Oscar

I want to share with you all an experience we had yesterday. Tommy and I were walking around Jinotega and decided to go see (the front of) a house we are interested in renting (since it was relatively nearby). Our thought was that it would be good to know how long it would take to walk back to the mission from the house, and it was also good to get more of a feel for the "neighborhood." We had previously seen the inside of this house and really liked it. At that time we had our translator with us while the owner, Oscar, showed us around. Well, when we got to the house yesterday, while we were staring at the outside, the door popped open and, lo and behold, there was Oscar. This was especially awkward at first because 1) he didn't know we were going to be there and 2) we didn't have our translator with us. We tried to explain (in Spanish) that we had just been in the area, and I guess he understood, though he did ask where our translator was. So, we stood there and chatted for a while using what Spanish we knew. At one point Tommy was joking about how he needs to drink more water instead of Coke here in Nicaragua to lessen his gut, and Oscar went and got each of us a glass of water to drink. Normally we wouldn't drink water unless we knew exactly where it came from, but in this situation we really couldn't NOT drink it. But, it was cool and tasted good, and our guts seem to be pretty much fine. After we had stood outside for a solid amount of time, Oscar invited us in to sit in the living room. He ended up turning on the TV, so the three of us sat and watched the news (apparently there are interesting things happening in Venezuela) and chatted. He told us about his family and we about ours. We talked about the weather (it has been very cold and rainy the past few days). He offered us bananas to eat. It was very cool because, even though we didn't have a translator, we felt very comfortable talking with him. Actually, he reminds both of us very much of our friend Jason Knight. Oscar and Jason have the same laid back--though particular about certain things--demeanor. Oscar is an electrician, and, like with Jason, you can look at him and tell that he has been doing hard work. We were able to get our Nica friend (who is also our translator) to call him today and set up a meeting for Monday to see about making arrangements to rent the house. There are things about the house that we would like to see updated, and there are other things we may just have to live with, but "randomly" running into Oscar was confirmation that we should do business with this guy. Interestingly, Oscar's brother owns the house that the Hennigers are in the process of trying to rent, and he is known to be a good Christian guy. I am very thankful that God is making clear paths for us here and that we are forming good relationships with the locals. One of the main things we loved about Nicaragua when we visited in January was the people. I'm very glad to say that is still true.

-Becky