#6

So it's been a while but we finally have some time to share whats been going on down here. We just had our circuit overseer visit which went really well. Because of the boat schedule to and from the island they decided to stay for the week with some of the friends in the cong. Everybody was able to really express their hospitality/cooking skills since breakfast, lunch, and dinner needed to be provided for them. I decided to try and overcome my fear of cooking Nicaraguan food for Nicaraguans and made them dinner. Don't be to impressed unlike what we're used to in the states, their dinner is the smallest meal of the day. We cooked gallo pinto (rice and beans), tahadas (fried platanos), and fried chicken with some of the local cheese on the side. This is probably the most typical/common meal here. Thankfully there weren't any casualties.

After the C.O. left we started the tract campaign for the district convention coming up this weekend. We've never walked so much in our lives!! At least 3-4 miles every morning! Not a lot of people from the territory seemed to enthusiastic about going since they have to travel to Managua the capital but it was great opportunity to talk about how many witnesses there are worldwide, when they saw the picture on the tract they were impressed at how many people there were. Right now we are currently in Costa Rica visiting Jeff and Carlee to renew our passports and since there's expires next week they'll be coming back to Nicaragua with us.

On a not so great note we've been getting ant infestations in the apartment lately and just the other day kirk was chasing a small spider trying to kill it when it actually led him straight to a tarantula hanging upside down above our clothes! When he tried pulling out the sock that the spider was on, it tried grabbing at him...yikes! Well we sprayed it to death and it died but we've been forced in to sealing the house up better than it was before.

Kirks been really busy in the cong. lately. Our 2 elders and their wives are gone for the moment. The one couple went to the international in Mexico and have been gone for almost 2 months, and a few weeks ago the other couple who are substitute circuit overseers got called into an assignment for the next month. So of lately kirk and 1 other brother have been juggling all the meeting parts, needless to say he's really enjoying the time being spent here in Costa Rica. Christmas here wasn't to big of a deal. The only real preparation the people do is butcher their giant hogs that they've been fattening all year long. It was funny going in service the day before Christmas and talking to all these women with their hands full of pig guts and skin and chopped off legs and pig heads sitting on the table next to them...yuck.

Well, on that note thanks for reading, we'll post more next month.
kirk and kells

The pictures above are of some of the sisters in the congregation learning how to make pumpkin pie from a vegetable that grows on the island. Its not pumpkin but once its cooked it tastes just like it....they loved it!!