Recent Events

On Saturday, February 9, 2013, we had a goodbye party for the Poldens. 

They have been in Leon since March, 2012 and have decided to move to another congregation, Pearl Lagoon. Here is a picture of Pat and Debbie:

The Pearl Lagoon congregation has only 11 publishers and needs a lot of help. We are going to miss them and look forward to visiting them soon. They have two wonderful blogs:  http://los-poldens.blogspot.com and the very informative crazyparentsinnicaragua.blogspot.com. 

The party was very fun and a good chance for the congregation to get together. 

We had it at Rob and Anne's house. They have been here since November and are leaving in April. They will be returning each year for 6-7 months at a time.

It has a great dance floor:

Above is a video of Marcus and Maria, doing a typical Swedish dance.

The following day, Sunday. We had a visiting speaker from the Masaya Occidental congregation (Spanish)
Justin gave a wonderful talk about showing love for our brothers and sister. Some great illustrations, that we are still discussing about seeing the good in others and continuing to cover over our brothers irritating qualities with love. He refused to allow any pictures, so here are 2 sisters from their congregation, and his 3 bible students that accompanied them.

Also we had some more farewells this month:

This is a picture of Tyler, Jordan, and Caleb
Caleb and Jordan are brothers. Caleb has been here three months and was surprised by his brother for his final month. Tyler came for a week. They are all pioneers from Missouri. Caleb has decided to make a permanent move and will be returning in August.

Unfortunately, I have been really bad about taking pictures lately but I will try to do better.

We have just arrived in Panama for our visa run, so our next post will probably include this trip.

We love you all and take care!

Many visitors in January!

 We had so many visitors for the month of January! It was so nice meeting friends for different parts of United States and Canada. We felt so encouraged by their visit. I was especially impressed with the different circumstances of the friends who were able to come down and help us!
Here they are: (you many see some familiar faces)

Dez is standing next to Bill. Bill and his family are currently in the Colonial Heights congregation in Virginia. He came with his wife, daughter, and a pioneer sister from their hall (pictured below) in December and stayed for 1 month. He started a bible study while he was here, which Dez continues to conduct.
Halfway through their visit his son came with two friends and they stayed 2 weeks. They are pictured above. Sean, James (son of Bill) and Kaleb, ages 19-21.
Sean and James are in a congregation north of Philadelphia, PA and Kaleb goes to the Blackstone congregation in Virginia.

Here are the ladies of this group. Amy, Shanna(13), and Cathy. It's such a small world within Jehovah's organization. Although this was my first time meeting Cathy. I used to be in the same congregation as her sister in Richmond, VA.

This is George and Quatia. They visited for 10 days from just outside of Sacramento, California. Quatia is of Honduran descent, so she helped me with my Spanish. George started a study while he was here, but the man recently moved to Los Angelas. They hope to return for a longer trip. 

 

The four on the right are the Larson Family. Mercedes(11), Wendy, David, Sophia(7) from Washington State, U.S. The girls took a month off of school to come and visit. The family auxiliary pioneered the month they were here,even though the girls aren't baptized they got the hours too. David's an elder, so he gave a public talk while he was here and conducted the Congregation Bible Study. The whole family was a force to be reckoned with on the soccer field. 

A young pioneer sister from their hall joined them for the last week of their visit, Chabrie. This is her first year pioneering and her 1st trip out of the country.  The locals really liked her and her blonde hair. An older man kissed her hand and cheek while we were sitting at table witnessing one day. LOL :)

David's (see earlier picture) parents also came to visit for 2 weeks of their visit. Cathy and Mark. Mark gave a public talk while he was here and I was able to have an awesome morning of return visits, studies, and search work with Cathy. They live on Orcas Island, off the coast of Washington State. 

Lee, Josie (6), Levi (14), Jessica have been in the ASL congregation in Greensboro, NC for the past 5 years. They are staying for 2 months. Lee is an elder and has been conducting the TMS school. Levi has started his first study while here and continues to conduct it. 

Here is Levi again, pictured with a new couple from Sweden. Maria and Marcus will be here for a full year. They originally were planning on going to Spanish, but we were very convincing. :)

Also we had Rachel visit (middle, pictured with Mariela and Elfa). Her parents have been here since November and plan to return for 6 months of each year. She is a pioneer in Ontario(?), Canada.

Here is Chabrie again pictured with Alison(16). She visited for a few weeks from a small mountain town on the other side of Managua. 

 Here is Taylor who is from right outside Nashville, TN. He is visiting for 3 months and this is his 2nd year of pioneering. Next to him is Sergio(14) a local pioneer brother who has been supporting the congregation. He and his family are moving to Poneloyo(beach) to help the congregation there.

Last but not least we have Ryan and Tawny. They are newlyweds just married in October. They are both pioneers and will be here for 6 weeks for this visit and plan on returning for 9 months in August. Tawny had visited on 2 previous occasions and so has been trying to return on some of her previous studies. They are from Pennsylvania and Ryan actually works for the same company as a brother from Rising Sun. (small world)

This has been a really exciting month. We have had field service groups numbering almost 40 and meeting attendance up to 60. We have really appreciated the support of all the visitors.