Search for it like hid treasure

We have occassional power outages here.  We had such an outage when a few of us were studying for the meeting.  Did that stop us?  Of course not.  Check Fen out studying by flashlight!  Proverbs 2:4,5

 Here is the same picture without the flash from my camera!

You're one of those Jehovah's Witnesses, right?

People here walk up to us all the time and say, “You’re a Jehovah’s Witness, right?”  I’ve had this happen even in regular clothes while I’m grocery shopping.  I visited a bible student with another sister once and she exclaimed, “I knew you were Jehovah’s girl!  I saw you when you a few days ago walking around.  Just something  about you!”  It’s true we are always on display here (1 Corinthians 4:8).  People just walk up and ask for literature and start talking to me about the bible.  A brother here told me the experience that another group of Witnesses came a few months ago by boat.  They arrived much earlier than expected.  A local person passed by his house and simply said, “Hey, your people are at the dock!”  The brother had to clarify what people the man meant.  Sure enough, when he checked the dock, it was the brothers! They had not preached to anyone however the people could tell by their friendly demeanor.   Many people here have said that they will only rent their houses to Witnesses because they know that they are honest and will keep up the property.  Because ones here have such a high regard for Witnesses, we are very careful to always take their feelings into consideration (Philippians 2:4)  For example, even though the bible does not condone alcohol in moderation we abstain from buying alcohol or drinking at restaurants here.  Why?  Because it is commonly held here that only “drunks” drink alcohol and children are taught from an early age that “rum” is very, very bad.  We do not want to offend or confuse our neighbors who hold us in such high regard.

Betty's Bread Shop

I mentioned in a previous post how important it is to learn to cook the local foods in order to stay on budget.  It's also a good way to enjoy the culture.  I'm always walking up to ladies cooking in their big cast iron pots on their porches to see what they are making and ask for tips.  Well, there is a bakery here that I frequent with great coconut bread, ginger biscuits and all sorts of goodies for just a few cents each so I am in there pretty much every day trying something new.  (I'm sure you will start to see me getting chunky in subsequent pictures!)  Anyhow, Ms. Betty and her daughter in law Lecia and I  became fast friends my first day here.  Lecia has visited the Kingdom Hall and her husband Byron has a bible study.  One day they invited me to come and learn to cook turtle as well as seeing how they make some of the desserts I love.  So after I finished morning ministry, I headed over for to learn during my lunch break.  She even closed the shop for several hours so we could relax and eat lunch there.  My roomate and another sister joined me and we had a ball!

There is no sign out front but the smell of fresh bread drifting out to the street lets you know you are in the right place.

There's Ms. Betty!

 

Lecia always has a warm smile.

Getting down to business....cooking the turtle.

Getting dessert ready!

 Is it ready yet??!

Ready to see the turtle?!

Tada!!  Yum!

Bible Students Doing Well

I have the privledge of conducting about 14 studies right now.  So needless to say I'm quite busy and happy.  It brings me alot of joy and really humbles me.  I came to Nicaragua a few weeks after completeing pioneer school  six months ago so this is the first chance I've really had to regularly put into practice some of what I learned (since people here understand me!) Here are pics of some of the students and their kids- many of whom you will see were at the meeting on Sunday.

 Yamilette and her daughter.  Yami is very excited about her study so we meet twice per week.

 My friend Jean and I at the meeting

Millicent, Baby Brittany and Millicent her daughter.  This family, along with a teenage son who is not in the picture, walk several miles to get to the meetings.  Little Millicent is excited about her study and he mom says she studies with other kids in her neighbor hood and even defends the Truth when other kids challenge her.  She loves Jehovah very much.

Two more of my students- Danisha and Jaleel.  Danisha enjoys giving many comments at the meeting and has been giving literature to her teacher to read and has even taught bible stories to her classmates.  Jaleel  is shy but lights up whenever it's time to go to the meetings.  She ran up to my roomate on the street asking for a "yellow book".  After discerning her genuine interest a study was started.  She is always well prepared having studied her lesson far in advance.  Her mother says she sits on the porch bursting with excitement waiting for me to come study and to pick her up for the meetings.  Her notepad is below.

