Esteli Balcony Covers Series - Part 4: Only Good Memories

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?lk19xdblhln5i4n 

to download the mp3 ... if you would like...

Yea... so looks like I broke all the rules with this balcony covers series thing as far as this song goes...

Part Four of the Esteli Balcony Covers Series isn't technically a cover, and it wasn't technically recorded on the balcony, but I have reasons...

Only Good Memories is an original written by me and a few musically talented friends back home originally played in our acoustic band.  I started writing the acoustic guitar part way back in the Fall of '08... it's pretty old...and it came into completion sometime earlier this year, I can't remember...

The actual version of this song is performed by the whole acoustic band, and has been recorded already... currently being held hostage by a Mr. D. Huber... and that version is a million times better than my empty, boring take of it... In that way, I can justify that this can be classified as a cover of our real version (with much better singing I should add, let me rephrase that... WAY better singing... and these originals are intended for harmonizing female vocalists...but nonetheless, I gave it a shot... so don't make fun of me! ... Kristen & Sierra).  So, you're just hearing the cover before the original ... hate doing things backwards... haha

And lastly, why did I not record on our nice balcony?  Well, one day while sitting there, I look up... and...

...o my goodness...find the most beastly bees nest in the corner...so until that's taken care of, I'm not too much of a fan of the balcony...

that's it... enjoy

Recent Theocratic Activities: Campaign and District Convention

So.......

The campaign for the district convention started sometime towards the end of October.  It's funny, because it just felt like yesterday when we had the campaign on Long Island, which was actually back in August... The first week in November was the Circuit Overseer's visit, including the pioneer meeting.  And now, this weekend, we have been having the district convention, at a baseball stadium in southern Esteli (which, very conveniently is only 8 minutes from where we live), called the Rufo Marin, for the 12th, 13th, and 14th of November.

These few weeks have been very productive and exciting.  On my way home from service last week, a man called me over, speaking in perfect English, which was somewhat unusual.  This led to a conversation asking why I was here, initially he thought I was a mormon... but after finding out I was a witness, told me his mother is a witness in the states.  He told me he moved back to Nicaragua to find some purpose in his life and I offered him a study! So, we exchanged numbers and had our first study last Tuesday and it went great.  One cool thing is, even though we are having the study in Spanish, switching over to English to express something better isn't a problem.

Now, it's time for some pics:

Borrowed this pic from someone else.  Here's a group ready to go out and start the invitation campaign. 

The overview of the Rufo Marin attendance, which was over 1,500 people on Saturday.  Also, getting seats that weren't in the sun were tough.  People get their seats an hour earlier than they do back home... which makes sense, because I definitely wouldn't want to be sitting in the blistering sun that whole time.

This gives you an idea of the scenery of the Rufo Marin.  It's really cool seeing the landscape of the lush, green mountains acting as sort of a backdrop for the stage.

These are the pictures I took of the baptism candidates and of the baptism pool.  Not sure the exact number of newly baptized ones yet, there were at least 40 or so.  It was amazing to hear so many candidates say, "Si!", at the same time.  

So, that's all for now... hope you don't have an information overload.

Love you all.

The Esteli Crew

Hey there,

A lot's been going on here... but in my attempt at trying to be informative and organized, I'm gonna try to talk about one theme at a time...

This is gonna be about the friends of Esteli Central.

Let's get started:

This is us with Kyle and BJ from Wisconsin...they were visiting for a bit and they left a few weeks ago...

Here we are at Bridget's house with all of the Need-greaters in one group photo.  Starting from the back left we have: Phil, Lynette, BJ, Nahum (who's from Esteli South Congregation and also occasionally gives Phil and I Spanish classes, because he's an English professor), Jeanelle, Brianna, Jordan, and me.  And then starting from the front left we have: Kady, Bridget, Kyle, and Meagan.  Sadly, a bunch of people in this photo already left or are leaving soon.

This is a more recent photo, taken after a congregation party Bridget had at her house and also the going-away party for Brianna, Lynette, and Jeanelle.

This is a pic from during the party.  Bridget set up a fun jeopardy game for the congregation to participate in.  Arturo was the announcer.  Everyone had a blast.

Here's Mr. Phil with Bismark Rojas up on the stage at the hall.

This is the photo taken after the pioneer meeting we had earlier this month.  The first week in November we had the visit of the Circuit Overseer, Hermano Quinones.

