Omentepe

This was an interesting trip.  I planned to leave at 5am and reach the Island by 12pm.  This clearly did not happen because I ended up on the 3:30pm Lancha.  So I didn’t leave Granada until 12pm.  I hopped on a bus going to Rivas.  This is about a 2 hr bus ride going down South.  I enjoyed views of the volcano Mamboucho from the opposite side from Granada.  As we pulled off a young Nica guy sits next to me and decides to play 21 Questions with me.  I limited my Spanish and listened to my phone for music.  Then I remembered that my friend had advised me not to ride the bus to the end, but instead to get off the bus at San Jorge.  I hop off the bus and meet a taxi waiting to escort people to the Ferry Port.  The bus driver informs me that it should cost $2USD.  Instead I end up paying $4, which is $100C, which is a lot.  I was so mad!  The taxi raced to the port only for me to miss the 2:30 Ferry.  Instead I had to take the 3:30pm Lancha.  Man what a difference!!!  I board what I thought was the waiting area for the boat.  There were wooden planks to sit on and there were metal bars around the perimeter.  A Nicaraguan man starts talking to me and comes to sit next to me.  I speak with him in Spanish.  All of a sudden the lancha takes off.  What I thought was a waiting area was the vessel itself!  The waves were insane!  The boat tilted from side to side so violently that one had to hold on to their seat or to the metal bars to avoid falling over.  I said to the man, “Es siempre como esta?  Es horrible!”  He kept talking to me and asked had I eaten and would I feel sick.  I was so sickened by the movement of the waves that I stopped talking and simply tried to keep my composure.  My stomach felt like a blender and I was so thankful that I hadn’t eaten much.  I noticed that my new buddy was laid across the seat and covering his face with his hands- hey maybe he was tired.  After 10 excruciating minutes I notice the blond on the other side of the man quickly got up with a disgusted look on her face.  I look at the man and he is puking his brains out!  I almost lost it when I saw that!  I immediately got up and almost fell onto the other people sitting across from me, since the boat was still rocking forcefully.  I sat across from my original spot and saw the orange vomit and decided to move.  I stood up and clung for dear life to the side of the boat and looked ahead to the volcano, my destination.  I noticed someone below on the deck beneath puking.  I then began to pray and breathe deeply.  I focused on that volcano for the next hour as water sprayed passengers from the unsteady condition of the boat.  I seriously thought we were going to flip over at any moment.  Finally we reached and I thankfully   walked off that darned thing and vowed NEVER to take a Lancha again at any costs.  The crazy thing is that it cost the exact same price as the ferry!  By this point it’s getting late and the sun is starting to go down.  So I rush to catch the LAST bus to Altagracia.  The bus filled up quickly and I sat on an outside seat.  A woman with a huge gut kept knocking her stomach into my arm.  Gross!  Finally we reached!  I was greeted by my friend Linda Campos, who’s on the Route from Mexico.  She informed me that there was gathering going on and that I had to stay at the Bed and Breakfast because a brother from Costa Rica was staying an extra night and there was no room for me.  $8 bought me a room at a cozy hotel right downtown.  (So cheap!!!)  I quickly showered and met her in the lobby.  We started off to the sister’s house.  On the way, we met up with a brother from Mexico who just finished his Route assignment in Costa Rica who joined us for the weekend.  The gathering was so cute!  The whole congregation was there!  Half were inside playing a numbers game and half were outside chatting.  We said a prayer and dinner was served.  The sister served us rice, carrots and chicken out of a huge bucket and bread.  The Coke also came from a huge bucket that they stocked with large chunks of ice.  But, there were no forks.  We ate with our fingers! Lol  I thought to myself, wow these friends sure are poor!  But afterward my friend told me that they simply had forgotten to purchase some and we laughed because we all thought that that was a normal part of life but it wasn’t.  After dinner, the friends gathered around in chairs and Linda sang songs and played her miniature guitar that the friends had given her as a gift.  The friends all sang along to the Spanish tunes and listened quietly at the English ones.  It was a nice way to end the night.  I climbed into bed at 10:30 and fell right to sleep.  Then WHAM!!! A mango woke me up!  They fall periodically onto the roofs of homes where the trees are grown.  Nevertheless I slept happily for I had arrived safe to the lovely island of Omentepe. 

