Las Champas

Hi there,

I've had a particularly encouraging day and am probably in the best state of mind to write a post, so here we go!

Last Friday, a group of us joined Zach and Eduardo to go preaching in Ojo de Agua. I've been joining Zach every Wednesday afternoon for witnessing in El Limonal, a neighborhood outside Ojo, so I really hadn't been preaching in Ojo itself for over seven months. It was a really good day.

Our group that morning. Pablo was overwhelmed by all the white people. Sidenote: Why do Ben and I always have to sit in the exact same positions?

Does this picture make sense? Nope, but all
I see is pure joy, bro.

It was really good to get back to my old stomping grounds and out of the city for a bit. We went to Las Champas, my favorite territory in all of Ojo de Agua. While it was good to do it all over again, I had forgotten how completely exhausted I would always get at the end of a morning in Ojo! Zach and Ed are doing a lot of good and hard work out there, much more than I ever did. If any of you are in touch with them, be sure to send them a message of encouragement some time. It's not easy being out there at all!

Ed & I worked together that morning, which was a definite blast from the past. He helped me a lot when I had first moved into Ojo a few years ago, and I mean it when I say a lot. He cycled out there with me on numerous occasions, he proofread all my talks, and he was the one who pushed me to finish every tough morning of preaching whenever my energy started to give out. I really wouldn't have lasted there as long as I did if it hadn't been for his help. Working together brought back a lot of those memories. Yes, Ojo was tough, but I wouldn't trade any of those experiences for the world. Well, maybe some of them, but this is me being positive.

Samuel's Creek.

My studies have been really good. Like crazy good. So good. No but really, Edwin and his kids have continued coming to the public meetings! The Watchtower article we had last week, though, was a good reminder for me not to get too excited over a study attending meetings. Edwin did say, however, that he is coming out of his own accord, and although he has always spoken with Witnesses over the years, he feels that now is the right time for him to start getting serious about it. Out of all his kids, Bruno has been the most excited about it. He gave his first comment last week!

Reading the Great Teacher book with Bruno.

Today was an exceptionally good witnessing day. I got a mega day in, which I desperately needed as I am disgustingly behind on my time this year. Disgustingly. Yet, I have no problem admitting that to you all. It was unbelievably hot today as well, so that's probably affected my mental faculties a bit. What was I talking about? Oh yes. We started the day by working our public witnessing cart. One of my return visits, Marco, approached the cart and requested one of our books to add to his personal library, which was very nice to see! I also had a really nice study with Donald, who is probably the friendliest guy I've ever studied with here. We spend at least fifteen minutes just chatting before the study, which is very refreshing, and the study itself goes really well. He always answers in his own words and has excellent comprehension. Then, I usually show his daughter one of the Caleb videos, and even after all that, Donald still shows me family photos or something he did during the week. He always asks about us and how we're doing down here as well. I guess it's just nice when a study takes the time to get to know you in addition to listening to the information!

I can honestly say that things here are going better for me than they ever have before, and I'm very happy with the way everything has turned out. Come visit, anyone??

Talk soon,


Sam

Kids These Days

Hello one and all,

The memory on my iPad is full, which tells me that it's time to share photos and stories once again. February is a transition month here, both from the cool weather to the hot weather and from the busy season to the even busier Memorial season. All of that makes for some exciting times here in Nica! The past month has been kind of a blur, but there's a lot to tell, so here we go...

For starters, our good friends Travis and Nicole came to visit us for two weeks. They came for a few weeks last year and we had a blast, so once again, there were five us living in a house with one bathroom. Never a dull moment!

The Mainers taking over, once again.

Nicole placing magazines.

After they visited last year, they made the decision to join the Spanish congregation back in Maine. It was only on their fourth day here that Travis told me he felt his confidence level had shot through the roof when it came to speaking. Just goes to show that the best way to learn is to immerse yourself. Just do it, bro.

We took a trip to the beach for our friend Ashlee, who has served here for a number of years and is now going back to the States to get married. Her last beach day here was one to remember. A good chunk of the brothers who have served here in Chinandega at one time or another all reunited for that day, and it was pretty cool seeing the variety of people who have come here over time. Our group included our friends from Australia, England, France, Japan, Canada, the U.S., Italy, and of course, Nicaragua.