This is a photo taken out in the ministry.  Here, we have Arturo Manzenares speaking with one of the ministerial servants, Fidencio.

This is Ajah Manzenares and a couple of the sisters.

Phil took this pic out in the ministry... I had to hold this one elderly sister's hand, Hermana Geronima (not sure how to spell these names but), going down a steep hill.

 We were out in service, and I told my friend Fe'lix (once again spelling is probably wrong), to stop for a second, mostly because I liked the view and I have an obsession with having some kind of person in my pictures... Fe'lix has groups to play basketball each week, which I still have yet to go.

Here's a cool couple from our hall: Benjamine and Michelle.

And lastly, our congregation: Esteli Central.  This was taken about a week ago. 

Feel free to click on the photo, because it makes it larger...

And that's it, just a glimpse at our friends we interact with here in Nicaragua on pretty much a daily basis.

Enjoy.

Esteli Balcony Covers Series - Part 3: Silvia

http://www.mediafire.com/?8hyy5364a6fh7pp

to download the mp3 ...if you would like...

And... for the third installment of the Covers Series is: "Silvia"... by Miike Snow.  Definitely the best song by these guys...I would like to thank my buddy Navarre Heard from the land of Lon Gisland for discovering and introducing me to this stuff.  This is my attempt at an acoustic guitar version... the original is quite electronic...

I have to admit tho, that this wasn't recorded on the balcony... this time I recorded it in my room... I do wanna say that I did try to make this a real deal balcony recording... but I realized after a while that making all that noise (because I was pretty much yelling) attracted too much attention and people started staring... it was getting weird.... so I went in my room and recorded in a more secluded space.

LVLF!

Eats...

Hi,
I figured now would be a good time to talk about things relating to food...

Esteli has a decent variety of places to eat... they even have a restaurant that serves the Nicaraguan form of Chinese food... the sweet and sour chicken is just chicken, with pineapple sauce... or something...

This is what you call typical Nicaraguan food.  This is what you find at a fritanga, meaning place that sells fried foods...not the healthiest, but definitely delish...
1. Ya gotch ur chicken
2. Gallo Pinto... an epic form of fried rice and beans that taste incredible...I've gotta learn how to make it    someday...
3. In the bag are tajadas, or fried plantain chips...they are great to have with the gallo pinto.
4. Maduro: sweet, soft, plantain... good stuff

The four of these items together as a meal is just a delicious combination... so that's typical Nica food...

O and that orange drank you see there in the bottle.... that's called Squiz, which is hands down my favorite drink here...

Stole this pic from another blog, (sorry I didn't have any pics of this stuff)... This is a plate of the Carne Desmenuzada, at my absolute favorite place to eat for lunch in Esteli, Deliciosas Loco... yea, Crazy Delicious...This plate and a drink costs 60 cordobas, which is about three dollars... I've been at this place so many times the lady knows me and brings me my food right away... pretty awesome

This sad looking pile of slop is my attempt at making french toast.... it was horrendous.. I think it was the bread.... I want to take this moment and say thanks to my awesome sister n law Lianna who told me the right way to make french toast...
Point is, I'm not much of a cook and being here, I'm gonna have to learn to make some decent dishes.

And no, I haven't been living off just ramen...

This was our first night that we decided to make an actual dinner and sit down and eat it together, which doesn't happen too often... we usually do our own thing... but this was nice.  This was Jordan's form of chicken fingers and french fries... and we watch movies often when we eat...

Here's Jordan in his glory, enjoying his chicken chunks and bbq sauce...
 

There are several cafes in Esteli... this one is owned by a Sister, called Juice Bar.... or pronounced, "yusvar"...
After service one day I got an amazing pineapple and coconut smoothie for 25 cords... or $1.25...delish...

I still have yet to go here, only 'cuz it's not in our territory... but I found it and was excited... Mocha Nana Cafe.  This place makes me think of Aldo's back home... Story time: My first time at Aldo's, Aldo gave me a double expresso and told me to drink the intense stuff to make me a man because I said I've never had coffee before...

This is one of the two main super markets we go to for groceries, called Pali...

And now it's time to talk about, The System..............

yea that's right.... I eat raisins... I've grown to love them actually

I brought down post-it notes for some reason... and decided to make this system ... the order of the system never changes...

Phil - Orange
Jordan - Green
Jason - Yellow
Communal - Pink

This is the order of which we wash the dishes, buy communal items, and clean and mop the floors...

