La Conmemoracion

Hi everyone,

Well, after weeks of campaigning, walking to the edges of our territory with invitations, desperately trying to find a speaker, cleaning up the Kingdom Hall, and doing it all during the hottest time of the year, we finally had our Memorial in Ojo de Agua. It was quite an experience!

As I said before, Simon was assigned to drive a truck around the outskirts of our territory to pick up anyone who wanted to come. One of the local brothers, Nicholas, was gonna be assisting him with directions. At the last minute, they had me hop in the truck as well to help people get situated in the back! So Simon and Nicholas were in the cabin of the truck while my job was to stand in the bed and make sure nobody hit their heads on the low branches we drove by.

This is the truck that a brother let us rent. It really isn't that big, but we were told that it can hold up to 50 people. I was doubtful that we were gonna have as much as that, but as usual, I was wrong!

Our first stop was in a part of our territory called Tempiske. By the time we had gotten there, we already had fourteen people on board. We got to Tempiske about ten minutes early, but Nicholas was still skeptical that anyone would show up. We decided to wait a few more minutes. It was a good thing we did. Six more people showed up and jumped in!

It was a beautiful evening! 

We continued on to Raisal, another outer part of our territory. Along the way, so many people joined us in the truck that I could no longer take pictures. It was too crowded! The total number of people we ended up having in the truck was 45! 

Simon was driving for the first time in seven months, for the first time in Nicaragua, for the first time on the other side of the road, and for the first time on the other side of the car. No pressure or anything! He did a great job just the same.

We arrived at the Kingdom Hall literally two minutes before the ceremony started. We ended up just having the whole thing set up outside since there wasn't enough room to hold everyone in the hall!

Everybody getting situated!

Unfortunately, none of our studies made it there. However, one girl that we used to study with and passed on to Yorleni attended, so that was nice to see! Even so, we weren't heartbroken. We were just happy to be there. Jorge, my English study downtown, said he and his wife were planning on attending one of the Spanish ceremonies in Chinandega. They sounded pretty excited about it! I'm gonna stop by their place later this week to see if they were able to go.

At last, the Memorial finally began. But we couldn't relax just yet. We were both servers and attendants as well! It wasn't easy to do outside, considering it was still very hot and humid even after sundown. Not to mention there were a bunch of annoying flies everywhere too! But it all went very well. Simon & I had provided the wine, plates, and glasses beforehand. It all looked really nice! 

Oh, and did I mention that we finally got a speaker??!! It was a major relief! This is Rafael and his wife. He is an elder from one of the local city congregations who was willing to come give the talk in Ojo. He did a fantastic job. I understood him perfectly!

After listening to the talk, passing the bread, and passing the wine (which Simon had to pray over!), the Memorial was over in the blink of an eye. I felt so relieved! Would you like to guess our attendance? I'll post these pictures before you do. Remember that we have 36 publishers...

Think you got it? Well here it is: 150. That's right. We had 150 people!!! How awesome is that? It was a shock for me since we usually have no more than 30 people at the meetings. It was very encouraging to see. We also had a small literature table set up outside for any who wanted it, and many people took some literature!

Roberto and I happy after a busy Memorial!

After all was said and done, we took the truck once again to bring people home. We then met up with Josh, Cassie, and Jen for one more night together before they go home to their respective countries to work. They told us that the English congregation had an attendance of 44, which is awesome since they have about 20 publishers! It was a great end to a great evening. We had been anticipating this event ever since we got here, and it was well worth the excitement.

Now that the Memorial is done, we are officially in the final stretch of our eight-month stay in Nicaragua. It's strange how fast time goes by. It seems like not too long ago that I was counting down the months until I went home. Now we're down to just days from now! I'll be back in the States in about two and a half weeks. Until then, I intend on enjoying every minute that I have left here...if I can survive this heat!

Hope all of your respective Memorials went well!

Take care,

Sam