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.

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.

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
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There were 26 students and it was a blast. There was a great mix of old and new pioneers. (yes we count in among the OLD pioneers) And we were with a missionary couple who recently arrived to Nicaragua. She is seated in the front row in the pink shirt and he is in the back row two to the right from Shane. Their names are Alberto and Sonia. I personally liked how they arranged us in the picture. Other than I would have preferred to have been standing with Shane. With Shane in the middle, I call it the "volcano style arrangement". Its creative, fast and kind of blends everyone's different height in. Alberto and Sonia says the Gilead picture took 4 hours!

Here's how they lined us up before the photo.

We were the tallest!

This brother, Fabio, is serving as the only brother in a congregation that is divided among three different pueblos. These sisters are pioneers in the congregation. They walk 2 hours from the pueblo they live in to get the meeting for field service where Fabio lives. They walk back home after a full day in the ministry and make the same walk again for the meetings. They say they enjoy their territory though because they leave the house at 6am to make the group by 8am and they meet very many nice farmers on their way to the fields. The people are kind and humble and dont mind stopping to talk for a bit about the Bible.

The sisters were shy to start with in the class, but our instructors kindly and firmly got them to give comments and they had great comments. They knew how to put things in the simple way. I really like that. Its useful for our territory here. And the sister in the orange and black dress used an illustration about how the ministry is like planting seeds, you always put more than one seed in the hole, just so that if one doesnt come up the other one will, just like you should try to talk to more than one member of the family that way if one isnt interested, the other one just might.

I volunteered to do a demo on showing personal interest in someone when they say they are sick. I was shaking I was so nervous...but I had all the energy I needed to study for the evening after that.

Here we were in the evenings for several hours of homework for the next day. Its work, but its worth it. And interesting that we could all study the same information, but find so many different interesting points. Sam and Shallen in the picture are a great couple. She is from Arizona and he is from Britain. They live in a town a lot farther out than we are. And they just now have been married one year.

A really great surprise on the weekend before the class started is that this couple from Corn Island came all that was to see us!!! Rose and Miguel and their daughter Angie (not having a very good day right then. She didnt want her picture taken.) Rose is a newly baptized sister and Miguel is studying and making good progress. He worked with the Spanish version of Survivor when they came to film in Nicaragua. So he treated his family to this vacation afterwards. We were soooo happy they made time to see us too.

They came over the sea, up the river (here's a shot of their's from the river) and to...El Rama. A town that gets all the cross country traffic because its on the river. It's a big trade town.

One of Rose's pictures from the market there.

And we had our 7th anniversary

I baked brownies with chocolate frosting. We ate it by candlelight. Not really to be so romantic...its just the power had gone out. And we took picture of us in the dark.

Our group is going good here. We've had two bible students show up to the meetings. The only shame is that we werent there to greet them. One time we were heading the the airport to get Shane's mom (we had a great time with her here, sorry no pictures of that) and the other day we were in Managua for a meeting at the branch. But they say they liked the meetings anyway and want to come again. What a great territory where students attend the meetings even when you are there!

written by  Shane Perry on October 8, 2010 from San Dionisio, Nicaragua
from the travel blog: Shane and Vanessa's Nicaraguan Adventure
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The first picture is when we went back to Jinotega on the bus. This is when the police stopped the bus and pulled of all the adult males. Shane said they made everyone get in line and gave everyone a complimentary pat down.

Here you can see Shane angering the officer by asking what to him was a dumb question. "Why are you patting everyone down?" The officer said that what they were doing is normal and that Shane just thinks it wierd because the police dont do stuff like that in his country. Must have been having a bad day. But they didnt haul him away for his impertenant question, thankfully, and he got back on the bus. We heard on the radio later in the bus ride that someone been murdered with a machete nearby. (not a weapon usually needing a pat down to discover by the way!)

This is an elder who traveled from 6am until 3pm in the wheelchair in the back of a school bus to come and give a talk in our pueblo. His name is Lucio Calero. We went in the ministry before he gave the talk. His visit encouraged everyone in our group, no one missed that meeting that was for sure! He stayed two nights with us and left the next day to give the talk in San Dionisio. Which was in the other part of our territory. But now its our new home!!!

