Angelic Direction

Saturday we have 2 groups for field service.  We go out first in the morning with our local groups and then everyone meets at the hall at 1pm as a congregation.  In our car group on this particular day we decide to make 2 return visits before we go to our territory which is about 20 minutes away.  The first call is not at home.  We go to the 2nd and I go with the brother to call on an Italian man who expressed interest.  The brother plans to start a study in the Bible Teach Book.

We walk up the long steep driveway and a young man greets us.  He goes inside to inform his parents of our arrival.  He returns and states that his mother said we can sit at the back porch and that she'll be right out.  Note, our visit was supposed to be on the father.

We greet the woman and sit down.  She seems surprised by our presence.  In fact, she was expecting someone else, a woman from the local English congregation.  She had her Bible Teach Book in hand along with the magazines from April.  The brother and I look at each other with questioning faces.

The woman had left her home at 10:30 to unexpectedly drop her daughter off to work.  Meanwhile the English friends attempted to come by to start the study with her, but she wasn't home.  We come by a few hours later and basically give all the incentive in the world to study the Bible in order to form a personal relationship with God.

This woman has SO MANY QUESTIONS.  We're sent in 2's thankfully, because I would've tried to answer all of them.  Instead the brother took a different approach and only read scriptures to help her appreciate the importance of learning the truth about God by means of his inspired word the Bible.  Every time she went in another direction, he gave an illustration that led right back to using the Bible to answer these questions.

After 45 minutes or so, the woman thanked us and we excused ourselves on behalf of the friends waiting for us in the car.  But she was so glad that we came by.  Both the brother and I hope and pray that the English go back to this woman.  If not, we still have the intention to come back to the husband who speaks Italian fluently.  As we leave we stumble upon the husband working in the yard blasting Italian music.  It was a great way to end service!

2 Bible Teaches in One Week!

This was a really cool experience.  I wasn't planning on going out in service today because I was tired and thought I hadn't made formal plans with anyone.  However, I was awaken at 9:45am when an elderly sister in my hall called me and asked was I going out.  I said of course and managed to make it to her house by 10:05am.  We decided to do a West Haven territory that she had.  House after house was not at home.  Finally she suggests that we do a "call" of hers, basically an Italian person that she has called on for years  that she hadn't seen in months.

We walk up to the door and I say a silent prayer, because I just really wanted someone to be home.  We meet an older Italian woman but low and behold, another Italian couple is visiting.  We go in, kiss and have a seat at the kitchen table.  A few minutes later another Italian man comes over to visit.  We had a bible topic discussion for the next hour!

The Italians ask questions from the Trinity, Evolution, Sin and Death.  My preaching companion Rosa, shares loads of scriptures.  By the end of it, I take out the Bible Teach Book merely to show the man who mainly had the questions the chapter on the topic he lingered on most.  He takes the book out of my hand.  I never offer him the book, yet he takes and keeps it.  As we leave and start shaking hands, he takes the book and doesn't give it back.  That was probably the easiest book placement I've ever made!

I plan to go back with the same sister and follow up on whether he found the answers to his questions in the book.  If he hasn't I am going to offer to bring a brother back to study with him.

Yet another productive day in the Italian field, how rewarding!

Italian Service in New Haven

Hey!  So I have realized to treasure the amazing field service experiences that I not only experience abroad but also right here at home.  Serving in the Italian field in CT is indeed exciting and we DO find interest.  Maybe no one’s begging for a bible study but we still have wonderful days in service.  For instance I felt compelled to share what happened today.

I worked this morning and didn’t get off until 3:30pm.  So I am always searching for like people who are only out in the evenings.  (Note: This is the best time to go out.  Everyone’s home).  So Camille (my friend from Sign Lanaguage) joins me and we sit down and eat a quick meal at my house of Quinoa.  Then we set off to get Camille some tacos from a particular taco shop in West Haven.  We drive over and first we stop at the deli next door because she remembered that the owner was Italian.  She buys a bag of chips and as she pays she strikes up a conversation.  Indeed the man is from Italy but he doesn’t really speak.  He shares with us that his son speaks perfect Italian and is in college to become a criminal lawyer.  I leave an Italian magazine with him and Camille leaves a Spanish magazine with the man in the taco shop as she waits for her meal. 