A very sweet family who is doing well in their studies.

Three Canadian sisters, Jean and some of the girls with whom I study.

My friend Fennellia

Cute baby of a bible student (mama was feeling camera shy!)

Daughter of a bible student

Sister Kelly and her student's daughter

Kids playing while their mom finishes her study

This is one of my favorite pics.  I was assisting on a study and these two little girls needed something to do.  So, I kept them occupied with the kids feature in the back of our magazine so their mom could concentrate.  I think they had fun with it :-)

This is Daleesha.  She is something else!  I study with her older sister.  Everytime I come, she sits down and flips through a book saying, "Jehovah" over and over like she is reading.  After awhile we have to focus on our study but she keeps right on.  When we ignored her she started to yell, "Study!" and would follow us wherever we went.  The only thing thaat quiets her is a book or a bible.  So, I asked her if she wanted her own "study" with her own book and she lit up.  Now she runs in from playing when arrive and gets her big girl chair so she can learn a bible story.

 

Informal Witnessing

Here are a few pictures of us informal witnessing.  One is at the wharf where the fishermen come in and boats taking people to the next city arrive.  We also have a table on a busy walkway where people can listen to a scripture and take some encouraging literature to read later.

Doggies

There are several dogs next door to us that I have befriended.  I make sure when I have leftovers I give them food.  They serve as a great means of protection for the house.  One usually sits at the front door while the other stands guard at the back.  No matter the time of day or night, they walk with me to make sure I'm ok.  They are so playful it's easy to forget that they really will protect.  I came out of the house to walk my roommate to the bus at 4:45AM and they couldn't clearly see who we were so they bounded off of their porch coming full force to see who was in our yard.  Of course they were happy when they saw it was just us.  They knew it was unsafe during that time so one followed us, constantly circling and making sure we were ok until she got on the bus.  Good dogs!

Sitting next to me at 6AM while I do my daily bible reading.

What I've learned lately...

So what’s been happening…  I’ve used an outhouse it actually wasn’t that bad.  Most of the sisters here say you have to just go off into the dense brush most of the time since some of our territory can be way out (too much info, I know!).  I’ve also had to get water from a well.  Most people here do not have running water.  So, I now know that if you offer to wash the dishes after dinner at someone’s house, you are also offering to go fetch water from the well to do so!  The first time was kind of hard since the well was deep and the bucket got really heavy.  Not to mention I was standing ankle deep in mud and trying not to splash my “nice” clothes lol.  It was fun though and now I have the technique down.  I’ve learned that you have go to the wharf at 6:00AM in order to get fresh turtle meat and I’m getting to know the fishermen that give a good deal as well as how to pick out a good fish.  Since being here, in Nicaragua, I’ve learned way more than I want to about plumbing.  For some reason all plumbing here seems to be bad.  I now know how to snake a drain and if that doesn’t work, I can get under the sink take the pipes apart clear the gunk out and put it back together.  Anybody need a plumber? 

Learning how to clean and cook whole fish

Pearl Lagoon Part 2 More Photos

CO visit & Pearl Kingdom Hall

The congregation we are visiting is English and has 10 publishers.  Two are regular pioneers and two are special pioneers.  The kingdom hall is the living room of the special pioneers’ house.  They recently got mikes and a sound system which is cute because we are all so close but I guess it makes things feel a little more like a kingdom hall.  We arrived right in time for the CO visit.  The brother and his wife are from England and a lot of fun.  They have been giving a lot of great tips.  Between them and the special pioneer couple here (who are equally as down to earth) I feel like I am in pioneer school again.  A truly wonderful experience!  By the way, the special pioneer couple are in their early 20’s for all you young folks looking for a good example of modern day people serving Jehovah in their youth!

 The kids were asked to draw ways to protect the literal and figurative heart for a CO talk.