Dede and I got up about 5:45. The hotel will send you a wakeup call if you are brave enough to ask for it in Spanish over the phone. We pull ourselves out of bed and begin our day. You can’t use the water from the sink to brush your teeth so we have bottled water that we pour onto our tooth brushes. It makes things a little more “entertaining” for you. Dede and I have sweet room. It’s a lot bigger and nicer than the one we got last year. Thank you MAD. Both Dede and I can actually be in the bathroom at the same time now. Sweet huh?
We get dressed and make it over to breakfast… fruit, pancakes and of course Gallo Pinto. It’s buffet style so we all line up and dig in. The coffee here must be great because everyone is lining up like they’re giving away free paternity test for James Browns kids.
After about half an hour I notice that Johnson isn’t there. I ask Mike had he seen Johnson and he said; “He’s always late to eat.” Well, late is one thing… he’s about to miss breakfast altogether. So, I find Greg, an awesome guy I meet a few years ago from Jacksonville who is rooming with JB this year, if he’s seen him. He said when he left the room Johnson was still in the bed. Uh, oh. That man is a night owl but I don’t think mornings are his thing. Greg and I leave to go get him and find him we do… smothered between 4 pillows, two sheets.. knocked out cold. Johnson! Johnson! Johnson!!… He pops up… Huh? We catch him up on a few important details… Breakfast is ready, you’re about to miss it and that’s gonna suck for you!” He makes his way to cafeteria as everyone else is leaving and enjoys a quiet breakfast with the hotel cooks.
We all head back to our rooms and make our final preparations for the first trip out. Ben and Susan, the missionaries who live here, are looking great and we see one of their three girls coming down the sidewalk as well. She’s gotten so big. We brought each of them a little gift. What girl doesn’t like lip gloss.
We head over to the loading area; we have a lot of things to bring. We pack in the vans and head out. As much as I like to ride out with Debra, Mikes driving is a bit rough, we had to get into the pickup with Mike at the helm. The trip out was a rough one but it wasn’t Mike’s fault. The rains from the day before have really done a number on the roads. We are up and down like a roller coaster; just without the Carnie. (small hands) We made it to the same place in Sandino where we turned around yesterday and it was nice and dry. We all made it through. It’s still another 30 minutes from the “wash” to the base so we have a nice little ride in front of us. After we get their MAD have to give a little orientation to the new people.
It’s really great to be back but the base looks bad. The fence that once surrounded the land has been taken down, the house that was connected to the church has been removed and the grounds have car and bike tracks everyone. The horses have used the grass as their personal bed pan and it stinks… a lot.
MAD explains that the missing items were all taken by the man they had to have removed from the property. The third world can be a back stabbing place but thank God we have Christ on our side. Everyone separates into sections and all get our hands ready for work. Ben and Susan had already told us that the men would be working on the construction; so away we went. I headed over to the fields with Mike, Johnson and Brian. Mike told us that the previous guy took the fence post down and now the field has become a pass through for cars, trucks and bikes. As he was talking all I could do was think; “Oh my Lord!” Well as we surveyed the land we noticed that there were holes in the ground already. Sweet! Well, we decided to go with the holes that were already there; they just needed a little bit of dirt removed.
Well, Mike knew that it wouldn’t take very long for us to get the post in the ground so we decided to milk it. He told us to get the post in and tell all the women that we dug up and planted 30 post in 30 minutes. Well, it’s true, we did have to dig them and we did have to plant them… just not 4 feet down. Well it worked. We finished and the lady’s were amazed. We were praised from the rooftops and paraded on their shoulders throughout the city… well… not really… but they did think we did a good job.
After the thrill of the easy job was over we had to move over to the un-dug ground. Can you say solid, solid, solid, solid.. solid as a rock, rock , rock, rock. I picked up one of the large metal poles to stab the soil and it stuck straight up and it vibrated like I had just jabbed a steal pipe. I can still hear the sound of my teeth chattering now. Wow! Well, thank God we only have to do about 40 holes cause anything else would be too much. 40 holes! Yep, 40 holes. We tagged teamed on a few and work solo on others. It was so stinking hot that the soil that was soaked from the morning was dusty dry now. The local kids helped us lout a little but we did most of the work.
