Mission Trip to Nicaragua 2009

Day 9 - Flying Home (Or How We did a Texas Touch & Go)

2009-08-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

It was a dark and quiet morning disturbed by the unusual tones coming from my cellphone's alarm clock. I had chosen a particularly odd set of alarm ring tones so as to not oversleep my 4am wake up call, and I was not to be disappointed. Six hours earlier I had laid me down to sleep and prayed the Lord my soul to keep while all of the others continued to chat basking in the evening coolness of the cabana. At one point I drowsily recalled hearing Pastor Scott and Bernardo come in, but my consciousness was not awakened much more than that. And I had slept on to the accompaniment of my now familiar friend, my CPAP machine. The side benefit of this little device is that I awaken fully refreshed even with just a few hours of sleep. And this was the case on this dark morning.

I took care of my morning post wake-up needs and found myself dressed, packed, and ready to go by 4:20am. I went outside and tried to determine if there was life in the ladies' bedroom. Hearing nothing, I waited until 4:30 before knocking on the door and a drowsy but beautiful Angela came shuffling across the floor. It seems that her watch alarm had not awakened her.

True to his word, Adrian was there promptly at 4:45am and we loaded our gear into the van. The roads on the way to the airport were dark and it was especially important to not hit one of the many bicyclists or horse drawn carts that have no lighting or other alerts to warn traffic coming up from behind. But the flip side of the early hour and darkness meant that there was little traffic. Adrian skillfully wove the van in and out and around various slower moving vehicles with his customary beep of the horn and flash of the headlights. It was a quiet ride and we didn't say much. We had had a good week together and knew that no further words were needed. We left it all during our time of service.

Arriving at Augusto Sandino Aeropuerta around 5:30am, the first vestiges of the dawn light began to show. We exchanged goodbye hugs and words, and I left Adrian with a few things including a package of his beloved Cheetos. I had purchased them a day earlier but never got around to eating them. Inside the terminal, it was a beehive of activity. It seems that virtually all of the major airlines have departures around the same time, and there were hundreds of people in the check-in ques. We found ours and dutifully waited our turn to check the two bags we weren't carrying on. Armed with our boarding passes and a completed Nicaraguan immigration form, we wound our way through the airport to immigration and cleared that just fine. Then we went through the airport security with it's scanners and obligatory laptop out of the luggage and in a bin step. I observed people not taking their shoes off, so I didn't, but forgot to remove my cellphone. No worry, I just removed it from my pocket after going through the scanner, and the security lady wanded me right on the spot, and I was cleared to pick up my other items. Try that at a TSA checkpoint in the states.

At our gate we had a short wait for our 6:45 boarding. Like last year, there is a secondary manual search of carry-on items, and that went well. Soon we were on our airplane and headed for Miami where we had our longest layover.

Disembarking the plane in Miami, one has to walk down a labrynth of halls and walkways and escalators to reach American immigration where once again we joined the que ( one of 20 or 30). Clearing immigration, we discovered that we had to claim our luggage and then follow the yellow dots on the floor (affectionately named the Yellow Brick Road by Angela) to leave the checked luggage at the collection point and then follow the blue dots on the floor to our departure gate (well at least much of the way there - the rest was a Lewis & Clark discovery mission). Right next to our gate was a little sandwich vendor and I enjoyed a nice little Italian baguette sandwich while Angela enjoyed a salad.

Boarding the plane, we took our assigned seats; and waited for take-off. And we waited, and we waited some more. Soon a vicious rain squall came across the airport.

Finally the pilot came on and indicated they were being delayed due to the weather and how it was affecting the loading of the cargo door. Finally nearly an hour after our scheduled departure, we began to taxi. But that was soon to come to a stop when the pilot announced that we were number 12 in line for take-off. I did some quick calculations and figured we would arrive in Dallas' DFW airport about the time our flight was to be boarding. And we were not to be disappointed. The flight was smooth and I continued to read my Neal Peart book, Roadshow, which is a fascinating account of his motorcycle ride between venues of his last concert tour with the band, Rush, of which he's the drummer and lyricist.

Arriving in Dallas at 4:05, it took 10 minutes to taxi to the gate and another 10 minutes to get off the airplane. We walked quickly to the overhead tram which whisked us down to gate 30 from about gate 11. As we walked up to the gate, our names were being called, "Bowman, party of 2, you need to be on board!" We literally walked on along with another fellow from our flight and found our seats and this packed S80 took off for its nearly 4 hour flight to Seattle. I found it amusing that the longest flight leg had the smallest plane and no video or audio. So, I listened to a bit of Steve Green until my Zune lost battery power; and finished my book.

