What a week this has been!  We all awoke Sunday with an excitement to worship at La Montanita with our new friends at the church, which was now under major renovations.  While we were all excited, we were also prepared for the bitter sweet time that we knew it would be.  Due to our flight arrangements for our return trip the next day, we would not be able to worship with the church later in the evening.  After a great breakfast, shared with a large group of college kids from Costa Rica, we were off to church.  Earlier in the week, Pastor Jose had indicated that there were several surprises in the works for the service.

The service turned out to be one of the most moving experiences for many of us.  We sang many songs of worship, and even though we did know the words to most, the Spirit’s presence was obvious.  We did sing the Spanish version of “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” which many from our group had learned the words to while working with the children.  Pastor Dale gave his final message of the trip with Marshall translating once again – it was a pleasure to watch these two men of God speak together.  They have developed an excellent rapport with each other, which speaks highly for Marshall and his ability to translate the meaning of those Pastor Dale stories.  At the conclusion of the message, the church presented Pastor Dale with a hand-made hammock that was woven by one of the women in the church.  The words woven into the side of the hammock read ‘Brothers in Christ’.  The touching part of the day was just about to begin.

The service was concluded with a first for the church at La Montanita.  Much to our surprise, our hosts were about to enter into a time of ‘Foot-washing’.  Now most everyone in our group had experienced this symbolic ritual of humility and servant-hood, but none of us was prepared for what was to come.  Our experience with Foot-washing goes something like this… held at an evening service at church, everyone wears fresh socks and makes sure their toe nails are trimmed neatly, we all sit in a neat circle and remove our own shoes and socks, we take turns washing someone’s feet and then having our feet washed, we put our own socks and shoes back on, and the ritual ends.  Well, today there was no neat circle, just a row of chairs for the men on one side of the dirt pavilion, and a row on the other side for the women.  The leaders and a select group from the church were chosen to wash our feet.  As most of us sat in our chair sobbing with emotion, our Nicaraguan hosts proceeded to wash our feet.  While dressed in their nicest pants, dresses and skirts, they knelt before us in the dirt.  They untied our shoes, removed our socks, and very lovingly washed our feet.  This was not the usual two or three hands full of water that we are accustom to, but this was a wash complete with soap and water.  After our feet were dried, they were sprayed with perfume.  Finally, our socks were replaced, and our shoes were put back on.  The emotion and Spiritual significance of this act was evident in the many tears shed by all.  Even our La Montanita brothers and sisters were moved to tears as a result of being involved in this new experience.  We were not to wash their feet, but to simply sit in humbled silence while our feet were washed.  Many of us experienced for the first time what it must have been like for the Disciples when Jesus washed their feet.  Personally, I will never wash feet the same way again. The passage that came to mind was Isaiah 52:7.  With the service over, we shared a time of taking photos with each other.  Many handshakes and hugs were shared with man, woman, and child alike.  We did not want the time to end, but needed to be on our way.  We slowly made our way to the van, and everyone followed for the tearful wave goodbye.

For lunch we headed off to the market at Masaya.  We enjoyed one last meal with Pastor Jose and his wife Auru.  They accompanied us to the market for lunch, but also to help us with a bit of shopping.  Many of us wanted a few items to remember our time in Nicaragua, and the market in Masaya was just the place.  Items of interest included Machete’s, coffee, pottery, leather handbags, hand-woven items, and many other trinkets.  It was a bit of a challenge with language and doing the math to figure the exchange rate, but we all managed.  Having concluded our time of shopping, we made an early day of it to head back to our hotel in order to pack all our things for our travel day.  All the tools and children’s ministry items needed to be reorganized for the ride home.  It was early to bed for all.

It had been an awesome stay in Nicaragua, but we were all anxious to get home.  The only bad thing was the 3 am wake-up call to get rolling.  The staff was kind enough to get a pot of coffee going for us, which was a blessing.  We headed to the airport at 4 am, and by 5 am we were ready to check in.  There were many smiles in our departure photo in the airport, but if you look closely, you will see many very tired eyes.  We cleared all the immigration issues and were ready to go.  Both flights from Nicaragua to Houston, and Houston to BWI went without a hitch.  We were even ahead of schedule on both flights.  The Rineer’s met us at the airport and we piled into the van for the ride home.  Herr’s chips and Turkey Hill Iced Teas were passed around…already feeling like home.  We were a bit disappointed that they did not bring along Herrs’ newest flavor…’Rice and Bean’ flavored chips.  Oh well.   It was good to be home.  Cheeseburgers awaited numerous members of the team.

