Manos a la obra (Getting to work)

"Half a block Southeast of the Sesteo Restaurant,across from the Baptist Church, San Antonio neighborhood, Sébaco, Matagalpa, Nicaragua."

That is my official address. So, as you can imagine, keeping records for the field ministry is like a doing a final exam for Spanish class, with a little topography mixed in. Here's one of my return visits:


Yes, there is a map drawn on it. There are no street names here. There are only blocks, landmarks; north, south , east and west. So for the first week or so, returning to find interested ones almost sent me to the psychiatric ward. But with what could only be angelic direction, the deserving are being found.

Here's just one experience: Last week as I was leaving one home near mine, a woman walks over asking if the brother with me and I are Jehovah's Witnesses. She explains that a friend of hers studies the Bible with Witnesses although she attends an Evangelical church because she likes the way we explain things. She asked if we would study the bible with her. I returned to visit Lebia the next morning and we had her first study. That night, she was with me at the meeting, and she has been to two so far.

Danielle has 10 studies already. I am a slacker. I only have 7. The elders and servants wasted no time in putting us to work, either. After our first week, Danielle had a talk on the TMS and I had a demonstration on the service meeting. That's a story that I had no idea was funny until later. I heard the audience gasp slightly, then chuckle. But since I saw nothing strange around me I assumed maybe something funny happened in the audience (maybe a kid was up to something or whatever.) Apparently while I was standing there presenting the Awake a 3-inch insect was flying around and landed on my belly. I never saw it. Poor Danielle was horrified. I really think Jehovah kept me from seeing it because who knows how far off the stage I would have jumped!

So our weekly schedule is generally as follows:

Monday: Cleaning,shopping,laundry, personal worship, "rest"

Tuesday, Friday, Saturday: Service from 8:30-11:30 a.m., then return visits and studies from 2 p.m.-4 or 5 p.m.
Wednesday: Mini-rural day. We board a bus to a nearby rural town and preach there all day.

Thursday: Service 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m., Congregation Bible Study, Theocratic Ministry School and Service meeting 6:00 p.m.

Sunday: Service 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.; Public talk and Watchtower Study 3:00 p.m.

Danielle and I also do "Family" Worship Friday nights, which is a tremendous refreshment at the end of our work week. She explains it this way: "We spend so much time teaching the same basic Bible truths to people, which is wonderrful for them, but it really isn't enough to sustain us. We need to dig deeper. This is the way we stay alive spiritually."

Right now, we are packing for a "gira," or rural preaching tour, which is basically a two-day camping trip to talk to people in an area that is too far out to reach on a regular basis. There is a hammock and a first aid kit in my backpack, along with a flashlight and some non-perishables. If we make it through alive, it will be the subject of my next post. But for now, here are a few pictures from the last few days =)

Side note: Some have asked why my blog is called "¡Buenas!" I had every intention of explaining that, but forgot to do so. When we are in service we greet the householder by yelling "¡Buenas!" through the normally open doorway of a home. It's a common greeting, but I'm not quite sure why, because it simply means "good" in the plural form. It could be so as to avoid the inconvenience of having to pay attention to the time in order to be able to specify "Good Morning," "Good Afternoon." or "Good Evening." That's just a theory. I like to believe that we say it because we know we are bringing "good news!"