Golden Girl

I had the coolest thing happen last night.  Right when I was falling asleep, I felt something crawling on my arm.  I went to aimlessly flailing my arm around to shake it off but it kept on crawling (I don't even open my eyes anymore to see what it is).  I finally looked down but all I saw was a fleck of gold paint from somewhere.  I kept looking for what I knew I could feel crawling.  As I squinted, I noticed the "paint" was slowly moving.  It was a golden ladybug!  I didn't even know that existed.  It looked like a tiny shiny gold earring.  I was so taken at how beautiful it was, I sat there watching it for quite sometime.  We have so much to experience and learn about of Jehovah's creation!  He's so creative and lends such daintiness and beauty to even the tiniest things!

Get to Know Our Need Greaters- Bree

 

Get to Know Our Need Greaters- Bree

 

Where are you from?

St. Louis

Why did you choose to be a need greater?

I had a lot of good role models growing up so this has always been my goal. When I was about the age of 12, a couple pioneer sisters came into my hall and they really adopted me as if I was their fleshly sister. They took me on their bible studies and we would hang out. They never made me feel like I was a little kid even though they were in their mid-20's. One of the sisters got married and went to Bethel.   Later on, she and her husband did missionary work in Ecuador. All the while, she would send me letters, encouraging me to put Jehovah first. She would often share with me all the blessings she received in the full time work. Her special interest in me really encouraged me to pursue a similar life course.

Why Nicaragua?

My cousin and I were trying to find a place where she and I both felt comfortable serving. When we made our decision to go, we didn't have enough time to contact the Branch via letter. So, we relied on our contacts. We started to get a little discouraged because things weren't panning out as fast as we would have liked. However, she was communicating with one of her friends who just moved home to Nicaragua and was expressing to them our desire to serve somewhere. The next thing we knew, we were invited to Nicaragua and within days, the elders from Granada English contacted our family members and elders in the States. The process went so smoothly, there was no doubt in our minds that Jehovah had his hand in the matter.

Have you served anywhere else?

No, Nicaragua is the first country I have ever served in. In the states, I am assisting a Spanish congregation.

How long will you be here and how long have you served thus far?

I served In Granada for a month but, I plan on coming back to serve for at least 3 months.

How did you prepare to come?

I have been saving up money for a little over a year now. I actually have a "need greater account" that I try not to touch so that I can serve for a long period of time. I switched over to a Spanish congregation in the States because I always had the desire to serve in a Spanish speaking country. I wanted to be somewhat prepared for the language barrier. I did a lot of research on the area as far demographics, economy, lifestyle; so I had an idea of what I was getting into.  I also did this to find a way to relate to the people in my new territory. I knew friends who have served in Nicaragua in the past so I gathered as much advice as I could from them.

Were you worried about anything before coming down here?

I was terrified of getting a parasite. But once you live there, you realize that it's really not a big deal. Everyone there takes medicine for it. It's normal! I was also scared of the unknown. No matter how much research you do, you'll never know what it’s like to live in a different country until you get there. But, you have to except that you will be making sacrifices. You won’t have the same comforts as you have in the States. However, the blessings you receive from taking the steps to serve make the sacrifices hardly noticeable.

Have you had to overcome any challenges to get here or while serving here?

Believe it or not, there were well meaning people who told me not to come and serve in Nicaragua. It's not that they didn't want me to put Jehovah first but they were scared for me because it was a third world country and felt it was dangerous. But, I had to focus on the reason why I wanted to serve in a different country....which was to bring praise to Jehovah's name and serve in my fullest capacity. I had to rely on Jehovah and not give in to the fear of man. Also, to be able to leave my job for such a long period of time I had to deny benefits. Due to the way my job is set up, I can't have Sundays off nor take long periods of time off for Mission trips under part-time or full-time status. So I work Per Diem (on call hours). This was hard for me to do because having benefits and tuition re-reimbursement is very tempting for someone on a pioneer budget. However, the month I spent in Nicaragua was PRICELESS and I have no regrets. It's hard to live on a limited budget but I'm truly happier giving my time to Jehovah rather than my job.

Do you have any highlights or good experiences from being here?

One of my best experiences was starting a bible study with a young lady who was having marital issues. She has had so many struggles in her life and was so desperate to find satisfying answers to her questions. Literally every question she asked me was a bold sub-title in the Bible Teach book, so I really looked forward to our "2 hour" bible studies and to show her that she can find her answers in the bible and that Jehovah truly cares for her.

How has being here brought you closer to Jehovah?

It taught me to rely on Jehovah for one because I had to learn how to adapt to a completely different environment. It taught me to be more appreciative of his creations. I was so awe inspired by the volcanoes, the ocean, canals, and exotic fruits I saw. There is no denying we have a creator. Seeing such a fruitful territory made me appreciate his patience more and meeting so many loving friends from all over the world made me appreciate his organization more. In a nutshell, being in Nicaragua magnified Jehovah's qualities even more because I had less distractions in my life and I was able to pay better attention and it became even more evident that Jehovah is the ONLY true God.

What did you do in your free time as a need greater?

I went exploring! I went to visit different areas of Nicaragua, that the friends I met at the assembly lived in. It was quite an adventure.