Part of our beach day group - there were 30 of us!

Showing one of the Caleb videos.

We've been having some really good ministry experiences. A few weeks ago, Ben & Bree were doing some studies in a part of our territory and attracted the attention of a group of little kids. Ben started preaching to one of them, and soon, it turned into a group study. He's given them all copies of the Listen to God brochure. Now, he discusses the brochure with them every Thursday afternoon on the front porch of a woman who is studying with a pioneer sister in our hall. He'll usually discuss a portion of the brochure and then conclude with one of the "Become Jehovah's Friend" videos. Solda, one of the oldest girls in the group, is the self-proclaimed leader who always reminds the kids to raise their hands and makes sure they're all paying attention. She's got spunk!

Marlon studying the brochure.

One of Renee's studies, Claudia, came to the meeting last week and brought her son, Marlon, a very energetic ten-year-old. After the meeting, he asked if I would study with him. As soon as I said yes, he started jumping up and down, saying, "GOOD! DO YOU HAVE A PHONE NUMBER? LET ME GIVE YOU MY MOM'S PHONE NUMBER! HERE'S HER NUMBER! CALL ME! CALL ME! NOW I HAVE YOUR NUMBER! WHAT KIND OF PHONE DO YOU HAVE?? I HELP HER WITH HER STAND IN CENTRAL PARK IN THE MORNINGS SO COME STUDY WITH ME THERE ON SUNDAY! I'LL BE WAITING!! I'LL BE WAITING!!!! ARE YOU GONNA COME? GOOD BECAUSE I'LL BE WAITING!" For those who know how great I am with kids, you've probably already guessed  how excited I was about this. But I thought, "No, no, I won't dread it. This will be good for me...right?" I went to see him on Sunday and demonstrated how we study using the Good News brochure. To show you what his attention span is like, this is how part of the conversation went down: "So Marlon, what is God's good news for us?" "That we'll live in paradise. Why do you have sticky notes on the side of your brochure?" "To mark where I am in the brochure with my other students." "Did it come with the brochure?" "No, I bought them." "Where?" "At the store. So, what do you-" "Why does your brochure have the answers marked and not mine?" "Because you have to mark it yourself." "Do you have a pen?" "No, Marlon." "Let me go get a pen." He got a pen, underlined the answer, showed it to his mom, and said, "Look, mom! I'm studying like you!" I sighed, realizing how sincere the kid is. How can I say no?! I brought him a Learn From the Great Teacher book a couple days later. We'll see how we go with that book, but he really wants to study, and he will definitely keep me on my toes!

We also had our C.O. visit last week, which was very encouraging. He, Gerard, is an excellent speaker and his wife, Rocio, was hilarious, as usual. He noted how the change in congregations has not only been good for me, but also for the congregation. Meeting attendance and ministry support have improved dramatically. The biggest thing he emphasized was that the congregation is in a very exciting time right now, so we need to do our best to make sure that they stay consistent after we leave. He told me that even though there is a fair number of elders and pioneers now, he still wants me to stay in this hall to help everyone get more grounded. In the meantime, it's nice to see all the hard work paying off.

Our pioneer meeting with the C.O.. A lot of support this month!

Sister Ortega and Jared out preaching on Friday.

The ministry support for the visit was overwhelming. One day, I think we had 34 people out, which is awesome compared with the fact that we have about six people out on a typical day! At the moment, we have seventeen regular pioneers, and that number looks like it will be increasing even more soon. I didn't count the exact number of auxiliary pioneers we had for this month, but as you can see from the picture above, we had enough to fill up the room! Many people made a lot of sacrifices to support the visit. Our friend Jaziel took the week off from work and was out preaching every day. Actually, it was announced last night that he has now been appointed as a servant! Another encouraging thing to see was Sister Ortega, who has been in a wheelchair for some time now, came out for a couple hours one of the days, assisted by her grandson Jared. Seeing so many people give their very best is a good reminder to continue making the best of my own circumstances.

