Hands and Feet

Well after a few days it is always fun, and somewhat heart breaking, to sit back and just think about a missions trip....literally, blood sweat, and tears.

The entire trip there were two things that continually went through my mind.

1. The lyrics to an Audio Adrenaline song "Hands and Feet" from their 1999 album Underdog.

"I want to be your hands
I want to be your feet
I'll go where you send me
I'II go where you send me

And I try, yeah I try
To touch the world like
You touched my life
And I find my way
To be your hands."

Check it out if you've never heard it.


2. The words of Jesus in Matthew 25
"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

It so easy to talk of how we must love God and love others, so easy to say that we must share Jesus to the nations, so easy to live out our Christianity at church every weekend, but it is something else entirely to get up and walk and talk and do what Christ has called us to do. What has Christ called us to do? To "love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength...and...to love others as yourself."

Sometimes we think that being the hands and feet of Jesus, to show love to the "least of these", is something that is monumental....something too big for just one person to accomplish. Thing is.....it's not...and it is. It is something that can be done alone or something too grand to happen without the company of a team.

Being Christ's hands and feet is as insignificant as giving someone a ride, raking their leaves, or helping them move. Being Christ's hands and feet is as simple as digging in the dirt, pouring concrete, tying wires, and giving out candy to dirty children.

Don't think that to love God, to be his hands and feet, is something only "they" can do. It is something all of us can do right here, right now. Look around. How can you be God's hands and feet today? Perhaps it's helping that senior citizen....perhaps its getting on a plane to go build something...whatever it is...go and do it!

It's awesome!

"There's something on the wing. Some....thing!"

(1 million points if you know what that is a reference to)

We all woke up at 4am or so. Man seriously....is God even awake at 4am?! We checked out and walked across the road to the airport and checked in. Apparently they don't use the air-con in the air port in the night 'cause it was sooooo hot in that place.

Anyways we got through no problem since we had significantly less tools. After we all got some breakfast and last Nicaraguan coffee we boarded our first leg of the flight.

We landed in Houston, grabbed lunch, and then jumped on the last plane home. Two of our teammates had other flights out of Houston than us (they used there frequent flyer miles). Those of us who flew together landed safely and got all our stuff. We actually ended up getting back to church earlier than we had thought. It was great to see all our of families agian.

It was awesome to be God's hands and feet.

It's so good to be back home!

R&R Friday 25th Sept

Today we were all really excited to get on the road. Mostly because it meant we had only one more day before we leave for home. We were joined at breakfast by some of the Nicaraguan's who helped us on the site. I say helped us but really we helped them. They were Ishmael, the foreman of the project, Frank, an electrician, and Ishmael's brother who is his right hand man. We presented them all with the official team shirt and said a big thank you to them all.

After packing the bus and getting some video of Brian we turned in our keys and hit the road. It's always amazing how the drive back is way faster than the drive there. So after what felt like half the time of driveing there we found ourselves back in Managua.

We had lunch and then shopped for soveniers at the airport. There was one lady who spoke very good English...I have a hunch she gets more sales than all the other shops because of that.

After that Brian showed us around Managua. First we went to Masaya Volcano, an active volcano were the natives used to appease the gods by throwing virgins of a high point of the crater into the volcano. Now there is a cross at that point. Christian missionaries used to throw natives into the volcano fromt that spot if they didn't convert; talk about agressive evangelism!

From there we went to the mother-church of Brian's ministry. We met the pastor there and they showed us around. We all noticed that the main auditorium was very open....it had 2 feet open at the top where the walls normally meet the cealing and there were bars in place of the windows. Brian told us that they do this often here because the temperature is so temperate year round, and that there is so much humidity. The other option is to have central air which is just way too expensive.

On the way back to the hotel we came across a Harley dealer. That was fun. Some of the bickers bought some Harley Nicaragua stuff. Then we went back to the hotel and had dinner. At dinner we got our coffee orders from Donugo's farm. Some of the coffee drinkers in the group claim this is the best coffee they have ever had. I agree.

