Questions Answered

Well a number of questions have been asked.

I will try to answer them as best I can. If the answers are wrong the team will let me know.

In terms of wild life it seems to be basically what we have at home. Gus talked about deer being in the area, etc. What we have noticed is Gecko's on the ceiling in our hotel, restuarants and at the home where we had church the other night. The other big difference is that through out the city we see dogs everywhere running free, cows, goats and the occassional host. We have seen no snakes and we are told that while they may be around they are very uncommon.

The homes are simple. Many are made of wood that appears to be nailed to some kind of beam at the top and bottom. The homes are not sealed in any way. Beyond this many of the homes have dirt floors. Yet somehow they manage by and large to have clean clothes, what appears to be clean beds and TV's. It is hard for us to imagine what it is like here in the rainy season. There are also many homes made of block and then stuccoed(may be spelled wrong) over. The interesting thing is that you willl have both extreme poverty and relatively nice homes next to one another.

Someone asked about the descent of the people. I am really unsure about that. But it seems to be a mix of native Nicaraguan(probably some Nicaraguan Indian as well) and some of European descent. You see people who have lighter colored hair who are obviously from here. A quick look on the internet turned up nothing on this. What I do know is that the city was founded in the 16th century and archeological sites have been found in the area. Beyond this the area was the scene of intense fighting during the Somaza revolution and during the contra war of the 80's(remember that whole Iran - Contra thing). :)

Also Adam, your mom has not seen any spiders or snakes that I am aware of and so there has been no cosmic battle between her and a creature that crawls on the ground.

I think I have answered most questions. If not... you can ask when we get home.

We head out tomorrow and arrive at BWI on Saturday night at 11:30. Now I need to work on sermon and a couple of other things. Adios!

I'm bad at titles... but it was another fulfilling day!

It was another neat day of fulfilling work accomplishment and connections.


On the work front we continued to fill in dirt into the flooring of the building. We are sitting at about 8 or 10 loads of dirt delivered, shovelled, hauled and spread. We continued to lay block until we ran out... we are waiting for more. And several of us spent a lot of time wiring together rebar for the cement beams that will cap the block we laid. The women(Mary Jo, Linda and Marlene) have spent a lot of time sifting sand and connecting with the kids... that continued today.



Over the past two days a young man named Hosia has helped us significantly. We fill the wheelbarrows and he hauls the dirt. He has gone non-stop. Yesterday we were able to give him a large bottle of coke and new flip - flops, he seemed really happy. Today we paid him 100 cordoba's which is about twice a days wages. 100 Cordoba's is approximately 5.00US.


During a slightly slow time of the day(waiting for more dirt) several of us went for a walk up the mountain beside the church. Gus, a neighbor guy who showed us wall paintings in his garage yesterday and brought us lemonade today led us on this little expedition. It was an incredible walk. Besides being rigorous, we walked through some of the most horrific poverty we have seen. We saw squalid homes, mal-nourished kids, and the trail we walked on is used by laborers who walk over the mountain into the city of Esteli to work(sometimes taking up to an hour and a half to walk it). Tomorrow we plan to return to give to some of the kids flip flops. While on top of the mountain we saw a beautiful view of both the city and the church work site. It was a lot of fun and a great connection with Gus. He says he will be at the church service tomorrow night. We shall see. We are hoping.


We left the work site a bit early to go into town and purchase momento's and gifts. While there we were able to look into the Cathedral at a service taking place. It turned out to be a funeral. It was stirring to watch. After the funeral the casket was brought out and placed in the back of a pick up truck. The truck was proceeded by a car mounted with loudspeakers playing beautiful music and then the congregation walked behind the moving truck to the cemetary. It was something to see.



We followed our shopping time by taking Pastor Noel and his wife Louisa to dinner at a Cuban Restuarant. It was good to have some time to connect with Pastor Noel and to just talk. They are a neat young couple doing so well in ministry in a tough context.


Tonight the team spent a few minutes talking about our experience. Much has been as we expected. The work, the poverty, the sense of compassion we feel for the kids(we see such potential in each but a social dynamic that makes it real hard for the kids to grow and reach their potential). But what we didn't expect was things like the food. It is so good and so plentiful for us. We realize that even here we are eating far better then most people who surround us here will ever eat. We didn't expect as comfortable a hotel as we have and I(Doug) didn't expect to be able to watch my favorite TV show... Corner Gas(A Saskatchewan TV show) in Nicaragua. Wow. Think about that - a Canadian who lives in the US watches in both PA and in Nicaragua a show produced in Saskatchewan.