Sign Language Service

So today I had a study to go on but there's no group for English on Thursday.  So I met with my roommates group for Nica Sign.  We went by my study- she wasn't there :-(.  So we did a few of her calls and territory.  90% of the people were home.  First we stopped by a deaf man 40 yrs old and left him his new DVDs.  He has a broken foot that he hurt by falling and them some little hoodlums dropped a huge rock on the same foot and now he has to wear a boot for a year and it got infected.  But he's sweet and loves learning the truth.  Down the street we run into a deaf woman who's a hugger.  (Im not so touchy feely, but I hugged her)  Next, we go see another call down the street but wasn't home.  We chat with his mom and show her the My Book of Bible Stories Book that we use to study with him, and offer to bring her one in Spanish.  She introduces us to a little abandoned girl.  Her parents up and moved to Costa Rica and straight up left her.   This woman isn't even related and just happened to take her in-poor thing.  Then we goto a study.  On the way at a restaraunt we encouter a deaf man who can't sign properly.  Shelina tries to teach him some new signs using the pictures in the Bible Stories Book.  We stay there about 20 min.  Next, we walk to the study.  Shelina uses the DVD, the Bible Stories Book and Drawings to teach this woman about the Flood in Noah's time.  Then we head home.  Then we decide to call one of her other studies to make sure he's home, he is!  So we walk over and study about Job using the DVD and the Bible Stories Book.  He's 17 and just started working fulltime, OH NO!  Job was the perfect story about keeping integrity under extreme pressure which is what he's going to face.  The deaf community here has a hard time with the truth because there's a deaf society that is heavily involved in politics that offers these jobs, but then they purposely discourage them from attending meetings.  So he's going to have to take a stand at work.  We stayed almost 2 hours and he signed very animatedly.  I prayed and Shelina interpreted for me.  On the walk home we ran into the other call that wasn't home originally, he was on his bike visiting the other deaf guy with the boot.  Then on our street we run into a deaf woman who happily greets us and Shelina encourages her to attend meetings.  It was an amazing way to start off the new month.
PS There are so many deaf in Nicaragua it ain't even funny.  So if you are already in sign I would highly suggest coming down here to serve, Nica sign is easy to learn esp if you already speak ASL.

It Keeps Getting Better

2 Things!

First- Last night we lost power.  Therefore we had the meeting outside!  Awesome!  It was fun, the brother brought the plastic chairs and platform and set them up inside the gate but out of doors.  We used the fleeting sunlight to cover our section of the Bearing Thorough Witness Books.  The reader was practically shouting since there were no microphones.  But miraculously as soon as the book study was closing, and everyone was using their cellphones for light, the power came back on!  IT was though being outside.  A brother pulled up his truck close(the only one we have) to help us sing the Kingdom melody in tune, without it wouldn't sounded horrible lol.  Then 5 minutes in to the lesson a truck slowing drives by fumigating the entire neighborhood!  It blew right into our faces, and we gagged and tried to catch our breath!  Inside the meeting carried on as normal since the power was back on.

Secondly, I officially have a bible study.  I studied with her twice this week and I go back on Friday!  She's 18, married and has a 3month cute baby boy.  We started out in the truth tract and now we're in the bible teach!  It's awesome to finally have a study.  :-)

Best Day in Service

Today started out like any regular Sunday.  We have the meeting at 10am and then go home eat and sleep then return for service at 2:30pm.  Instead today I went “out to eat” at Esso(Exxo).  It was good though, fried chicken, Oreo Frappes and Coke.  After I walked a visiting couple home and sat down for literally 15minutes before having to head back to the hall to meet the group.  I tried a study that my friend turned over. No esta.  After we did Sunday only calls.  After literally searching for half the people I found a girl.  Just happened to have placed ALL my Truth Tracts.  So I pulled out the Feb. WT and introduced the young English-speaking woman to the study article on Why Does God Have an Organization Today?  If it hadn’t been for the demo I had at the beginning of this month, I don’t how I would have otherwise breezed through that section.  It’s HARD!  Anyways, it’s all I had so she invited me in.  When it came time to read the first scripture she ran to fetch her bible in Spanish.  To my pleasant surprise it was a New World Translation.  She read the scripture and said that she didn’t understand anything as I asked her questions about the text.  I apologized that this subject matter wasn’t the easier to jump right into but urged her to continue and keep going into the second paragraph.  We read the scripture in Isaiah.  I prayed that she understand and what do you ya know, I asked her Why did Jehovah organize the Isrealites in the past and she actually answered correctly in her own words!  That was all holy spirit because I did nothing to help her reach that conclusion rather than have her read what was on the printed page.  We decided to meet up tomorrow after lunch and cover the next section about God’s Organization today.  Due to the difficult subject matter she agreed to read over the section ahead of time.  Whew!  The awesome thing is she lives blocks from me!  I can walk to her myself and won’t even have to meet with the group if the study becomes regular, which I hope!

