Adventures in the SJLR

San Jose de Los Remates.  A local sister invited us to visit her son there.  He and his wife, from Honduras, are serving there in a small congregation.  The congregation has 30ish publishers.  But because their territory is so huge, they are split up into three groups of ten, each functioning like its own congregation.  We went during the last week of the Memorial campaign 2013 to help the group finish their territory.  All loaded into the very apropo pick-up truck, off we go on our journey.  6 chicas: Myself, the local sister, a sister from Canada, and three Danish sisters.  We knew it would be an adventure...but HAH at whoever could have
imagined it...






Teresa, our most experienced driver, took the wheel and drove us up into the RURAL north country.  The drive was nice enough.  Roads nice and paved.  Enjoyed the scenery...huge dry patches of earth, shanty towns, humongous watermelons, big vultures eating a horse I think...and parching heat as we traveled into unknown territory.  We took a few wrong turns along the way, but leg one of our journey completed safely.

Holman y Pati

Lasagna!!!

When we arrived, the brother and sister had lunch prepared! Lasagna in a pizza dish!  Awesome stuff really.  They support themselves by selling pizzas in their town and the next.  They work a day and a half a week, make 25 pizzas, and have what they need to live and serve in this town.

After lunch, they wanted to show us the sights.  We had two options: 1) an hour hike to a beautiful waterfall but with no swimming or 2) drive to a mini waterfall with swimming hole.  Swimming hole won.

It took us about 20 minutes to drive there, just back down the mountain a little then off the beaten path into the mountain side.  While we were entering, we saw a line of 6 reporter cars coming out.  That was a good sign!  We figured they went to get footage of the awesome water spot we were traveling to!  Well, apparently one of those trucks saw our international posse and decided to follow us.  When we reached our destination and started piling out of the truck, a blue truck pulls up behind us and out pops a reporter with microphone and his cameraman behind him!  He was a reporter from Canal 8 (Channel 8) and was doing a tourism plug about this location, el Pozo de La Concha, for Semana Santa (Holy Week, like a religious Spring Break).  The cameraman was rolling right away as we unpacked and headed down to the river.  The reporter asked us why we were there, where we were from, and if we would be willing to say a few things about Nicaragua and the waterfall.  I got volunteered for an interview in Spanish, and another sister interviewed in English.  We couldn't believe it.  IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE...and we get our 1 minute of fame haha.  Check out the clip here: VIDEO We come on at about the 2:20 mark.

The Nicaraguans have a saying, "Despues de un gustazo, hay un fracazo."  "After an enjoyable moment, there's a disaster."

On the way home, about 10 minutes out from the town, the battery light in our truck comes on!  The driver, Nicoline this time, said that there was also a problem with the power steering! OH BOY...We get home safe enough, but the radiator is steaming.  We let it cool down then open the hood...and find that the alternator/battery belt is shredded!  Nicoline and I start checking it out trying to figure out what to do.  Next thing we know 4 guys appear around the truck, more than eager to assist.  Hahaha.  Girl Power.  They were part of a big church group that was heading back home into the mountains.  They stopped to see if we needed help.  They removed the shredded belt and told us that we would need a new one.  Unfortunately, in the middle of nowhere, there ARE NO Checkers/O'reilly Auto Parts near by...

One of the guys that stopped to help was the driver for the church group and owner of the local truck stop.  He said he could fix it but the only place to get a belt would be in the next town Esquipulas, almost 3 hour bus ride away.  So we devised a plan.  His father drove the bus between the two towns.  Holman met him before he left on the route at 530am, gave him some $ and asked him to get the belt.  When the bus made its return route, we would get the truck repaired.  While we waited, we went preaching in the town.  We were supposed to take the truck out to unpreached territory but that had to wait.  We had a nice time preaching.  Even though the town is strong Catholics, they were very interested in talking to the "foreigners."  We were invited in at several locations and Sacha and I even got a Coca-Cola!

