I know that the title of this post makes no sense to you yet, but I promise you it will. Just be patient!
First, let me get you up to speed on our latest extremely busy month. Extremely busy and extremely fun. First an exciting account concerning a visit from Briana and her friends, in which we make wonderful new friends and in which Marlene almost gets attacked by a hemorrhoid-infested monkey!
A NICE VISIT FROM SOME GREAT FRIENDS
We had been looking forward very much to a visit from Briana, a very good friend from Chicago, since we received an email from her in February telling us that she had bought a plane ticket and was coming.
A little while later, she e-mailed again and said that her roommate, Ashley, was coming along, and would that be all right? “Of course,” we said. Then she wrote again, saying that another sister, Tahlia, was coming along as well, and was that okay? “Sure!” We exclaimed. And then, another email telling us that another sister, Lidia, wanted to come as well. Of course we agreed, and suggested that she might want to announce the Nicaragua Adventure Tour on the bulletin board in her Kingdom Hall and take names.
Since there were now 4 of them, we decided to book them a room in a local hostel in Jinotepe, which turned out to be a great deal for them and also very convenient.
The day they were set to arrive, Briana called at about 6:30am to warn us that there was a blizzard in Chicago and that she wasn’t sure if they would make it that day after all. It was very strange, thinking that it was actually cold in some other place of the world.
We had a good idea, though, that there wouldn’t be any problems and so we set out for Managua after the meeting that morning. The Lau’s were very kind and drove us up there, and we spent the day kind of lazing around the malls and eating a couple of times. Finally it was time to meet the girls at the airport.
Lidia was supposed to arrive on an earlier flight than the rest, so we had an eye out for her first. We didn’t know what she looked like, though, but we knew she was a Mexican sister. It was a little hard to single out a hispanic-looking sister in an airport in Central America, but a few kind of fit the description. Marlene would shout out “Lidia! Hey, Lidia!” a couple of times, however, and would receive puzzled looks in return.
Finally, after not too much of a wait, we got them all in safely and rented a car without incident. It was a pretty late night so it was basically just getting them checked in with a promise to get them the following morning for service. Briana, however, gave us a suitcase full of goodies from back home. Which were EXTREMELY appreciated. 2 giant bags of Laffy Taffy and 3 big boxes of Milk Duds! Unfortunately, the Laffy Taffy is now gone and the Milk Duds have a good 4 or 5 days left. I really need to be more balanced! Seriously. When I break open that Milk Duds box, it is not safe to be within a 5 foot radius of my mouth.
Marlene got some cool gifts as well. Some Snickers and Milky Ways from the girls, and her brother sent some shoes and movies to Briana to bring down to us. Those were a nice surprise, since they are very much needed here.
The first morning in Nicaragua for the girls was spent in field service. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go since I was pretty swamped with work that morning (Mondays are my work days), but they said that it was a wonderful experience. They did quite a bit of walking and rode part of the way on an oxcart. They really liked that part.
You might remember that our doggies were near death with some nasty fungus thing. Well, at least that is how the “vet” put it. That Monday, since we had a car now thanks to Briana, we decided to take the pups to a real veterinarian in Managua. Immediately upon walking in we were pleasantly surprised. You couldn’t tell the difference from a good vet back in the States, except for the Spanish of course. The vet, whose name is Clarissa, was actually recommended to us by a very kind sister at Bethel, and she was right to do so. She was very professional and told us off the bat that the dogs actually never had “fungus”, like our farmhand/vet from Teresa told us. Surprise, surprise. . . .They actually had some bacteria that some medication would take care of. She gave us a very strict regimen to put them on, and almost immediately it worked. They still occasionally chew on their paws, which we asked her about, and she said that they have very dry skin and she could tell from their paws that they had serious vitamin D deficiencies due to lack of sunlight, which leads to cracked and weak skin on their paws. Poor doggies. We really haven’t been taking them out for walks because the streets are filthy with dog and horse poo, not to mention oil and dirt, and there are no places in our Teresa Shoe-box for them to get some sun. But we assured her that we were soon moving and that they would be getting plenty of sun. Hopefully that will work out.
Afterwards we stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Managua. The food was so-so but the conversation and association were excellent and we were able to get to know the other sisters better. Lidia is a very nice and funny sister who used to be in the Spanish back home but switched to English a few years ago. Her husband was very kind in lending her to us for the week. Ashley was Briana’s roommate before Briana decided to move to the actual city of Chicago. She cracked me up so many times during her visit. Sometimes, even now, I’ll be walking down the street and think of something she did or said and I’ll just laugh. Tahlia is a very sweet and kind sister who is studying to be an EMT and likes to travel. She is very creative and left us a bunch of money folded up in little cool shapes. We almost didn’t want to unfold them to use them, but of course we did. And Briana, well, we already know her very well. She has been Marlene’s friend since forever (Marlene actually studied with her way back when), but I really got to know her better a few years ago. She is a really great friend and we were so thrilled that she could come and visit.
The picture below is of our four visitors. From left to right, they are Ashley, Lidia, Tahlia and Briana.
