#7

Above: riding the ferry

Hi everybody!
So we want everyone to know that me and Kirk love having visitors of all kinds. I say of all kinds because I know there are a few of you out there that feel like because you have children somehow you are exempt from this invitation. I understand there are certain fears that come with taking your child to a third world country but I hope these pictures and this family inspires EVERYBODY even those with young children to consider taking advantage of our circumstances and coming here for an eye opening experience.

Here in the picture you see Mirella (mother) Derek (father) and Tara (daughter). Mind you young Tara is only 4 yrs old and hasn't learned any spanish. This didn't stop all the young kids in the congregation as well as in the street during service from coming up and talking to her asking her all kinds of questions. Little Tara really enjoyed all the beautiful creation that she saw in Nicaragua even the creepy crawlies, we often found her with her face and hands all dirty from chasing geckos and lizards. Her parents did come very prepared, she literally brought an entire house in the suitcases which she left for all us foreigners to fight over after they left ( there is now a waffle maker between the 6 of us! yay!) Tara was really exhausted by the end of every morning in service usually knocked out from all the walking and of course the heat, but she still found the time to share the good news with her peers ( easy to tell which one she is...right). I hope that her experience eases some fears that maybe some of you have about coming here. Its perfectly SAFE all be it poor, hot, and dusty.

Below: Tara witnessing, and with her family at the beach.

We did another rural day in our territory which proved to be very fruitful, many studies and return visits were started and though its far they continue to be visited by our faithful brothers and sisters. This rural day proved to be interesting because we were having a hard time finding people at home, then as we were walking down one of the dirt roads we noticed a huge line of people with buckets getting water out of a spout in the ground. I guess they hadn't had water in quite a few days but on this particular day the city had turned it on just in this one spot, so EVERYBODY was there. Needless to say we were able to finish a little early having found everyone in one spot.

Things are progressing rapidly in the cong. as well. Not everybody has heard the good news but way back in august kirk turned in a pioneer application, well just a few weeks ago him and another brother finally got the word that they had been approved! Just in time for the cong. pioneer meeting! Its a good thing he continued to get his time for 6 months without even knowing if he would be approved. That moves the fabulous total up to 12, amazing for 35 publishers!

Below: Rural day

Things are coming to a close for us here in Nicaragua, well at least until we return in June. Just last Monday we enjoyed what we here like to term "funday Monday" all day fun. The highlights.... using the waffle maker of course and Javan downloaded an old Saturday morning cartoon for us to watch during breakfast! Of course since none of us have TV you can imagine what a sacrifice Saturday morning cartoons have been for all of us. Now we have the wonderful privilege to come home see are friends and family and of course the much anticipated...work. Yep, amazingly enough just a few months can potentially allow one to spend the rest of the year focused entirely on furthering the good news with no other work interruptions, we highly recommend it!

Below: Watching our downloaded cartoons and celebrating "funday Monday"

We wont be blogging once we arrive in the states, so until June... we look forward to seeing everybody.

with lots of love kirk and kelly