There was a fluffy blanket of clouds covering the area to the south of Seattle/Tacoma and Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier poked their snowy peaks through the fluff. Over the 520 bridge the pilot executed a sweeping left hand 180 degree turn to set us up for a southbound landing on 16R (the new 3rd runway that I had never landed on). Angela was able to see our neighbor's new grass from her seat. A smooth touchdown led to a short taxi to the gate. Upon deplaning, we made a restroom stop after which I struck up a conversation with an elderly gentleman who asked me where we were traveling from. (He might have noticed my Nicaraguan shirt). When I said I was coming from Nicaragua, he mentioned he was 82 and on the board of CAM (Central America Mission) and he had spent 52 years in Haiti and led teams there and to Brazil and was very familiar with the various works in Nicaragua. It was a good conversation. I hope I can be as energetic at 82 as he was.

On the chance that our luggage may have made the flight, we headed for baggage claim. There was really no way it could have made the "touch & go" connection in Dallas. After a few turns of the luggage system, however, I spotted the flourescent CCM luggage tags attached to each piece of our luggage. Wow. American Airlines really scored in getting our luggage to us with no delay.

So the 2009 mission trip comes to an end. It certainly had its challenges. It had its victories and accomplishments. And I trust we made a small impact on lives in Xiloa (actually the barrio was called Miraflores). The need is there. Would you consider joining us next year?

Day 8 - Recreation Day

2009-08-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a nice recreation day with the Mingo family. Our day started with a false start at Fortaleza el Coyotepe, but there were several school bus loads of students. So we headed to the Masaya Volcano.

We made a stop at the visitor center which was quite good. Then we made the steep drive up to the crater's edge. It's way closer than we can get to Mt. St. Helens crater. It's a steaming & smoking cauldron. Note that cars are parked facing away from the crater for a quick escape!!

There's also a 177 step staircase to the highest point where we took more photos and had our photo taken by a Belgian tourist.

Leaving the volcano, we headed for the fort. This fort was built in colonial days to defend Managua from invaders. In more recent times it was a prison with torture chambers. It was a very sobering tour. It's now owned by the Nicaraguan Boy Scouts who operates it as a tourist attraction.

We also saw many bats and one very venomous spider.

Our lunch stop was at the MetroCenter mall.

Heading back to camp, we took a side trip to Ticantuepe trying to find a waterfall and some parrots. However, the road required a 4 x 4 vehicle so we didn't complete that trip.

So it was then a damp ride back to camp where we sat with the Mingos and chatted. For the Bowman's it will be an early 7am flight to Miami. The others will head for the beach with the Mingos.

Day 8 - Xiloa - Thursday

2009-08-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day at the barrio. We finished our last painting chores and took the opportunity to walk around the barrio. On the northern boundary of the barrio is a very polluted stream that smells like spent laundry water. Also there is all sorts of garbage littering the shore. We also had a discussion with the church's guitarist about the need for a well so that crops could be grown without waiting for the seasonal rains.

Once again and for the last time we enjoyed lunch at the pay beach ($3) before driving over to the free beach. That beach is apparently very unsafe and is no longer as nice as the pay beach. There are very nice
homes that are faint shades of their former glory. It's sad to see such wanton destruction of the neighborhood.

Back at the barrio, Rachael S led the VBS for today and did a fine job. We also took a group picture.

Here are a few random pictures of children after the feeding.

We left a number of soccer balls and enough money for blocks for the latrine and the conversion of a window into a door and a door into a window. In addition, we left our painting tools and painting supplies. Pastor Pedro gave a few words of thanks for the work the team did and for the gifts of things and money.

Day 7 - Xiloa - Wednesday

2009-08-12T16:51:00.001-07:00

Today went the best of the 3 days. We painted the front of the church as well as the north wall which faces the SS room. I was also able to go out with Adrian and Pastor Pedro to acquire a concrete toilet and mounting slab for $25. For the first time the church will have a latrine.

Once again we went to the beach and most went swimming.

For some reason a number of the rambunctious boys weren't there today. Plus we were able to use the newly painted church and that seemed to help reduce the number off distractions. We were also able to break the children up into 4 groups of 11-14 and review the Bible verse with them.

