Nicaragua Life

Wow, After all this time. All this planning, i can't believe we actually accomplished this! It's really pretty amazing! We arrived safely into San Jose, Costa Rica and our friend Dan arranged for us to have a place to stay with some friends in the english congregation down there. The past week getting ready to leave had been very exhausting so we just spent a day trying to relax and recover and it was welcome! Costa Rica is so beautful! Around 12:30 we decided to walk to a nearby mall to get some lunch. It was a bit of a walk ( and our first day completely without transportation! ) so we started out just going for a relaxing little stroll. About halfway there, a big fat drop of water splashed on my forehead. I looked up and instantly I remembered! "Paola! What time is it???" "1:10, why?" "It's after 1! It's going to rain!" Costa Rica is so cool... it's like clockwork, everyday after 1pm it rains. It might fluctuate about 30 minutes or so.... but it's pretty much guaranteed! So we walked as fast as we could to the mall.... and we must've been there for about 15 minutes before it started POURING down rain with just sheets and sheets of water falling from the sky! Whew! We just made it!

The next morning we left for Nicaragua... the busride was nice. I enjoy the bus because it gives me plenty of time to sleep, read, listen to music, watch a movie, etc...etc... And the bus was really nice, air conditioned (a little cold even) with a bathroom, etc. We crossed the borders quite easily. Paid some eager helpers a few Nicaraguan cordobas to carry our 600lb luggage to the check point, and got back on the bus to Managaua. A brother who is a taxi picked us up from the Tica bus station and brought us to Bethel. It was about 6pm and dark at this point, and we were tired from traveling! A Bethelite met us, showed us to our room ( they had so kindly put dinner in our fridge waiting for us! ) He invited us to breakfast and morning worship the next day!! The guest room we stayed at was BEAUTIFUL! Two twin beds, 2 little comfy chairs a desk and tv, a quaint kitchen, neat bathroom, a large closet, and little deck off the back of the room! What a perfect little apartment! Bethel certinaly knows how to do it! Now if only Pao and I can find a place like this in our assignment, it would be perfect!!!

The next morning we got up early and got ready for Morning Worship. This is such a treat for me! I've always wanted to attend... too bad it was all in spanish and I didn't understand much. I just sat there where a stupid grin on my face... I made it!! Paola understood it though, at least she enjoyed it! There was one brother at our table who spoke English so we talked a little bit and Pao scolded me for speaking in English too much, after all... I'm going to HAVE to learn Spanish, I might as well practice now! Many of the brothers in Nica Bethel are foreigners... from Costa Rica, Canada, United States, England, etc... apparently many of them are missionaries who went through Gilead and we assigned to Nicaragua 15+ years ago when the work first opened up!

That afternoon we attended the "Store up your treasures in Heaven" circuit Assembly which was being conducted on the same grounds as Bethel. It was really good, even in spanish! I slept through half of it ( just kidding! ), but there was this one brother with a STRRRONG british accent speaking spanish... it was SO CUTE. I loved it! In fact, I could understand almost everything he said because he pronounced his words so clearly and did not run them together the way those with the Nica accent do.

After the assembly we ran into some friends that we used to know from Mexico... Barak Anderson who used to serve in Merida, and Mandi Peterson and her cousin Ashley who were in Merida for a while but also spent a lot of time in Cancun. It was nice seeing everyone again we took pictures, exchanged Nica phone numbers, and made plans to meet up again sometime while we're all down here. . . . And then it was OFF to our new home... El Crucero.

Don't forget to check out the new pictures!