Work Day
The two main projects of this trip were a VBS and installing concrete floors in some member's houses. Both of these are a major undertaking since we only had a total of 16 on this trip and two were cute little girls.
This is the neighborhood road where we did the first couple of concrete floors. Dirt road of course, but look at the vegetation. This is the fence lines. They simply plant a fence and it leads to privacy. Who needs pickets?
This is a picture Julianna took of some of the members of the family we worked for first. (Julianna took a large number of the photos on the trip and she often took the camera when we went different directions, so I'm realizing I don't have as many pictures as I have memories...)
Julianna used the camera to break the ice with these kids and before you knew it they were giggling and playing without a common language.
Julianna wasn't all play however. There was a little work she was able to get done in between her diplomatic duties.
Yes, those are brand new cement shoes she is wearing. Luckily, Nicaragua dirt is nothing like the clothes-staining, hard-to-work-with red clay of Oklahoma.
In Nicaragua, they mix concrete directly on the ground with shovels. About 1 bag of cement, two parts rock, and six parts sand. We'd stir that and pile it into a volcano shape and pour water into the top and carefully mix the water into the dry parts. The Americans had many failures of the volcano and allowed the water/cement mix to run away much to the enjoyment of the locals who had better flow control skills. By the way, stirring cement with a shovel is "back-breaking work".
Once it was mixed, wheel barrows or five gallon buckets would carry it into the room for spreading which was done on your hands and knees with a hand trowel.
At the lunch break, Julianna went with the ladies for the afternoon to get things prepared for the next day's VBS. There was a class/planning session with the local ladies to make sure everything was ready. This was the best run VBS I've been a part of. The guys finished up work about three o'clock and cleaned up and worked VBS as group monitors at four o'clock each day. It was a really good way to get the men involved with the VBS plus we had to quit the concrete work on time too.
Again, Julianna made friends quickly while the women were having the training session.
The ladies who would be teaching the VBS also got to color their own VBS shirts to match the ones the kids would get.
This photo of Julianna and Bethany shows the results of the first expansion project on this church building. The post to Julianna's right is the back corner of the original tin roof structure and you can see beyond that a section of black plastic roofing material giving them an extra 25% covered area. Also to Julianna's right is a row of tall trees that aids in the shelter. The opposite side wall is wrapped in the black plastic and makes a fine wind break.
Behind Julianna and Bethany is a house that is the children's wing. It has two rooms and also serves as the "teacher workroom" where crayons and such are stored securely.
There will be better pictures in the coming days of this structure at full capacity.
The church grounds did have a good old-fashioned outhouse. That is a cement potty, no shiny white seat.
And, yes, when in Nicaragua... do as the Nicaraguans do. Julianna never goes anywhere without trying the restroom. Now where is that hand sanitizer?
The first night's dinner was at a little Tex Mex restaurant in Diriamba. It was open air to the busiest street around. Even though they knew we were coming, they weren't ready for this group. Food was brought out so slowly that it actually seemed that they were waiting for plates to get back into the kitchen for the next couple of people. Maybe the kitchen could only make two meals at a time. Oh well, it was fairly good food.
Oh yeah, you can't beat an ice cold coke in a glass bottle when away from home.
Breakfast is served each morning in this open air pavilion adjacent to the pool. The first day we had beans and rice and a cheese that I was not familiar with. Then the kitchen help offered to make what ever we asked for and "pan-cake-ees" became the norm for the rest of our stay. We also requested a side of fresh fruit. Pineapples, watermelon, and bananas etc. are incredible just the way God prepares them. You know, no preservatives, no additives, no freezing, no canning, no MSG, no shipping, and no sugar added.
OK. I'll admit this is the most comfortable looking mission trip one can imagine. And it really is enjoyable eating breakfast outdoors in the morning surrounded by lush vegetation. But we did go off to do concrete work... (Just wait til you see what we did on the "fun day" before we returned home)
Julianna did manage to wear herself out, but she was able to stay up with the rest of us (this and each night) through the nightly devotional and any other activities. If you are familiar with Julianna you know she doesn't stop until everyone else does.