After the feeding, I observed the ladies working on their beadwork and it was very moving to see them working silently + productively.

We have one more day with the children tomorrow and we are looking forward to it.

Day 6 - Xiloa - Tuesday

2009-08-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

Original blog post from the phone:

Our day with the kids went a little better, although there are definitely some more active boys. Bernardo did a good lesson on the resurrection. The interior painting is complete. Tomorrow we'll focus on the exterior. More detail will be in the detailed upload later after we return.

The guys room seems to have some sort of ant infestation as we are constantly killing them.

Our lunch time at the beach was good and several were able to swim.

Uploaded blog report on 8/16/09:

After a very refreshing sleep, we headed out for Xiloa at 8:10am. You like the precision of the reporting, I know. We made a stop to pick up Kaela, a fuel stop, and a stop to pick up a sack of concrete.

Arriving at Xiloa, we were once again greeted by the children (although not quite as many as yesterday). They were much better in staying out of the church and the team quickly was able to paint the remaining 1/2 plus a second coat on the entire interior. It's looking very sharp. We even had time to paint a few of the concrete posts in the front of the church.

We took our lunch break at the same location at Lake Xiloa, and today it was virtually empty because there was no holiday. Several took the opportunity to swim and others just napped.

I also took the opportunity on the drive back to the community to photograph some houses belonging to people even poorer than those in the community we are ministering.

Back at the community, we assembled the children in the schoolyard in the grass and they were a little more attentive today, but there remained about 4 unruly older boys that tended to be quite disruptive.

It seems that the favored "sport" is for one person to go down on his hands and knees behind another while a 3rd person pushes that person off balance over the person who's on his hands and knees. They think it's great fun, and it's clearly an attention getting device. The Lazarus story seemed to go well and I hammed it up as first a sick Lazarus and then a dead Lazarus and got wrapped in TP and a white towel. The kids were really concerned as to whether I was dead or not. It seemed to get and keep their attention as all good object lessons do. We finished the lesson and they marched single file back to the van for the pico and water distribution which also went a bit more orderly today.

After the food and water distribution, we had a chance to observe the ladies of the church as they created necklaces, bracelets and earrings from magazines using some techniques that Cheryl taught them. They are quite beautiful and these small items, once sold, represent a chance for the ladies to earn a bit of a living. The project is called, "Beading Poverty".

It was then a short drive back to the camp and we found a stick insect which brought great pleasure to many of us. It's an amazing creature that looks just like a stick with branches and doesn't move very fast. The detail on the head is simply amazing.

And did I mention that a cold shower felt really, really good?

As I write this we are waiting for dinner and after dinner we'll practice our teaching time for tomorrow .

Day 5 - Xiloa

2009-08-10T16:35:00.001-07:00

Today we had our first day of painting and working with the children. The day started with a trip to the bakery to get triangle rolls (Picos) for the feeding. We also needed another bag of cement, but because it was a holiday, not much was open.

We stopped to pick up Kaela and gave Adrian and Cheryl their anniversary cards:

Arriving at the church, we met Pastor Pedro; and we located our paint supplies. We mixed up the primer and primed the entire inside of the church in about an hour.

Switching to the color coat, we were able to paint 1/2 of the inside by shortly after noon.

We cleaned our equipment, and headed for lunch at a public park ($3 fee) on Lake Xiloa about 6 miles from the church.

Returning to the site, we learned that we would be teaching outside in a schoolyard. This proved to be very challenging, and the kids were very restless with no other adult supervision other than us.

We then organized the feeding, and that went pretty well.

After the feeding, Angela + I tried to play a simple game with a soccer ball to try to teach cooperation, but it was challenging with a number of bullies that came in and out of the game. Fortunately it was easy to identify them.

For tomorrow, we'll need to change our strategy as we have way too broad of age spectrum, and it's in an open area.

Day 4 (Sunday - Masaya + Managua)

2009-08-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

Original Posting:

Today we spent much of the day at camp preparing our lessons. We did take a brief trip to the Masaya market and then out to Adrian's church for it's 56th celebration.

Tomorrow starts the real work.

Full blog updated on 8/16/09:

Day 4 (Sunday - Masaya / Managua)

As a team we decided to use today as a day of rest and preparation, so we enjoyed a nice tortilla & fruit breakfast in the shade of the thatched cabana. After breakfast, we joined together around the table and sang hymns and Tim shared some scripture out of Proverbs 9 which teaches about wisdom and its pillars. The rest of the other team left to do a ministry in the Paradise barrio. Later in the mornng Adrian arrived and we decided to take a brief trip to the Masaya market to do a little shopping.