Here is the front of our house. We live with the special pioneer couple. They kindly let us move in with them after our first house flooded with rain water and the second came with a free live-in landlady and three friends.
Here's a shot of the flooded place.

It was a tough first two weeks, but we have a home now with Jese and Meyling and we love it. Besides we figured that it just meant Satan wanted to make things really hard for us because he knows how many good people are in the town who deserve to know about Jehovah God.

Jese and Meyling basically gave us their kitchen so we could turn it into a studio apartment.

We had a concrete floor put in. It had a dirt floor before. It's the kitchen/ living room and bedroom all in one. Glad we got rid of the motorcycle, or then it'd be the garage too! Its small, but we say its cozy. And like most cozy places, easy to get messy but also easy to clean.

Here's the shower. Yup outside. You can shower under the stars. Or sometimes under the rain and get yourself doubly clean. The plastic walls arent very tall so its a good thing Shane is a boy and not a girl.

This is the potty. Yup an outhouse. But we keep it very hygienic. We wash it every other day and put in sawdust and lime. No, not the green juicy fruit. Lime, the white powdery kind you put on your lawn if you live in the east.

This is the cistern we keep water in. Right now its empty because its the rainy season and water still comes to the outside faucet. But in Dec./ Jan. starts the dry season and the town runs out of water. So we will have to fill this every two or three weeks when the water trucks come. We will have to use a bucket to shower from. I shudder to think of it, but that's life.

Here's our group. There are about 20 people regularly in attendance. Jese, Meyling, Shane and myself are the only ones baptized. But everyone likes to participate. Everyone sings too, even as we all muddle through the new songs. And Shane says people particularly like the student talks. One week Meyling is assigned and I am the householder. And the next week its my turn. One week Meyling is encouraging me not to get revenge on my husband and the next week I'm persuading her not to get drunk on the weekends. Probably seems confusing to some of the students...but it seems like everyone likes how realistic the talks are. They've only had meetings here since december and the school just began when we got here in June. Its a real privilege and a lot of fun.

This is a family from a community about an hour away on foot. Fifteen years ago some brothers came from Matagalpa a city an hour and a half away (by vehicle) and left them the live forever book. They visited them three times but couldnt come back. the family finished the books on their own. Ever since then they've considered themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. When Jese and Meyling found them they were very very excited to resume their study. They finally attended their first meeting and have made almost all of them since!! Rain or Shine. They also came to the assembly in May

Here's the outside of their house.

The C.O. assigned us some help from Matagalpa. A Congregation will come once a month and help in us work the territory. Twenty people came two weekends ago. They were such a big help. They met many interested ones and we get the joy of going back and beginning the bible studies!

Here's the group. The guy in plain clothes was a random drunk who ducked in at just the right time for the picture.

And here's them relaxing a bit after the ministry. Shane wants you to know this is most of the service commitee for their cong. And yes, they swam in their dress clothes.

Some of them stood up and hour and a half in the back of the truck to get here. We love their support and enthusiasm.

And this is Islia. She has been studying about two months. I love to study with her. No matter what she is doing she always sets everything aside for her study. Her mom and dad both died tragically, so she really loved the chapter and the resurrection. Her husband has joined us for one study. And all three of them read the My book of bible Stories together.

Extra pics.

OUR STREET

Neighbors house

Neighbors stinky dog. But he guards our house too. so we feed him. His name is Toby. He will win your heart.

Gotta tell a story about the neighbors. One day meyling and i went to visit and get in a sly witness. They started telling us about their daughter. a lovely 14yr old. two years ago she fainted in the school playground. they rushed her to Matagalpa. and the dr. did an ultrasound on her stomach and found a huge blockage. No one knew what it could be. The mom then remembered that ever since she was little, the girl always played with her hair...in her mouth!
the dr. shut of the machine and said he knew exactly what it was and to prep the poor thing for surgery. a few hours later they pulled out a hairball. long and black and curved, the size and shape of a banana.
Now, I have to add, much to my horror and to the blushing 14 year old daughter, the mom went into the back room or under the stairs or something and pulled out a plastic hospital bed pan. The she dumped out the contents on the floor in front of us. I was speechless. Meyling looked at me and tried to explain the story over again...assuming from the lifeless look on my face that I didnt understand. Well, I did understand. I just didnt know what to say and felt mortified for the poor young lady watching her mother present the horrible "hair banana" at the feet of their international guest.

written by  Shane Perry on August 12, 2010 from San Dionisio, Nicaragua
from the travel blog: Shane and Vanessa's Nicaraguan Adventure
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Sorry not all the pictures are on here yet, but we will keep trying little by little.

