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.