Making Connections

The day started at the work site with a tour of a neighbors house. Yesterday Roy struck up a conversation with Gus and Gus wanted to show Roy and us his home. In his house he has had painted incredible murals of Houston, Texas(he lived there for 8 - 10 years), and of nature. He is very proud of his home and his paintings. In the afternoon we were able to invite him to church on Friday evening and he indicated he will come. He also offered to take us to the top of a nearby mountain to show us the church construction site from up high. It is a great connection for us and for the church. Gus gave us his address so that we could send to him photo's of his house.

Another significant part of today was time spent over lunch with the leadership team of the Nicaraguan church. They travelled from Managua to meet with Marshall and then join us for lunch. I(Pastor Doug) spent about half an hour with German(pronounced Herman) talking about church life, leadership and church planting. Many of the challenges faced in Nicaragua are the same as we face in the United States. It was a good conversation and email addresses were exchanged. The only complication will be language. But I am sure Marshall will translate for us.

In terms of construction work we made very good progress today. We completed filling in 2 -900 square foot sections of floor. We raised the one a solid 6 - 8 inches and the other about 12 inches. We finished two sections of wall and made good progress on the third. Our hope is by the end of Friday to have the building completely walled in(up to 6 feet high). We will need to finish laying the block and then pour a lot of cement into forms to complete the pillars. We will see what happens. Most exciting is that on Friday night the church service will be held in the building(albeit far from completed), but it will be a great celebration of progess made.

Tonight we went to church. It was held in the home of a lady who attends the church(she is a nurse). Not much of the service did we understand but we were able to put enough together to have a sense of what was being talked about and sang. The congregation sang many songs, had 7 special musics, took and offering and had a sermon. A neat part of the evening was Linda Hillard giving her testimony to the congregation. Marshall translated for her. She did a great job. It was a great evening. Another special part of the evening was the kids who came and sat on our laps. Both pastors kids enjoyed sitting on Roy and Marlenes lap as well as on Dougs. In the end Marlene held a beautiful baby girl who fell asleep being held by Marlene.

Interesting Work Day

Well the day started like yesterday. Breakfast and then a walk to the work site. We got there and promptly started moving dirt. Over the course of the day we moved about 10 tonnes of rock and dirt to the middle section of the floor. The first section of flooring we raised by another 3 - 4 inches. So it was a back breakin day in many ways. Not many of us realized the work that moving rock and dirt is.

While this was going on Doug & Roy made mortar and the team as a whole made more mortar and more mortar. All in all through the days work we laid about 400 + block... about 8 or 10 mortar mixes. We completed about 65 running feet of block laying about 6 feet high.

A number of interesting things:

• The worksite would never pass OSHA. Today on the work site we had geese(which I Doug named Widdle and Waddle), turkeys, chickens, dogs and tonnes of kids. When we were moving dirt the kids worked incredible hard. At times we simply directed them and made sure that they didn't hurt themselves or someone else. Its an unbelievable work site.
  
• The work can be repetitive in nature. John Summers spent the day twisting steel bars into squares to hold together rebar. He did a great job and got it almost finished.


• The block laying is different then in the US. A complete layer of mud is layed down(not just a beeding) and then the block is laid. The next block is laid about an inch a part. Once a row is done they have this contraption and they push morter down inbetween the blocks. Then we go down the row and fill the inside gaps of the blocks with rock and dirt. We can't figure out why the dirt goes in the middle piece... but it does. John Stancliff has spent his two days laying block Nicaraguan style and is loving it.







• Lunch was fantastic. They brought us fish, salad, rice and some beautiful cup cakes. The fish was complete with heads.






• John Stancliff gave out baseball cards to the kids and they loved them. In Nicaragua the kids love baseball and everyone knows who the Phillies are.

The picture of Pastor Doug below is him with Pastor Noel of Iglesia Evangelica. Noel has a deep love for God. He is a great man.

Tonight we are eating at a restaurant outside the hotel. We will post more later about the day.

