First day in Nicaragua continued...

First of all, sorry if there are typos. My spell check decided to check out for this blog entry...

Where did I leave off? Oh yeah tour of the town...

Well, lunch was good. Chicken, rice, and a salad-like dish made of beets, onions, and carrots. The chicken was top notch, can't be beat. I would recommend ALL of you come to Nicaragua once, if not for anything else it will be to eat the chicken.

After lunch we sat as a group in the main lobby(I use lobby lightly) and filled/tied bags of rice and beans for us to pass out later in the week.  I was in charge of tying one bag of rice and one bag of beans together with Krista being my apprentice.  I totally tied 2x if not more than her.  I'm not bragging... my superiority speaks for itself. :D

Next up was nap time. Sweet sweet nap time. We napped up til 4 and then it was time to get ready for church. Around 4:30-45 we were met outside our hostal by our Bixi drivers( once again... I'll post pics when I get around to it!) and we rode the Bixi-bikes to the missions church on the outskirts of town. 

We were met by the pastor and family with all smiles! As more people came into the church the more I recognized faces. Everyone knew we were coming and was very happy to see us. It's just like we came home from a very long vacation. Haha!  The worship music is A-MA-ZING. Top notch, especially for what they have to work with.  Tonight there was a keyboard, drums, and vocals.  The keyboard doubles as the bass guitar which blows my mind that he can keep 2 beats going at once.  The drummer is completely SICK. I've known him since the first year we came and he just keeps getting better and better at drums.  Karina and all of her sisters sing very well and that completes the praise band...all comprised of the pastors own children.

The message, though we didn't understand much, was very good. Toward the end of service we all got up and gave our testimonies by writing them on pieces of cardboard and letting the church read them.  All of our testimonies were applauded, just as they would be in America. It's crazy how wherever you go people tend to be human just as you are...crazy, huh?  Testimonies over we all got introduced by the trip leader, Steve.  As we were going back to our seats the pastor caught me and started to talk to the church while still holding me by the shoulder.  The only words I could make out was 'piso' and 'gallo y pinto'.  Piso means floor, so he was telling the church that I was the guy installing the floor in their church... Gallo y Pinto means RICE AND BEANS! HA! He remembered the first year I came down he bought me a shirt that had Nicaragua on it with a plate of rice and beans as a joke, and he told the church! I'll need to return the favor...

About that floor,  I got to the church tonight on a whim and prayer that the concrete had been laid to replace the dirt floor that the church had before.  If not my 3 weeks here would have been filled with getting together with someone about pouring the concrete, having it level, letting it cure at least a week or two, THEN laying the tile floor.  I was DREADING that idea.   To my amazement the church had a cement floor. A very level, crack free cement floor.  Talk about a miracle?!  Huge weight off of my shoulders for sure.  

The hostal we're staying at has a new level being added onto one of the buildings and I told the owner I do floor work. He told me, 'Tomorrow, floor!'...sooo I said sure!  I found out it was carpet theyre installing and put the brakes on... Todd doesn't do carpet(yet). 

Anywho, I'll be hitting the tile store tomorrow to pay for the materials and and order anything I'll need that they don't have in stock. Hope to be laying the floor rather soon as it'll take 2-3 days to lay and grout the whole thing.  I would like the group that's only staying this week to be able to see the finished product before leaving.

Well, all of that said, I bought my first sodas right after church and saw a familiar dessert laying on the store counter.  I made sure to buy a whole bag(5 pieces).  At $.15 each who wouldn't?  We rode our bixi's back to the hostal, had our group pow-wow, and now I'm watching Shrek in Spanish eating my pico(dessert) and drinking a Coke. Life is good.

On a side note:

People from Frostproof, we said a word of prayer for the people involved in the wreck that happened a few days ago.  I know one girl passed away from her injuries, two boys are in intensive care, one boy is in critical condition, and the driver is banged up but ok.  I don't know any of these people involved in the wreck but I heard the two boys in intensive care are regulars at the First Baptist Church in Frostproof.  They're parents want nothing to do with the church.  If we could all just say a few words in our prayer time asking for peace and strenght to all the families involved, and understanding about the love of Christ and his plan for all of us. I can't call the boys by name but I know their last name is Fricks.

Sorry to end on such a bad note but I wanted their situation to be fresh on all of our minds so we would be able to hold them and their families up in prayer.

God bless,

Todd