Back in the car, an old territory falls out of my bag from last year.  Obviously it hasn’t been worked in a while so we set off to rework it.  90% of the people were home!  Half weren’t Italian and were able to cross off after literally years of them being not at home and the other half accepted literature and we were able to have pleasant conversations.  The last door we did around 6:30pm.  We go to a confirmed Italian home that was hand written on the bottom of the territory.  A Mexican woman answers the door and informs us that not only is she a sister but her husband does speak Italian.  She invites us in.  We sit down and chat about the Kingdom Hall, Mexico and how her husband used to study.  After 40 minutes of warming up to us the husband suddenly is completely involved in the conversation.  He shows Camille his dog, recounts his hurricane story from last year’s Hurricane Irene.  He even pulls out his bass and plays all his favorite Beatles songs on his bass.  Long story short, I place the Bible Teach Book with him and we make plans to all go to the meeting together after they return from their 2 week vacation in Mexico.  We leave at about 8:15pm!  What a last door!  I know I can’t serve in Nicaragua right now or anywhere else for that matter but there is interest right here and I just need to adjust my mindset and cherish the experiences I have right here in CT, in fact right in New Haven my hometown. 

I can’t wait to go back to that house.  The wife thanked us repeatedly because her husband has studied off and on throughout the years and hopefully our visit will jumpstart him back into action.  J

Final Comments

Nicaragua was an amazing experience.  I am so glad that I had the opportunity to experience firsthand serving in a foreign country.  It’s so worth the effort.  Indeed it takes a leap of faith to go against others well-meaning concern and give your all to Jehovah’s service.  I was able to serve in the English congregation in Granada.  This is a young small congregation that has a lot of rich territory.  We would go into some territories that seemed impossible to find English speaking people and we ALWAYS found someone.  Most of the times you were able to place literature and sometimes start a study.  Many Nicaraguans want to learn English or already do.  This coupled with the region’s inherent desire to learn more about God’s Word makes for an awesome preaching experience.  No more apathy and no more hunting people down for studies.  Speaking at every door affords you the opportunity to hone your skills.  Granted this is still a challenging territory due to the search and discover nature of service.  This sometimes means mornings consisting of mostly census.  But Granada is a very touristy area as well.  Many English speaking tourists frequent the area.  Although street witnessing opens you up to many varied beliefs and a variety of ethnicities, this is great to break up the monotony of the constant census work.  I have to admit that I didn’t fully take advantage of this avenue of service but it was easy to speak with tourists simply by asking what brings them to Granada and asking where they are from.  The few people I did speak with certainly were friendly.  It’s always handy to carry meeting invites on your person.

My trip also took me to other parts of Nicaragua.  I was able to sample the coast, where English is predominantly spoken as well as places where Spanish is only spoken such as Jinotega.  Pearl Lagoon is in desperate need of help.  They go overnight preaching trips in order to cover their territory and due to the religious nature of the people there, you could easily share 3-4 scriptures at each door.  I felt so unequipped, but this challenge was good because it helps you prepare for the ministry with a purpose.   Jinotega doesn’t have much territory and it gets covered every 2 weeks.   But surprisingly you meet different members of the family at home and definitely have to keep your presentation fresh.  The most shocking part is that interest is still found daily!  I spent a week there and could have had my own bible study!  In contrast, I was in Granada for 6 weeks before I found a girl who really wanted to study.  I got the information of the sister who took the study in Jinotega and eagerly wait to hear the results of my initial seed.

All in all I think everyone should have the experience of serving somewhere.  The longer you can go the better since more time means more time with your studies before you turn them over.  The cost of living here in inexpensive and the cities are safe.  There are hardly any guns in Nicaragua which contributes to the safety factor.  Travel within the country is ridiculously cheap.  I’m talking $5 to get clear to the other side of the country, how long it will take you is entirely another story.  If you can take cold showers and want an instantly productive ministry, I say go for it!  Try it out for at least 3 months!  I promise you won’t regret it!

Jinotega

What a joy!  This place is awesome.  I am here visiting my friend from Trinidad who lives here permanently.  Jinotega is completely different from Granada.  It’s cold here at night and in the morning.  It is surrounded by mountains and has a slight hometown feel to it.

So far we have gone in service, started the track campaign and started a bible study.  I need to move here!  Too bad it’s too cold.  There are 2 Spanish congregations here each with over 100 publishers.  Yet the meeting attendance still gets up to 188 on the weekend.  I went on 4 of the 11 studies that my friend has.  The field is definitely ripe here.  Today we met the 5pm group and preached until after 6:30pm, it was completely dark when we stopped knocking on doors.  After greeting the householders with a “Buenas Noches”  we just kept the conversation going as if it weren’t nighttime.  (Hilarious if you ask me).  The food here is the same but Jinotega boasts a couple of swanky coffee shops.  Coffee is grown here locally.