Well we are back from dinner and what a great experience it was. We took three taxis. It costs the equivalent of 0.50 cents a person regardless of distance(within city limits). Marshall gave each taxi the directions and off we went. The first taxi had Marlene, Mary Jo, Linda and David F. The second had Doug, Roy, John Stancliff and John Summers. The final one had John Burns and Marshall. The first and third taxi's arrived no problem. The second one dropped his group off at the wrong restaurant.

With a phone call to Marshall we figured out where to go and began trying to flag a taxi. When we got one we didn't know a word of Spanish so we called Marshall and he gave directions. We got to the restaurant and had a great meal. The meal itself was great. Of the 10 of us one had chinese, four or five had mexican and 4 of us had a great hamburger and fries.

As the team gathered at the end of the day for devotions we talked about 2 things. First we talked about being tools available to God to be used. Over the last couple of days we have sensed God using us in some neat ways with the kids and the workers on the site(today we were joined by two men from the community and the church). Secondly we talked about our experience. We are thoroughly enjoying the work...one of the delivery people said today that we are making incredible progress and that feels good. But more significantly we are enjoying our interaction with the people. The kids are amazing... Anna, Helena, Israel, Jordan and many others have worked their way into our hearts. Beyond that we have gotten to know a woman named Betty who it appears has had a tough life and just connected with the church in the past little while. We spent time praying for her tonight and Marshall was able to pray briefly with her as well. She is a sweet woman with obvious needs and a need for Christs hope in her life.

Anyways it was another good day.

A Wonderful Back Breaking Day

We began the day at 7:00am with breakfast and then walked to the worksite. It is about 15 minutes from the hotel(on the way there... about 30 minutes on the way home). To the Nicaraguans we imagine we are quite a sight to see. 10 people obviously not from Nicaragua hauling suitcases with tools, backpacks, water bottles and obviously excited. It didn't take long before we decided to send the tools by taxi to the sight. It cost less then a dollar for the taxi.



When we got to the site our supplies were there and they kept coming all day. The most amazing part of this was how it is delivered. We carry it all or shovel it all. So three loads of blocks came and carried them. 30 bags of cement came and we carried all of them. Two truck loads of dirt arrived and they were hand shovelled by the delivery company. It is an incredible amount of work with little mechanization.


The stats as given to me(Doug) by John Burns are:

• About 15 tonnes of dirt shovelled and hauled.
• Dozens of wheel barrels of sand sifted.
• 5 tonnes or so of cement and morter mixed by hand and hauled in 5 gallon buckets.
• 7 rows of 6" block laid. Each row had about 29 blocks
• 4 bags of matchbox cars given to the kids.
• 2 30 foot forms built and filled with cement
• 15 minutes of Doug trying to learn a spanish word that means good afternoon. Finally his tutor(a nine year old girl) gave up.

Immediately upon our arrival kids started to gather. We were impressed with all of them but we were especially impressed with two - Helena and Anna. These two girls helped us all day long and knew how to both work hard and hold their own. We took to calling Anna the Grand Marshall.







We were impacted by several physically disabled kids who were on the work site and helped us as they could. One of the them was obviously unable to walk or move his arms. He sat in a home made wheel chair(A plastic lawn chair with wheels screwed onto it). He was a lot of fun. He would sit near where we were sifting sand and both talk and tease the ladies as they put the sand through the sifting screen. He won our hearts in a lot of ways.
Roy met a man at the end of the day who took him on a brief tour of his home. Tomorrow he is going on a tour of the full house and is going to try and invite him to the Iglesia Evangelica of Esteli for church. Through out the day we met a number of other people who had lived as illegals in the United States before coming home. And one of our team members was asked by a worker for help in getting to the US. It is sad. To see both the level of poverty and the desire for what we have and yet the inability to make it happen for so many different reasons.

They other thing that impacted us was the way we were served by the church at Esteli. A new woman to the church - Betty worked with us and then served us an incredible snack at about 10:30 that we thought was lunch. At about 1:00 another person showed up with an incredible meal. She went so far as to wash the lettuce in Chlorine so that we could eat it. Incredible thoughtfulness from people who have so much less than we do.

By the end of the day we had accomplished a lot and had a lot of fun in the process. We built a wall and served lots of kids. It was a wonderful day...albeit a little back breaking.