We met Andrew and Jenny Lathem at the Laguna de Apoyo. They were down in Managua at their sign language district convention so we took advantage of a chance to go visit them. It is a beautiful lake in the middle of an inactive volcano crater. The water is very clean and very peaceful.

Shane rented a little sail boat, aHobie Cat day sailer.

Jenny, Shane, the instructor and I went out for the first hour. Shane was wise and modest because although he has sailed before, he told the owner honestly that he felt more comfortable with a lesson first. A pair of older men denied taking a lesson and told the instructor that they knew what they were doing and didnt need a lesson. The were the proverbial Skipper and Gilligan. They rented the largest, fastest boat and took off. When we got in our boat, the instructor, Alberto, told Shane he was sure the men were going to dump the boat over. And after we sailed out far enough after them, we could see that they had. They flipped it completely over, with the mast submerged under the boat.

He sailed us over to them and explained how they should right the boat, but one of the men was panicked and the other wasnt strong enough. Shane swam over to try to help, using the technique that Alberto said, but even he couldnt lift the boat. One problem was that normally the boat just goes on its side and the sail floats on top of the water, but Alberto said that the man who was panicky tried to cling to the mast and that forced it down completely under the boat. The other problem was, once the sail goes under, you have to untie it from the mast and rigging otherwise as you try to tip it upward it tried to drag all the water upward with it. Alberto said they needed more men. We went back to shore and Jenny and I got out and Andrew and another brother, Sebastian, got in.

By the time they got back to the boat the wind had drifted it to the shallows and the mast and sails were smashing into the rocks underneath. They worked for five hours and finally got the boat to turn upright. It was hard because after so much time upside down, the pontoons filled with water. Then all six men had to ride back with only one boat sailing properly. The wind was too light and the boats were heavy, so it took them until dark to get near the hotel. Once they got close, the guys offered to jump out and swim to shore and walk the road back. Alberto said that was a good idea and he and the two men who caused the whole upset sailed back without them.

Heres a picture of "Skipper and Gilligan" coming in after their "three hour tour."

The good part of the story is Shane got a FULL day of sailing for the price of a "one hour lesson," the shipwrecked men and the instructor bought the guys beers and Shane is promised another free hour next time he comes back.

The bad part of the story is Shane got Dengue after being bit by so many mosquitos.

San Dionisio.

We have also been spending more time in San Dionisio where the special pioneer couple, Jese and Mayling are serving. We can see monkeys there.

Here we are with them at the house of a couple who are studying, Norlan and Janeth. He is a nurse and she is a teacher and the fact that they are studying has moved five more people in town to start studying plus their children. Many of them are at the meetings already.

The funny part of the story is that Norlan said he used to hide from witnesses on the rare occaisions that they came to his pueblo in the past. Not because he is shy, but because he thought they would trap people and then talk and talk and talk and stay a long time. One day his front door was open and his back was too it, so he didnt see a pair of brothers approaching until they said "Buenas," which is how you greet when you come to someones house. He said he knew it was too late to hide so out of Nicaraguan politeness he had to invite them in. Once he realized he could ask them his questions about the bible, he started firing off one after another. So, humorously, his first visit with them did last a very long time, two hours. Those two brothers were only temporary in the pueblo but now that Jese and Mayling are there they are studying regularly and we had a meal with them when we came. .

This is the shower at Jese and Mayling's. Its outside in the fresh air and you have to use a bucket, but we dont mind it at all. After all, look how happy Shane is to be clean.