Epilogue

Marshall remained in Nicaragua for several days.  Before returning home, he stopped back at La Montanita to check on the progress.  See the pics…the roof is ON!!  Also, the following is an email that arrived from Pastor Jose concerning a young girl that we prayed for.  She was supposed to have surgery the week we were there to repair a hernia in her side.  Pastor Jose’s email explains the rest…

Saludos cordiales desde Nicaragua, les  escribo para decirles que por acá los hermanos están muy contentos por el trabajo que se hizo por la iglesia de parte de ustedes. Ha caído la lluvia y nosotros estamos seguros y secos en el templo que ustedes entecharon.  (Cordial greetings from Nicaragua. I write you to tell you that the brothers and sisters are very happy for the work you did for the church. Rain has fallen and we are secure and dry in the building which you roofed.)

Les escribo además para testificarles que la Niña Maziel , la niña por la que oraron los hermanos cerca de la iglesia. Su mamá nos contó que cuando fue al médico para consultarle sobre la salud de la niña el doctor estaba sorprendido porque en el lugar donde estaba la hernia parecía que jamás había tenido nada la pequeña. Gloria a Dios porque Jesucristo es el mismo ayer, hoy y por los siglos. La mamá de la niña estaba emocionada porque asistió con mas regularidad al templo y dio gracias a ustedes por haber hecho esta labor de fe de orar por su hija y que ahora este completamente sana.  (I also write to testify about the child Maziel which you prayed for here near the church. Her mother told us that when she went for a medical checkup, the Doctor was surprised because in the area where the hernia was, now there was nothing amiss. Glory to God, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  The mother of the girl was very much affected by this and now attends the church regularly. I thank you for doing this labor of faith in praying for this girl who now is completely healthy.)

Antes de visitarla la niña había dicho por medio de su abuela que deseaba que el pastor orara por ella para ser sanada y esto fue lo que sucedió.  (Before you visited the child the grandmother sent word that she wanted the pastor to pray for the child to be healed and this is what happened.)

Gloria a Dios por siempre!!  (Glory to God forever.)

Dios les bendiga por todo lo que hacen por su reino engrandecido.  (May God bless you in all that you do to extend His Kingdom.)

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Friday afternoon was our last day to spend with the children doing VBS.  We had our largest group with about 40 kids. Our story was about Jesus’ death and resurrection and each child received a salvation bracelet.  We had a great time singing with the kids and we taught them how to sing and do the motions for some of our favorite songs.  We ended our time painting tiny Nicaraguan fingernails on the girls while the boys enjoyed balloons.  On our way back to the hotel Friday, we stopped at the BIC church in San Francisco where Pastor Edgar is the pastor.  After getting cleaned up at the hotel we welcomed Allan and Beth Claassen-Thrush and their adorable four month old son, Simon. They are MCC workers here in Nicaragua.  They have a really good feel for the people and politics here.  We were able to ask them lots of questions.  During our discussion, Marshall surprised Pastor Dale by inviting the Junta (Some of the BIC leadership here).  They presented Dale with a thank you certificate for his work last week at the leadership training.  They also had one for Ann Marie.  In addition to these guests, Marshall’s son Keith and a friend of his stopped by to say “hello.”  The men were very interested in Keith’s coffee harvesting business.  Our visitors left after 9 pm and we went to bed.

After leaving the work site today, we had a welcomed reprieve from our daily consumption of rice and beans because we stopped and had yummy pizza in Granada.  Five large pizzas and twelve drinks cost $43!  After our tummies were satisfied, we drove down through the town of Granada to Lake Nicaragua to enjoy a boat ride.  We saw lots of beautiful flowers and animals, including a few monkeys climbing around some trees.  Some of the islands on the lake are owned by Americans and used for getaways and vacation spots.  The extravagant houses once again reminded us of our friends back at La Montanita, and the difference between the upper and lower class.  This was very relaxing for everyone, and the women even took their shoes off to stick their toes in the refreshing water that was warmer than the showers we’ve been taking all week!  After we returned to the dock, some bartered with the locals that were selling jewelry, and walked away with some good finds!  We parked the van and walked around Granada a bit when we were finished and admired the old but colorful architecture.  We headed back to the Hotel after a few minutes of sight-seeing and scoping the tables filled with lots of jewelry and other gadgets.

