Stuff

Its been a while since the regional convention now, and not really much has happened lately, except that I got married and moved to Corn Island. Getting married in Nicaragua is a little different (so I'm told) from getting married in Canada. I wouldn't know, as I've not been married before but the requirements are quite different and the resulting wedding is significantly different from what I've seen as well.

Firstly, one cannot get married at the Kingdom Hall like most do in Canada. In Nicaragua you need to be married by a Judge at the local "Casa de Justicia" or as they call it in Creole the "Judge house". From what I can tell its a court house as it appears that the Judge did not actually live in that building. Maybe its a place where people can come and be judgemental?

One generally has a talk at the Kingdom hall the following day after the civil ceremony, or later on in the same day. Since the real wedding already took place and the talk at the hall was optional, we had to say the vows in past tense. "I have taken you" instead of "I take you". I had mixed feelings about that but in the end I don't think anyone even noticed. We had also already exchanged the rings by the time of the Kingdom Hall ceremony, but we exchanged them again just for show, and for the sake of photos. Although our photographer was present at the civil ceremony as well.

The documents were not too difficult to find, and did not require that I return to Canada which was quite a relief. The hardest thing to find was a document called a "certificate of singleness" which has to be from my home country, and the Canadian government does not issue any such document. We were told by the embassy that there is one that can be obtained in lieu of that, but I would have to return to Canada in order to get it and have it signed by a Canadian notary. Fortunately that was a lie and the judge in Pearl Lagoon said that a "Marriage search" which can be obtained by my parents without my presence was sufficient. My parents brought all the other documents with them when they came down for the wedding, the rest of which was pretty standard (birth certificate, etc).

And that's something else I never imagined would happen, that my family would come here to Nicaragua! but it did! Right now most of my immediate family are here on Corn Island with us. My parents flew in a few weeks before the wedding, and I came over on the boat to get a place ready for them and show them around before going back to pearl lagoon. Jean and I went to meet them at the bluefields airport a long with my sister and her family the day before the wedding. It was fun to see someone else's reactions to seeing Nicaragua for the first time.

The reception was a huge success as well. We had the party at what is without a doubt the best hotel/restaurant in Pearl Lagoon, Casa Ulrich. We also had Mr. Fred (the owner) cater the reception, which was probably among the best decisions we could have made. Guests had a choice of either chicken or fish, which was served with various sides. Everyone was well fed and as always Fred's cooking exceeded expectations, and at prices comparable to fast food back in Canada.

View from Lighthouse hotel, Little Corn

We spent the first part of our honeymoon at Long Bay on Big Corn Island, and then the rest on Little Corn, and now were settled int our place on Big Corn where we will be serving for the foreseeable future. We don't know how long we will be staying here but we felt it was time for a change, and at the same time there is a need for us. There is only one Spanish congregation here, and a small Creole-english group trying to become a congregation, for which they need more permanent helpers. Lots of visitors come to Corn Island eager to help in the ministry, but they stay only for a short time. When they leave at times the group is left with barely enough people to continue.

The entire group is made up of foreigners like myself trying to learn Creole, and my wife Jean is the first actual creole person in the group, so hopefully we can help in reaching the people here and help others to learn Creole faster.

Dive Shop, Big Corn

Dive shop again

ready for takeoff

Big Corn

Regional Convention - San Salvador 2015

We often say that "this was the best convention yet", but the events around this years assembly really did make it the most memorable yet. It was a long and exhausting journey for our congregation, but we also received overwhelming hospitality from our international brotherhood.

Our region includes English and Creole congregations from Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Our Journey from Pearl Lagoon started on Tuesday at 5 AM. We caught a bus to Rama, which takes about 5 hours on bumpy jungle road. After which we had planned to take the express bus from Rama to Managua but it wasn't available. Unfortunately this meant we had to run to the next bust after our 5 hour trip (no time for a bathroom break) and hop on for another 4 hour trip to Juigalpa. After Juigalpa it was another 3 hours or so to Managua. By the end of the day we all felt (and probably looked) like zombies. But now we were half way there!