Here I am picking corn off the cob with a knife. Yes, I thought I was going to hurt myself. But we needed the kernels whole, so it was they only way to do it. We made atol. Its corn custard. They make Sooooo many things with corn here.
I liked it but its a lot of work. First peel the corn, they pick off the kernels without cutting yourself, wash the kernels, pick out the corn silk, take it to the mill down the street. Then boil and boil and boil it over a fire. And add lots of sugar.

Now I understand why they invented jello pudding.

This is a coffee cooperative. The coffee just came in from the mountains, now they are gonna spend some time drying it.

They spread it out on big slabs of concrete and turn it from time to time so it doesnt get burnt. They paid the coffee growers something like 50 cents a pound. A middle man will get it out of Nicaragua and make a huge profit by selling it at $4.00 a pound, out of the shell but still raw ("in gold" as they call it, because there is a little shiny slip of gold between the shell and the bean.) Then a coffee roaster buys it, roasts and bags it, then sells it for $8-11.00 a pound.

We had some guests from Canada and two girls who are living here. There were six in total. It was so fun. In honor of Andrew and Jenny we did a Jump Picture. Some of us were over achievers.

One of the brothers gave the public talk, but in English and Shane translated. It was great. Everyone was really paying attention. You could tell because even though they didnt understand what Peter was saying, when they say him make the slightest move toward the bible, they snatched up their bibles and were waiting for Shane to tell them what verse to find.

Jose and Kati Betances came to visit. They are sp. pio. in a town called Muy Muy. They came in before the meeting on Saturday and he gave the talk. Then we all left after the meeting and went two hours back to their town. Sunday, we went in the ministry and Shane gave the public talk. It was really really hot that day. But they have a good sound system and it was good a loud, so you didnt really feel like falling asleep.

And I was in the kitchen learning to make flan with Kati and Silvia (in the blue shirt a local sister) and Lizbeth, a crazy girl from a congregation in Managua, she was a lot of fun. All the ingredients for flan go into the blender which makes it really easy. Except for the carmelized sugar, that you have to melt on the burner until it changes from white to brown. But surprisingly, it wasnt that hard either. Everything then goes into a pressure cooker and 13 mins later you have flan. It is excellent. Less complicated than a cheesecake and her recipe is so good. I think that, for as long as I've been without cheesecake...dare I say this...that I like it as much as cheesecake. Oooh, I know some people arent gonna like that I said that. But look at this picture!

It is really really good. Compared to this, what they sell in the mexican restaurants are just refrigerated cups of goo. And you can make coffee flan, or chocolate flan too.

After Muy Muy, it was time for the C.O. visit, Brother Ruben Aguado. We all went first to Jese and Mayling's so he could see the work they had been doing over there. The group is going well there. But he said they usually start out with a bang because so many people are curious and there isnt much prejudice. The real test is what happens in time, if people really want to serve Jehovah long term.

Jese and Mayling made us all really comfortable at their house.

For our privacy they put up this tent and made it so cute.

And they put this sign on it. We saved it and now its on our front door at home.

Brother Aguado said the San Jose group is doing good too. He said it has a positive spirit and good participation in the meetings. Which is true, they like to comment based on the additional scriptures.

A few more misc. pictures:

I wish I could have caught a picture of this when the horse was coming toward us. it was just a walking pile of grass that swished past us.

All our weather comes from over this hill. Right below the green and blue band in the rainbow you can see a white ribbon. That is a pretty tall waterfall and our towns only source of water. Its very pretty and junglelike. The only problem is that people eat picnics up there and swim in the water and then throw their trash in it. Shane talked to a man cutting coffee up there and lamented about the garbage. The man smiled knowingly and told Shane, not to worry that when the waterfall it will carry all the trash away for us. Where does it carry it? Right into the towns water tanks.

