Motorcycle Lessons

One of the brothes wanted to teach us single gals to ride his motorcycle so theat we could access some of the farther territories for our studies instead of walking for hours.  Afte many attempts I got the hang of it a bit but decided that my more carefree roommate would be better off diving with me as the passenger!

The things I find in my bed...

#1- a chicken feather on my pillow.  Why was a chicken in my bed while I was preaching??  What was he doing on my pillow to lose feathers???  Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to....

#2- a frog.  I went to put sheets on my bed and found a lump....a moving lump.  Turns out it was a frog who wouldn't leave.  Eventually he climbed up the wall and out of the window.

Eat it ALL!!!!!

So, a couple of weeks ago I got really sick -to the point of fainting at the hall (SUPEr damatic and SUPEr embarrasing)  As a result, one sister sent a chicken to my house where the sister below killed it and made me fesh chicken soup to get better.  So glad they didnt make me bull testicle soup like they did when my roommates wee sick!!!  This was a huge deal since they deed their chickens for eggs to feed their family.  Also, the friends told me about this seed carao which is supposed to be geat for anemia.  Not sue what it is in English.  The only thing is it smells like, well, poo.  As I carried it, I kept thinking I had set my bookbag in cow poo.  Anyway these ae pictures of the sister making a drink for me with this seek mixed with hot milk and a little sugar.  I like it alright but the smell makes everyone around me gag lol.  Here's to good health!!  Oh at the end, I put a couple of pics of an armadillo they ate.  Warning, the pictures are not fo the faint of heart :-)

Amadillo!!!!!!!!  I did not eat this :-)

Generosity of the friends

We had some awesome friends come from the states to give us new sound equipment.  THey also brought items for the kids here, reading glasses and other items that were much appeciated.  Here ae a few pics!

Musing on the walk to the meeting

Sometimes I just have to sit back and reflect on just how special the friends here are.  I think about how difficult it would be for me to serve here with out the right gear -for example good quality hiking boots.  Our territoy is very rugged but with my boots I don't feel the rocks heat rivers etc.  The sisters here are always laughing and smiling but its not until I say hey are you shoes comfotrable that they tell me with a casual smile no not really.  They never ever complain.  I was walking with a sister the other day and it was paticulally hot and I wondered why she was walking slower and slower.  She finally asked to stop in the shade.  I thought she was tired but it turns out that the gound was so hot it was pactically melting the rubber on the bottom of her shoes!  We had to wait for them to cool!  She never complained and I neve would have know if I had not asked.  Often times the sisters carry cazy glue or a piece of string because they know eventually their shoe is just going to open all the way up.  We all laugh and make the shoe "talk" then tie it back up and keep on going.  They have such a geat sense of humor.

A few weeks ago, there were no buses running due to a holiday so I got to see what some the friends do everyday.  With no bus, we walked to the terrtiory about 13 miles away.  We are in dry season so we only have water every other day.  So the night befoe we went to a neighbors house to get water from the well to bathe in the moning.  We all woke up at 3AM to cook and get ready and leave the house by 5.  When we walked out, it was pitch black dark.  We walked by the light of the moon until the sun began to rise.  Then, the most amazing thing happend.  We had the moon high in the sky on our right and on our left was the sun rising over the mountains with all kinds of pinks, reds, and oranges.  We arrived several hours later all smiles and ready to preach.  It was so nice to see eveyone getting to service anyway they could.  Some of us on dusty roads by foot, some on motorcycle.  Others still by horescart.  And my pesonal favorite the bicycles.  The family head will pedal with his wife balanced on the bar holding a baby while the older child stands on pegs on the back wheel!  THis is for miles!  Once at the hall we all wash off the dust and laugh and talk and you'd never know.  Despite all odds the friends here love our great God Jehovah!

A few student pics

Here are a few pictuers of some of the students  and their parents.  They are doing very well attending the meetings and other events, commenting and always progessing.  I'm very thankful for their patience with me and my language barrier.  Some walk for miles and miles despite pain and health problems to make sure they are at all of the meetings.  I try to keep my number of students to no more than 16 so that I can appropriately prepare but there is a tremendous need.

Hi Everyone!!!!

Dear sweet intrenet ! Oh how I've missed thee!!!!  I'm sorry for such a long gap in writing.  So here are my excuses: 1) I've been super busy in the ministry 2) I can't find an intenet signal to save my life and 3) My dear sweet laptop finally died.  I have so much stuff to catch up on (taxes and othe boirng stuff ) so I'm hee in Ganada fo 2 days chained to my friends laptop.  While I'm super thankful for the use of it, it's a bit frustating because neither the "r" o "4" works without me having to go back and manually cut and paste it everytime so please excuse any typos!

The harvest ran long but we got through.  When I arrived back in Nicaagua, I was suprised to find many of the friends waiting for me at the aiport with welcome home banners and hugs.  They even through me a suprise welcome home party which I thought was very sweet.  Here are a few pictues fom the party.  Notice how much trouble they had spelling my name on the cake ha ha.  My name is Kimberly but my name is difficult fo many to ponounce so they call me Kin, Ken,Kimber, Kimberling and other variations :-)