 By noontime, the truck was raring to go!  Whoopee!!!  So we had lunch then headed out to literally the "unknown" by 1pm.  The group had never preached in these areas.  To walk, it would take them 5 hours to get there.  We drove for about 2 hours before we reached the territory.  The brothers had to keep asking the neighbors where to go since none of them had been!  They had only heard that there were some small communities out there.  The further we got, the drier and more inhospitable the terrain became.  I kept thinking to myself...How do people survive out here?!?

The nice part of the drive

Parched earth...literally

these are the voyagers...

The neighbors instructions were to drive until we see a big gate on the right side.  The "big" gate was about 5 feet wide, so we missed it the first time we passed.  We walk through the gate and  after about 20 minutes of walking, we saw a house!  Sacha and I went to talk to the hesitant woman.  She was probably wondering why on earth there was suddenly a big group of people passing through!  She was somewhat confused when we talked with her.  She thought we were part of the non-profit group that was building a well.  We told her we were Jehovah's Witnesses, and she was like, "Uh-huh. Well if you keep walking, you'll find the well about two kilometers down."  Never heard of us before.  The woman could not read so I shared with her the "Listen to God" simplified version.  She readily accepted it.  I read some scriptures to her and thanked her for her time.  We were only there about 10 minutes...but could probably have stayed an hour!  But we did not want to get too far from the group.


By this time the group had come across a little neighborhood, a cluster of about 10 homes.  The homes there were made of sticks and mud with a thatched roof and dirt floor.  As we approached the cluster, we could see kids playing baseball; with a stick and rocks.  We went to one home and the entire family was just relaxing out front.  They invited us to sit down, right in the middle of them, about 10 people.  I started to share with them some scriptures about God's purpose for the earth.  They listened
attentively and asked questions.  You could tell that while they believed in God and the Bible, they had never really reasoned on the scriptures or had someone explain it to them.  It was a remarkable experience.  Everyone was paying attention.  The woman that we first preached to had followed us.  She joined in and asked some questions.  She even brought her brochure, I think to share with her family.  I felt like I could have talked with them for hours, give them the Adam to Revelation, and they would have listened!  Unfortunately after 15 minutes, we had to keep moving...It was about 4pm now and we wanted to make it home before sundown.



On the way out, we preached to the houses along the way.  Someone would jump out of the truck with a Bible and magazines and quickly talk to the householders.  Every single house accepted literature graciously and begged us to stay.  One woman ran inside and grabbed her one chair and a stool and asked us to sit.  "Please just sit with us for a moment."  It was heartbreaking...I so wish we could have had more time to be with those people.  Next time...rent a better truck :)

Eleazar and his dad

 It was so cute getting to know the brothers and sisters in the group.  One of the little boys, Eleazar, took off school that day to go with us.  He was chipper and eager all day, not one complaint.  Only he asked us to stop feeding him junk food (Oreos, doritos, sweet rolls) haha.  While we were riding home in the back of the truck, he hits the side of the truck and says, "You know what, this truck is chatarra (piece of junk).  When I get older I'm going to buy a Hilux."  Toyota Hilux, the premier pickup truck in Nicaland.  I asked him why, "Because I'm going to be a pioneer and I'll need it to drive out here so we can preach."  He's 8 years old.

We made it home safely.  Thankful to Jehovah for the wonderful and unforgettable experience.  The brothers and sisters got their things from the house and went home.  We were tired, dirty and dusty, but so content.  I had a hard time sleeping that night though.  Tossing and turning, not just because we had not electricity nor water when we came home...but thinking when will those people ever learn more about Jehovah?!?  How are they going to get their chance to get an effective witness and hear the truth?!?  I hope to go out again later this year and spend a little more time helping.  Also! Take Eleazar's advice: Spend the $$$ and rent a Hilux!  Let me know if you want to come along.  It will be as always, an adventure.