People

This is all of the staff here in Leon. Denise Jantzy, Karen Keller, Richard and Andrea Burkholder, Davy Slabach, Delmar Martin and myself. And there is Roger(left) Benito(center) and Jerson. Benito is a member and Roger is finished with instruction class. Jerson is in instruction class

Life Down Here

Well I have been here 3 weeks now and things are going good so far. I am in language school now so that is a main portion ofwhat I am involved in now. I go to school on the mission motorcycle 5 days a week. Classes start at 8 in the morning and go till 12. Then i head home and try to study for the rest of the day but that dont always work out. I have a new teacher that is very fluent in english so that helps to move a little faster because he can explain things a lot faster. So hopefully I can master the language someday. Revival meetings are over now. They went well except I couldnt understand the preacher:( So far there was one convert who was one of the theives of church stuff, and there are a few more that are interested. It has been raining almost every day here which is nice because it keeps things cooled down. Not much but some little showers. Saturday Delmar, Davy, and me did some planting around the house. We want it to turn into a jungle around the house so that there will be a bunch of shade. It is rarely calm around our house. There is always someone coming for eggs or to borrow something or just the neighbor children coming to hang out with us "gringos" as they call us. The one picture is a neighbor boy William trying to help me learn some more Espanol. Also we have been having thieves around our house. So far they have stolen 4 pairs of sandals, my rubber boots, a couple buckets, some clothes off of the line, an umbrella, the wheels off of our egg delivering cart, and probably some other things that we havent noticed yet. So now we bring everything in at night. So far they have never tried to break into the house in the 2 years that it has been there so that is nice. Also it is going on 9 weeks that we havent had a break-in at the church so that is a blessing as well. When we wash our clothes in this weather they dont dry very fast so we put them under our porch so they dont get rained on. And there is Delmar doing some trimming in the yard to an ugly tree. Well he actually cut it down:) If yall want some prayer requests i guess the main one would be for the guys that attend church. They seem to not have the zeal they used to. They skip church a lot and things like that. Also for the new believers at church....Thanks again..

Well i just got done with my first week of language school. Only 3 or 4 more to go.:) It is kind of confusing for now but I am catching on a little. The past week has been full of activities. Going to the beach with some visitors, going to La Palmerita for youth night, washing clothes, starting Compana(revival meetings). The speaker is Philip Ebersol from Hondouras. In the pictures above is the beach at sunset and the national bird of Nicaragua. Well thats all for now..Joel

Hey i finally got a chance to update. Life is going good so far in Nicaragua. Its been real rainy and lately its been real hot. The first pic. is the chicken house. There is about 200 chickens in there. Next is Benito and Christopher. Benito(on the right) is a member at church and Christopher is in instruction class. Next is some guys crossing the road in front of our house in the rain. There isabout 2ft of water running down it. Then our kitchen where all kinds of good things take place:) Music, laughing and some cooking. Oh, and i make sweet tea to down here so it is like home:) Last is my bed for now. It is in the storage room and that is where i hang my hat until Davy leaves. I am entering the chicken rotation as well. Also i start spanish classes on Monday. That will be 2 weeks of classes and then 2 weeks of homestay which is living with a native family. That should prove to be interesting. Ill try to post later with some people pictures..Joel