While we dug the holes Brain and Jennifer would come up behind us and fill them in with dirt from across the field, packed it in and prep the post for the barbed wire. After hours and hours in that sun not only did we finish all the holes on the back and left side of the property but the barbwire was up and several cars and bikes had turned around and found other ways through then the church field. Come on Jesus! Talk about multiplying the work. This is only day 1.
The other guys on the construction team kicked butt and took names. They got a huge start on the rebuilding of the kitchen. The pervious guy also took the house we built him that was attached to the church. Yep. He told MAD that he came up the day before he was getting removed and someone had taken everything. The truth is he called his buddies and they all came and helped him loot the church for everything it had. They even took the wood off the walls. Johnson and I were talking and he said; “Can you imagine the account this guy will have to give in Heaven for this?” Talk about not fearing God. Whew!
Well the ladies had been at work inside helping with the children and the feeding program that Ben and Susan (who will be known from here on out as BAS) do every week. While some were inside doing puppet shows and singing songs others were outside cooking well over 400 tortillas. They were tortilla making machines. They also had to assist with the prep for the lunch. It was some kind of rice and chicken dish. The only problem was the fire wouldn’t stay hot. After a while the locals starting adding some interesting items to the flame to keep it going… random cardboard, papers from the street, old tennis shoes. Whatever it takes, right!
After the children were feed, the fence was up and the construction was at an amazing start it begin to rain. A welcomed stop sign to our intense first day. We loaded everything up and headed home. With pains running down most of our entire bodies it was a quiet ride home. The most exciting part of the trip was praying that we would make it through “the wash”; the low, dirt filled, rushing water section that we couldn’t cross yesterday. Needless to say we made it but it was intense. Theirs is always a sigh of relief when we finally leave Sandino and make it back to the paved roads of the city. It’s not a safety thing… just a … I won’t have to get out and push thing. You know…
Well we are riding with Debra because Mike wanted to drive the van with all the people back himself to make sure they made it through all the dirt roads. Well, Debra wants to stop at La Union; and that is fine with me. I love that store. It’s like a small Kroger or a very small Wal-Mart. I think it’s actually owned my Wal-Mart. Well, we go inside and we get a few things, Hani-Snack Pudding and some Ruffle chips. Hello America. Hmmm. Dede get some Bimbo bread and we call it a day. The lady at the counter rings us up at over 156 cordabas. Since the exchange rate is currently about 18 to 1; the price was only about $8.66. We pay and head back out to the rain. About time we make it home there is just enough time to shower, sit a minute and head to the kitchen to eat.
At dinner we have Gallo Pinto and skis-ka-bobs. I was blown away. I’ve never had “bobs” down here. Sweet. Well, we could only get one and there aren’t going to be seconds, I can guarantee it. Well, dinner was nice and MAD say they want to have a debriefing under the center canopy. He promises it will only be 45 minutes. We head over and we are ready to move. Dede is in a good amount of pain. She worked hard out their today. She deserves to be tired. MAD opened it up for anyone to talk about what “wow” moments they might have had. A lot of good stories came up and we all enjoyed it. At the end of the meeting we give out the Bulls Eye awards based on hard work and team efforts. It was funny when Phillip won it for calling Mike the “coolest missionary” he’s ever known. When someone gets the Bulls Eye award MAD will say their name and we all will say… ______ you got the bulls eye. (You have to be there.) The meeting last about 43 minutes and we are all pooped. Dede goes to Nurse Jenny and gets some meds for her pain, I showed Johnson my 486 pics from the day and I blog until my eye lids revolt against me.
Tomorrow is another day and we will be at it again. This time we will dig and post up the final side of the base and run the barbwire to it. Dede wants me to set the alarm but I think I’m gonna use the alarm on the phone… so let’s see how it works. I think it will wake me up but I really don’t to get left here. Mike will leave you. Don’t get it twisted. It’s time to go to bed. Good night everyone. See you in the morning.
NesBuy hey, I could be wrong... let's have pie.
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