A few days after they arrived, we took the girls to Granada. It was a bit hotter than we remembered, but this time of year is the hottest no matter where in the country you are. We had planned the trip, but we asked the girls if they wanted to take a canopy tour, which is a thing where you go zip-lining from tree to tree down the side of a volcano. It is something that Marlene and I have wanted to do for a long while, and the sisters agreed enthusiastically. They all had quite an adventurous spirit, which made the trip a lot more fun. Lidia was a little hesitant at first, but even that made everything more fun since it was so funny to see her progress from terror to eventual acceptance. 
When we got to the volcano, we immediately felt how much cooler it was than Granada. It must have been 70. And it was very beautiful. Although it is the dry season, there was still a ton of green trees and vegetation, and the 15 platforms were actually all suspended over coffee plantations. At one point we could hear the distant growls of howler monkeys, and we saw them on our way back down to the main road later.
We got our gear on, which I think made us all look like coal miners, and were instructed on how to hold ourselves while on the lines. It was a lot of fun. After a few normal trips, we went across the lines upside down and horizontally like Superman. On one line, Briana finally got the courage to go over hanging upside down, but got a small branch in the face when she started off. It was hilarious.
The last line was very steep and instead of swinging over to another tree platform, it ended on the actual ground. Marlene went first, not really sure what to expect. As soon as she pushed off the platform, though, the guy on the other end, one of the guides, started pulling like a crazy man on the line, making her bounce all over the place wildly. It was for dramatic effect, and it made it all a lot more fun. I thought a couple of the girls were going to hit the ground a couple of times, but of course no one did.
After the canopy tour, we went on a quick boat trip through the Isletas, over to monkey island. We had brought a few bananas along and everyone had a lot of fun throwing them to the monkeys. I always like going out on that water, it is very relaxing and peaceful. It is cool, too, because it is so different from anything else in Nicaragua. 
It was on our way out of Granada when Marlene was almost savagely attacked by the hemorrhoid-infested monkey. Well, maybe not savagely attacked, but she could have been messed up big time.
You might remember from a previous post about this monkey that is tied to a tree in a restaurant parking lot. He is obviously someone’s pet, and he stole Marlene’s lolly pop on one occasion a couple of months ago. Anyway, we wanted the girls to see him so we went there, and there he was, tied up and sitting in a tree branch. We all took turns trying to get him to climb up on us or wrap his hands around us or something. And he did, for the most part. And then we wanted to give him something to eat for his trouble, and Tahlia had this nutri-grain nut bar thing that was still wrapped. The monkey immediately saw it and wanted it, of course. Marlene, however, still wanted Curious George to give us hugs, so she put the nutri-bar inside Tahlia’s strap on her top, to lure him. Well it did, and he promptly took the wrapped bar and climbed up the tree. (Man, that monkey is really cold. And selfish. Once he gets what he wants, he kicks you to the curb. I really thought he was cute at first, but he is so “me-me-me”.)
But anyway, he climbs up there and is tearing at it with his sharp teeth, and Marlene looks up at him and says something like “Aw, he can’t get it open. He needs someone to open that package up for him, or he will choke and die on the wrapper!”
So she proceeds to half-climb up the tree and is reaching for the bar that this frenzied monkey with huge hemorrhoids is tearing at (hey, I didn’t look for them. . .he just climbed up the tree and gave us all a show). Anyway, Briana and me start yelling at her to come down, that she is crazy. She keeps at it, though, and then we start getting a little upset at her and start yelling a bit louder. Finally she came down. It is hilarious in retrospect, but seriously, if she would have touched that bar, what do you think would have happened? This is a wild animal, right? Would the monkey have said, “Oh, why thank you Madam, so kind, so kind!” I don’t think so. I think there would have been a lot of anger and someone would have had a majorly scratched up and/or eaten up face. Am I right? But thankfully that didn’t happen and we all really enjoyed the whole Granada trip.
Later on Ashley, Tahlia, Briana and Lidia got to experience a meeting Nicaraguan style. Everything was going perfectly well during the Theocratic Ministry School until, of course, all of the lights went out. No problem. Someone was prepared and a flashlight soon came on. Frank, the school overseer, stood over the sisters with the flashlight on the notes and they continued giving their talk. Afterwards everyone clapped for them being such good sports. And thankfully, as soon as the school was over, the electricity came back on and the meeting concluded normally.
We also got to visit Bethel that day and the girls really enjoyed it. They got the tour and got to meet a really cool missionary couple who are serving in the country, but I don't remember where exactly.
The following day, Friday, we finally went to the Montelimar beach resort. Marlene and I have heard about it a million times and everyone has told us to go there, it’s the best, and we were thinking that it was just so overhyped and it wouldn’t be as good as everyone says it is. But with the girls visiting, it was a good excuse to go, and it was definitely worth it! There is an entrance fee for the day, and it includes breakfast and lunch, all you can eat at their restaurant/buffet, and free drinks (even alcohol) and snacks all day, with use of their pool and beach. After a great breakfast of eggs, sausage, pancakes, fruit, potatoes, bacon, really good coffee, and a ton of other things, we went into the ocean and spent a few hours getting knocked over by the ocean waves. It was a ton of fun. Ashley, however, had this thing where she would come out of the ocean and spit out water like a fountain with her eyes closed. I didn’t mind at all until I was unfortunately standing right in front of her one time and got a full stream of salt water and Ashley Spit right in the face. (I told her “That is SO going on my blog!”)
