On a Monday afternoon<<<
Off to service with Javi and Areli
Hey everyone! We are
all doing great here in Puerto Cabezas.
Jess is currently in Costa Rica for a week with our friend Magali, a
young sis from Cali serving here for 3 months.
So it’s just me and Javi (Olga)
at home now. It’s been giving me
nostalgia over San Dionisio actually.
It’s amazing how people could impact your life forever even after only
knowing them a short while. No wonder
the Miskitu word for “remember” literally means to perforate your heart.
January and December were awesome. We had our good friends come visit for about
a month. We were 7 of us girls at home
for a few weeks and had so much fun. Our
house earned its kickname “casa de precursores.” I’m so very proud of my little sisters who
came (you know who you are;). The Miskitu
and Spanish congregation really felt their contagious pioneer spirit and I was
personally VERY refreshed with their encouragement, energy and sweet taste of
home.
Although Nicaragua is a relatively safe country, like all,
has its dangerous parts. Puerto is
probably one of thoughs said parts. But of course, mostly limited to certain
neighborhoods and time of day. With that
said, we are very well taken care of.
Our only personal encounter with crime happened to me about a month
ago. Six of us were living a home, 4 at meeting and Olga and I out on
service. I was the first to arrive
around 11:20am and left the front gate open.
I walked around to open the back door of our house, which we generally
leave open while home because we are constantly in and out. I came in, turned on the fans and music and
used the restroom. While in the
restroom, a thief came in, grabbed my backpack and took out my camera and 500
pesos from my teeny tiny wallet (yes, he unzipped it). I came out and didn’t see my backpack where I
left it. So I made my way to my room
where from my window I saw a guy casually walking out our front gate. I found my backpack lying out back on the
ground. Fortunately he was a
considerate thief and didn’t take my whole wallet and set of keys to our house
and gate.
Though it was
minor, I was still a bit creeped out by it all.
And majorly saddened about all my pictures taken over the last month
that hadn’t been saved to my computer.
Lesson: Always save your pictures people. You just never know when a drug addicted
thief will come walking through your back door while you’re in the bathroom and
steal your camera. Needless to say, we
now ALWAYS lock our front gate and never leave our backdoor open.
Last week I took 4 planes to get to beautiful Manzanillo,
Mexico. A small vacation and renewal of
my visa. But, most importantly, for the
much anticipated wedding of my dear little sis Olgita, now Olgita Boyce. I can’t even begin to describe the amount of
fun. Wonderful people, amazing food, swimming in the ocean,
and lots of dancing. Unbelievable
week! I feel so blessed to have experienced it. I feel
my batteries completely charged. Seeing
one of my best friends find so much deserved happiness and love was the best
part. Also spending time with BOTH my
sisters Mari and Ruby, and my brother Raul. That was the cherry on top. I couldn’t have been any happier. Oh how I missed them! Almost made me want to stay and take their
plane home with them.
Of course, returning
to Puerto… senti ULTRA MEGA RECONTRA poderosa!
(a Javi-ism) . I felt completely where I needed to be. And my family here were waiting for me at the
airport with big smiling faces: Momma
Antonio, Corita and Javi.
This weekend we prepared to go to Sahsa, a territory 3 hrs
away with lots of need. With only one
special pioneer who is all by himself there.
Our little brother Asael Antonio is helping out there this month and we decided
to join him along with others from the congregation. Well, as everything is unpredictable around
here, about half hour down the road our bus is stopped by some type of strike
or welga. Hoping they’ll eventually let
us by we wait 3 hrs until the bus driver decides it’s not worth it and we’re
forced to turn back. We didn’t even make
it back in time for our meeting. Very,
very bummed we were. But such is life in
Nicaland. Happily, Friday in Loma Verde we
had the BEST service day. I was paired
up with an elderly sister named Elida from the Spanish and she was just so
funny and wonderful. We had really good
conversations door to door. And she
bought me a Popsicle. This afternoon momma Antonio accompanied me to do some
studies. One of which had asked me about Jesus’ parabola of Lazaro y el hombre
rico. After the study she said ‘thank you
so much! Now I can explain it to others
and help them understand it, and provide them with comfort about the state of
the dead.’ She explained to me the difference
between Alma y Espiritu in her own words as well. It was awesomeJ I love this job!
Saturday I got to do a long day. Those who’ve been here know a long day is
probably only about 6 hrs. But considering you are walking long distances from
one study to the next and have to cook lunch without the use of a microwave,
six hours can be pretty tiresome. In the afternoon I studied with my 2013
non-baptized publisher project. And she
was happy I had learned a Miskitu presentation while on a lay-over in Mexico
City last week. All my Miskitu speaking
studies I practice my presentations with even though they are door to door
presentations from the KM. It helps me
remember them, get corrected where I need to be, plus they see I’m trying. She is a Miskitu 23yr old girl studying in
college. She fortunately knows Spanish
but she prefers Miskitu as it’s her native tongue, so she really helps me out.
And Today, Sunday, thanks to Jehovah I started a study with a
couple. Which I believe is my very first
couple study. I was there a whole
hour. He is Miskitu but speaks Spanish,
and she only speaks Spanish. We started
on ch 14 of the Teach book and they seemed to be genuinely very
interested. They were both very
attentive, expressed their thoughts and reasoned very well. They said next Sunday they’d like to go to
the meeting. So I’ll be going back on
Saturday to study since he only has weekends off work. If they start to go to meetings I may pass
them over to a couple in the Spanish to take care of them. But for now I’m super-duper excited about
them.
I feel another lesson coming on: When you’re really bummed over not going to
rural territory to preach, even in town you can have extraordinary experiences
that fill you with gratitude.
Coconut water break!
<<<
Things I’m really looking forward to: memorial invite campaign, memorial, our
circuit assembly in Miskitu here in
Puerto and in Spanish in Bonanza with the Annual pioneer meeting. Taking a preaching trip to Sahsa (2nd
attempt)… oh yes, and hearing what all
of you have been up to. Please take
care, and may Jehovah bless all you do for Him.
Los quiero mucho!
Early morning preaching at the muelle (not sure who's in the middle, perhaps a fisherman): Moises, Noel, ?, Sara and Magali.
