MEMPHIS SHOUT OUT

When I went to Memphis recently I got to see some good friends I have there, the Barrons.  I used to be in their bookstudy group (back when we had them), and they've continued to be a big support as I moved to Spanish Cong and then Nicaragua.  Even though we only see each other about once a year now, we can just pick right back up like it was yesterday, and I love that about them.  The dad, Bruce, is Zimbabwean and the rest of the family is South African, so when I visit they always serve me my favorite....South African curry!  It's like a saucy beef stew served over rice with coconut, banana, spicy preserved limes, and mango chutney on top.  Heaven!  And check out these good-looking kids of theirs Tayla and Ross.  When I first met them they were 5 and 7 and look at them now!  I could tell you some stories about these two trouble-makers....

Just want to give a shout-out to all my Memphians who helped make my trip home a great one....Brenna, Flecky, Summer Spanish, Northeast, and my favorite twins Sarah and Laura!  I even got to see my old duplex and the cutest little couple living in it now sent from Couples School to help the French Group. 

LIVING THE YEARBOOK

We often joke here appreciatively that we are literally living the Yearbook because we are fortunate enough to serve in a place with amazing experiences on a fairly regular basis.  This is a long post, but I know these experiences encourage all of us, so I wanted to share a couple with you that have recently happened to me.

I've started to do business territory with a missionary sister on Thursday mornings.  It's a new field for me, and frankly, I've been really intimidated because we're not just trying to reach the owners of little Nica pulperias, we're trying to reach bank and university presidents!  It's been surprising, though, how many of them not just take the mags each month but set aside a few minutes to study each week!

So a couple weeks ago we're trying to reach the president of a national bank for his weekly study when his assistant, Ana, comes out to apologize and say he won't be able to study this week but we're welcome to leave something for him.  Well, our directions from the branch are clear that if we leave literature, it must be in a sealed envelope, and we didn't have one with us, so my partner explained we'd just come back next week for him.  Well, Ana is still standing there looking  like she wants to say something and finally squeaks out really embarrassed, "You don't even have anything for me?".  She added that she knows we drop off the mags to her boss because when he finishes, he always gives her the copies, and she and her hubby read them together with their Bible.  So we gave her the mags for this month and she added she specifically wants to read about the family since she has two small children.  The next week we came with a packet for her with lots of magazines on the family and a Bible Teach book.  She said her husband used to study and liked it but had to stop when he started working.  She adds, "Do you accept visitors at your church?  Because we really feel the need to be meeting with someone, and your church is only two blocks from my house."  Thankfully, she lives in the territory of my partner so (after we picked our chins up off the floor), they exchanged information to follow up on Sundays when they're as a family (also a meeting day).  

Here's the second experience.  A few months ago a sister from English Cong told me about one of the money collectors on the bus who used to study in Costa Rica and wants to restart.  She wanted me to follow up since I speak Spanish.  No problem, I'm thinking.  Which bus?  Well, the LaVilla/Mercado bus.  But there's about six of them, and she's not sure which one.  Which money collector?  She doesn't know his name, but he's young and caramel-skinned....as they all are.  So I'm thinking that I'm NEVER going to find this individual, but she keeps following up with me, so finally one week we're working the territory near the bus hub when I see a money collector who's friendly with me.  I ask him offhand thinking he's never going to be able to help me, "Is there a relatively new bus collector on this route who's just moved from Costa Rica?"  

"Yes," he tells me, "his name is Yalmer, and he's sitting in that parked bus right there on the other side of the parking lot."

So I go over to the bus and talk to Yalmer saying, "You don't know me, but about a month ago you spoke to a JW and indicated you'd like to study the Bible, is that correct?"

He tells me calm as can be, "Yes, I've been waiting for you."

So we sit in the bus and do a review of the first four chapters of the Bible Teach book--all he's studied so far.  Yalmer not only answered everything correctly but had Bible texts memorized to support his answers.  So I tell him, "Well, that brings us to chapter 5 on the ransom.  How sad I didn't meet you sooner so you could have attended the Memorial with us."

"Oh, I went!" he tells me.  "I had gone in Costa Rica before and knew more or less it was this time of year so was keeping an eye open for invitations.  I saw one for Masaya (a town about 15 minutes from us), so I went there."

So now we study every week in the 30 minutes he has between bus tours, and he's just soaking the information up!  

