Our first visitor!!

So we had our first visitor here in Nicaragua on January 1st. The night before, a brother in our congregation and his family came over to the house to help us plan how we were going to get Keshia from the airport. We discussed our plans over a yummy meal provided by Lenin and his wife, Erica. 

 They made refried beans, tostones (fried plantains), repocheta(tortilla filled with cheese), boiled eggs flavored with lime, and gallo de pinto (Mexican). We really enjoyed the food!

So our first visitor is Keshia B., visiting from Charlottesville, VA. She stayed with us for 8 days. We enjoyed service together.

 Keshia at the table in Merced Park.

Keshia also came with me on my bible study with Aileen(purple shirt). Her brother Josue and her cousin, Linda also sit in on most days.
I met Aileen in October and we have been studying the Bible Teach book ever since. She is only 12 years old but shows a real comprehension of Bible principles. Her grandmother and aunts are active Witnesses and her mother is inactive. So far she has only attended one English meeting and the Spanish circuit assembly with her grandmother. We are working on her meeting attendance. She is very sweet and we are enjoying getting to know her.

 Here is Keshia on a caponera. It cost us 30 cords total, which equals $1.25.

 On Thursday (3rd) we had our meeting. A few minutes before the meeting, Keshia and I were asked to do a demonstration for The Bible-What is it's Message brochure. I think we did pretty good!

On Friday(4th) we traveled to Granada and stayed at a hostel overnight. Friday evening we visited the Masaya Volcano National Park. Masaya is a small town between Managua(capital) and Granada.
This park includes two volcanos (Masaya and Nindiri) and 5 craters. It was beautiful and only a little bit of hiking.  Below are some pictures:

There is also a large cross at the top of this hill, because a Catholic priest was able to stop the indigenous people from making human sacrifices to their god (the volcano)

We also went down in the an underground tunnel created by the lava flow, which were filled with bats and tree roots. This large underground area was also used to hide teenage boys during the Revolution so they would not have to fight.

 We were also able to see the glow of the lava but I was unable to capture the picture.

On Saturday (5th) we toured some of the islets of Lake Nicaragua (in Granada) by boat. Here are some pictures:

 The next two pictures are of monkey island.

 One of the monkeys having fun with another boat group (below)

 Here is a pretty picture of the Mombacho volcano:

 

Also last Sunday (6th) Desmond had to step in and conduct the Watchtower Study. He did an awesome job!

On Monday(7th) we went to the beach. Keshia and I split this delicious fried fish.It cost 155 cordobas ($6.50)

We traveled to the beach by bus 13 cordobas each way ($0.54)

On Tuesday (8th) we went to the Cerro Negro Volcano, located outside the city of Leon. It last erupted in 1999.

Here is our crazy tour guide, who tried to convince us to get a picture out there!

The red color comes from the iron, the black from the sulfur, and the white from the calcium.

 Here is a picture of Keshia volcano boarding on a sled down the volcano.

Keshia left us on Wednesday (9th) after a busy fun-filled week. We really enjoyed her bringing a taste of home.
Okay well whose coming next?
LOL

Circuit Assembly-Safeguard your Mind

Last weekend we had our Circuit Assembly.
We traveled by minibus almost 2 hours to the assembly hall in Ticuantepe. 
We left from the hall on 7a.m. on Friday (pioneer meeting and assembly hall cleaning)
and 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Here we are waiting for the bus.

Although our circuit includes El Salvador, Honduras, and groups in Guatamala,
our assembly was only for the congregation and groups in Nicaragua.

Here are some pictures of the assembly hall:

This also used to be the location of the Nicaraguan branch, but after the consolidation to Mexico, there are just translation offices. 

The largest attendance was 337 and 2 were baptized, including a sister from our hall Thalia and
a Canadian sister.

Here is Desmond doing some cleaning before the pioneer meeting on Friday:

A few of us took a break from cleaning to play with the baby: 

                                                            me and Lily

           Lily, me, Mariela

 Sergio and Lily

The pioneer meeting was wonderful! The District Overseer stressed the need for publishers in the English speaking field of Central America. Saying it is a hot spot even more so than Mexico.

Many of the friends in our congregation had parts(including each of our 3 elders):

 Mariela (soliloquoy on suggestions on making return visits) and Nathan

 Theo, with Sergio and Pat(giving him tips on fitting personal study into his schedule)

I (Shannon) also had the privilege of being interviewed by a brother in the Granada congregation about supporting the groups for service and the benefits of assisting others in the ministry.

Many of our friends also had parts on the circuit assembly.

 Miguel gave the #3 talk on the TMS, the District Overseer Brother Chobar called him a "seasoned speaker"

Me and Desmond had a skit with "our son" Moises. Here is the link to part 1 of the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyWdVYmXYk8

and part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlxWjghmXmE

Please let us know how our acting skills are!

Here is a picture of our little family:

yes he is Nicaraguan and a 22 yr old pioneer brother from Chinadega.

 We also had the excitement of gaining a new sister, Thalia.

 Thalia studied with Ashlee (pictured here with hubby, Nate and baby Lily)

 Elfa, Thalia, Fanny, and Mariela

Being down here we have realized what a small world Jehovah's organization is. We ran into two sisters who know Josh C. from Charlottesville, they served with him Puerto Rico. They have been here for 3 months serving in small Spanish group in the mountains near the town of Masaya.

 Laura, Didi, and me

Thanks to these sisters I might see some familiar faces in a few months.

Here are some of the young people in our congregation:

 Caleb(pioneer brother visiting from St. Louis), Fanny, Sergio, Mariela, Sergito (visits from Spanish)

These are two friends who should be in the English but are still in VeraCruz Spanish (which is 5 minutes outside of Leon)

 Marian and Enrique

 Scarlett and Theo who are going back to the states for a few months!

 We're going to miss them!

After a wonderful weekend everyone was tired but in high spirits on the way home. See this clip of the friends singing Kingdom melodies on the bus: http://youtu.be/rigHYoyoFeo

And when we got back to the hall, one of the couples that from the sign language hall were selling shawarma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawarma) made with homemade tortillas, chicken, lettuce, tomato, and their special sauce. We all got a yummy dinner for 50 cords ($2) each.

Thanks Colton and Indira !