I worked with Melanie, a very shy but very smart 12-year-old sister. She has done very well for herself. She's the only baptized member of her family, but I think her example has been motivating her family members to keep making progress. We passed by a pulperia to preach to the lady who owns it. Whilst Melanie was doing her presentation, a supplier came up to talk business with the owner, but Melanie continued talking. Just as I was about to tell her to let the man talk to the owner first, he put down his clipboard and started listening to what Melanie had to say as well! It was very cool to see two grown adults listen intently to what a 12-year-old had to say. No, that's not a lesson that we should interrupt businesses. This was just a very rare exception.

The supplier and the owner listening to Melanie.

Me with Edwin and four of the kids after the
meeting. Of course we had to take the picture
from an angle that makes it look like I could
step on and crush them all. 

I started going over the Learn From the Great Teacher book with my study Edwin's kids. I've been studying with him for about four months now, and his kids have been opening up more every time I come. They always try to follow along with Edwin's study or ask for me to show them Caleb videos, so I figured it was about time I started doing something regular with them. They loved it when I gave them the book and are excited to go over it. I invited Edwin to come to the public meeting of the C.O.'s visit. He immediately said yes, and the kids asked if they could come, too. He's come to three meetings with me now and he's loved it every time, so I really hope he keeps progressing! Four of his seven kids (yup, seven) came with him. Actually, each time he's come, they always ask if they can come, too. They all behave really well and pay attention! Edwin also loved Gerard's talks and made sure to follow along with the scriptures. He's got a really good family. Keep them in your prayers, as well as all of our studies, and hopefully, all of them will continue to make progress!

Travis helping Bruno, one of
Edwin's sons, follow along
during the Watchtower.

Travis & Nicole had their last meeting with us last night. Even though they were only here for two weeks, Rolando made an announcement that it was their last meeting and the audience applauded. It was pretty funny, but it once again showed us how loving this hall is. They've welcomed us with open arms and we've gotten very attached, which none of us were expecting. If everybody was that emotional about our friends leaving after just two weeks, we can only imagine how hard it's gonna be when we go! But we will continue to make the most of our time here. It was a really good boost and a lot of fun having our friends visit, but now they are on a plane back to Maine and our normal routine has resumed. We have a couple weeks to take a breather before the Memorial season kicks off, and I'm sure we will have plenty of work to do when it does.

My dad, Bree, Me, Nicole, and Travis at their last meeting. Actually, I need your opinion on this picture, guys. I genuinely can't recall if I was laughing or fake smiling when this picture was taken. I can usually spot my fake smile anywhere, but I really can't tell here. Let me know, since this should obviously take precedent over whatever else you're doing at the moment.

Hope you all are enjoying the inconceivable amounts of snow back home. Rest assured, it's not much better over on the other end of the spectrum. Stay in touch!

Take care,


Sam

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

Mr. & Mrs. Something

Hey all,

I don't have much time to be writing right now, so let me just get one thing out of the way right off the bat: Chinandega has a library. A library. I've been living in this town for two-and-a-half years and I never knew that. Not even a good amount of the locals know it! We had our Active English conversational class there today.

Enrique looking for a book in the terribly-lit library.

We also stumbled upon some of these gems:

Do you see them?

Showing Jorgito how to download the videos with a not-at-all-fake smile.

Chinandega is always full of surprises. Anyway, last week was good. The ministry here continues to be the highlight. It's what motivates us to get out of bed and it's the reason I keep coming back to Nicaragua!

This past Friday, Zach & I went to see Jorgito, who was very excited because Sandra recently bought a Samsung tablet. The very first thing he said when we arrived was, "Sam, how can I put Caleb videos on this thing??" I cannot tell you how encouraging it was to see a six-year-old boy more concerned with that rather than with downloading more games onto his tablet. Sandra & Jorgito don't have Internet access in their house, so we weren't sure what we could do at first, but then we came up with a plan. They live just a couple of blocks away from a café with free WiFi that we frequent pretty often, so we asked Sandra if we could take Jorgito there for a little bit and download the videos directly to the tablet. She happily agreed to it, so off we went! We were able to download just about all of the videos in no time, and Jorgito was thrilled. When we got back to their place, Sandra said that she was so glad he could have the videos available to watch any time he wanted. She's been doing a great job bringing him to the meetings and keeping up with her own study. As we were leaving the house, Jorgito gave us a big thank you and immediately started watching one of the videos. I can successfully say that it was one of the most gratifying moments I've had here, one that makes all the sacrifices worth it!

