Having our cake and eating it too!

So it's been a little over one month here in Nicaragua and just now are we starting to be able to have useful conversations in the ministry. Vanessa and I just completed a second study with a woman named Sobeida. She's in her mid twenties attending a small university here in Jinotega and she has a strong spiritual interest. The problem is not necessarily finding the words to talk to her or to teach, although our teaching is not really complicated which might be for the better, but rather understanding what she says in response to our questions. We end up walking out of the study asking each other what the other thought the student said. It's quite a challenge! I can imagine a conversation going something like this:

Shane: What do you think, how does Jehovah feel about the man that has no legs down the street, does he feel compassion for him?

Student (in Spanish) : The man was probably a sinner and God has been punishing him by taking away his legs... I'm sure this is the case.

Vanessa(smiling sincerely): Very good. That's right! Let's read this scripture....

and on the study goes.... :) I'm really hoping that this is not the case but we're not really sure at this point. Again, if Jehovah can use the rocks we've gotta be worth something.

Things are working out though, we had another family from the congregation over for spaghetti. I think it went over well but they ended up getting something that they hadn't bargained for. Here in Nica, spaghetti consists of noodles butter and onions and that's it. We spent atleast 2 hours on the sauce, cutting tomatoes, cooking, searching for fresh basil in peoples yards. It was a family with 3 kids 16, 13, and 7. They all ate it, but only one serving, nobody went for the parmesan that we brought from the states, they said it was too smelly, and all had small servings. Oh well. We certainly enjoyed it. I guess next time we'll have to go for beans and rice. It's not really different than in the states I guess, most of us only eat the same 5-6 meals over and over again with occasional variation. Afterwards we taught the kids how to play a game called “Greed” with dice. Maybe this wasn't the best game to teach but it is quite fun. The father asked me if they play that type of game in casino's and pool halls in the U.S. :) I think he was a little worried about how involved his kids were getting in the game. I hope we didn't just send some kid down the wrong path in life.

As far as adventure in the ministry we went out again in the rurals to teach and met a really nice woman. Great conversation. We managed to get stuck behind a bean truck that was being loaded, that killed an hour of our field service, and while we were waiting there was a storm rolling in. In comparison to what the folks in VA and TX have been facing it was nothing. I would be a bit frightened to experience that here. However in order to get home we had to cross a river that was about 2/3rds the size of the James by truck. We got to the river and it looked passable so we put the truck in 4 wheel drive and slowly went across. Not a big deal. However, there was another car that was working with us from Jinotega that decided to preach just a little bit longer. They came to the river about 15 minutes later and the river had risen to the point that it was impossible to cross. Those friends had to drive for 4.5 hours to get back home! An hour trip home over a river took more than 4 times that for the others. I'm sorry, but we have waaaaay too much fun in the ministry and it's productive too! We forgot our camera. Sorry guys... Maybe I'll take a picture of it later if we ever get back there again.

Having our cake and eating it too!

Jinotega, Nicaragua