Do-pi, the Creole word meaning "Zombie"

After that exhausting trip, we had to find ourselves a place to stay in Managua until the next morning when we would be taking the Ticabus to El Salvador. Imagine our delight when it turned out that someone from the local congregations had arranged hotel rooms for all of us right at the Ticabus terminal! we didn't have to pay a cordoba, and didn't have to worry about how we would make it to the terminal at 5 AM. The hotel even had a coffee shop inside that opened at 4 AM, just before we had to get on the bus. We never met the brothers that had arranged this for us, but we were so very thankful to have a clean and safe place to sleep at the end of the journey.

Ticabus hotel

The next morning was part two. There was a dramatic increase in the quality of the bust however. Even traveling in "economico" the bus had air conditioning, arm rests, cup holders, comfortable seats, and even a bathroom. We had to wear jackets thought because the AC only has one setting which is evidently used preserve meat. That is of course until about halfway through Honduras when the AC broke down, but they were able to fix it.

Repairs on the fly

Honduras

So after another 15 hours on the road, we finally made it to San Salvador! And again the hospitality of the brothers caught up with us. As the bus pulled in to the terminal there was a large crowd of people standing outside holding signs saying "Welcome!" and "We love you!". We all had arrangements to stay with local families in San Salvador. Evidently local congregations had assigned groups of volunteers to look after our every need. So as soon as we got off the bus, we were each handed a bottle of water and a sandwich, Then we were helped with our baggage to a brothers car. Some who were housing larger groups of us had rented buses to drive us around. We were taken to a lovely house with several guest suites where an older sister from the congregation had prepared a hot meal for us.

Welcoming comittee

Beautiful San Salvador

Delicious Pupusas

Starbucks!

More Starbucks

Inside Starbucks

And of course, my annual cheeseburger.

We had a day to rest before the program began, so Jean and I went shopping for wedding stuff. I also got to take Jean to Starbucks for the first time. San Salvador has a lot of amenities that one cannot find in Nicaragua, and comfort foods like McDonalds, So of course I had to get a cheeseburger and fries because it might be another year before I can eat that again.

The program of course was amazing, but I won't go into detail as some with access to this blog may not have had their assembly yet and I don't want to spoil it for them. I will say though that it was very up-building and the use of videos really made the program go quickly and made it easy to follow. The brothers are really reaching out to those of us with squirrel-like attention spans.

I already miss Starbucks. If anyone is coming down and wants to bring a treat please bring those Starbucks refreshers that come in a little package.

Camping

One of my favorite pastimes since I was a kid has been camping. Its also probably the number one thing I miss from being in Canada, is going on long camping trips out in the woods, being close to nature and away from all traces of modern society... sitting around a fire and most importantly doing nothing at all.

Occasionally while working our more distant territories we do go "camping" as some of them take nearly a day to reach and it would be impractical to return the same day. Also most of them do not have hotels or hostels to stay at so we are left with the option of camping.

However, for the first time we got to go on a recreational camping trip. Its a bit different than camping in Canada but it was an awesome experience. A family visiting from Germany was kind enough to invite myself, Jean, and another couple on a 3 day camping trip in the Pearl Cays.

The Cays (pronounced Keys) are a group of tiny islands in the Caribbean about a one hour Panga ride from Pearl Lagoon. They vary in size and are completely undeveloped with the exception of some abandoned houses that were never finished constructing. I mention the history of these buildings in a previous post, basically someone started building them illegally and were forced to leave. There are no shops obviously. When you are on these islands you only have what you brought with you and what you can find from nature.

One of the keys is so small it is just one palm tree and a bunch of sand. The one we stayed on was somewhat bigger, Clark key is just about as long as 2 or 3 city blocks... I guess. You can walk from one end to the other in a few minutes, but its big enough that you can go for a walk and not see anyone. We brought all our camping gear and food for 3 days with us and set up camp under some young coconut trees. (we picked a place where the tents were not in danger from falling coconuts, as coconuts kill more people than sharks, you know.)

Hammock Zone

Tent City

Casa Mateo

we had a small campfire as well, we were told not to have a large one by some conservationists (the only other people you will see around here) as it would attract the baby sea-turtles that were hatching in the area. We went to great lengths, walking around at night with red flashlights trying to see baby turtles running for the water, but all we saw were their tracks, we just missed them each time.

We used a typical coal "furnace" to cook our food using wood heat, and also ate what fish we were able to catch in addition to what we had brought with. Our driver picked a dead fish out of the water on the way to the islands which turned out to be delicious.