After dinner we all told of how we saw God working in our lives through and during this trip. It was really neat to see a group of guys put aside a social stereotype, open up and talk about themselves, God, emotions, and spirituality.

Now we must go to bed. We all need to wake up at 4am to check in by 5am and to the gate by 7am.

And we're done!

Today was the last work day for us. We got the rest of the foundation poured right around lunch time. Most of us were keeping the concrete flowing, the others were completing prep work for pouring the church floor. After lunch we all helped unload 200 some bags of concrete. Because of all the rain we have gotten in the last few days the truck couldn't make it up the steep driveway so everyone one moved the 42.5 kg (I think about 90lbs) bags of concrete up the hill and into the storage shed. We have indeed gotten a lot of rain these last two days. The road up to the church is very very step and muddy....too muddy. It was decided that we couldn't get any of the vehicles up that road today. We really needed that to happen since we need cement and the cement mixer to be brought up from the clinic site. So long story short....while we couldn't pour the church floor we did prep it and they will pour it on Monday. Praise God! We completed what we came here to do with a day and a half to spare!

While we were packing the bus to leave everyone was giving a lot of the stuff they brought away. Spare tools, work gloves, tons of candy, work glasses. We offered some rolls of toilet paper to a group of kids and they all looked at each other puzzled. That made the whole bus of guys roll with laughter. Apparently they use something else for tp in the cloud forests of Nicaragua.

So, after all the concrete was moved up to the shed, and since there was nothing left we could do, Brain led us on a hike through the jungle to an awesome waterfall. It was so beautiful. We took a bunch of photo's and then we headed back to the resort.

Oh yeah...by the way the resort is called Selva Negra. Check it out

Tomorrow we are trying to hit the road by 8:30 am. We are going to visit some of the ministry Brain is doing in Managua as well as get a tour of the city from him. We are all looking forward to some R and R after a week of hard work. More than that, we are all looking forward to getting home to our families.

(Tomorrow night we'll be at the Best Western again so I'll be able to use my personal computer to blog which means I can upload photos. Assuming their internet works =)

Concrete and the impending deluge. Sept 23rd

(Sounds like a good band name hey?)

Everyone seemed to have woken up with mended backs this morning. Once again we had a blast at breakfast. Instead of shooting straight to the site from the resort we stopped at the entrance of the resort's driveway....really it's more like an entrance road. Anyways at the beginning of this road there is an old blown out Russian tank leftover from the Revolution in the late 70's and 80's which, along with the massive earth quake this country had many years ago, moved Nicaragua from the wealthiest country of Central America to the poorest. At the tank we took a group picture which was a lot of fun. On the way to the site we video taped the ride there just to give everyone a sense of how bumpy they rural roads are here.

Once we got to the site we got everything ready to go so that we could just pump out as much concrete as possible for pouring the foundation. Problem is that that only takes about half of our group to do so the other half walked up to the church to prep the floor so that we can pour as soon as the foundation is done. (Brain told as that pouring the church floor is a surprise for the church. So now we really want to make sure we get that done). We had some amazing momentum. Even the foreman, Ishmael, got in the ling for pouring concrete.

Then the "...rains came down and the floods went up." Finally it rained on us like it normally rains here. The people here really know their clouds 'cause Ishmael looked at the clouds as they were coming in and said "wet". Then in about five minutes he stripped down to just a tank top and jeans, he pointed down at the ground, shook his head and said "wetter". Sure enough it started to rain and it didn't really stop. It rained soooo hard. At about 4pm the wheel barrows were getting bogged down in the mud and Brain started to worry about the conditions of the roads for the travel home. We've learned already that the non paved roads deteriorated rapidly in the rain...wash outs...sink holes...sheer amounts of mud....So we called it an early day. We still have 1/4 of the foundation to pour and the church floor to pour as well. Sometimes the weather here decides your day for you.

At dinner we were treated to some traditional dance by a group of dancers performing for a large group that is doing some type of conference at the resort. Since it was at the restaurant we were just sort "spectating". We planned out tomorrow....we're hitting the road at 7:30am so we can get everything done. Friday we won't have as much time for working so we want to get as close to everything done as possible.