But in this picture we are proud of Nicaragua. Recycling and reducing packaging is in full force here. Primarily to save money, not the environment. But its still a positive thing. The bottle on the left you will recognize but its not Gatorade anymore, its how I buy our white vinegar. The Xedex is our laundry soap (they do sell larger bags too) and the Crema on bottom is our sour cream. The milk comes in bags too, but you cant have that flopping over in the fridge. So, we just pour it in a pitcher or better yet into a clean used peanut butter container.

written by  Shane Perry on March 5, 2010 from San Jose de los Remates, Nicaragua
from the travel blog: Shane and Vanessa's Nicaraguan Adventure
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A Pet:

A Roomate:

The District Convention:
Last weekend we had the District Convention in Matagalpa. Thirty four people were baptized. These three girls below are from our last congregation in Jinotega. It was so great to see everyone all over again. It makes us not feel too far away.

Dora´s husband and three sons are studying the bible and make the meetings. And her brother in law and sister in law are studying as well. We made pizza last night and had them all over for dinner.

We stayed with Duane and Kim Lindala in the missionary home again during the convention. It was great. They take good care of us. We also got to have dessert with Ken and Sharon Bryan from the branch. They have been in the country for a very long time and told us stories of how the country was when they came and how when they started preaching they had no idea how the long term effects would be. Places they just 'blitzed' so to speak door-to-door thirty five years ago now have large thriving congregations. And some of the oldest members still have the Paradise Earth book that they originally gave them. It sparked Shane and my interest to reach some of the more remote communities in our area even just one time during the time we live here and see what becomes of it down the road. We are planning some days with Jese and Mayling Montes where we are going to go and camp out and do a several day preaching trip. Shane wants to rent a horse or mule or some thing to carry our stuff. That we will for sure get you some pictures of.

Back in San Jose:

These are pictures of some of some members of the congregation. The man with the horse works his farm 6 days a week, he has coffee and corn and beans. Shane has asked to ride their horses but they all have said they are too small and old to carry him...I think he is sad about that.

Here are some of the shots in our house last Sunday when the group of 60 came from Managua. These were taken at lunch time. It cracked me up when I found some of them sleeping on the porch!

The cyber where I am right this minute!!!

Also here is the promised Picture of Shane and me in traditional dress. Its not as good as matching tigger tee shirts, some might say, but for the first time since we have been here someone might actually mistake us for real nicaraguans. Maybe…

Last week they fumigated our house. A man in sky blue scrubs and a respirator come in with what looks like a leaf blower attached to a giant gas tank and hoses down the house with diesel fumes. Some bugs start dropping dead immediately. Other hardy ones run for fresh air. We sat outside on the back porch and stomped the cockroaches as they were fleeing for their life. Sometimes it took two stomps. They are really tough critters. Anyway, after all the fun and the smoke clears out, we went back in and this was laying on the floor. It was almost the size of my palm with its legs and creepy clawlike things fully extended. It was still alive. We let it go outside. I am not sure what happened to it. I hope we put it far enough away from the house that it didnt just run right back in.

written by  Shane Perry on November 26, 2009 from San Jose de los Remates, Nicaragua
from the travel blog: Shane and Vanessa's Nicaraguan Adventure
tagged SanJose60People
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I know it sounds like we have a lot of bad things to say about it, but we are really glad we lived there. Just in case someday we have another assignment like that, we'll be prepared. But man, am I glad to have our washing machine and fridge back.

For all those reading, I'm going to keep writing, but I recommend you take a break. Your bottom might be going numb in your chair or eye strain could be setting in, but since you are so engrossed in this reading, you may not have noticed it. We've just missed writing a bunch of blogs, so I'm catching up. But you really should pace yourself and stop and walk around or something.

Back to the mainland:

When we got back to the mainland we had to move. The brother at the branch talked to our circuit overseer and recommended a town called San Jose de los Remates. The c.o. wanted to send the couple there to a nearby comunity to start the meetings there and Shane and I would stay in San Jose de los Remates and help out there. We took a day with Betty and come to see the town. Everything is so cute. There´ll be more pics of that later.