Upon arrival back at camp, we enjoyed a light lunch and several of us took our second cold shower of the day. Our plan was to accompany Adrian to his church in Managua and its 56th Anniversary celebration. It was a hot, spirited and loud 2 1/2 hour celebration and unfortunately most of us didn't understand a word of it. Through most of the service the power was out so there was no lighting, sound system, or ceiling fans. But that didn't deter the celebration. After the celebration time, the church served tostadas on plantain leaves and a Coke soda pop. The tostadas were very, very good. I also took the opportunity to take a few picture of some typical motorcycles including one of a not so typical rider.

Heading back to camp, we once again stopped at a La Colonia supermarket and picked up a few items. At camp we enjoyed a very nice spaghetti dinner and we challenged the creative power of the youth to make an anniversary card for Adrian and Cheryl as it's their 21st anniversary. Angela and I then worked on our presentation for Wednesday and came up with what we think are some great illustrations on how to present the concepts of how little children can come to Jesus. The remainder of the evening we spent taking yet another cold shower (separately) and enjoying one another's company. Tomorrow starts the real work and we have pretty much everything lined up.

.

Day 3 - Salinas Grandes

2009-08-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

Original Posting from the cellphone:

We're at the beach at Salinas Grandes (literally at the end of a 11k dirt road) and will be doing a Bible club this afternoon.

It was good to see the church we worked on last year, and we got to see the church we will be painting at Xiloa (hee-lo-a). It's on the shores of Lake Managua which is the largest lake in central America.

The GSM telephone connections are wonderful, but I'll save my detail postings for when we return to the states. I stilldo a daily blog on my eeePC, but I don't upload it while here for lack of WIFI connectivity.

Full blog uploaded 8/16/09

Day 3 - Salinas Grandes

For me, it was an 11 hour sleep overnight. I was really tired and appreciated the chance to get some serious sleep. Praise the Lord for cold showers and not for the reason you're thinking. But that's getting ahead of myself. After a great pancake breakfast, we boarded the van to head into Masaya to pick up our order of primer for our painting project. We arrived there just as the store was opening and our order from the previous day was there waiting for us.

Leaving the paint store, we headed towards Salinas Grandes and took a small detour to pick up Cheryl and the kids and one puppy. We headed for Xiloa which is the location of our painting project so that we could drop off the paint supplies and see how the plasterer was doing in getting the walls ready. The interior was complete and about 1/2 of the front was complete.

We chatted with the workmen, and then headed back out to the highway to our turnoff towards Salinas Grandes. For the first time this trip, there were armed militia on the corner. Needless to say I didn't snap any pictures. We then saw vendors selling iguanas and even an armadillo (meal fixin's)..

We took a re-fueling and rest break at the Texaco just south of LaPaz. We bought some pop (.5 liter is 60 cents) and snacks and then headed on. Turning at the Salinas Grandes turnoff, we saw a number of familar looking vendors. It was the 11k down a very rough and rutted road to the beach by the salt settling ponds where we ate our lunch under a cabana.

It was very refreshing, and after lunch many went swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean.

Adrian took the van and went to gather youth for the bible club gathering. These youth come from at least 4 little churches and have been meeting together since April. He arrived back with them and we had a nice gathering.

Adrian gave the introduction and then Pastor Scott gave a message from Genesis on Abraham's calling and he applied it to our lives (with Adrian translating). He did a great job of incorporating the youth into his presentation.

Following the presentation, the kids played a bit with the two balls I had brought before Adrian took them back up the hill to the
"village". While he was gone, a couple of younger boys hung around and we eventually played ball with them. I partnered with the younger one who appeared to be about 5. I quickly observed without saying anything that he mimiced the way that I threw the ball to him. So I would vary my throw and it was cool to see him respond. I was thinking during this time that our inter-action was probably the only significant adult / child play interaction that he'd probably experienced in quite some time. We were also able to share some food with them. It was a practical application to our teaching times this week which focus on children coming to Jesus.

Suddenly, the wind kicked up and started blowing to the sea, and that wind was shortly followed by an intense tropical rainstorm! We huddled under the cabana and the lean-to attached to the next building. Soon Adrian returned and we loaded the van and headed out. As we approached the village, we spotted Pastor Ervin who approached the van and we exchanged greetings. It was good to see him again after a year. We herded some cattle and then passed by the parsonage that we helped build last year and noted that nobody was home so we didn't stop. My regret is that I didn't take a picture of the buliding.