Now tell me you don't see Jehovah's hand or angelic direction in our work......

PURA VIDA

As we talked about, every 90 days I have to leave Nicaragua to renew my visa.  Because of my location, it's easier to just jump the border to Costa Rica for a bit.  Usually, I come and go in a day and just hang around the border offices, but this last time (mainly because of the troubles I had during my last visa renewal; see here for a recap) I decided to spend some time in CR.

There was a couple, Ron and Chris Carr, who actually met me through this blog, that I stayed with in Grecia.  They came up to Granada during March (I think) for THEIR visa renewal and gave a me big favor by hosting ME while I was in CR.  The best part is that I was able to be there during the English Special Day Assembly in San Jose, and it was amazing.  They had a speaker named Bro.Curry from Panama Branch be the guest speaker, and he was probably one of the best speakers I've ever heard.  There was this talk he gave about the difference between law and principle and what they have to do with the conscience---wow!

The day after, Chris arranged for me to meet some other single need greater sisters around my age and we lived it up in Alajuela.  I was finally able to get decent meeting/service clothes and most of all SHOES!!!  It's so hard to find tasteful dress shoes here.  It's all just sandals or like prom shoes, so I was able to get three pairs in CR.

Overall I have to say I'm happy I didn't spend time in CR until now because, honestly, I may have never left. It is DEFINITELY NOT a developing nation as is Nicaragua.  It is 1st world all the way, and was an excellent break from "roughing it" here.  Here are the highlights:

• using a comforter at night (brrrr it was probably 10 degrees cooler than Granada overall)
• eating strawberries and Cadbury chocolate (found everywhere!)
• being in a house with a front yard
• drinking out of the tap (no parasites there)
• constant water and electricity daily; they only have outages when a pipe bursts or during a storm
• eating Tex-Mex
• meeting new friends :)

Click here for more great photos.

ALL MARY ALL THE TIME

Standard fixtures in any religious procession:  vendors and police

Procession I can see from the balcony of my house

So for the entire month of May I've woken up every morning to bombas.  Bombas are like the boom of firecrackers but without the gratification of a beautiful light show to accompany it.  It's literally just a way to make A LOT of unnecessary noise.  Why the bombas?  Well, as it turns out May is Maria Auxiliadora's month so it must be celebrated.

Maria Auxiliadora is to Nicaraguans as Maria Guadalupe is to Mexicans.  She's supposedly the TRUE Mary.  It's interesting to note that while Catholics universally venerate Mary, they don't all venerate the same Mary.  There's a lot of arguments between them as far as who is the true Mary.  

Catholicism in generally has been interesting to observe here because it's soooo different from the Catholicism I grew up seeing.  I'm from a part of Missouri where everyone is either Catholic or Lutheran but I've never seen the Catholics behave as they do here.  For instance, practically every other month is dedicated to the Virgin Mary including processions, private parties to altars inside each home, and a random truck that comes around in the morning at 4:30 a.m. blasting an "I love Mary" song.  December is especially dedicated to her (yes, her, not Jesus) and her supposed immaculate conception.  The celebration is called La Purisima and specifically includes a practice called La Griteria (literally = the screaming).  Groups of trucks full of people drive around at dawn and yell out, "There's no greater joy than the conception of Maria."  Another practice that's different here is that Catholics have evangelizers too.  They are men specifically appointed in the church mainly to visit other Catholics but occasionally they visit other denominations.  There's also a branch of the church called Catacuminos who are the supposed teachers of the church; they say it's their job to teach other members about the Bible.  What's interesting is that many of them don't believe basic Catholic doctrine such as the veneration of idols or the Trinity but feel it's their job to reform the church.  Whew!  They've got a big job ahead of them.

It's also been interesting to see how often these supposed religious celebrations here are so tainted.  For instance, in the procession I photographed above, one of the band members had a beer in his hand.  It's common during Maria Auxiliadora month to have the gay community prepare the Maria altars for the processions.  And you should see how the women dress to follow the processions; it's more like they're trolling for men than honoring a saint.  After every religious service as the congregation lets out they're greeted with tons of vendors selling everything from idols to food to photographs.  It makes me think of Jesus with the vendors in the temple.

Anyway, I just think it's interesting to see that this religion whose name literally means "universal" has become really so divided instead of united as their name suggests.