Earlier in the week, Vicky Landis commented that we needed to soak up as much Nicaraguan culture as we can.  Let’s just say that after tonight, we were marinated in it!  A reenactment of the Revolutionary March of the Sandanistas from Managua to Nindiri occurred tonight in front of the hotel.  Imagine the Solanco fair parade on steroids complete with tractor trailers, buses, pick-up trucks with 17 people in the bed, motorcycles with 4 people on them, bicycles, and people walking that has been going on for 6 hours!  The parade route is approximately 13 miles long!  We were within 30 feet of the President, Daniel Ortega, as he marched with the crowd.  As many of us stood on the curb watching, Sonia was interviewed by the local TV station.  Diplomatic relations within our home country could be impacted as Tyler was caught on camera waving the Sandanista flag!  Tomorrow will be our farewell service at La
Montanita and afterwards we will be shopping in the market of Masaya.  Please keep us in your prayers as we have to say goodbye to our dear friends in Nicaragua.  Signing off for now!

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Most everyone was feeling back to their “regular” self today.  Once again we were up and off to the work site by 7:30 am.  Our ride there was uneventful.  More white paint was waiting for us.  Today we were painting corrugated sheets of tin for the roof.  There was progress on putting up rafters.  In all, 75% of the rafters were put in place.  Though the job foreman, Mario, is a great guy and grateful for help, there wasn’t a lot that our guys could do today.  It is hard for the rest of us to watch our men who are talented and gifted in construction, not really being able to do a lot.  It is discouraging for them but we are trusting that God has a plan and we are praying for patience as we are here to support the church at La Montanita.  With some time on their hands, the guys have been able to get to know the workers on a more personal level and are excited about the relationships they are building.  There are 2 teenage boys who help work each day.  Their names are Milton and Luis.  They are great helpers and are very interested in learning English.  We have fun communicating with them.  We are pretty sure that both young men have big crushes on Talia and Lindsay!

As always the most fun part of our day is interacting with the children.  They start coming around soon after we arrive and just hang out watching us paint.  They love to have their picture taken and some of us were brave enough to hand over our cameras to them so that they could take pictures of us.  They were very tickled with this!  Some got very brave and picked up paint brushes to “help” us paint. Unfortunately their “help” just made more work for us so we had to tell them to put the paint brushes down.  The children are very bright!  They are remembering our names and want to learn English words.  They are so thrilled when they get a word right!  Their smiles and laughter are worth any amount of discomfort we might experience from massive amounts of mosquito bites, too many carbs, and long bumpy van rides!

The afternoon VBS consisted of the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000.  The children knew the story well.  Sonia does a great job reading the stories and translating instructions for the activities.  We love and appreciate her sooooooo much!  The children did some more coloring and we gave them each a basket filled with loaves and fishes.  We took some time and did some face painting.  At first the kids weren’t sure about it but after they got their first one, they all wanted a second one, too!  Kudos to Dawn for all her great planning and organization.  We are blessed to have her as Pastor of Children’s Ministries at Pequea and now the children of La Montanita are blessed too!  A little later in the afternoon Lindsay and Talia taught the children how to play “Duck, Duck, Goose!” (Pato, Pato, Ganso- in Espanol)  That was a big hit but it resulted in our second minor injury in our group.  You’ll have to check out the pics to see who that might be.  No worries though, this scrape was much less impressive than Wes’s.  The children once again displayed their generosity when they were very concerned with the scratch and kept asking if everything was okay.  They watched as Kelly tended to the boo-boo and then did their best to dust off the injured person!

