Dedication Thursday

Erin called today just before 10am (11am locally), and told me more about what has been happening in Nicaragua. All on the team are still healthy and happy.

The team had stopped in Managua for coffee when she called. They are on their way from Masaya to León on the west coast of Nicaragua where they will be visiting the beach.

Yesterday they went to the church early to finish up their work. They painted the benches (pews) and finished re-installing doors. The doors had been installed when they arrived, but didn’t work too well after installation of the new tile. Mike and Rex had sanded them and Jackie added some accent paint to highlight the carvings on the doors (one an angel, another a cross) before they were put back in place.

After going back to their hotel to clean up from the morning’s work, the team arrived back at the church at 1:45 for the dedication service, and found 20 children already there waiting. By 2:00 the church was full of children and mothers, but no men. No men had come to church during the entire visit. Our team was treated to presentations, the first by a teenage girl who danced in an elaborate dress. Our group presented audio Bibles to the pastor, and then his wife performed a dance next.

On the days that they held a Vacation Bible School, from 1:00 to 3:00, the women on our team had also met with the mothers and grandmothers each day from 3:00 to 4:00 for Bible study. So, during the dedication service the mothers gave gifts to the women on the team.

After the dedication, the team visited a local market where people sold things that they had made. Last night was their last night at the Masaya hotel and they had pouring rain.

During their trip they have had two translators, Osiris (female) and Rigo (male), as well as Fernando, who has driven them around, located places for dinner, spoken to waiters about making sure that their food is safe – sort of a tour guide but much more than a tour guide. Rigo’s last day was yesterday, but Fernando and Osiris are still with them today.

Tonight they will stay at a hotel across from the airport, and they plan to leave there at 5:00 am for their 6:30 flight (EDT). They will fly first to Miami, then to Dallas, then to Tulsa, arriving at 6:35pm.