Frenchies, Mainers, & Earthquakes

Hello there!

Is it Tuesday already? Oops! We've had another eventful week here in Chinatown. Most of you are probably wondering about the 7.4 earthquake that struck us last night. Everyone is okay and no one has lost anything, but more on that later. Too much to tell this week! I don't have photos for everything, so I've dispersed some witnessing photos taken throughout the week to keep you entertained...please don't leave me!

Salomon sharing some points from the Good News brochure Wednesday morning.

Things in the congregation are good. Now that we have five elders, they've rearranged the service groups so that there are now five groups, one for each elder. The first Sunday of this month was the first day with the new group arrangement. That morning (we have our public evening on Saturday night), we had 50 people out preaching that day, which is over 75% of the congregation! Our local needs this past week included commending the congregation for the support and encouraging them to maintain it in the coming months.

Elvis and his wife, Margarita, taking a rest on Wednesday morning. They both regular pioneer together.

As I mentioned earlier, Erling, our newly-appointed elder is my group overseer and I'm his assistant. He's still on crutches, but, despite that, we went on our first shepherding visit together this past Friday evening. We were both nervous as both of us had only been on a couple visits as servants in the past, and this was his first time going as an elder. Thankfully, with good preparation and help from Jehovah, the visit went very well and we're looking forward to working together more in that area!

Santiago discussing the tract about a happy family life on Friday morning.

My studies are going great. I've been really trying hard to return to people at the times I say that I will, and it's been paying off. I've started the Jehovah's Will brochure with Max, and he really enjoyed that. He captures points fully and quickly. He expects us every Friday and has expressed interest in going to one of the meetings soon!

In other news, Maddie & Stephane came to visit Chinandega this weekend! We had served in Ojo de Agua together for about a year, during which time Stephane was our only elder. They had decided to make a change and to move up the cooler region of Matagalpa (I wrote about all this here). They had returned back to England for about a year to save up enough to be here long-term. They came down to Chinandega this weekend to gather the rest of their things, including their motorbike, which I was keeping in my garage. It was a very quick and busy visit, but it was so good to see them again after nearly a year! They came over Saturday for coffee and to catch up. All I remember is laughing and laughing for three hours straight. We have so many memories together from our time in Ojo, which is a great bond to share. The three of us actually ended up going to Ojo's meeting together the next morning, where Stephane gave the public talk! It was really nice to see everyone again, and it felt just like old times. The good thing is that Ojo is in a much better place now, with a local elder and three servants. The three of us are all very happy with the changes we've made, but Ojo will always hold a special place in our hearts. Sadly, I completely forgot to get any pictures of the three of us together from this weekend, so here's one of Maddie catching up with our old friend, Yorleni! Sorry I stole this photo, Maddie!

Yorleni & Maddie out for pizza.

Yesterday, Zach and I went down to Managua to pick up (drumroll) Ben and Bree from the airport, who are officially coming to stay in Chinandega for six months! They've visited me twice before, and have finally taken the plunge to join me down here. They're gonna live with me and join my congregation. It will be really nice to have the extra support and companionship. They're up for the challenge of learning Spanish and enduring the sauna that we call Chinandega. Sidenote: They always bring down supplies that I've been requesting, be it more clothes, chocolates, or in this case, pumpkin spice to add to my coffee. Every time they've arrived, I always ask within the first two minutes, "You brought my stuff, right???" However, I'm proud to say that this year, I actually waited a solid twenty minutes and caught up with them before kindly asking if they managed to bring everything. Look how much I've grown, guys. Look how much I've grown.

Just a freeze frame from the epic welcome I gave them at the airport.

Of course, no one can ever have a normal arrival in Nicaragua. Last night, we had a huge thunderstorm, which is normal this time of year, and the power went out, which, again, is normal. While the power was out, we started experiencing a mild tremor, which (sad to say), is also normal once in a great while. However, that mild tremor grew more and more intense within a matter of seconds. All I could think was, "Doorways. Doorways! I know that doorways, safety, and earthquakes are somehow related!!!" So the three of us immediately went and huddled together under the doorway into my living room. It really did get a bit scary for a minute there! All my framed pictures shaking and almost coming off the walls, my fridge was this close to tipping over, and my one battery-powered lantern fell off the counter and broke. We immediately packed our go-bag just in case. (You can read Ben's account of the earthquake on their new blog.)

Once it was over, we stayed put for a minute. I have a tendency to overreact about these things (shocking, right?! Quiet, you), but once we saw a lot of people in the streets making a fuss, I got the feeling it wasn't all that normal. I tried calling friends to check on them, but no one had cell phone signal in addition to no power. Ladislao, one of my elders, lives with his family just a couple blocks down from my house, so the three of us took a walk to go check on them. They were all okay, thankfully, but he even told me, "That was the strongest one I've ever felt living here." We heard word from Erling that he managed to run out of the house in his crutches!! 

I managed to get in touch with Jefte, hoping he would say that it was completely normal. Instead, what I got was, "Sam, I'm not afraid of earthquakes, but I have never felt anything that bad. It was terrifying!" Thankfully, everyone in his household was okay.

The epicenter, just off the coast. Chinandega is in the northwest region of the country.

The power returned about an hour later, and we got reports that it was a 7.4 magnitude quake, with the epicenter being in El Salvador. Tsunami alerts are in place with a high chance of aftershocks. Thankfully, we didn't feel anything else during the night, so we're just trying to stay calm but prepared for anything. Everything is back up and running this morning. There's no use just staying home and being paranoid, so we just focused on getting things done today.

Taking Ben & Bree on some of my studies this afternoon.

Everyone is okay. I'll keep you all posted! Miss you all. Let me know how you're doing!

Talk soon (Monday!),


Sam