We called it a day and headed back to the hotel by 5:15.  Dinner was at six.  Even though the food has been great some of us are really craving our favorite foods from home.  Things like Herr’s chips, Turkey Hill ice-tea, green vegetables…you get the idea.  We definitely have made it a priority to get Papa John’s pizza in the next day or two.  Yes!!!!  They have Papa John’s here!  Shortly after dinner and devotions ended, the Swansons and Pastor Dale were looking for some adventure, so they decided to have a night out on the town in search of a coffee shop.  Arrangements were made, and soon a micromachine sized taxi pulled in.  The four passenger taxi soon fit seven as Lindsay and Talia were stored away in the trunk!  But as Tyler says, “When in Nicaragua, do as the Nicaraguans do!”  The adventure began.  They arrived at a mall that would put Park City to shame and decided to look around before they got their coffee.  After window shopping for the right food, they decided on “Eskimo” ice cream.  The unofficial translator smoothly ordered her chocolate cone and left the rest of the group to fend for themselves after becoming distracted by the extravagant food court and colorful tables.  There was lots of pointing fingers, slow English and attempted Spanish speaking, and in the end Tyler received a peppermint milkshake when he thought he was ordering vanilla!  As they sat and talked, the group recalled the difference between the location of the church and the upper-class mall.  The poverty in the community at the church and the opulence of the mall seem worlds apart when in reality they are only 10 miles apart.  The coffee shop at the mall was closed, so Talia redeemed herself a little and asked the driver to stop at the local mini mart so that the group could bring home coffee for Jay.  Effective immediately, Tyler has been banned from ever say a word that involves food, because he tried to order some coffee but instead got a double shot of expresso.  It was already 10:00 pm at night!  Not to be deterred, Jay drank it anyway.

Thank you for all your prayers and for responding to the blog.  We read them out loud as a group and it touches us deeply.  We love you all and miss you but are happy to be here in Nicaragua to partner with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Today started at 3 AM when there wasn’t a vacant bathroom to be found in the hotel.  Nine out of twelve team members decided to synchronize their upset stomachs while others were taking numbers at the door.  Order could not be restored!  Breakfast ended up being a quiet date for two for Talia and Jay, complete with French toast and fresh fruit.  Pastor Dale joined Talia and Jay later on as the three genetically stronger members of the team headed to the jobsite.  If this were Survivor, we would all be granted immunity!  Our light hearted disposition changed when we realized none of us knew enough Spanish to figure out what exactly we were going to do that day and that Talia would have to be the translator for the time being.  She explained to the workers that everyone on the team was “enfermo” (sick) to which Mario replied that it was a tough situation, but we would all just have to work harder! (Kids—pay attention in Spanish class!)  The three worked on painting more C-channels and continued working on back filling the stage.

The rest of the team conveniently arrived shortly before lunch as we were joined by the National Nicaraguan BIC Leadership team.  They honored us by taking time out to see us and spend time with us over lunch in recognition of what we were doing for the church at La Montanita.  We enjoyed the time we spent with them and shared about other ministries our church is involved in, such as Mennonite Disaster Services and SPICE.  Aula provided a delicious meal of beef or chicken, rice, and our first American food of the week, mashed potatoes! After our time of prayer, the men took a tour of the church while the one women Pastor helped out with the children’s activities.  Miguel brought along his motorcycle.  Before we knew what was happening, somehow Pastor Dale commandeered the motorcycle and Miguel was along for the ride while the Pastors zoomed out the dirt road!   In the afternoon, the women held another VBS for the children and today’s story was about Daniel and the Lion’s Den.  The kids colored pictures, made lion sock puppets and even got to dress up as lions and act out the story!  We sang songs, danced and of course they hogged all the candy down!  Initially we thought the kids were trying to get two pieces of candy, but then we realized that the older siblings were selflessly getting candy for their little brothers and sisters first, and then going back up to get candy for themselves.

On the way home, we had a unique ride as we experienced a flat tire.  By God’s grace, it was right outside of a BIC church and the Pastor was standing right alongside the road.  What a blessing to get to see another BIC church on the ride home!  Immediately you would have thought we were on pit road at Pocono Raceway because the men jumped out and got right to work while the women toured the church with the Pastor and some of the members.  While the pit crew was busy spinning lugnuts, the rest of the team also enjoyed the wildflowers along the road by the little BIC church.  After the tire was back in place, we arrived at the hotel with only 45 minutes until we had to leave to go back to the church for the evening service.  We had the option of bringing our nice church clothes to work and changing there, but that was instantly vetoed!

