Fun with friends

Here's a few random pics of friends :-)

Aaron and Eunice our CO and his wife.  They are a sweet and funny couple.  The serve Spanish, English and sign language congregations!  There truly is a need for qualified brothers here!

Bonnie and I.  Bonnie is serving in sign language and is from Hawaii.

Celeste (Texas) and Brittany (California) are now serving in Granada. We are in the ministry near Lake Granada in this photo.

This is John (NY).  His wife Christine was playing "hostess with the mostest" somewhere when we took this photo.  He is with Angie and Bella.

Cindy, Claudia and I

Lisa (Michigan) and Steve (NY).  Hurry back Lisa, we miss you!

One of our favorite families- Natalie, Bella & Max.  They just went back to Cali but we hope they come again soon.

Simple things...

I'm constantly working to learn to relax (I schedule it and still don't do it!).  I'm always multi tasking and my mind is constantly racing.  That mentality does not fit in here at all.  So it's a huge deal that the other day, I was asked to bring a chair outside of the gate and sit.  Now this may seem simple but, it took me a second to figure out WHY we were doing that.  Everything has to have a solid purpose for me but I finally understood she just wanted to sit and relax...interesting.  I immediately grabbed my laptop, a couple of books a search a word etc then I got the novel idea to truely just sit.  So I sat and although antsy at first, it was nice.  Sitting, talking about nothing in particular and people watching as the sun set. 

I had a similar good time when a few of the neighborhood girls came by to wait for their mom.  Kids here are kids.  They play kick the can and do "kid" things.  So as they were swinging in the hammock giggling I told them to ask their mom if they could have their nails painted.  So I set up shop and painted their little toes and sent them off with big smiles.  I was smiling too.

Hand washing clothes

I am very fortunate to live in a house that has a washing machine.  Now while the machine is modern looking, it is very slow.  We only have cold water here and I have to hook up several hoses to make it work.  One load takes about an hour or so, so washing can take awhile.  Because of this, we all have a specific day on which to wash.  My day is Thursday.  I just go down my method of hanging the wash to dry properly (hey it's not as easy as it looks!)  Unfortunately, I found that some time the washer doesn't always do it's job properly.  I was told to buy some blue soap and that would do the trick.  I was quite proud of myself when I was able to walk to the pulperia (corner store) and properly request it.  I got back to the house and asked how much of the blue hunk I had to chop up and put into the washing machine.  They smiled knowingly and walked me over to a tub where they hand wash clothes.  I was DEVASTATED.  It took me a whole week to finally suck it up and go over to hand wash everything.  One older lady had offered to do it but I said no since I wanted to prove I could do it.  After 3 people showed me how (everyone swore they had the technique) I waited until night fall so they wouldn't laugh too much.  Below are pictures of the tub with the water bowl on the left. 

Sink where I hand wash clothes

Ready to hand wash with my blue soap

Now mind you I'm trying to wash under the cover of nightfall but of course someone saw me and decided to have some fun.  I was standing there doing a little dance to make sure nothing scurried across my feet in the darkness.  You see, the previous night, I awoke the sound of two mice having a terrible fight in my room--running and knocking things over.  I refused to get out of bed before the sun rose to make sure  didn't walk into their scuffle.  This on top of walking into my room a few weeks ago and there was a tarantula there to greet me.  So, yes, I am just a bit paranoid at night.  So I'm doing my little dance and I start to feel something hit my shoulders and back.   Every time I feel it, I jump and shake a little subsequently splashing water on myself.  This happens over and over as I still do the dance to make sure no spiders are falling from the trees and no mice are on my feet.  Finally, I realize there are people behind the wall throwing paper balls.  They jump out with a camera yelling "Tarantula! Tarantula!" Soooo not cool! 

Who needs water and electricity! (pic of my room too)

There are so many things that I am now used to but I am remembering to post since you may be surprised at.  For one, most places here do not have hot water, including the house where I live.  Since it is so hot here, I really don't miss it.  What I do miss at times is water PERIOD.  Nicaragua has pretty regular citywide water and electricity outages where you come home and surprise!  No shower for you! *lol*The good thing about it is that people are used to it so you always have a reserve of water.  For me, the reserve is a large trashcan of water I keep in my shower (see below).  Also, the family I live with, has several huge concrete containers full of water.  This is more than enough for cooking, cleaning etc for quite some time.  Everyone is not quite as prepared, unfortunately.  When we had a water outage a week or so ago, we ended up providing water for much of the neighborhood who had failed to prepare.  The really ironic thing is this is the week we were discussing cleanliness in our Ministry School.  Kind of hard to give a talk about how Jehovah loves a clean people when you haven't had a shower in 3 days!  Funny how some of the information we get makes a lot more sense in a different culture.  The brother talked about preparedness so that we always represent Jehovah well.  Good lesson.

Cement water tank in the middle of the yard

Random picture of my room while I'm thinking about it!