All in all, it was a great day. The pool there is gigantic. For lunch we had really good cuts of steak, greek potatoes, pork chops, chicken, ice cream, fruit, flan, and a ton else. I really probably ate way too much. It’s like your mentality is “Well, I want to get my money’s worth” and so you just stuff yourself. I felt ashamed of myself afterwards. It was really a fleeting joy, and just left me feeling dirty afterwards. I gobbled up ice cream at one point, and pulled the plate full of flan in front of me and looked down at it, and I thought I was going to be sick. And I love flan. But I couldn’t even look at it.
After lunch we went back into the ocean, and then played Marco Polo in the pool, although I suspect that Lidia was cheating because she would just kind of squint her eyes, and when she would yell out “Marco!” I wouldn’t say anything and she still knew where I was.
After that I learned how to finally play chess by watching Tahlia and Marlene play on a giant board where the pieces were as big as 5 year old children.
Of course, we continued to eat and drink from the pool bar and finally were able to stuff our packed tummies into the car for the way back. We all got really baked by the sun, and my back and shoulders are still peeling. My face turned red a few days later, for some reason.
The following morning we had the privilege of cleaning the Kingdom Hall, and they got a kick of how we mow the lawn with machetes.
Later that day we had the meeting at La Conquista, where the sisters were able to share some comments they had prepared. They did really, really well!
After that we had a last dinner at Coliseo, the pizza place in Jinotepe, and then went to the hostel they were staying at and played some cards. We learned a new game, Golf, which we shared with the friends after the girls left, and we played one of my favorites, Mafia. I learned during that game that Briana has a very good poker face. I’m not sure if I trust her anymore, though. And I was also surprised to learn that my wife is quite willing to throw me under the bus if she suspects me of murder. She actually pointed at my face across the room and shouted “He did it! Trust me! It’s him!” Hmm, there goes my confidence in her if I ever need an alibi for something. (Thanks, honey. At least now I know!)
The next morning it was time for the sisters to go back home. We needed to start out early, since their flight left at 6am and the airport is 1 hour away. Marlene and I set the alarm for 3:45am, but for some reason it didn’t go off. Savannah did, though, and her barking at the door got us up to meet Lau. We quickly dressed and were off.
Tahlia, Ashley, Lidia and Briana got out okay and left us an envelope with very nice notes and some nice gifts. Afterwards I seized my opportunity to go to McDonalds for their greasy brick breakfast that makes you not be hungry for the rest of the day but tastes oh-so-good. I was totally dead the rest of the morning and slept another couple of hours.
We were surprisingly sad to not have the girls around anymore. I say “surprisingly” because we only were able to spend a short and very busy week with them, but we really established friendships with them that I think will last (“that I think will last forever” sounds so corny, but I guess it’s true!).
They were extremely kind and were very spiritually encouraging to be around. A very good example, the way they chose to spend their vacation in such a theocratic way.
It gave us a great boost. The only drawback, however, was that we got majorly homesick after they left. Some of the friends here have told us that it happens. When they get company from the States they get really homesick when the visiting friends leave. I was so jealous that they were going back to Chicago, even with snow and freezing rain. Sometimes you really just miss home. But we quickly kicked into high gear with preparation for the Memorial. All in all it was a perfect week, and we will see them all again in June when we go up to Chicago to visit. Tahlia has promised to make us our favorite desserts. Marlene is looking forward to a nice fudge cake. I’m just really missing some Cherry Garcia or Sarah Lee’s strawberry cheesecake myself.
THE MEMORIAL
The week afterwards was extremely busy. We held the Memorial in three different locations. One in Teresa, one in La Conquista where the group is, and one in El Cacao, where there is actually an old unused Kingdom Hall and five publishers. The cleaning in El Cacao was fun because there is a family of Witnesses living right next door and they have a ton of animals. I cautiously approached a baby cow, about 3 months old, and petted his gigantic forehead. It smelled my hand and I was surprised to have him lick me like a dog. (In this picture, for some reason, I look like I am balding. Don't worry, Mom, I'm not! I think I just put on too much gel that day or something.)
I got to play with a couple of the piglets and Marlene and I got to ride the brother’s horse a little after we were done cleaning. The family also happened to have some nice ripe mangos falling off of a tree, and they were delicious.
Later that day when we got back to Teresa, though, there was no power because some drunk guy had rammed a power pole and knocked it over. So the power was gone all day while they fixed it.
The Memorial was a smashing success all the way around. The congregation had a total of 277 in attendance, although that figure included the ones in el Cacao and la Conquista. We were not expecting hardly anyone at all in El Cacao, but we had 52 attend. Marlene met me there after she dropped off a couple of her studies at the one in La Conquista, and they had, I think about 55 there. We had to hurry back for the Memorial in Teresa after Cacao, and Frank let me borrow his motorcycle for the way back. It was over a dirt, rocky road in the dark, so Marlene was a little nervous sitting on it behind me, but we got there okay. 