On our way back to the church for the service, we were passed by a group of teenage kids who casually reached out the window and flipped us off!  After much debate and discussion over the universal nature of crying and laughing, we were uncertain whether this act meant the same thing in Nicaragua as it does in the United States.  With a chuckle, Aula pointed out that yes, being flipped off is in fact universal!  With thunder clouds rolling in our way, the Pastor decided to have the service underneath a makeshift pavilion next to the church. Even though the majority of the team still was not feeling their best, we prepared for the service.  What initially seemed a bit more like a responsibility considering the way everyone had felt that day and the prospect of rain, turned into a wonderful worship experience.  Kelly touched the lives of everyone underneath that pavilion by sharing her testimony of the joys and sorrows of her life including the story of Molly.  It is amazing how Molly has been gone a year and a half, and still her life continues to touch so many people.  As Kelly shared her story, we cried once again remembering Molly.  Many of our friends were also moved to tears once Marshall translated Kelly’s words.  Wes was given the opportunity to deliver the message and shared about the beauty of Nicaragua and how even though they don’t know what the future holds, it’s all in God’s hands.  He also encouraged them to be excited about their building but not to lose sight of the fact that Christ lives in their hearts and that where they are gathered, he is there.  We broke into groups of men and women and prayed for each other at this time.  How special it was to hold the hands of our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters while praying for them as they prayed for us in return.

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Please consider praying for the team daily as they experience hardship and spiritual challenges. They are witnessing first hand what life is like in Nicaragua. Pray for them as the work daily on building the physical church building as well as building relationships with the Pastoral couple and the community families. If you would like to track the team on the journey click here!

Today started off like yesterday. Up and ready to go by 7am to have a good breakfast and then on the road back to La Montinita to do more work.  We did make a pit stop at a pharmacia (pharmacy) to pick up extra wound care supplies for Wes’s scraped-up leg.  No worries though, last night a doctor who is staying in our hotel took at look at his boo-boo and pronounced that Wes would survive and live to see another day.  Now if we can just put up with the whimpering coming from Wes’s room when he has to clean it after a day of sweat and dirt, we’ll be good to go!  As we neared the church, we left the cobble stone road for our normal slow bounce down the ever-narrowing roads.  Today marked a milestone.  We witnessed a beautiful yellow butterfly…racing by us on the dirt road.  Mechanized transportation took it on the chin.

The ladies and Dale got right to work on cleaning and priming more C-channel.  It is not hard work but kinda monotonous. By mid morning we were tired of looking at white primer paint. Unfortunately for those of us who won’t be climbing up scaffolding to put the actual trusses on the roof, painting is what we will be doing for the rest of the week.  We are hoping and praying that someone might pick a different color than white soon!!!!!

The stage crew began the day by backfilling around the block foundation for the stage wall.  When that was finished, it was on to laying the top row of cement block.  The most exciting part of their day come shortly before lunch when Pedro brought over his Nicaraguan dumb truck.  This ‘dump truck’ consisted of a small, custom made wagon, complete with 1, four year old mare, named Rosita.  Cat turbo diesel, eat your heart out.  The only drawback with poor Rosita, was that she needed a bit push power to make it up the small rise to the church.  We lost track of how many loads of stone and dirt we shoveled and loaded onto the wagon in order to back fill behind the block wall.  Tomorrow will be another ‘bring your shovel to work’ day for the stage crew.

Lunch arrived around one.  It could not have come any sooner.  Tyler was having a carb crash and needed a bit of a protein boost, so he resorted to eating the resident cockroach.  Well…not really…he wimped out and couldn’t bring himself to do it.   Just so you know, it takes a lot of work for Aula, Pastor Jose  Ramon’s  wife, to get lunch to us.  She spends most of the morning making it because it’s not sandwiches and chips.  It’s a hot meal.  Then she packs it all up in these big silver bowls and comes at least a half hour to 45 minutes by taxi to bring it to us.  It is always delicious.  Today we also had a special treat.  Home-made rice pudding and fresh mango fruit.  Both were very yummy!

After lunch we set up our little area for the children’s ministry time.  We had to tell the children to be there at 2pm promptly because yesterday they filtered in whenever.  Some even 45 min late.  Today most were there on time!  We had about 25 kids and we read the story of the birth of baby Jesus.  They had a time of coloring which they seem to really like and then we gave each child a temporary tattoo of any animal that might have been in the stable when baby Jesus was born.  Some tried to sneak in and get a second one because they liked them so much. They also try to sneak and get another piece of candy after we have already given them one, too!  We sang them some songs and had them wave little sticks with ribbons on them that they made.  The younger children were given little plastic eggs filled with beans to shake while we were singing.  The children are bright and well-behaved and we are really enjoying the time we are spending with them.  This should be quite evident by the continual stream of precious kid pictures.  To round out the afternoon Talia, Lindsay, and Wes got a game of futball (soccer) going with the kids.