Sahweet!

Wire we doing this? Sept 22nd

Today started like any of our other days...food!

We all thought that we were going to be doing less labour some work than we had been doing since today we are tying all the re bar for the foundation. Boy were we sooo wrong. It took most of us about 5 to 10 minutes to learn the method of tying up the re bar with the wire. After that that is all we did all day long. It was very time consuming and kinda back breaking as we spent the day bent over doing all the tying. I mentioned that we were hoping to pore the foundation today too but the amount of time tying the re bar took wsa very underestimated. Of course it wasn't a big deal since we are sooo far ahead. After a lot of cut hands and bloodied finger tips e did finish all the wiring. Yes! Tomorrow we hpe to pour all the foundation and get started on pouring the church floor.

At dinner Guy haphazardly asked Kyle if we had to use wire to tie the re bar... as in are there other options.It was an innocent question.. Kyle replied with a "NO, for the gage re bar we were wiring we coulda used zip ties." Then he mentioned that back in the States they make wiring guns for tying re bar. Let me eel you the pitch forks and torches came out of no were....jks. The rest of the night we all gave Kyle a hard time. It was all in good sport. Lot's of laughing about it.

Well of to bed and getting rest for pouring tomorrow.

Direct result of the fall...digging! Sept 21st

It's been really cool to see a custom form among our group....we begin and end the day with food! It's great to get to know everyone over breakfast, enjoy some Nicaraguan coffee, and just gear up for the day. By the time we get to back here for dinner it's usually 8pm or so and we all share our stories from the day, laugh a WHOLE lot, and just relax.

Well after we had breakfast we jumped on the bus as soon as we could. We all noticed that today was going to be a scorcher! While on the bounciest, jerkiest, roughest bus ride you can imagine, Guy somehow managed to write down everyone's coffee orders so that we could buy some for real Nicaraguan coffee from Pastor Donugo's farm.

When we got to the site we learned from Brian that the people in these remote areas go to bed probably by 8 or 9pm and are all up around 4am. We learned that there are about 40 different people who signed up to volunteer along side with us throughout the course of this week. Those people are usually at the site by no later than 6am. Due to when breakfast is available and the 1 1/2 hour drive to get there, we don't get there until 10am or so. Usually the day's work is already under way when we arrive which is kinda nice 'cause the momentum is already going and we just jump right in. It's interesting to have learned all this 'cause some of us were wondering why the Nicaraguans were beat at about 4pm....while we are going on until after dark. It has been so awesome getting to know some of these volunteers despite the language barrier.

Anyways, today we just dug and dug and dug and dug and dug and du............you get the picture. We dug all of the foundation trenches and began wiring the re bar together so we can poor the foundation. Hopefully we can finish the wiring tomorrow and poor all of the foundation. For lunch we had Peliwe, and half goat half sheep animal that you only find here. It was kinda like mutton. Really good though.

On the way home tonight we ran into some interesting things. Somehow the company delivering our gravel and sand for cement, manuvered these big semi dump trucks back to the site. But because they didn't have the weight of their load on the way out they couldn't get back out of the area because of the steep mountains and loose gravel roads. So we all got out of the bus and helped a flat bed truck get up the mountain and then the Bus Ninja stuck again. Lewis chained the Semi to the back of his bus and hauled the thing up the mountain! Hawhat!

Today was soooo hot and we all worked soooo hard and duuuuuuuuuuugggg soooo much and got soooo much done we are going to sleep like babies tonight. I think I hear my bed calling me now.

Church and chops sauce. Sept 20th

Today we started the day off with some great breakfast at the resort. From there we went the church at La Sparanza, where the clinic is located and the church the clinic is out of. Guy gave a brief message on why we are out here...because of the Hope, Love, and Faith Jesus offers all of us. We presented Pastor Donugo and Brian Weed with our official team shirt which they wore proudly. Then as a team we prayed for the church asking for God's continued blessing. It was also the 5 anniversary of the church and so we left with some gifts for all the children.