What advice do you have for others thinking of coming?

Rely on Jehovah. Familiarize yourself with the new territory and take advantage of every second you have to serve as a need greater! Oh, and bring lots of bug spray!

 

Let There Be Light!

Last week's ministry school and service meeting was one for the books.  We have intermittent power outages here however we've never had one during an English meeting.  Since it's just a way of life here, it's one of those things you just have to be prepared for.  I dropped a flashlight in my service bag when a sister who lives near me said her power was out.  Sure enough when I got to the Hall, the brothers had set all of the chairs up outside along with the podium since it was dark in the Hall.  The one brother who owns a truck, pulled it up along the fence and cranked up the Kingdom Melodies so we would at least be half way on key.  People walking by stared at us trying to figure why all these crazy gringos were sitting outside.  As the sun set, seeing became increasingly difficult.  Several of us had flashlights and the others read by the light of cell phones.  We yelled our comments as loudly as we could for a lack of a sound system.  Our study conductor did well getting everyone's hands.  Once it got too dark to really make each other out, we'd shine a light on whoever had their hand up.  A visiting brother got his jeep which had a row of lights on the top and shone those on us which helped.  About half way through the book study, the fumigation truck came by.  In order to keep mosquito borne diseases down, a truck goes down each street and periodically sprays a thick toxic mist.  Whenever people see this truck, they run from their houses and don't return until all of the fumes are gone.    All we had time to do was grab handkerchiefs to cover our faces and try to cover our heads.  Our reader never missed a beat.  Right as we were transitioning into the service meeting, the lights came on.  Thank goodness!

Put Your Foot In It

In order to get over my lack of a voice (which eventually turned into a mild cold) I decided to make some good old chicken soup. As I leaned over the counter using the last of my energy to chop tons of veggies, garlic and cilantro, several ladies in the house shook their head at my choice of meat.  I had gone to one of the better grocers and purchased a chicken breast.  They kept telling me I needed the "menudo" since it has more nutrients.  I kept trying to figure out what part of the chicken that was.  I told them I'd use it next time since I had no idea what they were talking about.  One of the ladies insisted I get it since it was in the store next door.  And said she would clean it for me.  Clean it?  That should have tipped me off.  Fine, anything to feel better.   The lady at the store handed me the menudo with a huge smile and acted like it was a pot of gold.  I stared at the frozen bag of chicken parts but it was so covered with freezer burn I couldn't tell what it was.  Outside to the cement sink we went to defrost my mysterious bag of chicken parts.  As the ice melted away, I started to see......a foot.  LOTS of chicken feet!  C'mon!  Chicken FEET have all the nutrients??  The lady could barely work for laughing at the look on my face as she taught me how to cut the toe nails off each chicken foot.  As she carefully worked on each chicken toe, the clump of them began to melt and seperate.  And there it was.  I got a little closer and squinted because I knew I was not seeing what I thought I saw.  Amidst all of the chicken feet was..... the chicken head.  I was too through.  I went into yet another fit.  She now had tears in her eyes from laughing at me.  She showed me that we only wanted the neck (like that was better) and she showed me how to clean it.  I felt a little better when I learned that you take the feet and neck out once it's done cooking and give it to the dogs.  I couldn't wait to scoop all those feet out of my soup.  Once it was all done, I took a sip of my soup and well, it was the best chicken soup I've ever made!  And after a couple of days, I was as good as new!  I'll never scoff at chicken feet soup again!

Chicken feet minus the toe nails

Just not right

My pot of beautiful soup with chicken feet on top

Hey!  That one still has a toe nail! LOL

Scouting Out the Land

I got a sneak preview of the territory where I will be serving in a few months when our congregation went to help them with their sound equipment a few weeks ago.   

Getting closer!  Cool looking mountain...Will we get to climb it in service? :-(.

Traffic Jam

By the time we got there, everyone sitting in the back of the truck was completely covered covered in white dust.  I sorely regretted having lip gloss on since all the dirt caked on.  Bleh!

We were all twisted together in the back of the pickup along with the sound equipment and items we were taking to some of the friends.  The driver purposely swerved into every possible hole just to hear us scream as we went flying into the air only to slam back down as one, tangled group.  Thanks, Bob.

We made it !!

The sisters immediately got to work making lunch.  Yummy chicken salad.

The Kingdom Hall is really cute.  It's very tiny.  About the size of a small apartment in the States.

Outhouse on the side of the Hall.  You can see it out of the front window of the hall as you face the stage.  Something about that makes me feel really embarrassed to go to the bathroom during the meeting.

Cement floors, lots of windows.

Sink outside the out house

Piglet who snuck into the front yard to snack on the grass.

Glee working hard

Me, nervously listening to instructions.

Me, immediately dropping what he gave me to work on and trying to find it before he notices!

Mike check!  They work!  That's the elder in the congregation.  He's a funny guy.  We will be serving both a group and a congregation.

Listening to some of the stories of friends from our Hall whom are currently serving on the route.

Pancho translating.  I didn't get a picture of Brenton, our other brother serving there :-(

The local friends brought snacks for us!

Pretty flowers outside of the Hall

More of the friends who came to meet us.

Headed home