Recent News

Being Social  for Once

These past few weeks have been interesting, to say the least. In ways, time has seemed almost still as we prepare for the weeks to come. Between the excitement of Easter traditions here on the island and the upcoming memorial and elders’ school leaving us with only sisters in the group, I predict that the next few days are going to bring many new stories. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Now that we are winding down to our last month here on the island, we have finally found ourselves getting into a routine. Each day, with the exception of Mondays, we can expect to do service from eight in the morning until about four or five in the evening. After a long day trudging the island to visit people and share the Bible’s message with them, we usually settle in the house and do some personal study. Most nights we are in our pajamas by seven- which is hardly the life of young single sisters that you would expect, but after a ten mile day in extreme heat, bed is a great place to be no matter how early it is.

Speaking of social lives, I think I finally have some numbers and figures. The English Creole group here on Corn Island is approximately 21 publishers ranging from 21-68 in age with 12 single sisters, 1 single brother (the odds are in his favor), and 4 married couples conducting over 120 bible studies. We have 4 elders, all of whom are in Managua at the time for elders’ school. This makes for an interesting meeting. There are friends from the United States, some from Australia, A sister from the UK, and two sisters from Mexico. We all have different interests, very different personalities. If you can imagine being stuck on a tiny island just trying to survive with a group of 20 other people who are strangers from all over the world that you are surrounded by 24/7 with no means of escape and next to no alone time due to safety precautions….  Well, it doesn’t sound very glamorous. To tell the truth, it’s one of the most amazing and awe inspiring things ever. Only in Jehovah’s organization could I be in such a trying situation and feel such joy and blessings and love. It’s almost as if Jehovah is giving us our own little Great Tribulation survival course here and these 20 other people are my assigned teammates; handpicked by Jehovah to help each other get through all the struggles we encounter. It’s amazing the love you can have for strangers in such a short amount of time and I view it as one of the greatest blessings to be a part of such a loving organization.

That being said, these upcoming weeks are going to be some of the most difficult for us. Radio broadcasts from religious leaders here on the island have been warning people of our presence. Easter celebrations that have been so deeply entrenched in the locals mean greater dangers for us this upcoming week. The weather has reached new heights as we enter the hottest season of the year. To top it all off, there has been a recent outbreak of disease carried by mosquitos here on the island that has claimed many victims and that continues to spread like wildfire. Despite the struggles to come, I have full confidence that Jehovah will continue to protect our loving little group here. It will be interesting to see how upcoming events unfold, but  I will be sure to keep you posted
 

 

 

Grocery shopping, Corn Island style. You Just point and they grab it for you. It's kind of terrible.

 

Fernando, he is 70. It's amazing given that the average lifespan is 57 years old on this island.

 

headed to little corn island to preach for the day. The boat home stalled in the middle of the ocean after arriving two and a half hours late... open sea at 11pm isn't the most fun thing.

 

 

 

Painting the hall before the memorial.

 

Paddle Boarding-Post Service