Day 2 in Nicaragua

We left the mission house about 8:00am. There were not enough seats on the buses so me, Brooke, and Jerry had to ride with the Veterinarian, Elmundo, and Johnny the keyboard player in his truck for the 4 hour drive.  Jerry had buried his wife two weeks before the trip. Such a testimony!

This is what it looked like as we entered the village. Yes, these are their homes. 

This was a home and a store. There was a store about every 100 feet tucked inside a house. They really only sold cokes and SUGARY snacks. 

We unloaded one of the semi trucks. It was loaded full of boxes for the donation store. Each family would be able to visit this store for clothes, shoes, toys, and rice & beans. 

It was amazing to see the people in the village pitch in and help. They were anxious to see what we were all about.

Boxes were stacked to the ceiling!

We carried our own mats to our room where we would be sleeping each night. 

The ones who were not helping were staying near to check it all out.

We began setting up because this would be our dental office for the next three days. 

Joe made Brooke and I our own custom potty seat cover. 

You  will understand after you see these pictures below.

Yep! This is our bathroom for the next four days. Yikes!

And those big metal things are showers with a water hose hanging over the top...... very cold water!

It was so stinky!!! The first time I went I peed and gagged and peed and gagged some more. Thank goodness the oldies took us newbies in and showed us the ropes. Not sure we would have survived.

Needless to say we skipped the shower that night. Maybe tomorrow??????

Unfortunately the big semi that had all our equipment and luggage broke down on the side of the road not long after we left.  So instead of unpacking and setting up we spent time with the children and people in the village.

The little girl above colored me a picture. I was already wanting to sneak them in my suitcase and bring them home. 

The kids here are so fun! They are not use to all the video games and ipads. They play for hours with a ball and crayons. Here these boys are using a softball as a bowling ball and we had set up some boxes they were knocking down. 

This is the real reason we come! It was raining and we were standing against the community building trying to stay dry. Pam, the witnessing machine, didn't let the rain stop her. She led four women to the Jesus right here. After they prayed one of the girls beside me says, "We need to sing!"  So we busted out with I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. Just maybe this opportunity with these four women was the reason our things were not there yet. 

Right after we sang we all jumped in a truck like this one. Standing up and holding on tight we went for a ride up the mountain into the village. Really neat!

This man saw us in our scrubs and stopped us wanting eye glasses. We told him he would need to come see us the next day. I couldn't help but wonder how long it had been since he was able to see good. 

The kids loved having their pictures taken!

We came to a clearing and the field was full of boys playing soccer. Baseball and soccer are the two main sports here. During the drive to the village we saw a lot of baseball being played in fields like this one.

Finally, after dark our things made it. With a lot of flashlights the truck started to be unloaded. The boys in the village around Nathaniel's age was fighting on who would carry the next cooler or suitcase. They were so willing to help and excited about it. These suitcases and coolers were very heavy. I remember standing there thinking would my boys be fighting to help like this or would they be complaining and not even offer to lend a hand. These people are hard workers and are in a constant fight just to survive. 

After everything was unloaded we realized our dental tools still were no where to be found. 

We searched everywhere. Maybe we were not there to do dental after all. 

We would have to wait until morning to see if they showed up.