In fact we went to a nature reserve yesterday, it’s owned by Germans and serves free range and organic meat and veggies in their restaurant.  The views here, in the rural territory are stunning.  Working with Spanish-speaking ONLY sisters has greatly improved my Spanish.  Chatting with some of the sisters that have moved here from the States, Canada and Scotland has proved to me how worth it it is to take the leap of faith and to sell your stuff and just move.  I’m seriously thinking about it….

Sidenote: There’s a sister here who makes Enchiladas and sells them 2 days a week to support her pioneering, YUM!!       

SideSideNote: It was a hot mess to get here.  The bus pulls out the station and informs everyone that we need to fork over double the money to make it to our destination because the road is blocked and we need more gas to get to Jinotega and it’s going to take an extra hour due to the back roads.  Then, the bus overheats.  Then we blow a tire.  Then it straight up breaks down!  In the meantime I befriend the woman sitting next to me who low and behold speaks English.  She has the Family Happiness Book and is trying to convince her husband to study.  In Matagalpa she helps me find a bank, watches my bags and gets her buddy to give me a free ride in a taxi.  I placed 4 magazine with her, a set in Spanish and a set in English. J

Sunday and Headed Home

Sunday we attended the meeting.  The brother who gave the talk was from Bluefields.  But, he wasn’t BLACK.  He only spoke Spanish.  After the meeting we discussed Bluefields and difference between being in the Spanish and English fields.  His talk was about Miracles and he used many props in his lively discourse.  I sat one seat away from a deaf woman who constantly made noises during the meeting.  I found out that she faithfully attends every meeting and a special pioneer couple studied with her 2 years ago but left the island.  She has no-one to study with her but loves coming to the Kingdom Hall.  We need people down here from the SIGN LANGUAGE!! 

After the meeting we went home and prepared lunch.  We made a delicious fresco from the Starfruits from yesterday's bible study.  We then rented bikes and biked 20Km to Ojos de Agua.  We swam for a few minutes and then were joined by 8 others from the congregation.  We had even more fun this second time.  Around 4pm we took our bikes and journeyed through a short cut through pastures until we came to the main road.  We biked down to the river’s edge and ate an upscale dinner at a beautiful restaurant.  I had chicken skewers with onions, tomato, pineapple and banana!  It was delicious!  Then we biked back home in the dark.  We couldn’t help but stop and gaze the awesome stars.   I learned a lot about constellations and colored stars.  We shared our favorite scriptures and star-gazed for over an hour.  We rode home in darkness and arrived tired and sore.  I slept good that night!

The next morning we girls were treated to breakfast by the guys.  We then caught the bus to Mayogalpa.  This path was unpaved and was exceptionally rocky and the way was blocked by oxen.  A blond woman and her husband boarded the bus.  Linda commented that they didn’t seem like they were from around here.  Turns out they were new pioneers on the Route!  She was from Spain and her husband was from Mexico and they were from the English in Rosarito Mexico!  We chatted with them and then 3 more pioneers boarded the bus.  We instantly made new friends!  We took pictures at our destination and then parted ways.  We met up with a special pioneer couple for Missouri and ate a splendid lunch.  The papaya chicken salad was impressive.  The owners also roasted their own coffee beans!  YUM!  We then rushed off to catch the 2pm Ferry.  Guess what!?  The driver had a headache and decided not to drive that day!  So Efrien and I had to quickly board a bus to San Jose- the other port on the island and hope to catch the 3:20pm Ferry.  We made it in time and even had time to grab a quick Tona.  This ferry was heaven compared to the horrible contraption of a boat that brought me over to the island.  We shared pictures and stories and wondered how we’d arrive to our final destination, his Costa Rica, mine Granada.  In Rivas we learned that I had missed the last bus to Granada.  Man! So we went by a Pharmacy owned by witnesses.  She informed us how to get to the bus station where we could plot our next move and offered for me to stay the night at her place in order to catch the bus tomorrow.  So sweet!  We hurried over to the bus station and as always the bus is about to pull off and I made the split second decision to board the bus headed to Managua.  I kept alert and exited the bus in Masaya.  I then waited by the side of the road and tagged along with 2 travelers from Germany who spoke Spanish.  We found out that we were all going to Granada.  We then flagged down a yellow school bus headed to Granada and rode to the end of the line.  I then walked home and arrived by 8pm, whew what a day!

Service and Food!

