The Best of Both Worlds?

Hi all,

After a very eventful three-week excursion to the States, I've made it back to Nica once again, even if the airline lost my checked bag. Yeah, that's just one little tidbit to share from my trip, and if you'd like to know more, grab a juice box, shoot me an e-mail, and we'll talk about the ongoing trials and tribulations of a lad named Sam Roberts.

ANYWHO, there were a lot of memorable moments from the trip, most notably my friend Jared's wedding! He actually came to visit me for a week in February last year, but things were so busy at the time that I didn't end up blogging about it, so here's a picture from that trip.

He's been a good friend of mine for some time now, so it was great to be home for the big day, although I missed the ceremony. Again, e-mail me.

Me with Jared & Jocelyn

We'll have more on that trip later. For now, let me talk about what I arrived back in Nica just in time for: our assembly day! It was exhausting having just returned from the States, but it was still a fun weekend. Saturday was the big pioneer meeting before the assembly. There's a double Kingdom Hall here in Chinandega, which perfectly held all 288 present! They had the speakers in one of the halls and a video feed into the other hall. We were on the side with the video feed, which worked very well. Many brothers and sisters from our hall had parts, including Rolando, Leticia, Renee, Elvis, Meyling, and Elieth.

Yes, I'm talking about the brother on the screen.

This is Thomas Bear. He and his wife having been serving here for quite some time now. They're both German, and his accent comes through very strong when he speaks Spanish. Honestly, I think it sounds awesome! I could listen to him all day. He had two really good illustrations. First, he spoke of being in an airplane that's about to crash when the oxygen masks are released. You are seated next to a ten-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. Who do you make sure has their mask on first - the boy, the girl, or yourself? Actually, airlines emphasize that you need to put your own mask on first before you can be in a position to help anyone else! Similarly, we need to be sure that we are taking care of ourselves spiritually before we can be in a position to offer help or encouragement to anyone else. The other illustration he used had to do with our personal desires. He talked about how Google memorizes the things you search for and is able to remember your favorite items, no matter when you searched for them. If Google has the ability to remember the things that peak your interest the most, how much more so does Satan! It emphasized the need for us to be on guard more than ever.

The Chinandega sun shining down just as powerful as ever.

Once again, we had a busy night of sound preparation before the session. Many brothers stayed past midnight. I would have stayed longer, but I was still suffering from my severe one-hour jet lag, so I decided to call it a night.

I had an assignment that I'd never had before for this assembly: letreros. Basically, Ben & I were in charge of putting up signs on the offices of the various departments - administration, chairman's office, sound, and yes, even a sign for our department: the sign department. We also had to have my laptop on hand in case we needed to print off emergency women's bathroom signs, which I actually had to do quite a few times. Would the whole thing fall apart without us? Two things: 1) Hey, someone has to do it, and 2) I got to sit it in a somewhat-air-conditioned office for the day, so I'll take it!

No, I did not spell administration wrong.

The program was great - very frank and very much-needed. There were 32 baptized and a peak attendance of 3,169. Sidenote: my study Edwin lives right next door to the stadium. He could hear the whole program without even leaving his property, which isn't a bad deal. What's even better is that in the middle of the morning session, everyone was distracted by three toddlers who came out of nowhere running across the perimeter of the outfield. Sure enough, they were Edwin's kids. Yup, that's my study!

Taking down the sound system after the session. Here's a Where's Waldo activity: Find Ben!

Now that the busy weekend is over, I'm looking forward to getting back to my routine here. I'm really enjoying how things have been going, and that helped me to realize something while I was in Maine. I know I come back from every trip with a new lesson learned, and there have probably been some inconsistencies over the past few years, but this one was actually liberating. Everyone who has served in another land while traveling back & forth to their home country knows what it's like to live in two completely different worlds. In my case, the struggle has been being very close to both my friends in Nicaragua and my friends back home. Every time I go back to Maine, it's hard to leave for long periods of time knowing that time doesn't stand still while I'm away. People carry on with their lives, and I know it's a bit selfish, but you do feel cut off from everybody in a sense. It's not easy, but over time, I've realized that I'm still very close to my good friends back home, and being away has helped some of us to even strengthen our friendships. While I may not be actively involved in what happens back home anymore, I've maintained close ties with the people I love, and that's enough. I wouldn't trade the friendships I've made here in Nicaragua for anything in the world, and for now, this is the best place for me to be. At times, though, I wish I could have it both ways - be fully involved here in Nicaragua and still be fully involved in life back home, while being able to take advantage of all the luxuries there as well. However, here is the lesson: You can't have the best of both worlds. I know that might sound sad, but when I realized that, it was a huge relief. Right now, I feel like I have the best of my world in Nicaragua, and while I may not have everything back in Maine, I have all I need. Having that in mind is helping me to focus on what a privilege it is for me to be where I am and to be doing what I'm doing.

Okay, that's enough sap for one post. Talk to you all on Monday!

Take care,


Sam