The wedding party walking to the ceremony.

Now, let's talk about another first-time experience I had yesterday: Being in a Nica wedding. Right? I never expected that to happen or had planned on it happening! Picking out the wedding party is not done the way we do it the States. I can sum it up this way: Basically, the bride handpicks every single member of the wedding party, including the groomsmen, whether the groom is friends with them or not. I could explain my feelings about the matter in more detail, but hey, it's a different culture. Now what is the groom's last name? I have no idea. I only learned his first name just a couple months ago, after having already been a member of the wedding party for three months! The bride was Mayerling, a pioneer sister in my hall. She told her bridesmaids to choose whoever they wanted to escort them down the aisle. Another tradition to consider is that the wedding party always does a major dance at the wedding reception here. I know a lot of couples do that back home too, but it's expected here, so the bridesmaids basically chose their groomsmen based off of who would be a good dance partner. Trust me, I wasn't chosen for my dancing skills. My friend Darling, one of the bridesmaids, is taller than all the other brothers in my hall except me and didn't want to look like a giant, so she chose to walk down the aisle with a fellow giant.

Whatever happened to limos?

Another tradition that many couples partake in here is that on the wedding day, the whole wedding party walks from the bride's house parading around in the streets to the Kingdom Hall. Yup. It was about a twenty-minute walk during rush hour traffic. We also had to cross one of the busiest intersections in town with a huge eighteen-wheeler behind us. Yup.

Regarding the dance itself, I won't say a lot about it, but I will say it was difficult, especially for a white boy who grew up in a small town, population 6,000, and was not raised in the Latino culture! They had us practicing two to three times a week, with each practice lasting about two hours. I won't lie, guys. It was intense. There were laughs, there were there were tears, there were arguments, and oh yeah, there was dancing. The dance involved lots of jumping and salsa steps. Let me tell you about my frustration with dance lessons: Instructors always tell you the same thing. They always say, "Stop thinking about it so much! Just do it! Let the music flow through your booooody!" Yet, the second you make a mistake, it's, "SHOULDERS STRAIGHT NO YOUR FOOT GOES THAT WAY MAINTAIN EYE CONTACT! But don't think about it so much. Just have fun!" It was hard to learn, but when the time came for our performance, I just decided to finally take that advice: I stopped thinking about it so much and decided to enjoy it! While we did make a couple mistakes, it was a lot of fun and felt like a major accomplishment just the same.

Yes, there is video evidence of this.

They also asked me to play some music at the reception.
I did two songs in English and one in Spanish (well, with some
English lyrics). It was nerve-wracking, but fun to try!

Sidenote: This is probably not a need-to-know thing, but I'll share it anyway because...well, that's what I do. I swallowed a fly during the dance, guys. Actually, I didn't even swallow it. It flew RIGHT INTO MY MOUTH during the song and was stuck in my teeth. I thought, "Oh man, I either have to swallow this or spit it out. Either way, I lose." I tried to spit it out very subtly, which just resulted in getting drool on my pants and me trying to subtly wipe it off later in the song. You can see all of it on the video. Wow. Sometimes I feel like I may reveal too much to you guys, but hey, we're family!

Now that it's done, I'm realizing that although the experience was busy and stressful, it was also a lot of fun. It was cool to be a part of a wedding in another country! I've definitely got some interesting stories that I know I'll be telling for years to come.

The wedding party with the newlyweds themselves, Rudy and Mayerling...something.

Thanks for reading. Hope you all are well!

Talk soon,


Sam

Acting School

Hello!

I'm a couple days late in posting this, mainly because Monday was busier than expected and I don't have anything too exciting to report. But don't close your browser! There will probably some substantial ramblings or rants at some point in this post.

For starters, our midweek meeting has changed from Wednesday to Tuesday. Yes, that's the most thrilling thing that happened last week. Anyway, our hall did an awesome job singing the new song! You can tell that I really mean that by my expression in this picture:

After practicing the song the first time. I was...happy.