It was then a 2 plus hour ride back to the mission compound with a brief stop to drop off most of the Mingos at their home. We also stopped at a supermarket to see if we could find some lightbulbs for our room. Unfortunately we couldn't find any.

Back at the compound, it was just before 7pm and totally dark which seems so strange. Dinner was waiting for us and we all gratefully gave thanks for our food and shared a meal together. And that takes us to the start of this daily account. With the humidity and beach activity, a cold shower actually feels quite warm and refreshing.

Over dinner we decided to stay in camp in the morning (Sunday) and worship together and do our lesson planning before
Adrian picks us up to attend the anniversary celebration of his church at 3pm.

Days 1 & 2 (Thursday & Friday 8/6 & 7)]

2009-08-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Given that these two days were filled with travel, I'll combine them.

Group #1 (Pastor Scott, his daughter Rachael, Rachael & Bernardo Serna, & Sara Thompson left Seattle around 10:30am on a flight that would take them to Cabo San Lucas, a night's stay in Mexico City, and a third flight on to Managua. Their flights went as expected.

Group #2 (Tim & Angela) were on a red eye to Dallas with a connecting flight to Miami, and then to Managua. Generally our connections were tight, but we arrived first. While on the Managua flight I struck up a conversation with a fellow across the aisle and it turns out he was with another group that was doing dental mission work in the south part of the country.

After a lenthy time clearing immigration and then customs, we were spotted by Adrian. It was good to see him again and we reminisced and talked about the plan for the week while we waited for group #1 to arrive. We only had to wait for about an hour. Using that time, I set up my phone for GSM and made my first FACEBOOK post. Technology is definitely making the world a smaller place. This daily detailed blog won't get posted until we get back in the States.

Now that the team was once again one group, we loaded our gear and selves into the van and headed for the mission compound at Masaya. The scenes we began to see were once again flashbacks from our trip here last year. Same business, people on bicycles, lots of old US schoolbuses that are now the main form of transportation, animals on the road and alongside the road, etc. It was also interesting to see how they kept vehicles off of road surfaces that were under construction.

Reaching the compound, there was a nice chicken sandwich lunch waiting for us. We greeted the workers we had met last year along with a mission team from the East Coast that was here last year as well. We were also privileged to meet Wallace Nix, CEO of Chosen Children Ministries (who is the sponsoring organization for our mission). As we started to eat, a giant, and I mean giant thunderstorm opened above us. There was more rain coming down than I can recall in a very long time.

Finishing lunch, we headed off to Masaya to acquire paint for our project. The rain had let up, but the streets were still rushing torrents at the varous intersections. We finally found the paint store and put in our order. The 20 gallons cost us $292.56 US or about $15 per gallon. We also found that we needed sealer, but there was none in stock, so we put in an order for 2 five gallon pails of sealer (it gets reduced with water). We'll get to pick that up tomorrow somehow. Somehow is because we are all headed for Salinas Grandes for the day tomorrow to visit the beach and do a Bible club that Adrian leads every Saturday.

Arriving back at camp, Cheryl and the kids were there with their bead necklaces for sale which was a smashing hit. The rest of the day was spent unstructured by relaxing and regaining our energy and renewing friendships. I'm writing this in the thatched roof cabana that we spent a lot of time in last year.

More Good News on the Preparations

2009-08-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

I was able to put an international data plan (unlimited access) on my GSM phone (Samsung I-770) so I'll be able to post our progress on a more contemporaneous basis without needing to find an internet cafe.

We've got our painting equipment together and now it's time to do some test packing.

Getting Ready to Leave

2009-08-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

Our church is once again sending a team down to Nicaragua. This year the team will have 7 members (3 adults and 4 high school / college youth). We'll have a project of painting a church in the mornings and doing VBS in the afternoons.

I can't promise daily updates as it's relatively hard to gain internet access, but you can follow us on our satellite tracking device at:

http://jasonjonas.org/spot/tripViewer.do?id=2373 (cut & paste into your browser)

Don't worry if the location doesn't move as I'll just send periodic OK messages to note our location unless we'll be traveling and it would work to track our movements.

Stay tuned. We'll update more as we get ready to leave in a few days.

Tim