From there we walked back to the site of the clinic and just kicked some b.... um I mean we worked REALLY hard. We got the remaining footings dug....the soil here is just clay so man it was hard work. After that we got all the columns but in and the bases for them pored. Tomorrow we will be able to dig the foundation. We worked into the night again and it was a strange beauty to see the site lit up by lights from a generator while seeing more stars than we have ever seen in the black night sky.

We showed Brain the chop saw that we brought. He was like a little boy at Christmas just wanting to cut any thing and everything....which looked pretty cool shooting a 20 foot arc of flaming sparks into the night.

After we cleaned up we headed back and ate dinner......which took fooorrrrrreeeeeeeevvvvvvveeeeeerrrrrrr to get. But it was good. I got this amazing pork chop with the house special sauce.....sosoooooooooo good.

We are so far ahead that we are starting to think that we might possibly start some of the work for the next trip. Cahrayzee!

Coffee, Red Bananas, and Sweat. Sept 19th

Well today the internet is up and running so I'm playing a bit of catch up. I'm having to use the resort's computer so I don't know if I can upload photo's....but I'm working on it. Okay so yesterday.....

...We kicked things off meeting the missionary we are partering with, Brian Weed, over some amazing breakfast at the Best Western. Then we loaded up all our gear in the bus piloted by Lewis...the Bus Ninja. I say "pilot" because sometimes the driving styles here are....well...lets just say a little different then we are used to in the US....and "bus ninja" 'cause this guy can very safely manuver a bus like nobodies business. We had quite the drive from Managua to the site of the clinic.

After we travelled for a few hours on the highway we had lunch at Tip Top, the local KFC chain. Not long after that we hit the dirt road. It was very interesting to watch the cloud line get closer and closer to the earth as we ascended into the cloud forest region. We learned that a cloud forest is much like a rain forest, just without all the heat.

After a very bumpy 45 minute ride on the dirt "road" we reached the site and were surprised and blessed to find that the site was already levelled with some of the footing for the foundation dug. Kyle estimated that put as a full day or more ahead of schedule.

Brian introduced us to the pastor of the church here, Pastor Donugo....not sure how to spell his name... and he welcomed us to his home and coffee farm, the clinic is in the middle of his coffee farm, with fresh coffee and red bananas, also grown on his farm. The coffee was what Jesus drinks in Heaven and the bananas.....well when you read "bananas" think manna from God....so very sweet. From there we went back to the site to lay out our plan for working the next week.

Yeah that lasted precisely 5.24 seconds. We were all so excited to just get started. So by the end of the day, about 7pm, we had dug most of the footings, tied the re bar for the support columns, and pored the concrete for the footings.

Then we drove back to the resort, ate at the amazing German restaurant, and went to sleep....which is were I must now go.

I'll try to get some pics up for everyone but can't promise. Continue to pray for the amazing weather we are having and continued safety on the job. Later!

Arrival and....FOOD! Sept 18th

After a pretty tight connecting flight, we landed safe and sound last night in Managua with all our gear. Pretty much on time too. Everyone and everything cleared customs without a problem. Glenn said that the airport reminded him of an airport out of the 60's. Apparently this is the only airport in the country so...

We checked in at our hotel, a nice Best Western, directly across the road from the airport. Then we ate! Thank you Jesus! (We were just a tad hungry). After that we all just chilled out. We noticed that it is pretty humid here and yet the rooms were clean and free of bugs. We wondered if they had bugs. Then we noticed an official Best Western notice in our rooms: "...we must fumigate every afternoon between 5:30pm and 6:30pm...The chemicals used are a dose of cypermetherin and diesel with no adverse effects on humans..." Nice! It made us laugh.

This morning we are meeting the missionary, eating breakfast at 8am, and then it's a 3-4 hour trip to the site. Keep us all in your prayers as we travel some more today.

And they're off! Sept 18th

So after what seems like brisk preparations, we are off to Nicaragua. We'll keep the posts updated at the end of everyday. Pray for journey mercies as we travel. We should be arriving in Managua, Nicaragua at 8:05pm local time tonight.