The Memorial was really a bittersweet occasion for us at the time. Sweet because of the importance and success of the occasion, but also bitter because we thought it would be our last time at the Kingdom Hall in Teresa. (You remember I told you we were moving in the last post. Well, we did move, but we moved 2 days later than planned and so we were able to get one more meeting squeezed in. We originally were set for moving on Wednesday the 15th, but it actually happened on Friday the 17th.)
THE SPECIAL ASSEMBLY DAY
The weekend after the Memorial was our Assembly day, and we had an assignment to clean the day before, on Saturday. It was pretty standard, just picking up trash, wiping down the chairs, cleaning the bathrooms, etc. The Assembly Hall is on Bethel’s property and is regularly maintained week after week by volunteers, so it was not a lot of work.
During the actual assembly I was assigned to be an attendant backstage, basically telling the participants where to stand, how to hold the microphones, and to tell them if they weren’t dressed appropriately. Thankfully all were. It was really nice to see the brothers and sisters that had parts. They were very nervous but you could tell they really appreciated the privilege they had. It was a great feeling to be able to congratulate and encourage them afterwards on their way back behind the platform.
It was kind of a shock to us, the whole experience, because we realized that we would really miss a lot of the friends. You know how you get used to seeing the same faces in the circuit? You aren’t friends with all of them necessarily, but they are there, they are part of the spiritual paradise that we all enjoy, and we were really starting to get used to seeing them, and so we were a little saddened that we wouldn’t be able to do that anymore. But we exchanged email addresses and phone numbers with quite a few of them.
The following day, Monday night, the congregation threw a going-away party for the Lau’s and us. It was a lot of dancing. Also a lot of tears, for the Lau family. We could really tell that the whole congregation will really miss them. And they have reason to. They have done so much there, they’ve really let themselves be used by Jehovah. When they first arrived there would be about 20 in attendance at the meetings, and now we have attendances in the 90's at times.
During the party one of Marlene’s studies, Eugenia, happened to be in the street and saw us and waved us over. We were able to say good bye to her and she expressed how much she appreciated Marlene’s help.
And now, for the last section of this post, and the most exciting. The move.
You will be shocked.
GOOYCZ WITH A TWIST!
GOOYCZ
What does that mean?
It didn’t mean much to me when I first saw it either. I saw it stenciled on a sign that a brother was holding up while speaking on a stage after a district convention program. It happened a few years ago. Marlene and I were attending an English district convention in Mexico, and we were considering the possibility of serving there eventually in that field. It didn’t work out in the end, but that sign served as a wake-up call of sorts and we have never forgotten it.
The brother held up this sign that read GOOYCZ on it, and nothing else. The talk he gave was part of an orientation meeting for all those that were interested in serving in Mexico English. He eventually revealed during the course of his talk that the sign was an acronym for “Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone”.
The talk was all about how, if your circumstances permitted, you could expand your ministry into avenues that you hadn’t before considered. But in order to do that, you had to get out of your comfort zone.
Back in the States, we certainly had ours. You know the routine. Service on some evenings when you had a study or two, a couple of hours on the weekend, afterwards a nice lunch spent with your friends, go to the meetings and share your comments, go out to eat afterwards, and occasionally take a nice day trip and get to know the friends better. And that is such a great life! And, of course, if you have that life it doesn’t mean you aren’t working hard for Jehovah and giving him your very best. The vast majority of Jehovah’s servants on earth do, within what our circumstances allow. For example, we know that many of you would love to be in our place but you simply can’t. We all have different circumstances. Marlene and I, too, would like to do certain things theocratically that we aren’t able to do, and so we just have to accept that.
However, if you ARE able to expand your ministry, if your circumstances really do allow you to be a regular pioneer, or to serve as a missionary or as a need-greater or as a Bethelite, or to learn a new language and help out in a greater need area in your own territory, then you have to simply get out of your comfort zone in order to achieve that. More self-sacrifice is required. You have to push yourself a bit more and spend even more time and energy in service to Jehovah, and sometimes you just don’t feel like it but you do it anyway.
Well, we recently learned that even though we have moved to a foreign land to serve in a greater need area, we needed to do more. And to do that, we needed to completely shatter our comfort zone. And we have. It is gone. And we are terrified and thrilled at the same time!
Let me explain.
During the last post, I explained to you that we had decided to move to Chontales with the Lau family. We genuinely loved the house there and also the weather. They have a group out there and so it would be a greater need area. And yes, we would have a nice little “support group” in place, since the Lau’s are good friends of ours. There. A nice little comfort zone.
However, it has all changed.
About a month or so ago, when we decided to move to Chontales, I called Bethel to let them know, since they like to know where all the foreigners are at any given time. They were fine with it, so we plowed ahead. Then, however, Bethel asked us if we would consider a different assignment. All they said at first was that they would be fine with us going to Chontales, but if we could, would we like to accept an invitation to serve in Granada?
“Granada?” I asked.
