Don't Sweat It

Hi there!

Apologies for the delay. We have visitors from Maine at the moment and that has kept us busier than usual, but I finally have a few spare minutes to write an update.

For starters, before the hot season hits us like a ton of bricks, I managed to escape back to my first Nica home: Estelí!

With Jeffrey, Jefté, and Eliezer
out in service.

Jefté recently moved up there to help out the Sign Language group. Needless to say, Chinandega hasn't been the same without him. He's the first person everybody meets when they come here, and he's become one of my closest friends, so we were all very sad to see him go. Thankfully, though, I was able to make it up there to visit him for a few days!

Estelí has changed a lot since I went there almost four years ago. For one thing, there have been many more cafés added throughout town to further promote their coffee culture. They've also gotten a La Colonia supermarket, which is a big deal. The biggest thing, though, is their own mall complete with a cinema! I'm sorry, but where was all of that four years ago, Estelí? Why you gotta be like that, huh? Maybe I would've stayed! Jokes, jokes, I love Chinatown.

View from where we preached with the Centenario congregation. (Photo courtesy of Jefté. Actually, all photos in this post are courtesy of him, now that I think of it.)

Out witnessing with the Sign Language group. It actually did
get fairly warm, but only at midday, thankfully.

The Sign Language in Estelí is picking up slowly but surely. While the future of the group is a little uncertain, they are certainly giving it their all. It is a really nice group of brothers and sisters! There are quite a few studies being conducted, a couple of which have been going to meetings.

Sidenote: The trip also gave me a chance to learn some more LSN (lengauje señas Nicaragüense) and realize how bad I am at it! I was able to learn how to say: "Hello, how are you? What's your name? Where are you from? How old are you? Brothers, welcome all. We're going to sing a song of praise to Jehovah. Please turn to song 78. Amen." I have no idea what I'll do if I ever have to introduce song 79...or any of the other songs.

Left to right: Eliezer, Karis, Jefté, Moi, Kisly, and Felix.

Not only was it nice to escape the heat for a few days, but it was also great to see some old friends. Felix and Kisly were my first two friends here in Nicaragua, so seeing them is always one of the first items on my to-do list in Estelí. We were able to have dinner at the infamous Papikar, where you have to wait about an hour and forty-five minutes for your meal even when you're the only person there. Yay!

Although it involves getting up at 3:30 AM to catch a 5:00 AM bus and another complicated bus ride home, escaping to Estelí is always worth it. Yet, it's always good to be at home in Chinatown, where we have been plenty busy as of late. Between our Maine visitors and our C.O. visit this week, I'll have a lot to write about for the next post. Thanks for reading!

Sidenote: Having always taken on the role of my life coach, Jefté told me that the dress shirt I brought was too dirty and made me wear this for service instead. Just barely passable.

Take care,


Sam