San Juan del Sur

Last weekend we headed to the beach! About 20 brothers and sisters serving in the country meet up in San Juan del Sur to hang out at the beach for the weekend. It was my first time on the Pacific coast in Nicaragua and it was well worth the trip....BEAUTIFUL!

When I was in 3rd grade I wrote a story about Tina the Sea Turtle from the Galapagos Islands and she would come ashore to lay her eggs in the sand. I have always wanted to see a sea turtle closeup so at night from 11:00 to around 1:00am we would go "turtle hunting" and it paid off!

 

These are the eggs - unfortunately since we were not in a protected area anyone could come and take the eggs.

The condos and pool at night

 

 playing games on the beach

T

The sunsets were amazing! I want to go back.....wanna come???

Viaje a Betel

Nicaragua Branch

On Tuesday the Esteli congregation was invited to tour the branch in Ticuantepe before it closes in November. It was about a 3 hour drive on a school bus so we had to be at the Kingdom Hall around 5:45am to leave nice and early. It was so nice to see everyone so excited!

I love this kid! 

When we first arrived we went to the assembly hall to wait our turn for our tour and we watched videos that were interviews with Nicaraguan brothers that lived through the civil war in the 80's, what they went through to survive and how Jehovah always took care of them spiritually.

Katia Caldera was our tour guide, my Grandparents have been friends with her family for a long time

Last year the branch added a museum of the history of the preaching work here in Nicaragua. It shows how the brothers survived the war when the preaching work and all publications were under ban and how they made copies of literature so they could smuggle it in to prisons - even if it was on toilet paper. It's amazing that they kept some of this stuff... It was really neat to see it and imagine how it happened. It really makes you appreciate the freedom we have to preach now and how we really need to take advantage of it!

This display showed how a brother wrote down everything he could remember  from his personal study, every scripture, every question so he could use it to study with people in prison. He used this nothing-of-a-pencil to do it and sharpened it with his teeth.

These are portions of the Live Forever book and the Song Book written on toilet paper for prisoners.

Literature was hidden in discreet places so they could sneak it in. 

Like in a crutch.

Then we had lunch under this huge tree

Brianna, Carlitos and Carla

Then on our way back to Esteli we made a stop at Laguna de Apoyo which is beautiful! Although as soon as we got there it started to rain...

So much in fact that a part of the road turned in to a river on our way home

The water was over the bus wheels!

But we made it home safely... sleepy but safe :) This weekend we are off to San Juan del Sur.....la playa!

Take care everyone! Lynette and Brianna

Esteli

So its been about 11 months but I have made it back to the "Mother Land"! .....literally it's my mom's country...


We made it!! Brianna and I are here in Esteli. Its different from Corn Island but just as lovely. I didn't realize you could preach in Nicaragua and not be super super sweaty! We are really enjoying ourselves here so far, the weather is really nice, sunny during the mornings and usually a little rainy in the evenings. And the ministry....well you can't beat the ministry here in Nicaragua...I'm in love with it!

Our Group for Mira Flor

Its so green here!

This was a view from a tiny humble house we did in service

We had the chance to do rural territory in Mira Flor about a 2 hour bus ride away from Esteli. We left at 5:30 am and because the afternoon bus wasn't running we were back by 1:30, so kind of a short morning. But the area is beautiful and people are so kind and love to listen to anything you have to say about the bible and we had many good conversations. We had to make sure that we brought sweaters and rain boots for the mud because you never know what your going to get for weather. It was a nice cool but sunny day and we were very glad we brought our rubber boots for the mud!

We are definitely in cowboy country here in the mountains!

with our backpacks ready to go

We hope everyone is doing well and to hear from you soon!   mucho amor,  Lynette