Granada is a beautiful, colonial style city on the shores of Lake Cocibolca, that gigantic lake with the 365 little islands in it that we visit from time to time as tourists. Actually, it is the most tourist-heavy part of Nicaragua, and many say that it is the prettiest, which I happen to agree with. (It has a very “European/Spanish” feel to it, what with all of the architecture from Spain of the 1500's, and all the different nationalities that stream throughout the city.) 
I already knew that they had quite a few strong congregations there and so I didn’t see why they would invite people to serve there. But then they dropped the bombshell.
“It would be in the English field,” they said.
English?
My immediate and total reaction was NO WAY.
Now, Marlene and I love theocratic English. All of our personal study, Watchtower reading, Bible reading, all of it is in English. English touches our hearts and motivates us. But I, for one, don’t relish the thought of preaching in English. That field, to me, is full of people who don’t respect the Bible, doubt even the existence of God, and are very difficult to draw into the truth. (For the record, I may well be completely and totally wrong in my opinion, and I suspect that I am. This is the opinion of someone who has never been in an English congregation and has never done a return visit in English, other than a tiny bit of informal witnessing at work.) And I definitely think that I would sound like a total idiot giving a talk in English.
So, my reaction was NO.
Of course, I didn’t tell them NO. I said, “Well, brother, I understand that it is very expensive to live in Granada. How about we do this? How about we go down and check it out, and if we can find a house that we like and can afford, then we will move there, okay?”
“Okay.”
Later that evening we put it in prayer to Jehovah and told him that if, after our best efforts, we found a house that we liked and could afford, we would do it.
So, we took a day, not even a day really, just a couple of hours. We looked at an overpriced trashy house on the outskirts of the city and at a hotel room that someone was renting out that, while beautiful, didn’t allow dogs.
Oh well. Too bad. At least we gave it a shot!
So I told Bethel “Sorry brother, we tried but it just won’t work with our budget.”
Whew! I thought. That was a close one!
And Bethel smiled and said that was fine, and to let them know if we changed our minds.
So we plugged along and planned our move.
However, I must admit, during the following few weeks my conscience did start to bother me. Had we really given it our “best effort”, like we promised Jehovah? I knew that we hadn’t.
The conversation between Marlene and I started to turn towards it. “I wonder how it would be preaching in English,” we would say. Marlene hasn’t done it in years, and I never have. “I suppose they really do have a need,” we would say, before shaking the thought from our heads and focusing on our move to Chontales.
However, as I mentioned, we had prayed to Jehovah before and we told him that if he wanted us to help out in Granada, to let us know his feelings on the matter in some way.
During Briana’s visit, when we were in Granada, I walked into a tourist office to see if they did the canopy zip-line tour, and I had to wait a few minutes for the person to get off the phone. So I kind of wandered around the office a bit and suddenly saw a phone number on a bulletin board saying, “Homes for rent, plenty to choose from, just call ###-###”
I wrote it down and stuffed it in my wallet, but it was soon forgotten in the midst of our zip-lining fun.
The Friday before the assembly day, however, another opportunity presented itself to investigate Granada.
And Marlene and I were filled with shadowy regret about the way things had been handled. After all, we had come to Nicaragua under the branch’s direction, and to refuse an assignment is not something that we would like to ever do. We felt a tugging on our hearts towards Granada.
We would justify ourselves, saying Granada was too hot, too expensive, too this, too that. And Chontales was cooler, and Lau’s would be there, etc. But the tugging continued.
So we prayed about it again, wanting to see what we should do, and I called the number in my wallet. A real-estate agent answered. I told him that we were interested in finding a house that allows dogs, is in a secure area, close to Central Park, and would be no more than $250. (That is the absolute maximum we could pay for rent.) He told me he didn’t think he had anything that low in rent (Granada really IS expensive - a brother I talked to there says he is renting a ROOM for $300 per month) but that he would take the weekend to look and I could call him again on Monday morning to see if he had found anything.
So the weekend went by very busily, with the cleaning at the assembly hall and the assembly day itself. But the idea of moving to Granada nibbled greedily at the edges of my thoughts the entire weekend.
Monday morning arrived and I called the agent.
“I found one house that might fit what you want. But she doesn’t allow dogs and she wants $400 per month.”
“How does that fit what I want?” I asked him.
“Well, it is close to Central Park, it’s in a secure area, and it is a very nice house. We can talk to her and see if she can bring down the price, because she wants to rent it out and she might lower it if it is unfurnished.” (We didn’t need furnishings, of course.)
So I made plans to meet him in Central Park in a couple of hours.
I didn’t even see the point in Marlene going since it was most likely going to be a wash-out, and she had stuff to do at the house in preparation for our move later that week to Chontales anyway.
So I went on my own. I saw the house, and I really liked it. It is a good deal bigger than the house we had in Teresa. When you first walk in, there is a high, bamboo-cane ceiling with a dark mahogany ceiling fan. There is a walkway outside in the back that leads to the bedrooms that is bordered by a tall ivy-covered wall. There is a good number of windows and cross-ventilation areas, fans, and the master bedroom has A/C. In the back yard there is a nice little garden with ivy-covered walls and bougainvilleas cascading over. The neighborhood itself is pretty mild, about 4 blocks from Central Park (a 5 minute walk) and about a 10 minute walk from Pali, the main grocery store there. It is also about a 10 minute walk to the lake.