After 2 days of work, the total production stands as follows… about 70 c-channels cleaned and painted, 14 rafters welded together, stage foundation block and cap block laid, backfill for stage 50% completed.  More c-channel and all the tin are on-site, and we are hoping Wednesday brings the start of roof truss construction.  Our Nicaraguan foreman, named Mario, is a true God-send.  He has worked very hard to match the energy and intensity our group, and we have worked very well together.  It has been our pleasure to work alongside Mario, Roberto, Pedro, Milton, and Alex on a daily basis.  We would love to worship on Sunday morning with a roof over our heads.

Later in the evening, we attended a different church in a small town outside of Masaya.  While there, we broke the language barriers and worshiped together by singing “Open the Eyes of my Heart” in Spanish and English at the same time.  We also spent time kneeling in prayer together, lifting up the situation in Honduras and other important issues.  Even though Daleen’s birthday had come and gone, Pastor Jose and his wife presented Daleen with a beautiful hammock for her birthday.

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Lordy, Lordy! Look who is 40! Oh no, that was the wrong number.  We think she is… uhh… well, we’ll never tell!  Daleen turned one year older today!  Little did she know what the team had in store for her.

We started off our day with another delicious breakfast provided by the women of the hotel and loaded up our van, anxious to start our first day of work.  We were having quite a lovely trip to the church, until our van slid into a washout from the previous night’s storm.  Luckily, our driver remained calm, cool, and collected and was able to maneuver us out before the van became stuck.  It would have been a hard walk on a dirt road with many tools to carry.  Upon our arrival, the women cleaned C-channel steel beams with paint thinner to prep the steel before we could paint it.  After the steel was clean, we coated them with white primer/paint with the help of some of the men of the church.  While part of the crew was keeping busy with the C-channels, a group of guys began building a stage for the church using masonry block.  The digging was not too hard, but the block we used for the base were large, heavy, and very difficult to place.  You will notice in the pics just how much effort it took as evidenced by Wes and his dirt clothes.  We were graciously provided lunch by Aula, the pastor’s wife.  It was a meal of chicken with rice that tasted like something from Bobby Flay.  The thing is, it was prepared at Aula’s home and trekked 30 minutes into the country and served in big metal pots.  Try that move Mr. Flay.  We even got to try fresh guava!  Dawn’s watering eyes and gagging reflexes could not hide her joy in trying this new fruit!

After lunch, the women broke apart from the group and held a mini VBS for the children.  With the help of Sonia’s translation skills, we were able to efficiently communicate the message of Jonah and the Whale.  A few boys volunteered to read the story aloud to the other children and were rewarded with candy, which they enthusiastically accepted.  After the story was read, the children were able to color their own picture of Jonah and the Whale and were given a paper cut-out of the characters in the story.  To add more excitement to the story, the children played a game similar to the game Musical Chairs.  Lindsay and Talia held a blue blanket symbolizing the ocean, and the Pastor’s wife sang a beautiful song while the children pretended to be Jonah and ran under the blanket (or ocean!).  When she stopped singing, the blanket was immediately dropped capturing the children caught underneath it.  We concluded the mini VBS with free time, which included jumping rope and many energetic children running around!

It was evident to us that Wes was itching to play soccer because he brought along his ball from home as well as his turf sneakers.  The children were also eyeing up his soccer ball, so he, Lindsay and Talia decided to get a game started.  Goals were made out of two nearby trees and Wes’s work boots.  The children seemed to have their own rules, and one boy in particular was partial to picking up the ball with his hands, pointing Lindsay and Talia in the direction of the opposing team’s goal and tossing it to them in hopes of scoring.  With each goal scored, high fives were exchanged.  After one of Wes’s goals, he performed a victory dance of lifting his shirt over his head and spreading his arms while circling around the makeshift field.  The women sitting nearby got quite a laugh out of this!  Back at the church the guys working on the stage had finished placing all of the block and even got all the joints mortared.  The hope is to set a row of cement block tomorrow.