Last week we were feeling lonely and we both prayed about it. Sooooooo, on Sunday we had a group come to visit from Managua. Sixty people came to help us preach door to door! They came in a private bus and parked in front of the house. It was great and kind of crazy. There was a line for our one bathroom pretty much the whole time. We all came back to our place for lunch and everyone spread out all over the porch in front, living room, patio and backyard.
The local brothers and sisters went preaching with us too. It was such a boost for them. There were so many people in the house that when everybody loaded back on the bus to go home, people were waving from the bus windows who I hadn´t even met! We were so encouraged by the visit. Shane and I laughed afterwords though that maybe next time we should just pray that we are a LITTLE lonely.

written by  Shane Perry on November 23, 2009 from Corn Island, Nicaragua
from the travel blog: Shane and Vanessa's Nicaraguan Adventure
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In Aug. we went back to the U.S. for pioneer school. It was so great. Our instructors were excellent teachers, “the gold standard,” as some might say (imagine with Bro. Velucci's voice) and our classmates really set the bar high for good preparation and comments. Being in class with Shane was great. We're going on 6 years of marriage and pioneering together, so we had a lot of experiences to look back on. During the school we made some fantastic new friends and spent the two weeks with the Salley's. We couldn't have made pioneer school any more wonderful. But, looks like now we get to try it again!! Can you believe it? We got home and they have invited us to attend here starting the class in October. Shane told our C.O. that we'd just attended in Virginia, but he said if it wasn't with the Spanish book, we could go again. We are so excited. The material will really be tailored for our territory here and with the ink barely dry in our new books, we may just get something out of it when we study it all again in Spanish.

Leahs Wedding.

Leah, my sis, got married. She was a beautiful bride. I've never seen her so happy. And Sam Moorefield, her husband, is a brother-in-law to be proud of. He was in Bethel 12 years, Chinese territory for 7, and won Leah's heart. He's so considerate too. So we could spend more time with them before we left, he arranged kayaks and took us to a bio-luminescent bay. We were more than honored that they wanted to spend time with us on their honeymoon. It was sad to leave them and Puerto Rico. But we have hopes to see them over here in Nicaragua some time.

Isaac and Elizabeth.

When we came home Monday, we had some guests practically waiting at our door. Isaac and Elizabeth are special pioneers 5 hours from here. They travel all this way to come to 'town' one time a month to do their shopping. Anyway, it was nice to have them here when we got home. It lessened that, “we're so lonely, missing everybody” feeling. (We do still miss everyone by the way.) They used to stay with our special pioneer couple, Luis and Maribel, but they have been assigned to the traveling work in another area, so Isaac and Elizabeth will stay with us each month. They are a very encouraging. And Shane is pleased because Isaac is spiritual and still likes video games. By the way, at this point, they are not sending a special pioneer brother to replace the one that just left. So we are left with two elders for 80 publishers. But we're still better off than the other cong. that only has one elder. Plus, Shane appreciates the extra work in the meantime. He likes to be busy.

I had to add this pictures of us from Virginia. We went down the Hardware River. Only Shawn Cumella was able to go with us...We wonder if everyone else might have already known the water was too low. Oh well, but as you can see we had a good time, especially Shane at that moment.

And just when we started feeling lonely and homesick. We got two invitations to eat with friends today. (Today, Monday, was a national holiday, Central American independance day. There are parades and everything, so every one had it off. Here, I have to add a story, Shane takes an interest in a man with some sort of disablility, named Roger. Today we met him on the street. He told Shane that for today, he wanted nothing to do with the Bible, because he was going out to watch the girls who march in the parade with their little short skirts and go-go boots. Poor Roger. He has his good days and bad days, sometimes he comes to the Kingdom Hall on Sunday and stays for all the meetings; ours, the other congregation and he hangs around for the sign language too.) So, back to our meals with friends today. One was a full English brunch. And the other for a full Nicaraguan lunch. We are so spoiled. The first picture is the brunch it was great. The last picture is of the sister who made us lunch. She and her 12 yr old daughter wash all their clothes and dishes outside the back door on this concrete washboard and sink.
They always impress me.

Bye all! Thanks for reading. Did I mention come visit? :)

written by  Shane Perry on September 14, 2009 from Jinotega, Nicaragua
from the travel blog: Shane and Vanessa's Nicaraguan Adventure
tagged LeahSWedding
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Here's some pictures from Leah's Wedding. I'll fill in the details later. Just knew some of you would like to see them.

And Pioneer School!!!

We had a great time in Pioneer School. It was a huge boost and a blessing.
Here are some pictures.