Nicaragua, Dia Uno - Now with Pictures!

Yesterday was the first day of my Nicaraguan mission trip. The day started at 1am (yes, AM!). We headed out about 2 and met the rest of our team before heading to Logan Airport altogether. After going through security, we had enough time to grab breakfast at Dunks before boarding. Anticipating a tight connection in Houston, I bought a lunch sandwich at Dunks as well.

When we booked our flights, we had an hour and 15 minute layover in Houston. A week or so ago, the airline changed our flight times, so we ended up with only a 32 minute layover in the very large Houston airport, and we (of course) needed to change terminals.

Arrival in Houston

After hoofing it through Houston while toting a 26 lb carry on and a 20-ish lb backpack, I was pretty wiped, but we did make our connecting flight.

By the time we got seated on the second plane, I was very grateful that I had bought a lunch sandwich earlier. I was positively famished.

Both flights went very smoothly. For Rick's benefit (you know you want to know), we flew in a Boeing 737-800 out of Boston, and a 737-700 out of Houston. Do you need a picture of the wing this time?

Clouds over Boston

Landing in Nicaragua was fine. We had a little trouble coming in through customs, with some old, donated computer parts. Customs didn't want to let us bring them into the country. In the end, after a trip back to the airport and many hours of waiting and negotiation by one a Nicaraguense (native) church leader, the decision was made to abandon the computer parts. The amount of time and energy invested to bring in very low dollar value was simply not worth continuing to persue.

Flying into Managua, Nicaragua

The drive from the airport to the church was much as I remembered it from my previous trip here in 2006. Lots of cinderblock buildings with open windows (no glass in them), covered by metal grates for security. An earthquake in 1972 essentially leveled the city of Managua. The tall building in the icture below is the Intercontinental Hotel, the only skyscraper that survived the quake.

Intercontinental Hotel, Managua

The church itself hasn't changed much in the past 6 years. We went to the Comedor for a delicious lunch, prepared for us by the wonderful Rosa. The Comedor is the original church property, used before the current building was constructed. The church used to have a feeding program there, but now it houses the church-owned bakery. When missions teams are visiting, Rosa comes in to cook three meals a day for them. Rosa is a magnificent cook, creating meals that are muy delicioso on a shoestring budget.

We often joke that food in Nicaragua is rice and beans or, when you get tired of that, beans and rice. The food so far on this trip has been great. Rosa makes an incredible rice (arroz). I'm not a fan of frijoles (beans), so I pass on those. Last night's dinner included fried chicken (pollo fritas)-- yum! Every meal includes fresh fruit, with lots of sandía (watermelon). I'm wishing I could bring Rosa home to have as my personal cook ... the woman is wonderful!

We dropped our bags in our rooms before lunch, then after lunch yesterday we were given a tour of the church and had an orientation meeting with Pastor Cal. I'm very familiar with the rules, having not only been here once before, but also hearing my parents' stories over the years. This is my father's 16th trip to Nicaragua, and he's been coming to this church (La Capilla Calvario - Calvary Chapel Managua) for 11 years.

My Spanish was terribly rusty yesterday, as I haven't used it at all since I was last here. Today, it has definitely improved. The hardest part is understanding what others say when they speak so quickly. I'm doing okay at sussing out their meanings if the speaker slows down, and I've done what I think is a respectable job in getting my meaning s across. I even prayed out load in panish last night with a group of women at the Tuesday night prayer service. I had to rehearse the prayer a few times in my head first, and it was a short one, but I did okay. I could have prayed in English as the other ladies on our team did, but I wanted to see if I could do it in Spanish and get my meaning across. God, of course, speaks all languages, and doesn't need me to translate for Him. :-)

By the time I sat at the computer last night, I didn't have energy to do more than a quick facebook post and email check before I hit the sack. Yesterday was a 23-hour day for me, so I was pretty wiped out.

It's now about 12:30am hear, and I need to be up in 6 hours, so I'll post this and sign off. Tomorrow I will post about today, day two of the trip.

Thank you to all for your prayers, blessings and good wishes!