At the end of the day we were covered from head to toe in dirt and sweat, which made the ride home even more enjoyable considering our twelve passenger van had 17 people plus tools packed inside.  What a wonderfully aromatic bonding experience!  We were all relieved once we arrived back at the hotel where we didn’t mind not having hot water and enjoyed the cold showers.  We had worked up an appetite from the day’s hard labor and greatly appreciated the hotel’s food which once again hit the spot!  Little did Daleen know that this wasn’t just a normal dinner.  Marshall had arranged to have a Mariachi band perform in honor of her special day. The men sang while guitars, trumpets, and an accordion accompanied them.  Wow!  Were they good!  After a time of devotions, the group was ready for some downtime and enjoyed reading emails from home and comments from yesterday’s post. What an encouragement they were to us all.  We know we are loved.  As a side note, we look forward to getting home to depose the emperor (small e) because “he has no clothes”!

Oh, and by the way, for those of you who know Talia, her camera just spontaneously ejected her first memory card and it laid smoking on the coffee table.  Never fear…she has one for each day!

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Wow, Pequea Church sure knows how to throw a send-off party!  Your attendance and support was appreciated by every trip member more than you could imagine.  After saying our goodbyes, we began our drive to Baltimore Airport and arrived with time to spare.  Our flight was on time and we landed safely in Houston, Texas.  While we were waiting, we noticed a young guy with something shaved into the back of his head.  After much debate, Dawn got enough courage to do a “drive-by screening” of the pattern while pretending to read a restaurant menu.  We confirmed “Ask 4/21/04” was what was shaved into his head.  Not to be outdone, the bold and outgoing Sonia marched over to the young man and said, “You said to ask, so I’m asking!”  This led to him giving his testimony about how he gave his life whole-heartedly to the Lord on that date.  He was returning from a mission’s trip to Belize, and passionately explained the miracles God performed on his trip.  This was a great pep rally for us!  Little did we know that about 50% of our flight was comprised of mission’s teams.  Our flight was uneventful until we landed in a heavy thunder and lightning storm – boy were we glad to make it on the ground!  We were greeted at the Nicaragua airport by Marshall Poe, Pastor Dale, and Pastor Jose and his wife.  Our 27 passenger ‘party van’ pulled up with room for our luggage inside with the air conditioner set at about 60°.  We made it to El Raizon around 10:00 PM local time, and we were happy we could relax in our air conditioned rooms after a long day!

6/28/09  —  Sunday

After a great night’s rest, we ate a delicious breakfast of eggs, beans and rice, and fresh fruit compliments of the hotel.  We worshipped at Piedra Menuda, which was worked on by the Global Impact team back in February.  They were excited to see us and greeted us with many hugs and friendly smiles.  During the service, they gave gifts to Marshall and Sonia as expressions of love.  A member donated two young chickens, and Pastor Dale demonstrated his auctioneering skills for the congregation.  Kelly bought the chickens for $17.50 in our pretend auction.  The children of the church performed an enthusiastic dance in our honor.  The pastor at Piedra Menuda is Miguel Vallecillo, and he is the president of the National Board of the BIC in Nicaragua.  He is also the pastor that received the gift of the motorcycle from our church.  We had the pleasure of passing along an accordion that was graciously donated by a member of our congregation.  This accordion will be given to another small rural church in Nicaragua.  We had a great time of worship and fellowship with the church and got to interact with many of the children.  During the afternoon, we visited the Masaya Volcano, and hiked the 177 steps to a look-out with three crosses.  From the look-out, we could see into the volcano as well as 20+ kilometers back to the city of Managua.  Our throats burned from the sulfur-gas spewing from the volcano, and no one could catch their breath from the hike up the steps!  Several adventurous souls pursued a challenging hike to a much higher look-out on the other side of the volcano.  One young man became ‘One with the Volcano’ as evidenced by the photograph; can you guess who it was?  After a great lunch of pizza (Papa Johns!) and chicken, we had just enough time to squeeze in a 10 minute power nap before heading to the church where we will be working this week called La Montanita.  We enjoyed a great evening of worship complete with singing, Pastor Dale preaching, a surprise communion, and of course a spectacular lightning show all service long.  The rain falling signaled the end of the service.  Oh, by the way… the church has no roof, which is what we’re here to build.  How fitting that our first service in the church got rained out, and the congregation seemed so excited that we were there to help solve this very problem.

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