ATL...Ometepe

The States (Atlanta) is a totally different world than Nicaragua (and Costa Rica too). But the following will be a comparison b/w ATL and Ometepe.

In Atlanta everything is cushy and comfortable. People ride in cars with AC, houses with AC, restaurants with AC, etc... So nobody sweats. People are totally separated from the outside world, windows are well sealed, doors have no gaps so the outside world stays isolated from the "civilized" world of humans. The pace of life is fast, everybody has everything to do, even if they don't have anything to do, right? The city is huge, the suburbs are sprawling and the growth continues. Also, all the chickens are frozen in the mega-super grocery stores, the vegetables are not on vines, and the juices not inside the fruit still. They taste bad b/c they are not fresh. This may sound cynical - & I openly admit that it is. The "city" is the birth place of the American Dream, which contradicts the Gospel. The American Dream is basically the idea of bigger is better! More is better! Fancy is better! Material wealth is the goal, so bring it on baby, I want the promotion! Gotta get the convertible! Whats the next purchase I can make to flaunt wealth, and be the next best status symbol? And why I am cynical and a bit hostile toward the "Dream" is because it has had a hard to estimate influence on the the US Church, the Bride of Christ. We have settled, sold ourselves short for a wishy-washy gospel. God is love, He accepts all without question! - This is not true! It is true that He takes in as His own child anyone willing to confess and repent of their previous lives of disobedience, willing to fully - by God's grace - submit all they are to the will and reign of Christ, so that He can be Lord of their lives. And, yes He is love! Absolutely! But He is equally strong, powerful, almighty, full of righteous anger over sin, tending toward unmatched justice and subsequent wrath for those who refuse to submit. Christ is a lion! He is victorious and strong, subduing all enemies of the cross in due time, and having conquered death, He is soon to destroy Satan! These are the very surface levels of how the Church has allowed for secularist ideas to creep unnoticed into it's teaching. The Gospel is adulterated in the US!

On Ometepe, life is ... s     l     o     w ... Life is hot, so hot that there is hardly any one who works because it is too hot, praise the Lord for siestas! Life is lived in the shadow of a volcano, a constant reminder of the lack of control over life. Buildings are open air - as in no AC - some have windows (in the actual hole for the window), some don't ... the walls and ceiling do not block out the outside world. I have bugs in my room at night when I sleep because they are attracted to the light when its on before I am sleeping. But then again, sometimes I don't have to worry about the bugs because we don't have power, on average 3-4 times a day the power is out. We pick FRESH beans, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupes, etc ... daily! We eat them the same day. Sometimes as  we work we will notice a cantaloupe needing to be picked and eat then and there! They are so sweet, the best I have ever had. As for the presence of the Gospel, poverty has given Satan an in-road for the Health, Wealth, & Prosperity gospel! This makes me sick. It puts me on alarm, and I tend therefore to be a skeptic and hesitant until I know that a pastor or a speaker is sharing the pure, undefiled, unadulterated truth of the Gospel!!!