The Flores Wedding and The District Convention

The Flores Wedding!!!

Here comes a story. Last memorial season, a group from a congregation in Matagalpa came to distribute tracts in a rural community in this area. They travelled two hours by bus and then about ½ an hour on foot. (We didnt join them because it was before we lived here.) There were about 500 people living in that area. Anyway, the brothers were surprised when they met one family and the family said they were already Jehovah's Witnesses. The Flores family went in the house and produced two well-read but very well preserved red Live Forever books. After 20 years, its remarkable that the books were in such great condition because of the page-curling humidity here and the termites that have such a love for paper. They keep them zipped up in those little plastic bags that get when you buy a new set of bed sheets. The Flores said that 20 years ago, a group came from Matagalpa and brought them the books and returned a half dozen time to conduct a bible study with them. But after that the brothers couldn't keep coming. So they completed the book by studying all by themselves. While they finished the books on their own, they made the effort to travel all the way to Matagalpa to attend a few meetings and went to two memorials.

Needless to say the brothers eagerly invited them to this year's memorial and they agreed to come. In the group distributing the memorial invitations was a special pioneer couple, Jese and Meyling, (our roomates now!!!) who live one hour from the Flores' house on foot. They arranged to continue the bible study with them. Eight individuals have been present at the study at different times, Francisco the father, Gertrudis the mother, Yorlene (28yrs old and in the picture) and Magdalena (not in the picture) their grown daughters, Meyling, Jennifer and Mayerling their three granddaughters, and their nephew Javier (not in the picture). The family travels the hour on foot to attend the meetings regularly even though in the rainy season they are forced to cross a dangerous stream at flood stage. And in November 2010, Francisco and Gertrudis were legally married after being together 28 years. They said they consider their marriage only the first step in the spiritual progress they plan to make. The picture of the group of them is outside the courthouse the day they got married. The picture with the cake in back at our house. Fransisco is funny. We showed him his picture of when they were cutting the cake (shown above) and he said he smiled scared like that because Gertrudis had a knife in her hand.

Francisco signing.

Rosario signing as a witness.

And I have to add another thing. The judge decided to make their marriage a bit difficult. He asked them to bring in two witnesses to sign for the marriage, which is normal. But he required that they had known them all their lives, and were older then them. That is a challenge because Francisco and Gertrudis are near their 50's and not many old-timers are still around int he community where they live. They had to ask 5 different people. One said no, he couldn't see anymore. One said no, he couldn't hear anymore. Another said no, he was illiterate and couldn't sign his own name. One more said yes, so that was great. And the last guy said yes, but he was technically younger than the couple. They used him anyway and didn't tell the judge. In fact, the judge wasnt even in the courthouse that day. He broke his arm when his horse fell into a river, so his secretary conducted the ceremony. Anyway, the point is that Francisco and Gertrudis went through a lot to make their marriage legal. Something that they said no one in their little community bothers to do. It is so encouraging to see the effort some are willing to make to be able to serve Jehovah.

The District Convention:

The District Convention was excellent this year. This is the place that they rented to hold it. It is a coffee production area called a beneficio.

A concrete slab with a roof and a bit of the adjacent land was rented to us.

We arrived the day before to clean and set up.

They had to move machinery off the conrete slab.

Chop down the weeds with machete.

Yes, the let the girls use the machetes too.

Hang some sun protection.

Clean and arrange the chairs. Some were from the Kingdom Halls. Those were already clean.

Others were rented. They were dirty until we got ahold of them.

Set up the stage.

Here is Shane discovering a new useful purpose for himself.

Set up and fill the baptism pool

Set up the handwashing station outside the bathrooms.

And by Friday everything was wonderful. 1200 max attendance. The sister on the left is Damaris. She and her husband are from Spain. I guess she is the star of this blog entry. She shows up more times than anyone else. I guess its because she is kind of a star. She is the only one of us who has met Matt Damon. A story for another blog, I think.

These were the bathrooms. Just little tin boxes over a gigantic hole that held what you might be able to imagine. They gave two stalls to the girls and one to the boys and so the girl's line went flying by the guys. It was great. The outhouses had just been completed the day before. So, that was nice.

The sound was great, I think because our location was so remote and far away from the city noises.

I'm sure all the people working the coffee could hear too.

There were about 24 people baptized.

This was the oldest sister to get baptized. She was around 65ish and disabled. But she got around just fine.

This is how they did the elder's meeting. Because the drama was preparing backstage and there was no where else to hold it.

Back at the house where we stayed all the bedrooms were taken, and the couch. So they set up this little bedrooms-on-demand with some bedsheets hung from the clothes lines. It is indoors, of course.

As a side. The comments on the photos are great! We love them. But the private messages dont work well. Blogabond wont let us retrieve them sometimes. So, if you want to say something for all to see put it on the comments. And if its very secretive and personal just email it to us please. Thanks

written by

Shane Perry on December 10, 2010 from Matagalpa, Nicaragua

from the travel blog: Shane and Vanessa's Nicaraguan Adventure

Send a Compliment

Your blog is a nice, interesting read. Some great photos too!

written by Barcelona Apartments on December 11, 2010

Always love your blog. Precious pictures of the Flores family. Truly a big step. (Who made the cake?) The convention site turned out great! Looking forward to seeing/hearing about the Costa Rica trip next--HINT, HINT! Love Va family

written by Va family on December 11, 2010

i like it

written by

shoes--shopping on December 11, 2010

I love getting your amazing and encouraging updates. Any chance you have time to drop a line back. No pressure just love and miss you. Livy

written by OliviaSmith on December 12, 2010

love this post. assembly looked great, love the sweet bathroom facilities! Is that Hermana Mercedes Palacios in the photo with the recently baptised elderly sister? love chloe

written by Chloe on December 17, 2010

Hey Chloe! Yeah that is! I dont know if you remember but it is a lady who was a publisher living just south of Jinotega. She lives in a place called Llano de las tejeras or something like that. Sarita is her name. She doesnt make the meetings much because of her health and location so far from the hall. She was a study of Mercedes for a while and now is baptised! Great to hear from you. Say hi to your parents!

written by Shane and Vanessa on December 18, 2010

Hey guys! That convention site is awesome! How far did you have to travel to get there? Look forward to seeing you this Summer! [Maybe:)]

written by Bailey Stewart on February 28, 2011

Oh and the picture of Shane holding the ladder is hilarious! I'm pretty sure that wouldn't fly with the RBC here!

written by Bailey Stewart on February 28, 2011

Wow! How exciting to see your experiences and see our brothers and Sisters! What encouraging experiences too! My prior experience with Nicaragua is a country where some amazing coffees come from. Its so nice to actually see how our brothers and Sisters in Nicaragua are doing! I eagerly look forward to reading more of your experiences. Love you guys!

written by Melissa Adams on June 27, 2011

a nice Story.looks very happiness.

written by

zambalare on June 29, 2011

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