Tuesday, March 11

Buenos Dias!  It is 6:00 am here in Jineotega and I write this post accompanied by the morning sounds of roosters crowing, birds singing, dogs barking, and the children here preparing for school.  Before I recount our day yesterday, please know that we are having internet connectivity issues here at the orphanage.  Yesterday, we were unable to connect at all, and uploading photographs has proven to be impossible.  So if you don't hear from us each day, that is why!  When we return we will post photos (and there are many), so you may need to wait for the images of trip and rely solely on these words.to sketch it out for you.

Yesterday was another successful clinic day.  Once again we rode for about an hour to a community health clinic in Asterias Este.  We were greeted by a line of women, men, children, and babies waiting for a chance to be seen.  Concurrently with our clinic, the community health center was giving out vaccination,s thus many of the people of this town were able to be seen by our team as well as be vaccinated.

Our team saw a beautiful one month old baby girl with black curls covering her head as well as an impressively hardy gentleman who proudly claimed his age to be 101.  Our medical professions treated a women with a seriously ulcerated leg and a a 48 year old mother with an 8 year old son with Down Syndrome (there seems to be uncommonly high number of children we have seen with Down Syndrome) who complained of back pain and anxiety.  In a rather dramatic scene, Brian treated a man who appeared at our gate without a ticket but with blood dripping from a serious wound on his leg, suffered in the morning falling on a branch in the field.  Borrowing a suture kit from the clinic, Brian treated and sewed up the gash.

Our rides to the from the clinic open a window to the land and life of this beautiful country.  Yesterday, we passed several picturesque  lakes, fields, and valleys.  We saw a truck piled high with plantains (by the way, the fried plantains we were served for dinner last night were AMAZING!), colorful busses piled high with people, goods, and baskets, as well as all the colorful and inventive homes clustered along the roads and dotting the hills. This land appears unspoiled in a way that we don't see in our country, and yet we witness life in a still-developing country.  Even though we have traveled our share of bumpy, rutted mostly dirt roads, I must say I have been pleasantly surprised by the good condition of the paved roads I have seen; I didn't expect as much. And yesterday, we were stopped several times for construction for what looked to be a large project  that looked to me like a sewer or drainage system being installed under the roads.

Last night, Luke and William played a game of pick up soccer with some of the boys here at the orphanage.  They donned shirts donated by Luke's soccer team and played with balls sent by the team as well. 

This land and its people are captivating.  We spend our days working together in an already comfortable orchestration.  Our team has gelled and bonded.  There is laughter, constant conversation, and shared joy in our common purpose.  We spend time each evening praying and pausing to give thanks for the blessings our day.  Last night we ended by singing "I have the joy, joy, joy.." in Spanish.  God is so good...

Thank you for your prayers and all your support in oh so many ways.  Your gifts are being well used and mucho appreciated by us and the people of Nicaragua. We begin another day today....