorites of mine!

The Mercado family from our previous congregation

Montenegro Family, Pancasan Masaya congregation. They call me Barbie!

Adali, Priscila, Rosaneli & Cecilia - Pancasan

Real Monimbo & Magdalena kids! I think just the two little ones aren't publishers yet.

Charley helped out on the sound Sunday morning.

Jael & Reyner - our newest pioneers in the congregation

Maritza and her beautiful daughters

Our new sister Jennifer, with a progressive study, Rosa Elena

Paola & Claudia - after working hard on our cleaning assignment

Sunday dinner at our favorite hamburger joint!

Our District Overseer and his wife were interviewed on the program on Saturday. She started regular pioneering at 14, and at 16 she was appointed a special pioneer!!! Things were different back then! He started pioneering January 1978, 2 months later he was appointed a special pioneer! And then the following year, he was appointed as a circuit overseer!!! Back then there were only 6 circuits in all of El Salvador, and now there are two districts. They are a wonderful example of zeal and love.

Charley had an interesting conversation this week with three young kids, all around 9 or 10 years old. They asked him if we should pray to Mary, and was it really Adam & Eve's fault that they sinned if the Devil deceived them! Deep thinkers for such little kids!!

So, the next day I went back with Charley and only one of them was there, Bianel. She was very excited to see us, and couldn't stay on one page in the Listen To God brochure because she liked the pages further ahead about Adam & Eve. She seemed to already know a lot of the story. Then she said she doesn't have a bible, and with a big sigh and bowed head she said, I wish I could have a Bible of my own so that I could read it every day! She said if we happen to come across an extra Bible she'd like to have it.

And then we ended up talking about the meeting, and she was pretty excited about the thought of going! So we're going to talk to her mam Sunday morning to see if she'll let her come with us on Sunday! She was the funniest little thing, all grown up but in a tiny body!

I also had a really nice call with a girl called Sujey this week - took me a while to figure out her name!! I left her the tract we were using last month, and then asked her the question on the back, Why do we grow old and die? I went back the next day and we read the scriptures that answer the question, and a couple of others. I was about to ask her to explain to me what she'd learned when she said, "So, I have a doubt though from the other day. I don't have a Bible so I couldn't look up the answer, but tell me, why do we grow old and die?" Well, that was what we had just spent 5 minutes talking about!! So I said, well, the scriptures you couldn't look up are the ones we just read now. So, from what we just read in the Bible, why do we grow old and die? She proceeded to explain very well the answer, and then realized that she had answered her own question!!

Wednesday we did a paragraph from the Good News brochure that she chose, and tomorrow hopefully we'll do a couple more. She's a young girl, about 18 maybe, and seems very keen to know more.

Today we started the campaign for the District convention - from one campaign to the next! We should have started it sooner but with the circuit assembly and everything we just got it kicked off today. I'm having a hard time remembering to count my tracts and invitations!

We had a good group out today and got about three blocks done with the invitations. We left one at a place they were making sweets, and when I asked what something was, she asked if I wanted to try it. And she gave me a little bag full of sugared, dried papaya. YUM!!!! We took care of that as a service group in about five minutes!! I think I might have to make some return visits there!!

Today and yesterday we just went out in the morning bc we had errands to take care of in the afternoon. So, we decided we'd take the bus. We have a lot more options of which bus to take to Masaya now that we are in a different territory. We're near two major bus stops, so we can hop on quite a number of buses to get to the group. So, we started witnessing as soon as we walked out of the house, and all the way there, and then all morning, and then all the way home. Worked out really well - just going out until 12:30 got us almost 5 hours in (which we really need now that we spent the beginning of the service year away!) and we got some good exercise in too!

And although I'm not sure how much gas it costs us to drive to and from our territory, I'm pretty sure it's WAY cheaper to get the bus. Today we spent a whopping $1.44 to get both of us to and from our territory - and that's despite the fact that it's 10 miles from our bus stop, to our territory. It cost me $1.50 one way to travel 3.5 miles on the bus from my mam and dad's house to work while I was back in Indianapolis. More than we spent round trip for two of us! It's hard to resist taking the truck, since it's easier! But we're going to try and do the bus trips as often as we can.

Well, I'm going to try and get some studying done now. Charley went back to Masaya this afternoon (in the truck - not good idea to come home on the bus late at night). He's going through baptism questions with two of our young sisters, and then he has a meeting at 6pm. So I'm home alone, which I don't mind now and then. I was going to be productive and do laundry and wash dishes, but the water still hasn't come back on yet - so, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Hasta luego friends.

Wrapping up the US visit

So, I'm finally finding time to blog about the last part of our visit to Indianapolis. We've been down here in Nicaragua for a week now, but it's been a rather hectic one. 

Our landlady and her daughters arrived Sunday afternoon, went to our first meeting back and got there late because of the airport run we had to do! And of course they sat us in the front row!! It was sooooo wonderful to see everyone again though. It feels so good to be back. Our visit to the States was amazing, we had a great time, but it's also really great to be back down here. And then as soon as we got unpacked it was time for host week and circuit assembly! As it turned out we didn't need to go stay with friends, so at least we didn't have to do all that packing again! So, today, as you can imagine, is the first chance we've had to get some stuff done around here!

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about the rest of our time in the US. Mostly summed up in pictures.

Went with my parents and a couple of sisters from their congregation to see a high school performance of Grease!!

Not sure how they got that car in there!

It was very colorful and entertaining. High school kids put on good shows!

Enjoyed the beautiful colors of autumn out in service 

East Spanish Indianapolis was host congregation for the circuit assembly and I got invited to lunch with the CO and DO. We had a very encouraging week with them.

Lunchtime hospitality - chicken soup, complete with the feet!

We also went to visit some friends in Columbus. Charley used to study with their boys, and they always were very hospitable. So we just had to make a trip to go see them. We had a lovely evening and saw the newlyweds while there!

I LOVE Charley's face in this picture!

Spent some time at Charley's sister's house. I think he's on the floor because he was getting mad at Charley for not letting him watch the movie in peace! In the end, he slept in peace instead!

Amalia and Priscilla came over to see me one afternoon.

Isn't she the cutest?!?!

And our last week was spent down in Bloomington & Bloomfield with the family. 

Noah took this shot with my camera - I was very impressed with his composition

Off to visit Grandpa.

4 generations of Matthews boys

And then on the way back to Bloomington on Monday this happened. The day before giving this car back to the sister we borrowed it from. It was completely the other person's fault though - pulled right out in front of us.

And when you don't have a corkscrew - you call Charley

And if there's no bottle opener - call Hannah!!

20 shots later I think I decided this was the one!

Whoops - out of order - this is playtime in Grandpa's basement!

Well, that's pretty much the rest of our time in the States. Thanks to everyone who supported us and took such good care of us. We had a great time, made a bit of money, and got our batteries recharged for coming back down here.

Serving where the need is greater in another country is an amazing, rewarding experience. And this time it felt like we came home, everything is familiar now, and our spiritual family down here welcomed us with open arms. I'd encourage anyone that's considering it to just do it. You'll never regret it.

Oh, and I'm on Instagram now! You'll see pictures and videos there that you probably won't ever see on the blog, so add me! My username is poet879