So I took a bunch of pictures to show Marlene, and took a look at the contract. It flat out said “No dogs allowed”. The agent told me he might be able to get her to waive that and to lower the rent to $250 unfurnished, and if we were interested, he would talk to her and let us know what she decided.
I went back home, the beginning of excitement building, and showed Marlene the pictures. She liked it and said it was up to me what we do, since she also liked the house in Chontales. I don’t think she wanted to influence me in case I was leaning in one way or the other. My own desire for comfort and stability screamed Chontales, but my conscience and desire to do what Jehovah wanted us to do continued to question me.
So I called the agent and said, “Okay, if you can get her down to $250 and to allow dogs, we will do it.”
He told me he would call me the following day.
That night we went to the going-away party I mentioned earlier. I didn’t feel guilty being there and eating the nice cake that was meant for us (the Lau’s got a nice cake, too), since we really WERE going away, I just wasn’t sure where to yet.
The following morning we decided to go to Granada so that Marlene could look at the house for herself. She was starting to get excited about the possibility as well. She walked through it and she liked it and was willing to go there if I thought it was best for us.
The owner of the house, a lady from the States named Susan, was in Granada and the agent said that he had an appointment to talk to her and would call me in an hour to see what she decided to do. So we walked around Central Park a bit and then went to Tip Top, a very good rotisserie chicken place, to eat lunch and kind of talk about everything. When we sat down to eat, there was a small group of 3 people behind us sitting at their own table talking.
Immediately after I said my prayer for lunch my cell phone rang. I picked it up and it was the agent. He said, “I’ve talked to the owner of the house and I think it will work, but she wants to meet with you.”
“Okay, we’ll be able to do that in a short while, after lunch. Where do you want to meet?” I asked.
“We are at Tip Top,” he said. “Come by when you can.”
A puzzled look came over me and I started looking around. “Well, we are at Tip Top too–“
Then we all suddenly realized that the small group of people behind us was the owner, her husband, and the agent. I hadn’t recognized him when we walked in. After an incredulous laugh, we made arrangements to talk after our meals.
Afterwards we had a very good conversation. The owner had no problems renting to us for the price we wanted, and when we told her that our two doggies were small and very well behaved, she crossed out the “No dogs allowed” clause in the contract without a fuss.
She later told us that she had a good feeling about us when we walked into the restaurant for some reason. (I guess it was a good thing we had come to Granada after service that morning, and we were still dressed in our service clothes.)
She certainly is very accommodating with what we want. Although she is renting it out “unfurnished”, she very quickly agreed to leaving a few things we liked, like a large armoire/dresser thing in the master bedroom, all the fans, some stools around the “breakfast island”, a desk and chair (for work and study), a TV stand, and a couple of other things. She also agreed to install mosquito screens on a couple of windows that don’t have them. She didn’t even want a security deposit, just the first month’s rent and that was it.
So we signed the contract and made arrangements to move in that Friday, a mere 3 days later.
PERCEIVING JEHOVAH’S WILL
Ephesians 5:17 says, “Cease becoming unreasonable, but go on perceiving what the will of Jehovah is.”
Perceiving Jehovah’s will is so much more than merely reading in the Bible or in the Watchtower that he doesn’t like fornication, drunkenness, lying, etc., and then abstaining from those things. Perceiving Jehovah’s will is really feeling what he feels and thinks about the specific decisions that you are making.
The whole plan to move to Chontales wasn’t a wicked decision or anything bad, but it was selfish, really. We wanted to serve in an area that has a greater need than Teresa (and Teresa really is being well taken care of right now), but we also wanted to be in our comfort zone. So we were really putting a limit on what we would do for Jehovah. We were willing to do something, but only if it fit with what we wanted for ourselves.
From the way that we kept being bothered by our decision to not go to Granada, and the way that the house in Granada worked out so well, without any obstacles whatsoever, it just really showed to us what Jehovah’s will for us in this matter was. Something that also proves it to us is the way we feel now about the decision we made. Although we were very sad to tell Lau’s that we wouldn’t be moving to Chontales after all (they were disappointed but were also very positive, encouraging, and happy for us), we feel, I don’t know, lighter. Like a weight is off of our shoulders. We feel very happy and glad that we were obedient and able to accept an assignment from the branch.
As for the Lau family, they are in the United States working and visiting family for the next month and a half. I have a feeling that they will really enjoy their new home in Chontales, and we will be keeping in touch with them regularly.
Now, we have to admit, even at this juncture, that we don’t fully understand the reasoning behind English in Nicaragua. But the truth is, you don’t have to understand the reasoning. Obedience is what Jehovah values. If we see the whole big picture and understand the logic, great. But we don’t always have the whole big picture available to us, right? Whenever I think of this, I always think of the Israelites camping at the Red Sea. They didn’t understand why they should stop and camp in such a dangerous area, with a mountain cutting off one avenue of escape and the sea cutting off the other. But they didn’t see the big picture, they didn’t see what Jehovah saw. Moses didn’t either, but he was obedient and he was rewarded generously for it.
