I couldn’t choose between the two above titles, so I went ahead with both. The first one is a wonderful experience that was worth the sore feet. The second one is a disgusting, horrendous event that I am glad I did not witness, even though my wife was put into harm’s way, so to speak.
“Sore Feet in Paradise”
A few weeks ago, in an attempt to cover our territory well with the tract campaign, we got a group of about 20 or so and took a bus to a place called La Solera. When we arrived at about 9am, we were told that the bus would depart for home at 2pm, and that we had better be on it. Then, we dispersed. Marlene and I were assigned to a group with 6 others to hit a part of the territory called “El Alquinal”. I’m not sure what it translates to, exactly, but it has something to do with an incline or something. And if it doesn’t, it should. We started off on a VERY steep walk for about an hour and a half, and we would go through patches where we would have to practically pull ourselves higher up by grabbing onto branches or roots. At the time, in the hot sun, with my water bottle quickly running low and my butter cookies nothing but a memory, I was badly wishing for a horse. But, at that angle, I’m not sure if I could have stayed on one. (When we were being assigned, no one wanted to go to El Alquinal, for some reason. Miriam, the German sister who is tougher than nails, told me, “No one can do it. It’s too hard, physically.” This, of course, prompted me to say, “I can do it! Let’s go!” So I volunteered Marlene, the Japanese brother Sumitaka, who unfortunately could not understand what I was getting him into, and the other two Japanese sisters).
At first, it was somewhat entertaining, as Sumitaka and the Japanese sisters had me going back and forth calling them insults in Japanese without me knowing what I was saying. I was sent by Sumitaka to Shigemi and told her, “Urusai, uza ushi”, which basically means “Shut up you demented cow”. It does sound quite crude and forceful in English, but perhaps it is less stinging in Japanese. Kind of how “stupid” in English is no big deal, but if you call someone stupid in Spanish you are liable to be slapped. On second thought, however, it probably is just as crude and forceful in Japanese, judging by the sister’s expression once I said it. Once she realized I didn’t know what I had said, she started laughing, which got everyone else laughing. But that was quickly put to an end, once we saw how little oxygen we had left, and how hard the climb was. The rest of the climb was either silent or filled with dire predictions of collapse and eventual death.
Once we got to the top, however, it was a completely different story. The air was crisp and clean, the sky was blue, there were fields of tall grass and bubbling brooks to cross over. It was very, very beautiful. At one point you could see the ocean beyond the mountain range and, in another direction, the peaks of the twin volcanoes on Ometepe island. It was gorgeous! 
And the people that live up there are very hospitable and receptive, as well. Since we had to be back by 2pm, unfortunately, we couldn’t stay and talk long, but we had a couple of good conversations. (I asked Everet when we could go back to follow up on the interest, and he didn’t know. This was the second time Miriam had been up that high in the last 6 years.) 
One particular visit stood out a bit. As we walked down the trail, Miriam pointed out a small church and said that the pastor lived behind there. No one else wanted to go so I volunteered myself and Marlene. We went up to the pastor, who was sitting out on his porch with an enormous baby boy, and we got into a good conversation about what happens at death. I read him a few scriptures, and he asked if I could give him a Bible, as he didn’t have one. (Yes, he is a pastor without even a Bible!) I actually had one with me, in my backpack, but I told him perhaps another day. I just had a funny feeling about it, since he said he wanted one in order to teach his “flock”, and I felt I would be contributing to false religion in some way. But, upon our return to the group, I asked them about it, and they convinced me that it would be best to give it to him, that he might perhaps see that what the tract says is actually in the Bible, and that perhaps it would move him to preach the truth and receive further help during future visits from Witnesses. So I volunteered Jackson, a brother who was assigned to work with Miriam, to go back with me to the pastor. (Jackson is an unusual name for a Nicaraguan, so I asked him about it. He actually said he was named after Michael Jackson. I asked him to do the moonwalk, and he looked mildly insulted, until I showed him I couldn’t do it either.) So we gave the pastor his bible, and he started flipping through it. Next time we go through there, if we ever do, I will bring a Bible teach book and see what happens.
So we made our way through the rest of El Alquinal, and finally wound our way down through actual rainforest with very dense, vine-covered thick red trees and about 10 small rivers. 