Sunday... What A Day!

It was another day of many firsts for the team. We began with breakfast and a call home to Summit View. It was fun to talk with the congregation and share a bit of what we have seen. The church here meets Sunday night and usually on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings. This week is a little different in that they will meet on Wednesday and Friday. So for the morning we went into the city square. We walked past lots of little shops selling everything from clothes to backpacks and movies. We saw a Radio Shack and a Subway. We ended up in the middle of town where the large Cathedral is located. After all this we went shopping in a grocery store called Palli which is owned by Wal-Mart and the staff had Wal-Mart badges(there are 46 different stores owned by Wal-Mart in Nicaragua).

We then went for lunch at a fantastic Cuban restuarant. On Thursday night we are going to take the Pastor and his family for supper there. It was a great meal. We then walked back to the hotel and had some down time until church.

We were joined for a couple of hours by Allan & Beth Thrush. They are serving as missionaries with MCC in Managua. It was fun to hear their story and how God is using them. Allan teaches at a Seminary and Beth coordinates MCC's exchange program(US/Canadians coming here and Nicaraguans going to the US/Canada).

We then walked to the church. Currently they meet in a home while waiting for the church building to be constructed. Tonight because it was a larger group then normal we met in the street outside the home they normally meet in. On both sides of the street were homes and they literally cut the street off and had church. We got there early and took a lot of pictures of the kids. It was a neat experience. A couple of the kids new some english and we all learned a little more spanish.

The service started with a lot of introductions and then worship. We sang "How Great Thou Art", "Aleluia" and a number of other songs we knew in English. Pastor Doug spoke and had the sermon translated by Marshall. The kids did a dance for the congregation and the youth group tried but there was techinical difficulties. We felt bad for Pastor Noel because it was a beautiful service but we think he felt a bit bad about some of the technical challenges. But it was a meaningful service full of life.

During the service Pastor Noels daughter(she is about 3 years old) spent most of her time on our laps. She sat a lot with the Bowmans and then she sat with John Burns. Bowmans have recruited John for BabyZone! :)

For the team the evening was significant and reminded us that we often think of God as our God and in english terms. But tonight we witnessed God being worshiped and praised in a language other than our own. And to God it is all the same... people whom he loves honoring him in their tongue. It was a great night.

Another exciting part of the evening was meeting a woman named Sue Hay(may be spelled wrong) who is going with MCC for one year to Canada. BUT she has 10 days in Akron, PA for training. We may have the opportunity to provide housing for her and to even transport her to Elmira, Ontario. We will see. At the least we look forward to having her worship with us.

When we came home we had dinner and then a devotional and off to bed. Tomorrow we start early and will be working all day. The temperature is expected to be in the high 90's. So it is hot.

First full day

It was a great day. We all went to bed on Friday night early and woke early. Most of the team was up again at 3:00am or 4:00. But we didn't gather until about 7:00am. We had breakfast at 8:00am. After breakfast we had a time for devotions and team building conversation.

In our devotional time we talked about both our observations and what worries we have as we look to the next week. In terms of observations they were many:

• There seems to be a relative level of happiness in the midst of unbelievable poverty.


• There is a large age gap. We see lots of younger adults and families and some middle age people(45 -55) but very few in their 30's. Many of the men in that age bracket died in the Contra war and because of Hurricane Mitch in the 1990's.


• There is an ability to adapt and get the job done with less than "adequate" equipment or supplies. They do a lot with very little.


• God has blessed us in our the US very much. Why is a question that we have talked much about.

After devotions we began our day. This first day was spent getting use to where we are and visiting a number of local sites. We began with a tour of a Cigar factory. It was fascinating. They manufacture 1000's of these cigars everyday. We learned that the factory we were in is the only place that makes organic cigars. Seems a bit ironic to us. No pesticides just nicotene.

After that we travelled to a beautiful look out. We were able to see for miles. We had lunch there and then drove for about 45 minutes(6 miles) to a waterfall. After arriving there we walked down an incredible steep hill and swam in the pond or pool at the bottom of the falls.

We arrived back at the hotel and spent the rest of the evening there. A number of us went for a walk. We noticed all kinds of car dealerships on the main highway along with farmacies and all kinds of other shops.