Jehovah, and the organization he uses, see things in a way that is perhaps very different from what we see. They can see the preaching work in its full panorama, where the potential is, where the pockets of urgent need are, and then they see what tools they have, and they use them. That’s all we came down here for, after all. To be tools to be used as Jehovah sees fit. Not for vacation.
Preaching in the English field will be a huge challenge. Giving talks in English is a terror I can’t even imagine yet. But if you remember, the Kingdom Ministry last week talked about how the preaching work can do wonders in developing qualities in us, like humility. I think that this assignment will really teach us a lot and will help us to refine many (although not nearly enough) of the rough edges in our personalities. Also, we are very confident that Jehovah will give us enough holy spirit to be zealous and joyful in our ministry.
Marlene is really excited about this move. She is a little bit afraid, because she is not used to preaching in English, but she is really thrilled with the direction we are going. She is a little bit afraid that she will lose her Spanish, but that is not likely since we are still living in a foreign land and we will have frequent contact with the Spanish congregation.
The English group has its Watchtower and Public Talk every Sunday, the Congregation Bible Study every Thursday, and the Theocratic Ministry School every other week. All of our Service Meetings will be with the Spanish congregation, as well as 2 Schools per month. So it will definitely be an interesting mixture of language.
Once we definitely decided, we immediately spread the word in our congregation in Teresa. And the response, from every single person we told, was overwhelmingly encouraging. They were very happy that we would be following the branch’s direction, and also that we would still be close after all, a bus trip of less than 1 hour, so we could still meet up in Granada or visit Teresa conveniently.
We are happy. Granada is an open door to greater activity, is a beautiful city, and has very nice places to eat, which is very, very important to me, ha ha. I actually discovered, to Marlene’s disappointment, a donut place specializing in American donuts!!!
OUR FIRST MEETING IN THE ENGLISH GROUP
I meant to post this update on Friday or Saturday before our first meeting here, but we were very busy moving and settling in. But I suppose it was a good thing, since now you can see what our first impression of Granada English was.
We said all of our goodbyes at our last meeting on Thursday night in Teresa, and everyone was so touching in their expressions of appreciation for our friendship. We know that, without a doubt, we have made friendships there that will continue to develop even while we are in Granada. The day we left we even got several phone calls from the friends in Teresa wanting to make sure we got in okay and that we were happy.
Friday afternoon was spent moving in. Thankfully we don’t have a lot of possessions, so loading and unloading Roberto’s big truck (the brother who helped us) took about 20 minutes each way. We quickly set the basic furnishings the way we wanted them and went out to dinner in Central Park.
Our first night in our new home was fantastic. We put the AC on and it totally felt like we were on vacation. We really couldn’t believe we had actually moved to Granada, but we were deeply, deeply satisfied and happy that we had followed Jehovah’s direction.
We awoke the next morning to the calls of several different birds. Saturday morning was spent going to the cable place to sign up for cable TV and internet in the house (a must!), going to the Pali and outdoor market nearby to shop for groceries, meeting and chatting with our new neighbors, studying our Watchtower for the next day, and cleaning up and touching up some areas of the house.
The doggies love their new place! There is a walkway outside in the back that leads to the bedrooms and bathrooms, and they run up and down it. It is also great because even if the sun is really hot on a particular day, the walkway is always shaded so they don’t overheat. Savannah loves watching the kids walk by on the street and still gets majorly ticked when she sees a horse walk by.
Sunday morning at 10:00am was our first meeting with our English group.
It was very strange, as we were walking up to the Kingdom Hall’s doors, to hear people inside talking in English and laughing. We walked in and noticed that there were more than we had thought. We were expecting to have 8 or 10 at the meeting. Roughly 20 minutes before the start of the meeting, there were already close to 20 (We ended up having around 25. But on the bulletin board I saw that they sometimes have attendances in the 30's). We were immediately approached by one of the elders, Tim, a tall brother who is a missionary assigned to the Spanish congregation in Granada (the same congregation that we are technically assigned to). I handed him our publisher’s cards and letter from our previous body of elders and then talked to him for a bit. He broke into a really big smile when we told him that we were there at the request of the branch. He motioned to a small family of three standing nearby, the Brooks (Gary, Joanna, and Nicola, their 10 year old daughter), and during some pleasant conversation they told us that they had just arrived in Nicaragua last week, from Canada. We have mutual friends, Nathan and Candy Howes (also from Canada), who serve in Jinotepe, close to where we used to be. Anyway, the Brooks family were originally going to go to Jinotepe, but just before that happened the branch asked them to serve in English in Granada as well.
Joanna was so pleased that we were assigned here, too, and said that she had been praying to Jehovah for some friends in the congregation, and it seems like we will really get along well.