Sad time

Well, a few of you know that my Aunt Mickey, my dad's only sister was diagnosed with a second type of cancer 2 months before I left.  Last week, she passed away.  I'm happy that I was able to spend a week with her in NY immediately before I left for Nicaragua.  Although I was not able to get back for the funeral, I was able to go to an Internet cafe and Skype in to the tie in line to hear the services on this past Saturday.  Subsequently, the talk at our meeting here on Sunday was about the resurrection hope.  The brother got all teary talking about the wonderful hope set forth in the bible about seeing dead loved ones again (Rev 21:3,4 and many other scriptures).  I was teary too as Jehovah gave me just what I needed right when I needed it.  Here are a few pictures of she and I from about a year ago.  I also added a picture of a funeral here in Granada from a few days ago.  They use a horse driven buggy to carry the body through the city to the cemetery.  There is a long group of followers behind it.

Making ice cream with Aunt Mickey

Funeral in Granada

Day at the Beach

Here are a few pictures from a day in San Juan del Sur.  It's about 1 1/2 hours south of Granada via bus.  The bus cost me about $1.75.

Family from Rivas along with Micah from Tennessee who also serves in Rivas.  After returning from dinner one night, I walked in my room to find a tarantula the size of my hand.  I freaked out and had a complete girly moment of panic shoving Micah (whom I had just met) into my room since he was the first brother I could find.  He walked in and got it out like it was nothing!  I gotta keep friends like that around! 

Josh who was visiting Rivas from South Carolina

While everyone was surfing, I walked the beach for seashells and did a search a word lol.  I was scared to take up the offer for swimming lessons in the ocean :-(

Woo hoo!

I should have found a box to stand on!

Playing in the sand

Hermit crab

These are partly nervous smiles as we were about to embark on a back woods way from the secluded beach we were at to go to another one.  We had to cross rising creeks and other scariness.  There was no way to judge how deep the creeks, mud and puddles were so we just had to gun it and plunge right in.  Thank God for 4 wheel drive and prayer!

We watched the sunset as we ate pasta that the girls had made.  Once the sun was down, I walked on the beach looking at all the stars.  There were no lights around so I was really awestruck at Jehovah's creation.  I even saw a shooting star and venus!

Meet the family

So....here are the members of the family:

Lola and Charlie- Two love birds who truly have a love hate relationship!  They sit and preen each other in a tree then five seconds later they are squawking at each other.

Nanni-She's a bit camera shy

Violeta, Eliam, Yami and Eliezer

Here is Eliam helping in the kitchen

This is what I typically eat.  Gallo Pinto is the typical meal of beans and rice.  I also have fried cheese and plantains along with Eliam's tomatoes.



Chickens, hogs and pick up trucks. Ah, the ministry!

The ministry here is two fold (from what I can tell at this point).  At certain times, we do a census to find English speaking people.  Then once the census is done, we do a sort of needle in haystack kind of work going back to find them and see if they would like a bible study.  Everyone here is very hospitable.  When you come to the house, they automatically give you a chair to sit (even if they have to send a child next door to borrow one) and this is before you even say why you are there.  People have varying degrees of English so we often have to use both English and Spanish bibles to make sure they grasp everything.  Some are expats from around the world, others are Nicas who have spent varying amounts of time in the States or have gone to school for English here.  Monday and Thursday are off days for the English group when we rest up and get errands done.  Sometimes I try to go out with the Spanish group if I have the energy.  Tomorrow, I will get up and go to the market with the grandma in my house to her haggle then watch she and another lady who cook here.  I've already told them everything I want to learn to make from scratch and they seem to be excited.  Back to the ministry... we always have a good time together although we walk many miles each day.  If someone comes with a car or truck we take that or occasionally there will be only a few of us so we will use motorcycles.  Here you can see up to 4 people on a bicycle or motorcycle easily.  Usually the man pedalling with the woman on the bar holding a baby or the man on a motorcycle with one kid in front of him, one behind and the woman at the back.  I'll try to remember to take pictures.  We drink plenty of powerade and water and break often to make sure everyone is ok.  Right now rainy season (winter) is ending.  The temperature has been around 91F with a heat index of about 97F.  Humidity is around 85%.  Evenings are cool in the 70s.  The good thing about rainy season is that the sky can open up at anytime, pour for 10 minutes then just stop, leaving it a bit cooler.  We just run under someone's porch and laugh at who got most wet and then keep going.  The sun dries you out quickly.

Brother having a study with a young boy as we passed by in the ministry.

Clothes out drying at a house.  I'm very proud that I can now properly hang my clothes to dry at our house.  I had some city girl problems at first!

Local House.  Others which are made solely of cardboard and heavy plastic.  Often with an out house composed of 4 large sticks in the ground with heavy plastic wrapped around them.  Next to Haiti, Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  

Fun in the ministry

Taking a break

Angie & I

Car Group- Believe it or not, several more people including myself got in after this photo!  People are sitting on each other's laps in the cab of the truck too!

Into the field we go!

Some of our territory leading into the center of town

Enjoying a sudden rain shower under an awning.  We had to wring out our skirts after the downpour but had fun trying to run through the rain drops before the downpour got heavy.

Hog at a bible study's house.  No photo can do justice to just how big he is!

Sitting in the yard for a bible study.

How can I concentrate on the reading with chickens and hogs everywhere?!