And mud. Lots and lots of mud. We finally made it to the paved road leading back to where we were supposed to meet. At this point, my feet were pretty sore, and I had cut up my Achilles tendon area somewhat, so it hurt to walk. The others weren’t faring too much better either. But what kept us going was that we knew we would soon be sitting in a nice bus, off our feet, with a nice wind in our faces and hair. Unfortunately, when we got to the meeting point, we had missed the bus by about 2 minutes! We were stranded. We just had a good laugh and decided to wait for a “taxi”, which meant just a person with an empty car heading to the “city”. (The “City” is Santa Teresa, which seems like it has about 1000 people, but is much larger than the rural areas).
We ended up finally taking a “taxi”, which at first seemed to be improbable. It was a small car, very barely able to seat 5, and we were 8. But in true Nicaraguan fashion, we all managed to pile in, sitting among twisted limbs. We got on our way, and about 10 minutes later, we pulled over. “What in the world is he doing?” I asked. There was a woman on the side of the road, needing a ride to the “city”. I laughed and muttered, “Doesn’t she see that we are crammed like sardines in here? Jackson practically has his butt hanging out the window, and she thinks she can get a ride?” But, amazingly, the driver said, “Go ahead, I’m opening the trunk.” I just gasped, and saw as she pulled open the trunk, sat on the frame, and held on to the trunk-lid for dear life. We took some hairpin turns, and I kept expecting her to fall off and roll down the mountainside. It was really weird.
Unfortunately, I had to take the next couple of days off from service because my feet were pretty much cut up, but I am now good as new and back in the saddle.
“Out of the Mouth of Babes”
The day after our trek through the rainforest mountain, I stayed home because of my sore feet and I figured I could get some secular work done. What I didn’t expect was to dodge a bullet as well. A very nasty, slimy, disgusting bullet.
When Marlene arrived from service, she walked in and immediately got in the shower. This is not unusual, as we do this whenever we get back from service (it is so stinking hot that we immediately take our now-friendly cold shower and change into some shorts and a light shirt). After her shower, she proceeded to explain that she had had a wonderful day in service, had crossed a few rivers in her bare feet, all the things that are now usual in our day to day lives. Then, she explained the “Roberto” situation.
Roberto is a very nice, chubby, and cute little 10 year old boy. He always smiles and takes it upon himself to invite us over for dinner from time to time. His mother is a single sister raising him and his two sisters, and she has done a very good job raising them in the truth. We have played Monopoly with them a few times and enjoyed other evenings with them. Roberto, however, has a very peculiar problem. When he eats a lot, he tends to throw it all up. (Hence the title of this section of the blog.)
I’m not talking about an eating disorder or anything. I suspect he has acid reflux, or perhaps gastroesophageal reflux disease, and just doesn’t know it.
Anyway, as Marlene explained it to me, they were up in the mountainside, and they all decided to sit in the grass under the shade of some nice trees and eat some lunch. Eduardo, Roberto’s cousin, had brought along a very large meal consisting of tortillas, rice, beans, and several “soy-meat” steaks. Why anyone would eat soy-meat is beyond me, but I have heard that it is quite common. So this kid shovels it all in, rubs his full belly and smiles, satisfied.
Then they decide to get in the car with Everet, Silvia, Marlene, and Emily. (Everet has a car and often takes it with him, giving a ride to whoever can fit. On this particular occasion, Eduardo and Roberto were going to take the bus back, but Marlene and Silvia insisted they ride back with them.) So, in order to keep the three sisters comfortable in the back, Eduardo sits in the front seat with little Roberto on his lap, enjoying the ride. As they draw near to Santa Teresa, however, Roberto has that familiar feeling of his lunch deciding to leave his stomach the way it came in, and he puts his hand over his mouth. Eduardo notices this and begins to tell Everet, but all Roberto can do at this point is point his head in the general direction of the open window. This resulted in not getting the entire car horribly soiled, but it unfortunately also resulted in the wind flinging a lot of his vomit into Silvia’s face and Marlene’s shoulder. (Marlene got off really easy). Later, when I inquired of Silvia about it (trying to keep a straight face but not succeeding), she initially thought that a bird had pooped into the car somehow, and that it had landed on her face. As she smeared it away, however, she could see that it contained rice and soy-meat, and started to cry out in shock and horror.
They pulled over and Roberto sheepishly tried to clean some of the mess off his shirt and off his cousin. His cousin got drenched.
