GOODBYE GRANADA ESTE

Well, it's official....Granada Este is no more :(  but for a good reason!  Between us and our sister congregation Granada Norte, we had enough publishers to make a 3rd congregation, so the divisions began and the name changing started as follows:

1.  Bartolome--new congregation

2.  La Villa--former Granada Este

3.  Pan Casan--former Granada Norte

Each congregation has between 60-70 publishers and 2-3 elders.  You know the most exciting part?  Each congregation has reported increased attendance since the split!  Looks like Jehovah is certainly blessing the work in Granada :)

The night the list went on the info board of who would be in each congregation.  Many tears that night as teachers found out they'd be in a different territory from their progressive students and long-time friends would be separated after years together.

Number 11 Alixe and Pilar at their last meeting together.  They're called that because they're always together and they're both so skinny it looks like the number 11 walking towards you.

 We got to do one last shabang as a congregation, though.  Many members of Este and Norte were invited to participate in the drama at this year's District Convention.  Our final performance fell the weekend right before the split.  I had the privilege of participating for the first time!  I worked with a couple other sisters in costuming coming up with how we wanted each character to look and then putting that into action.  Jehovah made it so easy for us through use of the excellent illustrations in his publications.  We had a blast!

Pilar (Queen Ester) and I right before her performance.  What a beautiful queen she made!  She was the perfect choice because she's often reminded me of Queen Ester.  Beautiful both inside and out.

Mission accomplished!

EL SALVADOR

August 30-September 1 my roommate and I traveled with Granada English congregation and visited San Salvador, El Salvador for the "God's Word is Truth" District Convention.  I wanted to share some of the highlights with you.  First time in El Salvador.  And the convention was made up of English speakers (some serving in English congregations other whose first language is English) from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

mmmm sweaters and scarves! A.C. bus trip for about 14 hours

This was the sight that welcomed us in San Salvador. They even had brothers waiting to take us to our hotels and home stays.   They took such good care of us!

Me with one of the new releases.  Don't mind my crazy friend Jim in the background.

Saturday night we went out for the El Salvadorian national food pupusas.  They were worth the wait.  Imagine warm tortillas filled with goodies like squash, pork rinds, cheese, beans etc.  Yum!

David, Shaylita, and Shayla.  David picked Shelina and I up the first day and gave us a little tour of San Salvador.  Then his family took us out to eat Saturday night.  Sweetest family ever!

Some sisters from one of the English congregations in El Salvador came in native dress on Saturday

What did I most take away from our trip?  Hospitality.  I kid you not when I say the El Salvadorian brothers bent over backwards spending time and money to make us feel comfortable during our time there.  We had an experience Sunday evening that showed us that what we Americans consider hospitality is a poor man's excuse.  These friends have a percentage financially of what we do and yet were offering absolutely everything they had to us.  I think the brothers' attitude there can be summed up by what Bro.Jorge (baptized only a month) told us Sunday night:

"I want to learn English.  Before, it was to be better equipped at my job.  But now, I see there are so many English speakers in Jehovah's organization!  If I don't know English, how will I know how to help them?!"

It was also amazing to me how timely Jehovah's information always is for us.  The assembly really focused on the confidence we have that Jehovah is always there for us even during really difficult trials.  Some of our brothers were facing challenging circumstances leading up to and during the convention, and I know the information presented was a comfort to them.