Jean making Coffee

Camp Kitchen

Its amazing how the daylight changes your schedule when you are not exposed to any artificial light. We usually all went to bed around 7, and got up just in time to see the sunrise at 4:30-5:00 AM. We spent a lot of the time snorkeling and building sand castles, but somehow it didn't feel quite like camping because there were no pine trees. I don't feel like I'm camping without pines, but i suppose that palm trees are an acceptable trade.

Sunrise

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeean

July

It is now July, and Pearl Lagoon is in the beginning of the rainy season once again. The congregation is still making regular boat trips up the lagoon, in fact there is another trip to Karawala coming up very soon. This time I plan to bring more camping gear. 

We are also getting a new boat! It was determined that the Mensajero III is not the most suitable class of boat for our territory, as it cannot carry enough people to effectively work our distant territories. So it was approved by the branch to have a new one built! This type of boat is known as a Cayucon (not sure of the spelling) as opposed to a Panga. It is much larger and is often used on the river communities to deliver cargo. The Mensajero III carries 5-7 people at a speed of 12 knots. Our new boat will be able to travel at 13 knots, and carry 20 or possibly more passengers. It will be covered to protect from the rain and also have a closed compartment for literature and supplies to keep them dry.

Mensajero IV, under construction

We have also been informed that new special pioneers have been assigned to Pearl Lagoon. That means that we will have 4 in total. The first couple is working on Miskito and Mayagna translation and also taking the lead in the Miskito language field as they are both fluent in that language. The next couple however have much experience in the Creole language, and will be focusing on that. This is something we really need, as learning Creole is quite difficult for many. Rather than learning a new set of words and grammar, you have to learn how to speak your own mother tongue in a way that you have been taught all your life is wrong. It takes courage to comment in Creole, we have a tendency in the congregation to simply comment in English because we are timid about using Creole. For us foreigners, we are afraid that we will say something wrong and sound silly, whereas the locals are timid to use it because when they were growing up they were taught it was just "bad english" and that they had to speak properly in the kingdom hall.

The best thing, from what I have seen, in combating both of these mentalities is for someone who knows how to do it, to work up the courage and set the example by just commenting in pure creole. Hopefully these new special pioneers who have dealt with all these challenges before will be able to motivate us to progress with our creole.

Oh and one more new detail, I got engaged. My Fiance Jean grew up in Guatemala but is originally from the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. We met and have come to know each other while serving here in Pearl Lagoon. As far as I know, ours will be the first wedding in the Pearl Lagoon Kingdom Hall. We actually first met 3 years ago on my first visit to Pearl Lagoon, but didn't start dating until this last year. In fact, i made a post about that visit to pearl lagoon here. she's even there in one of the pictures.

Cooking with wood

Many homes in Nicaragua do not have a gas nor electric stove on which to cook. Some do, but prefer to use a wood stove to cook certain things on, so they have both. Its a common sight, particularly in Miskito communities to see two buildings at each home, one is the main house and the second is the kitchen, where they have a wood fire on which to cook so they don't fill the entire house with smoke.

One reason to have a a wood stove to cook with in addition to a gas one is for cooking beans. Cooking dry beans takes many hours, and would be too expensive and impractical to cook using gas, so many families cook large batches of beans over a fire in order to save on gas. Below are some pictures and step by step instructions for starting and using a cooking fire.

Your stove may look something like this. A wooden stand with a box on top filled with sand (to prevent the fire from spreading to the stand/box) and some concrete bricks to contain the fire and also to set a grill or a large pot on above the fire. Its also important to have airflow and easy access to the fire for adding/removing sticks.

Just like starting any fire, start with a pile of small thin dry sticks or kindling, maybe some bark or paper scraps if you have them. Its a common practice also to burn pieces of plastic to get it going, although you may prefer to stick with tree bark.

Gradually add more until you have a decent flame going, then when ready put in some larger pieces of wood. Its good to use long sticks, so that one end can be burning and you can handle them by the other end to move them around without being burned.

Fan the flames with a lid to get it nice and hot.

And now you're cooking with wood!