Silvia and Everet cleaned the car as best they could afterwards. Later that day, they invited us to go to Jinotepe with them, and I said, “Okay, but let’s take the bus, all right?” (I’ve heard that puke-smell is notoriously hard to get out.) So we took the bus. Later on Roberto called Sylvia and apologized for throwing up in her car and on her face, although we suspect that his mother, terribly embarrassed, made him make the call.
SERVICE
As far as service is concerned, we are actually very relieved that the campaign is over. We truly enjoyed it, but Marlene and I had not had a chance to do any real return visits or cultivate interest and start some studies. I have, at this time, 8 studies and quite a few very promising return visits, which I’m sure will study, and one older man, a shoemaker, who is already studying without knowing he is studying. There is one, however, that was a bit frustrating for me. He is an evangelical who fiercely believes that all good people will go to heaven, and that all bad people will go to hell. He is the owner of the hardware store I told you about previously. We reasoned with him quite a bit, showing scriptures involving the 144,000, what they do there, why they go to heaven, and what the hope is for the majority of God’s people. He has admitted that Lazarus in the parable of the “Rich man and Lazarus” could not have been in Heaven (John 3:13). But he still didn’t want to reason; saying that Lazarus must have been in a different dimension or something. He actually tried to get me to watch a video entitled “Invited to Heaven”, from his pastor. This, and other little things, have convinced me that he is not really trying to find out the truth, but is instead trying to teach me his beliefs. So I decided to not continue the study with him. If he had accepted even one Bible scripture that we reviewed, I would have continued. But every single scripture that contradicts what he believes, he ignores. He even told me that it’s stupid to pay attention to the so-called “Old Testament” since it has no bearing on anything anymore. (I got a little upset at this and prayed to Jehovah to help me keep calm, which he did, thankfully.) When I explained to him with 2 Timothy 3:15,16 and Romans 15:4 that all scripture is beneficial, he started getting loud and obnoxious. So, either this is not the right time for him, or he is not correctly disposed, but time will tell. But our time is way too precious to waste on someone that just wants to argue. A couple of times he has stopped me on the street, trying to pawn off one of his religious videos on me, but I’ve become quite firm with him lately, and so I think he won’t be doing it anymore, hopefully.
Other than that, service has been very much the usual. We are finding people that are interested in the Bible every day, and we are finding many that have a good, basic knowledge of a lot of Bible teachings. The hard part is actually figuring out whether they are humble and if they are willing to apply what the Bible says, especially what it says regarding meeting together.
One thing that is amusing and somewhat frustrating, at times, are the evangelical “preachers”. They have taken to trying to imitate us. They will go out two by two, dressed nicely, with their Bibles in their hands and with tracts in little cases. Sometimes you will see a couple and a child preaching in the streets. I suppose they might go door to door, but I’ve only seen them walking in the street. It’s a little bit frustrating because you start to think that Witnesses might not be seen as something special in the eyes of the neighborhood, or that we might just be one of many who seemingly do the same thing. But that frustration doesn’t last once you actually talk to the householder. They never ask us what religion we are because they already know, so there must be something about us that is different in their eyes. Also, when you actually start teaching them, they can tell we are very different. For example, at one study that we have, when I mentioned that we are all sinners, the wife said, “It’s so refreshing to hear you say that. The evangelicals say that they don’t have any sin anymore.” I then read to her 1 John 1:8, which says “If we make the statement: ‘We have no sin’, we are misleading ourselves and the truth is not in us.” They smiled when they heard that. Also, the evangelicals, as I’ve mentioned before, get smashing drunk on the weekend just like everyone else. And another thing is that they might preach, but they don’t last. No one ever sees the same person or same couple preaching. I think it’s some sort of thing that only new ones do for a few days or weeks and then they stop.
THE DISTRICT CONVENTIONS
I say conventions, in plural, because we had to go to 3 different conventions the last 3 weeks. As I mentioned in the last post, I had the privilege of having an interview during the Friday morning session. Happily, Marlene also was asked to be included (She did fantastic! I think her Spanish is getting a lot more conversational, although she doesn’t think so.). The thing is, though, that we had to give it at 3 different conventions. I’m not sure exactly why, but I think it’s because there might not be enough brothers to handle the talk that includes the interview, so they assigned the brother, and therefore the interviewees, to three different ones. The convention that our congregation was assigned to, however, was the last one, December 12-14, so we got in a bit of practice before that one. 
