Whew! After a lot of delays in Miami, we left for Dallas. Thankfully the delays in Miami were from Dallas and all flights we delayed. They held our flight into Tulsa and we got home!
What a blessing it was for all of us to be in Nicaragua! We learned to be very flexible as most of the plans we made here, needed to be changed. The team cleaned and painted the church, held bible school and also had a women's group daily. We had over 100 children everyday at bible school and about 40 women for bible study! We were not able to do the crafts we had taken, but God provided a shade tree and we continued on with spreading the love of Christ.
Food was delicious... we actually all gain a few pounds. Breakfast consisted of beans, rice, eggs and bread. Coffee was generally instant, but did the trick most mornings. The first day we went out for lunch and there is no meaning to the word "hurry". So it took about a couple of hours to get food and eat. Too much time for us. We got BPJ and fixed our own lunch on site. Dinner was always wonderful. I have eaten a lot of steak and the most wonderful plantains. Oh my, I cant wait to fry some of those here.
Our hotel in Masaya was first class according to Nic. standards.. The beds were nice and the water was on if you asked for it. Generally it was hot, but not always. They don't leave any A/C on while you are gone, but the rooms cool really fast.
Our driver was fabulous. He, the VIM rep. and the translator were a blessing. They took us to dinner, inter the menu and told us when we could eat salads/cheese and when not to. We had a wonderful tour of Masaya, even the volcano- up close and very personal! You could not stay longer than 20 minutes before your lungs began to hurt. I don't believe they have OSHA there. We went on a lake cruise, not our type of boats, feed a monkey that came on our boat and saw the 'rich' island estates of the upper class in Nicaragua.
The people where we worked were the very poorest. They children seem to be feed, and began their morning clean, but afternoon most of them were very dirty as the dirt was their playground. Some of the children went to school, but its not a requirement. Three years ago, they had to have a uniform to go to school, now they can go without one,. A uniform is $10.00. Many of the children don't go because they don't have them, but a large majority of then do have the uniform. The girls are generally mommas by the time they are 14-16. The men however are not around. We saw a lot of teenage moms. The area is very poor without running water. There were 2 people that made products for the area market. one a sandal maker and one a purse maker... we bought them out and ordered more! They were very busy.
I have 500 ish pictures and will post a few this week after I get them on the computer. The country is beautiful, but poor. The people are very generous and loving. The village grandmother was 80, had 10 children, 50 grandchildren and over 50 great grandchildren. She was full of knowledge and just so funny! She danced daily for us.
I know we saw the hands and feet of God from the village people, I pray they saw they hands and feet of God from us.
Penny
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