The meeting itself was very nice and strange. Strange because we are just so not used to being in English. Marlene says that for her, it is much easier to comment in Spanish! (She says that in Spanish, she just does the best she can and she is happy. In English, she over-analyzes everything and then thinks she sounded like an idiot). For me, my first comment in English, during the Watchtower study, was totally dumb and I hated it. Not for any particular reason, I just think I sounded like I was “trying” to sound “English”. I don’t know how else to explain it, but that’s how I felt about it. My other comments, though, I just talked and said what I thought, and it felt much more natural and I was fine. I am still really, really scared of giving parts in English though. The good thing is that although we are assigned to the English group, we are technically assigned to the Spanish congregation, called Granada Oeste (West). Tim, the elder from the Spanish congregation, told us that we would be used in Spanish as well for parts, so that means that we don’t have to worry about losing our “Spanish” feel for things.
After the meeting we continued to talk to the friends. Cindy, a local Nicaraguan sister who knows English, is supporting the group along with her brother, Francisco, and their mother goes with them for support. Francisco read the Watchtower and did an excellent job, and you can tell that he takes his privileges very seriously. Cindy’s English was surprisingly good. There is also a young Canadian mother who is not yet a publisher but used to study when she lived in Canada. She married a Nicaraguan and moved here to Granada. There is also a brother from England named David who is, unfortunately, going back to England very soon. Tory, a young brother from New York, has been here for the last month and a half and is leaving for good in another month or so. So we will be losing two brothers in the next month, which is not good news, but the elder who is actually assigned strictly to the English group, Steve, is in the States right now but will be arriving in two weeks. (Tim is kind of filling in for him until he gets back. I know Tim has a wife, but I’m not sure if she goes to the English with him or not. Marlene and I will meet her at our meeting on Thursday night.)
Afterwards we walked home and had a very good lunch, and then the cable people arrived to install our cable! We aren’t addicted to TV really, but it makes us feel at home and “normal” at times.
OUR FIRST TASTE OF FIELD SERVICE
On Monday afternoon at 2pm we met with our very first service group in the English field. It was quite a small group. I think that it is mainly because it was at 2pm, which is the hottest part of the day, and we are currently in the hottest part of the year. No one was sure why the arrangement was at 2, but one of the brothers told us that it would change very soon. But we made the best of it and we got surprisingly good results. I spoke to a woman who is an English teacher at the local high school, and her English was really good! I left the April Watchtower on being born again, and it was very interesting to hear her opinion about it (she thought that “born again” means to start life over as a dedicated Christian, which is what most people we’ve talked to think. The magazine has a GREAT illustration when it asks us who chose our physical birth, us or our parents? So it is reasonable to conclude that we don’t choose if we are born again in a spiritual sense, but the Father is the one who chooses. . . .that made her think, and she accepted the magazine. And all of this was done in English! It was really fun actually.) Marlene found a man who works as a tour guide in Costa Rica during certain parts of the year, and accepted the Bible Teach book. Marlene thinks he will study, and he accepted an invitation to attend the English meeting on Sunday morning.
After service we went down to the outdoor market, which is very similar to the one in Jinotepe but bigger. We were able to find a couple of things we were looking for, and during our shopping my phone rang and it was the Brooks family inviting us over to their home for dinner. We showed up about an hour or so later, and their place was nice. It’s not their actual home yet, it is a house that they are staying in for 1 month while they look around for a place to rent. It has a small swimming pool inside, in the center of the house between the kitchen, dining room, and living room. 
Anyway, we had a very pleasant dinner with them, and they kind of picked our brains about living in Nicaragua and what to expect. We are all, of course, very new to Granada, but the same basic principles apply to almost everything. We made plans to go with them to Masaya on Friday so that they can shop for some things for the house. Marlene and I later commented on how it was nice that we are now able to help someone else settle into life in Nicaragua, just like the Lau family helped us so much when we first arrived.
After we left, we felt a lot better about being in Granada. We had been really worried about not having friends here, and maybe not meshing well with anyone. We had prayed about it, and Jehovah very clearly (and very quickly!) answered them. When I think about this, I realize that when you put Jehovah first, you can worry about the little things and kill yourself over them, but you really shouldn’t. We shouldn’t forget that Jehovah knows exactly where we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. And if he is pleased with our course, if we have an intimate relationship with him, it is the easiest thing in the world for him to just help us out in really wonderful ways. It’s like he is saying, “What? You’re worried about this little thing? Well, watch this!” and he just does it.
That is one thing that we absolutely LOVE about being in Nicaragua. In the States, we definitely saw Jehovah’s hand in matters in our lives, and we were so enthralled whenever it happened. Here, though, we see him really helping us out in very specific ways, and in ways that we had never even imagined. And it happens quite often, too. It just really amazes us. You might remember that in a very recent Watchtower study, in one of the paragraphs it talked about how Jehovah’s servants, both of the anointed and of the great crowd, can “see” him. And we can honestly say that we really do see him much more clearly than we ever did. It is just such a cool experience, and very awe-inspiring to realize that Jehovah knows you and that he hasn’t forgotten about you, even though you are just one person in a sea of 7 million who are serving him on the earth today. It’s just amazing.
Okay, so that is it for now.
Please keep us in your prayers. We will try to be a bit less hysterical and terrified, with Jehovah’s help.
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