Last week, an elderly sister from our congregation, who had been ill for some time, sadly died. The funeral was on the Saturday, but first, on the Friday night, there would be a “vela” or a wake, “would we like to come?” We were a bit taken aback by the idea of a wake, and we weren't sure that it was really scriptural. We asked one of the local missionary brothers and it turns out that here in Nicaragua, at least among the Witness's, wakes aren't the all night drunken parties that they are in other parts of Latin-America. Generally the family and friends will go to the house to spend some time with the family, some will stay all night, but most just visit for a few hours.
We agreed to go to the vela, as not going could give offence as it is viewed as disrespectful.
As we arrived at the house, there were lots of chairs set out in garden and thankfully we saw a few that we knew from our cong. We sat down with them, and wondered what would happen now. A sister suddenly grabbed me by the hand and said “Come in, come in, she's in here, in the front room.” I really didn't want to go in, I could guess what would be inside, but I had no choice. Everyone who comes to the vela will go and look into the open coffin, surrounded by enormous wreaths, and see the dead person fully made up with bright red lipstick, a purple rinse and dressed in their best --- and then with cotton wool stuffed up both nostrils. It's quite a shocking sight at first, especially when the daughter kept on touching her dead mother, stroking her hair, it's somehow unnerving to see.
Afterwards we sat outside for a while, as more and more people came to the wake. In order to let everyone know about the death, they hire a car with loudspeakers to drive around the area to announce in a solemn booming voice “Today we mourn the passing of so-and-so, mother of so-and-so, daughter of so-and-so. The funeral will be on Saturday at 3.30 and the wake begins tonight. May she rest in peace”. We hear these cars almost every day in Leon but this was the first time we'd been a part of it.
After the funeral talk at the K.H on the Saturday, the mourners all walk behind the coffin all the way to the cemetery. It's a common sight here to see crowds of people thronging the streets, parading slowly behind an ancient truck, hastily converted into a hearse. Of course, for the men, it is another wonderful excuse to get very drunk and harass white girls!

To change the subject completely, the other event of note we have had was our children's party! We'd invited all the small children to our house so that we could have an excuse to have a water fight. It turned out in the end, that as Nicaraguan children are told in spite of 45 deg heat, they will die of pneumonia if they get wet, that it was me and Melissa who got the wettest! It was a very simple party, but it was so sweet to see the children so excited about the simplest of things. Musical statues, and pass-the-parcel don't seem that exciting but these kids had never played

games like this before – I'd never realised the rules of musical statues were so hard to grasp!

Nicaraguan Superstitions: (True stories)

• “Be careful when you are eating cold melon because if you eat a whole one, you will die.”
  Amused silence, and then “Oh really?”
  “Yes, I knew a man who ate his gallo pinto, then a melon, and he died.”

• “If you have flu, you can't go to the vela, because the cold from the dead body will make you worse. Oh, and if you have a cut, and you go to the vela, it might get infected, from the body...”
  
  
• “Don't have a cold shower when you are hot, as you'll get the flu” (no such thing as hot water showers here)


• 
  “Don't go outside in the cold if you have been ironing clothes, you'll get flu” (Outside in the cold??!! The COLD????!!!! So far the coldest we have experienced in Leon is 30)


• 
  “Don't walk barefoot on the cold tiled floor, you'll get ill!” (COLD tiled floor??!! Where are these cold tiled floors??? PLEASE, take me to them!)

We've recently heard a few illustrations, that we thought you might like to try including in your ministry: :)

• When explaining about the condition of the dead, ask your householder if they have ever had a rat in their house. There will be no hesitation in the reply: “Ah, Si, Si, por supuesto” Then, you explain that after killing the rat, you sweep it outside into the street, “and what happens to it then?”
  “Well, it disappears”.
  “Yes it does. The same happens when we die, our bodies disappear” ( But presumably not eaten by a cat or a beggar as would happen to the rat)


• 
  To illustrate the importance of Bible reading, ask your audience if they would ever skip eating their rice and beans each day. The audience will vigorously shake their head, to miss out your rice and beans is unthinkable. Then you could say “in fact, some of you will have rice and beans twice a day, and even, if you're very lucky, three times a day. In the same way, we should never miss out on Bible reading.”


• 
  If during a public talk, you need to give counsel in always paying Ceasar's things to Ceasar, you could use the following example, no need to mention paying taxes or mundane things like that:
  “Do you use barbed wire to attach onto the overhead power cables, in order to steal electricity from the State?” “If your neighbour has Satellite TV (an amazing amount do – their kids won't have shoes, but they will have TV), do you attach a cable to their dish to secretly steal their TV channels?”.