But it gets even better!  The brother taking the lead mentions that he has a few studies to do.  I didn’t particularly want to go along, but I had this guy call who seemed really interested and I hadn’t seen in 2 weeks.  So we agreed I would accompany him on his 2 studies and we could swing by my call.  So I hopped onto the back of the dirt bike(that’s why it pays to wear appropriate length skirts- I just happened to have on my longest skirt I own).  Long story short, neither of his studies were home.  But my call was.   A little bit of background.  I met this guy 2 weeks ago on a Sunday.  He wanted to know the condition of the dead.  We covered that section in the truth tract.  We read all the scriptures and to check his understanding I had him repeat everything back to me in Spanish.  To reinforce everything we learned I showed him the picture in the Bible Teach Book where it shows a blown-out candle and the caption asks where the flame went.  He exclaimed that he has the same book in Spanish.  Also, he commented that the bible is quite simple.  He liked that I was patient with his limited English.  I asked him would he like to continue his learning in Spanish or English.  He said English.  So I got his number.  For the last 2 weeks, we have been texting each other and playing phone tag.  So today I didn’t call.  I just showed up.  He opened the door and invited us in.  For the next 1 hr and 15minutes we covered the next question that he had picked: How can I pray and be heard by God?  The brother I turned him over to slowly covered all that Jesus had to say about prayer in Matthew Chapter 6 and we ended with examining the Model Our Father Prayer.  At the end, the student asked where we meet and we invited him to attend the meetings.  He commented that he had stopped praying to God and was looking for answers on his own outside of religion.  But he had noticed by comparing Catholics, Evalgelicos and Jehovah’s Wittnesses that something was different about us.  We used the bible to answer everything and it made sense.  The brother used an ongoing illustration about having a girlfriend and the way you phone her to having a relationship with God and prayer is like phoning her.  Movistar(the cellphone service down here) is like Jesus, we need him to reach God.  It was better than any analogy I could’ve came up with.  So I learned a lot as well. 

So I’d say today was one of the best days in service for me because I successfully turned over a guy who is sincerely interested and found a girl close to me to cultivate.  I’ve experienced so many blessing s being down here in Granada, it’s just making it that much harder to leave.  L

I Got Robbed

Yup it finally happened.  L  I was coming home from service by myself.  I went to Pali(a local grocery store) for some items to prepare lunch.  I slipped into the outskirts of the market for a lime and some tomatoes.  On the way home a nasty looking man bumped into me and grabbed all my money out of my service bag and knocked it onto the ground.  I managed to frantically scoop up 60cords but he got away with 20.  It’s just a dollar.  What I am mad at is the fact that I had let my guard down.  I wasn’t paying attention.  People were all around.  But it didn’t matter, they weren’t going to help me.  I practically ran home and kept looking over the back of my shoulder.  The man was saying something to me about my cellphone.  I was glad he didn’t take that.  He must have watched me pay for my tomatoes at the market and followed me.  The money would have been inside my bible but instead I had hurriedly stuffed it into that pocket in my bag because I didn’t want to be handling money out in the market.  Learned my lesson: always take the time to stuff my money away!

Trip to Leon

This weekend started on Thursday.  Jamiliah and I took a trip to visit a sister outside of Leon on the beach, Krista.   She’s in a Spanish congregation. It’s still crazy to me just how cheap it is to travel around Nicaragua.  From Granada to Managua is $1, or 20cords.  Managua to Leon is 40cords or $2 and then its 50cents or 10 cords to get to the beach.  This trip took 4hrs is total.

We go straight to a brother and sisters restaurant right on the water for Fish with Garlic sauce, so yummy!  90 cords, or $4 for a whole fish dinner with plantains and salad.  The next day we go out in service.  With just 6 sisters we split into groups and walk out to the road leading to Leon.  Then we start working house over house.  The evangelistics don’t want to see literature so you can only reason with the bible and read scriptures.  (Sidenote, my friend told me that earlier that week that the Evangelic church members set up chairs in front of the Kingdom Hall in the street and proceeded to have their service during their Theocratic Ministry School- yes singing and preaching and clapping, while our 26 brothers and sisters gave their parts and studied the Acts Book.)  The sister read 3 scriptures and then we parted from the first house.  The man knew the scriptures already that she had read- he quoted them from memory.  The next house was a return visit of sorts.  The older woman was just finishing up making 100 tortillas to sell in Leon.  She can’t read so the sister shared scriptures from the Listen to God brochure that we just received last summer. On my turn I placed the brochure with a young woman about 20 years old that couldn’t read either.  We ducked barbed wire to get to one house and in front we witnessed to a man working on the fence.  He wanted to know about hell.  The sister shared a ton of scriptures on the condition of the dead and explained the word Sheol.  It was a productive but hot day.  At 10:30am we had to quit. L  There was no shade, nowhere to sit, and nowhere to take a break.  We spent the rest of the day at the beach.  On Saturday we decided to save taxi money and take a new kind of bus.  A pickup truck with a covered bench on it.  They squeezed over 30 people standing onto the back of that truck.   I honestly thought we were going to die and flip over.  Definitely not worth the 3 cords to get to the bus terminal!

Nica Mosh Pit

We have been having the International Poets Festival this week in Granada.  The grand finale was a huge free concert on Saturday.  The band was playing traditional Nicaraguan music with a rock edge.  The young people were loving it.  So much so, that when my friends and I made our way to the front, we found ourselves literally in the middle of 2 simultaneous moshpits.  Go figure.  I didn’t think I was at a MCR concert!  Thank goodness we only caught the last 2 songs.  Sweaty and fatigued we slept good that night and I could have sworn that my right toe had been fractured.