Day 1

Day 1.

Dede and I did some last minute shopping and headed home. The plan was to be done packing and maybe even hit the bed before midnight. Well, it’s about 8 PM and boom!!! The lights go out. This sucks. Have you ever packed for an international flight… now have you ever done it in the dark, with a paranoid dog, in a hot house, with a slightly scared wife… I think not. This might be a human kind first. (Yippee for me.) Well the power is out for about 45 minutes to an hour. We are behind the power curve. We pack like mad people and are done by 10. Not too bad. Not too bad at all. Well, since the power went out we had to restart the washer and wait for that to finish before going to bed and then we had to write out a detailed note on how to take care of the “Queen Mother.”


Queen Mother Bali (The First)


And believe me the list is long. Bali’ism’s are no laughing matter. (we miss you baby!!) KP is our sitter and that in itself is a little nerve racking. Well, we leave a copy on her bed and give 3 to SP. You can never be too sure. We hit the bed around 12ish and set the alarm for 4. Well, 4 comes a knocking sooner than Johnson can say… “What’s Up With That!” I try to wake Dede but she’s not moving; so I wait. 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes pass by and she is not getting up… so I lean over and say; “You getting out of the bed sweetie?” She finally wakes up and says; “Uh?” I explains to her what time it is and the fun begins.

The tradition is to meet at Denny’s about an hour before we have to meeting in the parking lot. We have to be there at 6:00 AM. It’s a good time and we can make sure that people are up. Well it’s already 4:30 and we’re just waking up… yeah we gonna be late. A little running here, a little scrambling there, a little makeup here and we’re off. It’s approx 5:15 but we’re heading to Denny’s… regardless of the fact that we’re supposed to be at the parking lot at 6. We get there and two of our friends are already there. We decided to place a To-Go order for speed sake but we get the slowest waiter in the Western Hemisphere. Hey, Denny’s waiter guy… if you ever read this… “What the heck man! Come on! It was an order of French Toast and a scrambled egg!” We make it to the parking lot about 6:20 but it’s ok because they’re moving slower than the Director’s Cut of “Dances with Wolves.” We finally get all packed and loaded and we’re heading to the aero-port.

Hartsfield was the same ole, same ole… lots of people crammed into little cattle lines while being chastised by angry woman in tight blue outfits. The airport has the unique ability to break down the most respectable, dignified man and woman… and make them cry. We all make it though the baggage and security. One of the teams member did disappear but we assumed that she probably went to the gate without us so we left someone at the checkpoint and headed down starts to find her; and find her we did. Yeah! (And there was much rejoicing.)

We all hung around till our plane arrived where we watched Spiderman III as our in flight movie. (I liked it… Sorry James) The plane trip over was mostly uneventful with exception to a few rough patches that Dede didn’t too much care for. When we landed we all had our 5 dollars to get the country and all of our bags showed up. Talk about favor of the Lord. I can tell this is gonna be a great trip. A worker from the Nicaragua Department of Health is there to collect us… which is great cause we don’t see Mike anywhere. She passes us through customs like Angelina Jolie at a Kenyan adoption agency. We make it outside and there is Mike and Debra Turner… what a sight for sore eyes! We load all of our luggage, cram into two vans and head on to the Hotel Ticomo (Which is where I’m writing this from.)

We all unload the cars, get our rooms and do a little debrief. Mike and Debra (Who will be known from here on out as MAD) gather us together and tell us that they feel led to take us out to Sandino, one of the poorest areas of Nicaragua, to do a prayer walk around the property. We haven’t been there since the first trip and we are ready to see it. They had some legal problems with the man they put in charge for about a year and a half but now that he’s gone it’s ours again. Well, just as we are gathering; the rain moves in and the sky breaks in two. Man, it’s raining like this is the last rain and the Lord has broken His promise. (Gen 9:11) MAD tells us that the rain might just hold us here because the roads are all dirt and the rain turns them into flood plains; especially in one particular area. We wait to out for a while and MAD puts it to a vote… Leave and turn around if it gets to bad or stay and work on some other stuff. We vote to go. Well the roads were a complete disaster. The waters are moving like rivers down mud roads and two taxis are already stuck. After a 30 minute trip we turn around. It was worth a shot. We make it back to the hotel and unpacked the items we brought (Vitamins, Shampoo, Tools, Dental equipment, etc ,etc.)

Dinner (Gallo Pinto) is serve and we all have a good time. Dede signs me up for devotion on Thursday and we head to bed. Believe it or not it’s only about 9 and we are beat down. Must have been the flight.

Dede and I unpack our things, take showers and call it a day. Breakfast it at 6:45 AM. I tried to call Sprint to find out why my phone isn’t doing what they said it would do but after an hour or so I gave up and called it a night. I even had to call SP to have him transfer me to Sprint. I was rough there for a moment. I eventually found out that the Data Service I was looking for doesn’t work here. That sucks. Oh, well. It’s been a long day and I’ve got to get some sleep. Tomorrow is the first full day of work and it promises to be a long one.

Day 1 is over. Now let the fun begin.