Seriously, though, it went really well! We listened to it once and everyone nailed it on the first try. During the second time, I was feeling it so much that I even had to stop myself from walking in the aisle fist-pumping and taking it to the streets. Joy, just pure joy.

The change in the schedule has called for changing up my witnessing schedule a little bit. Zach leads a Wednesday afternoon group in El Limonal, a part of Ojo de Agua's territory. The group doesn't have much support, so I've been going out there with him on Wednesday afternoons the past couple of weeks. It's nice to get away from the city for an afternoon. I had forgotten how peaceful and quiet it is in Ojo's territory. Apparently, I can't escape it completely!

Zach doing a return visit. Ain't he phenomenal?

View of San Cristobal from La Colonia de la Policia.

As for the heat, we're slowly but surely entering the hotter time of the year. Today was the hottest it's been in a while (96° F, 36­­° C), but come April, we'll be wishing for those temperatures back. Sidenote: The mosquitoes have been RELENTLESS since I've been back. Seriously. RELENTLESS. That has everybody paranoid about getting chikungunya, a disease that is supposed to be worse than dengue fever. There have been a lot of reported cases of it in town, but it's hard to know for sure. Many of those reported cases are accurate, but then there are other people who immediately jump to these conclusions: Got a headache? Chikungunya. Did you just sneeze? Chikungunya. You have a slight itch on your arm? Chikungunya. But yes, you do need to be prepared. Thankfully, the mosquitoes have calmed down a little the past couple of days.

Miguelito receiving his gift today, complete with new pens.
(Sidenote: Bree took one of them for herself. Unbelievable.)

In other news, Miguel, a 13-year-old brother in our hall, has started regular pioneering this month! His parents began studying a couple of years ago, and all three of them were baptized last year. He's an awesome kid. He's got such a great attitude and spirit. Even when his parents don't make it to the meetings, he is always there no matter what and comes out preaching on his own whenever he has the chance, including every day of school vacation. When asked how he was planning on pioneering with school and everything, he said he would be taking out a personal territory to work in the afternoons after school. I don't know many kids that age who would have the motivation to do that on their own, but he does! As a gift, Ben & Bree got him a new return visit book. They even labeled it with all the different locations of our territory.

Finally, for the demo this week on how to react to an irate person, Rolando was faced with a tough decision when it came to choosing who would play the role of the angry householder. He would have to choose someone who is known for having a naturally angry disposition, someone who takes pleasure in putting others down, someone who could bring a child to tears just by staring daggers at them. At last, the villain was cast:

LOL he chose Bree. We were all flummoxed by this choice. Flummoxed. What was the reasoning behind it? Would you choose a kitten to scare away thieves? Would you unleash a ladybug to kill a cockroach? Would you scare your younger sibling with a picture of a butterfly? No? Then why on Earth would you think Bree, of ALL PEOPLE, could be capable of yelling at Jehovah's Witnesses, or anyone at all?!?! Okay, I'm done being mean, and now I'll tell you that she did a really good job, in all seriousness. We may have had to practice it with her about 50 times to get her to stop sounding so nice, but she got it down pat. (You'd think that after being a part of our family for all these years, she would know how to shout!) Plus, Rolando is smart, and I have to give him credit for making a bold and fun choice. Sidenote: That was the angriest I had ever seen Bree in the entire time I've known her, aside from one time when she refused to share some cookies. She would be the nicest do-not-call ever. (Other sidenote: She gave me permission to write all that.)

Alright, that's all I have to report this week. Things are going really well, but as always, I miss all of you back home. Let me know what's new!


Take care,

Sam

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

Accomplishments

Hello!

I've been back in the States for a little over a week now, and while I love seeing my friends and family here, I gotta say, guys: I'm missing Nica. Weird, right?! Every time I come home, I don't think about Nica at all whatsoever because it's hard to think about Nica when you're so busy stuffing your face with hamburgers and hot dogs since, you know, that's what all Americans eat three times a day every day. Actually, I really miss Nicaragua because I feel like I've finally gotten into the right place and a great routine down there. So yes, I miss it! However, instead of continuing whining, a skill in which I exceed, I will fill everyone in on the events that took place before I came home.

