Round Worms, Mouldy Potatoes and Beggars!

A local needs talk in our Spanish Congregation was very encouraging to us this week. The local congregation has 76 publishers, one elder (a missionary) and a MS that they borrowed from another hall. They have 136 studies. Their average hours are 22. The local need was for them to make the time to get back to RV’s as many who have interest are not being cared for. What a need! As many in the hall work 6 days a week, there are a number of well supported evening groups. Talk about appreciation!

Sunday, after our English meeting (in which a Missionary Brother gave an awesome talk on Love) a group of 9 of us went for Pizza and then walked into the territory to complete the area as there were many calls that were Sunday only. Generally by the time we have sweated through a meeting we are not in the mood to walk in the heat into the territory, especially since we are hungry. So we put forward special effort this week and treated ourselves to lunch out and then hit the road. It was very rewarding! There was a festival in town and we saw a number of groups of men sitting around drinking, literally gallons of deadly moonshine. It was really interesting to see. When life is so hard, an occasion to be wild is eagerly taken! We walked by one “house” that was simply corrugated steel sheets leaning up against each other. Music was blaring from within and from the “kitchen” area was the smoke from a smoldering fire. I thought, what do you do, get up and clean the house? Take your clean clothes out of a closet (they are usually clean looking people) and shower? Catch one of the chickens to cook up for dinner? This is such a foreign world to me. It’s no wonder they stare at us, we really are aliens to their world. It puts some of my problems into perspective for me.

Debbie is one sister from the States in our group. She is in her 50’s, has fibermyalgia (sp?) and is very classy. Not someone you would expect to see sweating it out in the dirt in Nicaragua. She is a real hoot and was telling me that she had literally melted a pair of sandals here. From walking and the heat, the soft plastic bottom had become all misshapen and were no longer usable. She runs a boutique back in the States selling high end bits and pieces. Her first grandchild was just born this February (she went home to visit). And yet here she is limping along (literally) in service with the rest of us. Keeping us in stitches with her humor and stories (like when she was having a bad day and yelled at the annoying aggressive beggar lady in town. She meant to yell at her “never (nunca)” but instead yelled “neck, neck neck (nuca)! To which the beggar lady apparently yelled back at the top of her lungs “neck neck neck! What a spectacle).

Some good news is that I have found my chin! It turns out it had been there the whole time, just hidden :) We have run out of food as life was really hectic last week so we have been eating some very weird combinations and concoctions! And the kittens have been drinking all our milk. Gary was complaining this morning, as he boiled a shriveled up potato for breakfast, that the kittens are getting tuna while we are eating scraps! Hehehe!

Speaking of kittens, we dewormed them again this week and I got to see my first round worm!!!! I’m still trying to get past it!!

One week and we move….lots to do this week to get prepared. Four of Gary’s bible studies came to the meeting on Sunday and two have asked to study twice a week! We continue on an emotional rollercoaster but know that it is only to be expected. Onward…….