The next day I woke up and met with another brother staying at the same hotel as me.  He was having a bible-based discussion with a man visiting from Germany.  They were discussing everyone’s favorite subject-THE TRINITY.  The man was saying that there was some scripture somewhere in John that translates Jesus saying “I am”.  But he didn’t know where or what the rest of the scripture said.  The brother tried to reason with the man and quote scriptures , since his bible was in Spanish and not English.  I added my 2 cents and mentioned for him to look up the scripture at Acts 7:55,56 when he got a chance.  Then the brother and I ran over to the house of Linda and sat down to pancakes, eggs and coffee.  Yum!  The group for service was at 8am.  There were like 26 people out that day!  This was leaps and bounds from before the congregation got served 11 pioneers from Mexico on Route assignments.  (*Note,  the Route is a new arrangement from the Mexico Branch that is very similar to unassigned territory in the States.  Individual regular or auxillary pioneers sign up months in advance.  The assignments began in January and run through to June.  Each person can decide to sign up for a 1-6month assignment in a rural area.  Some of these people have never been preached to!  My friend Linda was on a 2 month assignment in Omentepe, the other pioneers were there was various amounts of times.  Linda was serving with father. )  Before hardly anyone would be out in service on a Friday, especially because they have no pioneers.  In fact the entire island of Omentepe only has 2 special and 2 regular pioneers living there!  We did a territory right in town and preached house over house to the locals.  We preached until about 11am.  My Spanish was horrible but I managed to place a truth tract as well as a All Suffering Soon to End tract.  My partner was nice Mexican sister from Mexico City.  We received bananas from a door that she took. 

After service we walked home and began to prepare lunch.  After all, Linda and I had to feed the brother from Costa Rica, the one from Mexico, her father and another brother, the one from my hotel who I met in Granada but lives in Canada.  After lunch we met up with 2 other sisters and took a private taxi to a lovely pool of water called Ojos de Agua.  This is a beautiful retreat that features a river that flows over volcanic rock that is natural and provides a mineral bathing experience.  It only cost $2 to get in for the entire day!  We bathed and enjoyed each other's company.  Afterwards, we hiked to the top of the hill for a great view of both of Omentepe’s active volcanos: Conception y Maderas.   After dark our taxi took us home and we prepared dinner and then went to sleep.

The next morning we ate a healthy breakfast of Oatmeal and fruit and then met the group at the Kingdom Hall.  Today we had even more people out in service!  We caught the bus to the rural territory.  This was crazy since there were so many of us and so many of the locals.  The bus was packed and we literally had to exit the bus using the back emergency door because there was no way we could get out through the front.  Then we walked another mile or so to the territory.  Then something epic happened, I discovered the Tamarid tree.  This is now my favorite treat!  I picked up the pods and stuffed them into a purse.   They have a sweet and sour tasting paste surrounding a seed.  YUM!  We preached until 10:30 .  This territory was way out and was lined with mango trees that the brothers ate from on our little sitting down break.  I got to put my knife to good use peeling the mangos.  We then went off to do a study: Linda, Efren, her dad and I.  I asked were they sure that we could bring 4 people on to one study.  Don’t worry Linda said.  We hoped to hitch a ride to the top of the long gradual incline that led to the study but NO CAR came our way.  But this afforded us the opportunity to see MONKEYS!!! There were over a dozen of them lurking in the trees on the side of the road.  Finally we reached the study.  No lie, the WHOLE FAMILY sat in on the study.  There were like 8 people present besides us.  There were 4 generations represented at the study.  Everyone who could read had their bible teach books and bibles out.  The older and infirmed ones listened in and offered comments.  I was able to participate by Linda’s dad translating my comments and questions.  It seriously was like a book study!  After the study the family gave us a huge bag of Starfruits to take home.  Then we started the trek back to the town.  This time we hitched a ride.  You won’t believe who picked us up!?  An Italian couple!  I spoke to them in Italian and Linda placed a Spanish Watchtower with them-man I knew I should’ve brought my Italian literature to the island!  We then reached the bus-stop and caught the bus the rest of the way home.  The men went off to a study and Linda and I prepared lunch.  We then ate and attended the meeting.  Afterwards we invited the congregation over and we ate Nacatamales.  (A traditional Nicaraguan dish similar to a Mexican tamale but more squishy).  After everyone left we prepare our Watchtowers together for the next day.  As we took turn reading, the lights went out and we lit candles and finished the preparation.  I slept contently that night as a party raged next door, blasting the newest Merengue, Bachata and Reggaeton hits.