Our CO and DO - Blogabond

Today has been the first day that we've had off since we landed here and man have we needed it! We've completed some much needed house work and slept away the rest of it. Is this what having a day off a week is really like? On a sad note that also means that yesterday was the final day of our visit with the traveling overseer. Where to begin? First off, because of the governmental situation a few years ago, Nica doesn't quite have the years in the truth that other countries like the U.S. Or Mexico have. For this reason there are not many local overseers here. For instance, our district (there are two in the country currently) has something like 20 circuits. Of the 20 only 4 or 5 have C.O.'s from Nicaragua. The vast majority are from Mexico. I found it interesting that there is only one brother from Gilead that is a C.O. In our circuit. This is of interest because we have nearly 100 Gilead trained missionaries in the country. I asked the D.O. And his wife why this was because I always thought that the Gilead training would enable more of those brothers to be used in this work. The D.O.'s wife indicated that the health of the missionaries limits them from doing the work here. Why health you ask? Well... This is a good link into the challenges faced in the traveling work here.

In the picture above the brother sitting beside me is our single C.O. From Mexico. The couple directly across the table from him is the D.O. And his wife. To give you an idea, the last visit that our congregation had by the C.O. He had malaria. This involves a week of intense fever and other things that I'm sure you can look up on your own. (www.wikipedia.org/malaria) The story goes that this brother still went on with his entire visit while really suffering but didn't miss a meeting for field service or any other of the things involved with his visit. This guy is tough stuff. He's been in the traveling work in Nica for 9 years. Before this he was in Mexico as a traveling overseer for another 9. He has no car, the branch does not supply the brothers with one, and therefore has to travel by bus. Note the picture here. You might find yourself thinking, no problem, this gives him time to sleep and study, etc. Au contraire mon ami! After serving our congregation he was bound for an isolated group that was a 6 hour bus ride north of here. 6 hours!

He says that the buses are made for school children and so therefore get quite uncomfortable quickly. In addition to that, the buses are often times so full that once your seated you can't move. He mentioned that once he was riding along and saw that there was an open container of some fluid above the people in front of him. But he couldn't get to it, and neither could anyone else, and so it fell on top of the passengers. There was no way to move, or to determine who owned the item and so the persons that got wet had no choice but to sit there in the juices until the bus stopped again. He said this was not an unusual situation. There are only 5 congregations in our circuit, the rest are isolated groups waaayyy out in the boonies. So basically, I just described this brothers life.

Our D.O. And his wife are truly wonderful as well. I don't think I've met a D.O. Couple that was as warm as they were in my life. Amazing couple. They have a small apartment in Managua and own a small Nissan 4x4 station wagon. (Eat your heart out Judy!) He has been in the traveling work for something near 20 years and is from Nicaragua. Probably a contributing factor to him being used in that capacity as he was loaded with jokes and stories that, evidently, only Nicaraguans could understand! He has had Malaria 5 times in his service as a traveling brother. He was a real teacher. Full of illustrations and both of these brothers were incredibly effective in the field. One of the brothers, while encountering a self righteous individual who indicated that she could learn nothing from the witnesses anymore, she had surpassed them, was handled in a most interesting way. In stead of just walking away, the brother listened for several minutes as the individual rattled on about how much she knew, blah blah blah, until finally she was done. Then the brother in a very mild mannered way turned to Revelation and indicated how much he too appreciated the deep things as well, and wanted to know her opinion on the first and second death! She was finally speechless and asked for a return visit. I pity the poor brother that has to make that R.V. Can you imagine discussing that in the field ministry on a 2nd call? :)

This is a perspective of our organization that I had never considered in the past. I'm sure the brothers don't get many green handshakes here in a country were few congregations have the money to even own or make payments on Kingdom Halls. But you can tell Jah's blessing on the whole thing. We have around 67 publishers and our attendance on Sunday was 180!!! Can you imagine that? For memorial this small group gets around 300! All this with one elder! There is certainly work to be done here! That's all for now, hope things are going well for you!

written by

Shane Perry on August 18, 2008 from Jinotega, Nicaragua

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

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That is great that you have gotten to spend that much time with the CO and DO. I am glad you guys are having such an encouraging time. But I think you trip will not be complete until you ride a school bus packed with people and have someone pour mystery liquid on your head then ride for several hours. I think that it is one of those experiences you just can't have in the US. Actually it sound like going on any car trip with me and the kids. Nevermind.

written by Shawn Cumella on August 23, 2008

Hey Guys!
Please keep up your blog! It's such a wonderful way (as others have already mentioned) to feel like you're just a few hours away! The pictures really bring it to life and I check back really often to see if you have any updates. This way not only do you experience the new facets of Jehovah's work- but we get a window into it as well. Please know that we're thinking of you always! Miss you & Love you,
Tori Terrell

written by Tori Terrell on August 25, 2008

Shawn........

As for Tori, thanks for the feedback. If anyone has any requests of types of things that they would like to see, feel free and make a request. I'm sure it's not always interesting to see what we think is cool.

written by Shane on August 25, 2008

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