I can't believe I've gotten so busy I'm only writing once a month... well, at least I am accomplishing a lot. April was a good and exciting month. Filled with fun, surprises, and not so fun stuff. The first two weeks of April went by haphazardly. I was busy getting ready for my upcoming trip to the USA. Spirit Airlines ran a special deal $7 tickets plus tax from Managua, Nicaragua to Miami Florida. So we bought a $100 r/t ticket and I took 2 big suitcases with me ready to bring more of my Virginia life back to Nicaragua. I was suprised to find out that my dear friends Dave, Lisa, Carly, Riley, and Issac Hysert from Cancun had bought tickets too and were going to meet up with Mike, Paola, and I. Our trip was really fun though extremely busy. I barely had time to breathe, let alone sleep.... but we managed to see Patterson, Walkill and Brooklyn Bethel, to pick through some of my boxes in Virginia, and to put our toes in the water in Nags Head, North Carolina before racing back to the airport to come home. It was a fun trip, but it's always hard to go back to the states and fit everything in that I'd like to. There were so many people that I would've loved to see and spend time with, and I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to... But next time I will when I'm in town more than 2 days.
As exciting as our trip to the States was, the real fun started when the whole gang followed me back down to Nicaragua.... where they were now on my turf! And what fun it was! We only had 4 days to work with, but we squeezed as much as we possibly could into those 3 days... When we arrived back in El Crucero, the whole town knew... THE GRINGOS HAVE ARRIVED. We should have spray painted it on the side of the Microbus that Mike rented. We visited Bethel, they got to go in service in a faaaaaaaaar out community called "Nueva York" (or New York).... funny how in just a couple days we went from New York, USA to New York, Nicaragua... there was quite a difference in scenery! We made a mad dash to a beach on the west coast, toured Granada, went for fine Nicaraguan dining, and then 3 days later, 9pm, they got back on their Microbus which whisked them away to the airport.
I wish I could say that the excitement ended there! Completely and utterly exhausted I went home, bringing with me my 2 new roommates.... Rachel Mokrycke and Chantelle Stickle. Rachel plans to be here for the rest of the year, and Chantelle is here for 3 months. We got back home, and collapsed in our beds. Thinking back, the 10 rowdy gringos running around with all their luggage, packing the van to leave made quite a scene. The wind blows hard in El Crucero, and it may make it hard to decipher the difference between the wind rythmicly banging a door against the jam, or someone trying to break your lock on the front door. Well, the girls awoke to such a sound, not realizing what it was and flicked on the lights. Hearing nothing afterwards, they went back to sleep. The next morning, I noticed something odd about the living room, there was dirt all over the floor, and the windows looked funny. Running closer and examining them confirmed the worst... someone tried to break into our house last night! They had carefully removed all the glass from the windows and started sawing at the bars, not being able to get in, they started whacking away at the deadbolt, and had pretty much ripped that part of the door to shreds. Still unable to enter, they climbed up onto the roof and broke through the ceiling tiles, spilling all the dirt onto the floor... but upon seeing the light turn on and realizing that there were people in the house, the would-be-robbers took off. And we were left with quite a scare! Of course, robberies and crime can happen anywhere you are, but being a seemingly "rich" person in a very very poor country leaves you a bit more targeted. So far, I've lived very simple, quite like the Nicaraguan's, and haven't attracted much attention. However they must've thought they hit the Jackpot after seeing all of us in and out of the house, with all our suitcases, in a huge rented vehicle. So, thinking we had all left for the night, they took advantage of the opportunity to break in not knowing that the three of us girls had come home in the meantime. I'm glad to say, we are perfectly fine, there were no run-ins nor was anything stolen... and it actually served a good purpose because it reminded us to be careful with our stuff... and we heightened security measures in our house. If they thought it was hard to get in before.... they should see it now!
I hope this entry doesn't needlessly scare anyone from coming to Nicaragua. It's unfortunate that it happened, but honestly the same thing could have happened to me in Richmond... why not? It just goes to show how much we need Jehovah's Kingdom. It's one thing to talk about crime being a thing of the past... but when you actually come that close to it happening and you stop and think about how the people feel who have had it happen... it only strengthens my resolve to preach and teach people about Jehovah and the just way that he'll deal with all the troublemakers in this world.
I felt bad that the girls had to experience this on their "first night" in Nicaragua. What a terrible welcome!! But they were troopers and we all just buckled together and moved past it. The following few weeks we stayed busy fixing the house, getting adjusted to each other's schedule, the learning curve of being in a new country and how to get around and know where to go, etc... Last weekend we were supposed to have the Circuit Assembly, but due to the rising gas prices, the public transportation in the entire country went on strike, and the Assembly was rescheduled. Everyone was stuck! People who had been visiting family in another town, couldn't get home, people couldn't get to work unless they hitchhiked, you couldn't go to the market to buy food, nor could we get to our bible studies unless we had prearranged plans with someone who had a vehicle. It was quite frustrating. Of course, gas prices have gone up all over the world, so it might not make sense for them to strike on such a matter... but as I understand it, Nicaragua gets its gasoline from Venesuela who also sells it to Honduras for apparently a lot cheaper. It has something to do with the President using the money for something else, and to end the strike they agreed to lower it for the public transport by around $1US. That, however, shot up the price for gas at the gas stations to $5 a gallon. Ouch.
Next weekend we have the rescheduled Assembly and Paola arrives for her visit and she'll be here for 2 months... So, I'll have more fun and stories coming....
Also, I'm putting up some new pictures on the photo page, so be sure to check them out!! TTFN!
on October 7, 2010, 7:39 pm
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