Also, these last three weeks have been quite costly for us, because after each time we’ve been to Ticuantepe, we (Us and the Lau’s) have gone to Managua to eat. The first time was a wonderful reunion with McDonalds, where I almost cried from sheer joy. (I was no longer a big fan before we left the States, what with that bloated, brick-in-your-belly feeling you get courtesy of Mickey D’s, but after 2 months of eating rice, beans, and chicken, you start yearning for that fat greasy Quarter Pounder, believe me!) The other occasions we’ve experimented with a Mexican restaurant, an American ribs place, and a couple of other restaurants and, while our tummies were blessedly full, our wallets weren’t. It’s amazing how much money you can spend if you really want to!!
We even got to see a couple of good movies, and instead of paying the $10 ticket plus the $35 popcorn/coke combo, the tickets are about $3 each and the food is dirt cheap. The weird thing with the theaters, though, is that they run the current movies and they also run movies that we saw about 10 years ago, all in the same mega-plex stadium seating theater (“Coming Soon! Sleepless in Seattle!”). And, for some reason, we got to see “The Day the Earth Stood Still” one day before it came out in the States. We don’t know how it happened, but whenever we ask why something happens, we always get the same response, “This is Nicaragua!” Ah yes, the land where you either get chased down the street by mask-wearing machete wielders or get to see blockbuster movies before those Imperialist Americans do! (More on the mask-wearing machete wielders below.)
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE MANAGUA
Some of you might have heard of the recent trouble in Managua. They had some elections about a month ago for the mayors of each town, and the winning party was accused of rigging the elections and throwing away thousands of ballots that had been cast for the eventual loser. We have no idea if this is true, and we really don’t care one way or another, of course, but it got a little hairy for a while. There were busloads of political activists going from all over to Managua, but not really to “activate”, or whatever it is that they do normally. They were armed with machetes that were supposedly given to them from the government (this was suggested because some of the friends saw on T.V. that the “activists” had new, shiny machetes, and so they concluded that “the government must have handed those new machetes to them! No one has shiny machetes!”) and went up to Managua, where they all started rioting with masks on their faces and one reporter either got stabbed and injured or stabbed and killed. We have heard that others have been injured and/or killed, although we can’t corroborate any of it, because every time I turn on the news they are talking about the latest soap operas or I get too tired of the Spanish and switch the channel. (Yes, I know I was raised in Spanish, but it is just very strange, and I have a very low tolerance for it. We actually have cable, and CNN is on a lot, but they haven’t run anything on it as far as I know).
Anyway, the good thing is that it is now completely over, and none of it ever reached here to our little town. Probably because the entire town seems to be allied with the winning party, and so no fights broke out.
As far as our daily life goes, it continues much the same. We are very busy and our routine is much more stable now. Almost TOO stable. Some of you know that I’m not a big fan of routine, and so I get a little stir-crazy sometimes and I need a breath of air once in a while. But the conventions, with theaters and good restaurants nearby, did the trick. 
We are also looking forward very much to my parents visiting in late January, as that will be a break from the routine and we can go and have some fun. After that, when I get really bored again, it will be time for the circuit overseer’s visit, and then after that the Memorial season, and then after that who knows. Time is really flying by for us, and we are still having a blast. We haven’t gotten sick yet, and so we are hoping that stays the same as well. And we are very, very thankful that we have cable TV, which means we get ABC, NBC, FOX, CNN, and other american channels. We’re much too busy to watch a lot of TV, but we like to occasionally get our fix.
Well, this is it for now. You might have realized that I am not writing as often anymore, and that’s not because we are too busy or because we don’t have time. I love writing to you all and letting you have a glimpse of life here. It’s just that lately, there hasn’t been anything really out of the ordinary that has happened. You can only read so many times about us crossing rivers in our preaching campaign, or how I long to keep a horse in the house, or how we chase the monkeys from tree to tree trying to get a good picture. So, when something out of the ordinary happens, I will write. I expect that my posts will be once or twice a month, but I will let you all know as I post them, as I have been doing up to now. Of course, if any of you have any questions or would like to make a comment on anything, you can e-mail us or give us a call.
Stay safe, take care of each other, and keep serving Jehovah faithfully. We will try our best to do the same!
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