Karawala

This past weekend we went on a 4 day trip to work our most distant territories. The Pearl Lagoon congregation technically has territory all the way until it meets up with the boundaries of the puerto cabezas congregations, so they asked us how far north we could realistically work. The answer was that we could reach as far as Karawala in the Rio Grande area, so that is where we went. We left at 5:00 AM and the trip took us about 4 hours to reach the first community. There are many towns here, mostly along the Rio Grande de Matagalpa river. We reached it by going to the top of the Pearl Lagoon, and then through the Top Lock lagoon and into the river. The weather was somewhat favorable but there were enough waves to make sure we were properly rinsed before arrival.

The first community was Kara, of which the primary language is Miskito, however the people also speak Creole and Spanish. We spent the day there, taking turns guarding the boat which we had parked under a tree on the shore. One of the rules that goes with a boat belonging to the branch is that we can never leave it unattended. I took the afternoon shift. Of course the one staying with the boat also gets to preach because people take notice of a new boat in town and come over to make conversation. After we finished for the day, we headed off to Walpa where we planned to spend the night.

Arriving in Walpa

Home

Walpa is another Miskito community, and on a previous visit a family living on the shore showed us great hospitality, and so we parked the boat in their front yard. They gave us the use of their kitchen, and also allowed us to sleep inside an abandoned house that they had been planning to tear down. Actually they offered us a bedroom in their house, but since we had tents the house was just fine. It had no walls but it still had a roof to protect from the rain. For the first day we had all brought our own meals, so I had my second serving of tuna sandwiches on coconut bread for supper. The next morning the brothers assigned to cooking for Satuday had prepared scrambled eggs and rice for breakfast, and rice with sardines for lunch. Luckily I had brough extra ramen noodles and bread, because it was at this point I learned that Nicaraguans generally do not eat supper, so no arrangement for a third meal had been made.

Walpa

Our territory for the second day, in the morning, was Walpa where we had spent the night. Walpa is a very quiet, peaceful town (one reason why we chose to spend the night here). Normally people have electricity, but at the point of our arrival the power had been out for 15 days and it was unknown when it would be back. People in Walpa get their water from wells, which was surprisingly clean. I used a portable filter and iodine drops before drinking it just to be safe though.

Sunset in Walpa

Making the morning coffee

After Walpa we went down the river to Sandy Bay Sirpi, which is a large town that faces the sea. Miskito people seem to have the custom of building their houses far apart from eachother, so all of these communities were well spaced out with fields of flat grass in between. A brother who had been in the Miskito field for a long time commented that they also tend to plant coconut trees everywhere they go, so the coconut palm is almost like a "Miskito Flag". When we reached the side of Sandy Bay facing the ocean it was amazingly beautiful. The area looked not unlike the east side of Corn Island, but a little (a lot) less developed. We finished just before sunset, which gave us time to make it back to Walpa before dark where we spent another night.

Sandy Bay Sirpi

The beach in Sandy Bay

Our next stop the following day was Karawala, the biggest and central community in the area. Karawala is notably clean and the houses although being basic (Board houses on posts, with some concrete) are well maintained. From what we could tell Karawala did not have municipal water, but it did have electricity (but not today, because they had the same problem as Walpa). I was forced to use all the Miskito I knew during this trip, and it was exciting to see the results. One older man told the brother I was working with that he could understand some creole, but could not understand foreigner English (referring to me). I started my presentation in Miskito and his jaw hit the floor. He excitedly accepted literature after I mumbled through my sentences explaining the good news brochure (Gad Sturka Yamni nani ba).

Karawala

Miskito people have a custom similar to what we read about in bible times, that when someone waits in the town square in the evening, people will invite them to stay in their homes. This way, most of our group arranged to stay with a family near the wharf. Me and another brother volunteered to stay with the boat however. Because we were leaving all our supplies and fuel in the boat so that we could leave early in the morning, we wanted to have two people guarding it in the night instead of just one. The sand flies and mosquitos were a bit harsh, however the stars were magnificent. Consider how far out in the jungle we were, no cities within a days travel, and what communities were here had no electricity, and you can get an idea how bright the stars were. One could see without a flashlight even though it was a new moon.

The next morning we left early on to go back to Pearl Lagoon. We were eager to get back to our own beds, but it was a fantastic service experience to witness in these communities.

The Crew