 Also, these post-its are on our own assigned cabinets where we put our own food we wish to buy...

Phil and Jordan still make fun of me for asserting the system upon them, but I think they're starting to grow appreciative of it...


That is all.

Esteli Balcony Covers Series - Part 2: No One's Gonna Love You

http://www.mediafire.com/?zo3zpwnnx6122a5 

to download the mp3 ... if you would like...

For the second edition of the Esteli Balcony Covers Series: No One's Gonna Love You, by Band of Horses from Cease to Begin... this song is one of my favorites from that album... It's an acoustic version, obviously....

The Nicaraguan background noise in this recording was the best yet.  I may be more interested in all the crazy sounds that get picked up than the song itself... ha... So, while I was recording this song earlier, it started raining, but not like a downpour, just the perfect amount to not overpower the guitar... also, being on the balcony, there are plenty of motorcycle sounds, cars passing by, and people working and talking, making all kinds of noise... I don't know, I'm just intrigued by these sounds behind the songs....

-jason

of Bethel......!!!

Hey there...
We took a little trip from Esteli to go visit and take a tour of the Nicaragua Bethel Branch, which is just a little bit south of the capital of Managua, at a place called Ticuantepe.

There's a bunch of stuff I wanna talk about... lets get started...

The fact that we got the opportunity to be able to take a tour and stay overnight at Bethel was an amazing privilege. The Nicaragua Branch is closing down this next week and we were actually their last overnight visitors they were gonna have. It was an awesome experience and sort of sad because the branch is closing down all operations and moving everything to Mexico. This is also the case with the other Central American countries as well.

We were invited by Dani and Ruth San Nicolas, a bethelite couple, who have been friends with the Gomez's for a while.  They actually came to visit on Long Island back in September.  So, this time we were with them here in Bethel Nicaragua.

This is just a picture I took of a painting I found on the wall in Dani's office.  It just gives you an overhead view of the Bethel grounds...

I'm gonna post the pics in succession of what we saw on the tour, there were a lot of interesting things from the tour worth checking out...

Here's the well... this supplies the water for the Bethel grounds...................cool.....
And that's the sister that took us on the tour... haha... what was her name? ...... sorry

.... walking to the main lobby... the property is maintained so well, it's definitely the most gorgeous place I've seen in Nicaragua... Definitely doesn't feel like you're in a 3rd world country.

Past the main lobby area was the courtyard, which was this beautiful garden walkway.  Super peaceful...

This is Dani and Jordan in his office.  Dani's the head of maintenance at the branch. 

Here we are at the library... Ha, Jordan's holding this psychedelic-looking book from the 60's for some reason...

As mentioned earlier, the grounds here are kept beyond pristine... and this is in the central part of Bethel... this is only part of the field, but it's a huge open pasture.... awesome..

Here's another pic of the scenery and one of the buildings... O and don't ask me why Phil is in the pictures looking off into the distance like that... 'cuz I totally didn't tell him to go there...............

This was their museum here at Bethel... it had a lot of very interesting information about how the truth was reached to people in Nicaragua back in the 60's through the 80's.  These were very difficult times for the Nicaraguans... this was during the Nicaraguan Revolution, which was a time of war, and the Sandinista vs the Contras up until the 90's... so there were a lot of information pertaining to the hardships of the brothers during the time of war, and many who were in prison, refusing to fight for either side.

This was just one of the interesting stories.... of a brother who was put in prison for refusing to fight for either sides during the war, and still made a witness by writing all he could remember from the live forever book on toilet paper and what he could remember from the song book.  With this, he was able to conduct meetings and keep the bible truths alive with all of his fellow prisoners.

Here we have the dining room... we were able to enjoy lunch and dinner on our first day there, and then breakfast and morning worship the next day which was really nice.

 O, and we were privileged to be a part of their last Watchtower Study they were going to have before all operations shut down next week.  Also very nice, but sad at the same time.

This is the pic we took right before we left... that's us with Dani and Ruth, the friends who invited us to Bethel.

Lastly, this is a hysterical pic of El Jefe... Jordan looks like a boss, the big man in charge.  Just look at the way he's kickin' back on the chair, the big grin, and the beastly desk... He's truly felt like the man at that moment...

So that's about it for our Bethel experience... it was really amazing to be able to see it before it moves operation to Mexico and then they get it ready to be sold... o well....

thanks for reading,

enjoy