We were amazed today at the homes we saw in the country. Much different then what we see in town. By the standards in the city of Estili much "richer" and more cared for. We couldn't figure out what they do to pay for it. The difference was remarkable. But still poor by any of our standards at home.

We left the day appreciating God's goodness to us and the wealth that we have.

We look forward to tomorrow. We begin by going to a market and then we have an evening service with the church. We will be sharing testimonies, doing a kids programming, giving some of the kids stuff we brought away and having a fellowship time with the church(will be interesting in that we speak very little spanish). Then on Monday we begin our work at 8:00am sharp.

Also this morning we bought all of our brick and building supplies. They were to arrive at some point today. We will see tomorrow.

Questions

If you have a question for the team or any member of the team... post it on the comments section of the blog...(look for comments beneath any of our posts). And the team or a member will try to answer them. The team would love this.

Work Site

Last night... we went to the work site for the first time. It is about a mile from our hotel. You walk through small streets surrounded by all kinds of children and families. Many of the homes(probably most) have small little businesses that they operate. It seems that every other home in the front of it is running a confectionary store or something. While walking back to the hotel Marshall and I bought Banana Chips. They were great... the team enjoyed them much.

At the site we saw the house that we as a church helped renovate last year by sending the money needed to put a roof on it and plumbing. The pastor hasn't moved in yet because they are waiting for power.

The team walked back on its own while I stayed with Marshall waiting for a money changer to arrive. While waiting I spent time talking with two neighbor kids (Geramino and Mike). Despite Marshalls best effort they kept calling me "Gringo". It was cute.

Changing money is an interesting experience. Here it is done by money changers. We called the guy and he came in his car. Sitting in his front seat we bought about 300.00(US) of their currency which is just under 6,000 Cordoba's.

We had a great dinner at the hotel. Most of us had fish, fries and rice. For Breakfast on Saturday most of us ordered eggs, rice, beans and OJ / Coffee.

We have arrived

Well we arrived into Esteli after a long day of travel.

It began at 3:30am at the Fords house. We left with cups of coffee in hand and exept for a couple of quick stops to find drivers licenses and passports we had no problems getting to the airport.

Our flights were smooth and we arrived in Managua a bit early.

We then drove about 2 1/2 hours to get to Esteli. It has been a long day but a good day and the team is excited.

We are walking to the work site tonight and then having dinner afterwards. After that it will be early to bed.

We leave early tomorrow

Well the day has come and in less then 24 hours we will be arriving in Managua, Nicaragua and then travel to Esteli. Be praying for safety as we fly.

Our travel schedule is:

Friday, April 18 (all times EST)

• 3:30am Meet at the Fords and drive to Baltimore airport
• 7:05am fly to Atlanta
• 9:55am fly to Managua
• 1:45pm begin our drive to Esteli
• 4:30pm Arrive at the hotel

We will update tomorrow night when we arrive in Esteli.

Thanks for your prayers and support

Prayer List

There are many things to be praying about as the team heads out. Primary on the teams mind is:

• Safety and health as we both travel and then work and live in a foreign country for 9 days.
• That the weather be conducive to work.
• That we have the opportunity to live out our faith.
• That we together have humble and servant like spirits
• Team unity...a trip like this puts the team in a bit of a pressure cooker.
• Patience as we learn, live and work in a different culture.
• God will use our service to glorify Him.
• For Pastor Noel as he leads his congregation. There is a lack of men(in part because of the Contra war in the 1980's) for both leadership and ministry.
• That God would work in the lives of men in the communtiy of Esteli.
• For our families that we leave behind in PA. May they be healthy and may this time be positive for them as well.

One week to go

Well today marks the one week point until the team leaves for Eseli, Nicaragua. We have met about 8 - 10 times, we have prayed together, planned and now we start packing. Our hope is that God use this trip to impact lives and to change us. We want to both experience God's love and then express that through our lives to other people.

We leave Friday the 18th at 7:00am out of Baltimore(that means meeting at the home of Dave & Mary Jo Ford at 3:30am). We arrive in Managua at about 11:30 and should be at our hotel by about 3:00 in the afternoon. Hopefully a nap will be waiting for us!

We are going to be working on the church facility in Esteli, sharing meals with the church there and sharing in the services with the church as well.