I had the pleasure of being on a ridiculously packed bus like this for service one day.  I however was in the front.  By front I mean standing on the last step of a school bus which the driver normally would have left open for you to hang half in and half out but I guess he didn't trust me not to fall out so he kindly squeezed the doors as far as they would go smashing me against a pregnant lady, a lady with a bakers bowl full of batter and a bunch of other people.  I couldn't hold onto anything, turn my head, nada.  I could however watch the road zooming by through the half closed door as we weeved in and out of traffic and through pot holes.  Fortunately we only rode for about a mile.  All I could do was laugh and shake my head when the doors finally opened and we all tumbled out!

I took the video below of a plant in the ministry that closes when it feels human touch.  Not sure what it is called but I thought it was kind of cool. (if the video doesn't work when I publish this, I'll try again)

So many distractions!!!

I attend the Granada Oeste (West) Spanish congregation but am in the English group.  There  are only about 10 or so permanent people in our group with many others constantly coming for a few days, weeks or months at a time to help out.  We have our full meeting every Sunday but only have a ministry school every other week since there are not enough people.  I already have a really short attention span so focusing meetings are quite the challenge for me.  First off, I'm still trying to grasp Spanish.  I was doing really, really well the first two weeks I was here but then my brain just kind of burnt out from too much work.  By the time I calculate the numbers of the scripture in my head and get to it, they have moved on to the next one.  So, I'm listening and trying to focus on the little I can understand and then there is the noise.  Nicaragua is a NOISY place.  The doors of the hall are open to keep air flowing so we can hear 4 different radios from houses all around, people walking by yelling to one another and of course people driving trucks with loud speakers down the street spouting various messages.  And I just wouldn't be me if I didn't get distracted by the ice cream man rolling his cart back and forth beckoning me to the street for a treat.  I look longing at the door along with the kids.  Now to the inside distractions...There are bugs of all sorts here.  As I sit in the meeting, I can't help but notice all kinds of mosquitoes and other little critters landing on the shirt of the person in front of me.  As soon as I try to brush them off, they are right back!  So now I'm just watching them all gather for a little meet and greet and I start to wonder, "Is the same thing going on on MY back?!"  I start to feel things crawling all over me but keep telling myself it's all in my head.  I feel it on my neck...crawl down my dress, over my shoulder, down my arm...Although I know it's all in my head, I still discreetly reach down just to make my mind feel better only to find there really are bugs crawling on me!  I try not to freak out in the middle of the Spanish congregation of almost 100 people.  Of course there are always little kids sitting nearby staring and giggling at me as I shoot them mean looks and point at the brother speaking for them to pay attention.  Unfortunately, I am much more entertaining.  Once I get it together, I tell myself to stare at the brother speaking not at the person in front of me.  That lasts for all of 2 minutes before I start to notice little geckos running on the wall behind him.  They scurry up and down the wall at lightning speed and stop just as suddenly.  Will they jump on his head?  I start to think of the Geico commercials....FOCUS!  Then, the babies and kids all around are laughing and talking their gurggly gibberish and I notice the same one are still staring at me as I constantly rub my neck and arms trying to prevent anything from landing on me.  All of a sudden everyone is standing to sing the concluding song.  Man I have GOT to learn to concentrate here.

Me in front of the Kingdom Hall.  So excited I finally got a sun umbrella!  The CO house is attached to the left and the missionary home is attached to the back. 

Me taking random pictures of myself before my first meeting.  I'm under mosquito net around my bed.

Hall cleaning after the meeting

Darn you gecko!!!

Welcome to Granada!

The city I live in is called Granada.  I was directed here by Bethel since it's a comparatively easy city for one to ease in to Nicaraguan culture.  It's about 15 square miles (a good portion of which I walk on a daily basis).  There are cars and buses however most people either walk, bike or take a taxi which costs 50 cents to any destination in the city.  In the center of town there are two or three streets dedicated to tourism.  There are street vendors selling, jewelery, food trinkets etc.  The street in front of city hall is lined with disgruntled citizens on one side and horse and carriages awaiting tourists on the other.  There are lots of hostels for adventure travelers and also small upscale hotels for the more distinguished visitor seeking a good spa and gourmet delicacies.  There is also an outdoor market which spans over a few streets.  You can find anything from meat (unrefrigerated), fruits and vegetables, underwear, bootleg movies and toiletries.  If you need something in Granada, you can find it at the market.  There are also two grocery stores, Pali and La Colonia which are set up pretty much like in the States.  I've included some pictures from my trip to Granada last December so that you can see the market.

This place has really good fresh desserts.  My first time there however, I was enjoying a custard filled pastry when I took a bite and a huge ant ran out!  That hasn't stopped me from going back though :-)

I made friends with two chickens like the one above that I found in a cage in our yard last night but couldn't find them today.  One guess what we had for diner :-(

I'm so happy....but so dizzy from the heat!

Standing in a store trying to cool down before tackling the heat again...

Some of the friends taking a SKYPE break a Kathy's Waffle House.  I really like the artwork.

Chocolate Cafeteria....oh how I love thee!