For starters, I finally did one of the things I've been the most afraid to do during my whole time in Nicaragua: drive.

"I'm Erling Téllez and I approve this message."

Anyone who has been to Nicaragua, or Central America for that matter, understands what a big risk that is! Here is the basic principle of driving in Nicaragua: You and ONLY YOU have the right of way - not pedestrians, not any other vehicle, not roadkill, only you. You don't have to wait for anybody. You just go as fast as you can and if anyone dares to get in your way, it's their fault, not yours! It sounds nice until you're on the receiving end. In retrospect, it probably wasn't that big of a deal, but nonetheless, it was another goal accomplished! On this particular day, we went with a group of friends in our hall to a beach in Corinto. It was a great afternoon spent with people who have become great friends.

Us with Erling, Rebecca, Jennifer, & Douglas.

Another major accomplishment occurred, but for Ben and Bree: they did their first demonstration in Spanish together. It was the demo about starting a Bible study on the first Saturday of the month, and they smashed it.

As for what happened next, well...remember San Cristobal? The volcano adjacent to Chinandega? Remember how it erupted right when I arrived in town in September 2012?

Remember how it erupted again just three months later and spewed ash all over town, resulting in many damaged lungs and evacuations?

Yeah, I was walking to get my morning coffee that day when I looked up and saw THIS.

Well, we hiked it last week! (Kids, please do not look to me as a good example.)

Actually, we semi-hiked it. We wanted to reach the top by sunrise, mainly because hiking it in the hot sun would've tripled the difficulty. That involved staying up until 2:00 AM and riding with the tour guides to a farm where the trail began. The drive to the farm was supposed to take about an hour, but the road was pretty rough - rough, but not impossible to navigate. All that is required is some ambition and work ethic, neither of which our truck driver had. We weren't even halfway to the farm when we got stuck in a rough patch of the road. We could have easily made it out and did everything we could to guide our driver out of it, but he seriously would not listen to a word we said. He did the opposite of everything we suggested and even when we tried to smooth out the path for him, he refused to drive through. I can understand that it was 2:00 in the morning, man, but we're paying you for a service! We spent about 45 minutes arguing with him/trying to help him until we realized how much time we had wasted. He wasn't going to drive us there, so we had no choice but to just leave him (along with the truck) and walk to the farm ourselves.

Walking to the farm was a hike itself. It took about two hours, and it was just as physically exerting. We were supposed to reach the farm by 3:00 so we could make it to the top of the volcano by sunrise, but we didn't arrive at the farm until about 5:00. I would've preferred to just finish the whole hike anyway since we had already gotten that far, but I also had to leave for the airport at 4:30 that afternoon. Actually, I would've finished it anyway, but another brother in our group who was leaving on the same flight as I was still needed to get back to León to pack his things. All of that, along with the fact a few others in our group weren't feeling that well, led us to the decision to call it a day (or night? We all got mixed up!) and finish it another time. We were disappointed, but we didn't consider the trip a waste by any means! While we were waiting for another truck to come pick us up from the farm to bring us back into town, we still managed to hike up a portion of the trail to get some decent photos.

Pretty satisfying view!

I have to say, being able to view Chinandega from the volcano that has been the background in so many of my photos all this time was a very satisfying experience. For once, the town itself was in the background! It has been such an intriguing aspect of my time in Chinandega ever since I arrived, and it was very cool finally checking it out. Although we only did a portion of the hike, it still felt like another major accomplishment - this time, for all of us. 

Don't be fooled. The top was a lot further than it looked!

After making it back to town, it was a mad rush to get ready before I had to leave for the airport. I will say, though, that it was frustrating having lost an entire night's sleep and not finishing the hike! It really threw off the rest of the week, but I've managed to catch up on all that sleep now, thankfully. I even slept on the airplanes, which I've never been able to do! Now, I've got a few weeks left here in the States and then it's back to Chinatown. I'll report during that time if there's anything worth reporting!

The result of me checking to see if my camera timer was working. Apparently, it was.

Sidenote: I noticed that this page has now gotten over 25,000 visits. Thank you all for keeping up with me!

Take care,


Sam