More Sunday Pictures

Our group in front of the system.

Leaving the Miskito Moravian Church for the last time today. I have a mixture of feelings - a sense of sadness because I don't know when I will see these people again AND a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Sunday Worship and Dedication

What a great but long day.

Walking to church this morning

Pastor Vanagas preaching

Dedication 

The church had a love fest of beans and rice and chicken. There was potatoes in it. The big vegetable is cassava - very starchy. Good food. They fed all the youth following their 2:00 worship.

More Tour Pictures

Jim, Gail, Rachel, Edith, Willoughby

Having a little fun at the playground. Notice concrete slide.

Nothing like a sunset to end the day.

Saturday Tour of the Island

Saturday we hired 2 taxis take us for a tour of the island. I thougght we would be gone for an hour or so but it was 3 hours. Wonderful sightsa and stories from the drivers.

Lobster boat coming in from sea.

Horse and colt in the yard of the Anglican pastor's house which is near the Moravian Church.

Beautiful trees.

We went to a "hotel" that was never finished but we went to the top (3 stories). This place is on a point of the island.

The island is full of swamps. I told our driver that we have lots of swamp in Louisiana too but we call them bayous.

Pictures From Friday

My lunch: yellow tail fish cooked in coconut milk with plantains with rice. The fish was quite good. The rest of our team was not as adventuresome or were busy working.

The bread oven that the men of the church built so that the church ladies could bake bread to sell.

Toasting and then drinking the first water on the system at the Miskito Moravian Church.

What a Day!! - Friday

Today was filled with all kinds of excitement for me. When we got to the church this morning we heard that they were going to try our their new bread ovens. They are going to bake coconut bread to sell. We kept going into the church kitchen to watch the women make the bread - flour, sugar, yeast, and coconut milk. They shaved the coconut meat and then squeezed the milk out of it. Then in a huge pot/pan they stirred it together. The dough was rolled out into long loaves probably 5 feet long. They were put out on wooden tables to rise. A couple of hours later they came back and cut the loaves into smaller pieces to shape into rolls. The rolls were allowed to rise. The rolls were put onto pans and put into their new ovens. No way to adjust a fire oven so the first rolls had some burned outsides and doughy insides. I had a roll, and it was very good.

The next great thing that happened was the covenant being signed between the Moskito Moravian Church and Pines Presbytery. Pastor Venegas and I signed an English document for me and a Spanish one for him.

Some of the children were hanging around so we had them put the labels on the bottles. They always have such a great time doing that. They made a daisy chain for us to use for the dedication Sunday.

But maybe the greatest thing today was drinking that first cup of water that was purified. Eddie and Raymond (the operators), Willoughby, and our group all toasted the first taste of water. I must say that I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. I have been on several trips but have never lead one so this one is incredibly special to me. I know that I have learned so much from Danny and Karen Logan and John Guice which helped me prepare and know what to do once I got here.

Raymond on left and Eddie on right - operators

Second Day on Corn Island

The Moskito Moravian Church On Corn Island

The system earlier in the day

Rachel, Elisabeth one of the teachers, Edith, and Gail

First Day at Corn Island

Writing this at 8:30PM and can hardly keep my eyes open. Very long day! We woke around 4, and left for the Managua airport around 5. To go from Managua to Corn Island means flying acrossnthe country. We had 9 bags for 5 people - 2 for equipment, 1 teaching bag, a box of parts we picked up in Managua plus a personal bag for each of us. 

Went to wait for our flight. Rachel and I had a banana each, one coffee, and one OJ for less than $4. Of course Gail is making friends while the introverts (Rachel, Jim and me) are sitting quietly eating and drinking and not talking. Her friends were young ladies from Sweden who were heading to Corn Island to vacation.

Arrived on Corn Island around 8:30. Willoughby, our helper, was there to greet us. He had gotten 2 taxis arranged to take us to the church. Tom, Willoughby, and I went to get into a taxi when another guy jumped into the front seat. That seemed weird. Three of us stuffed in the back seat of the taxi.

We headed off to the church. When we were almost at the church, I asked the taxi driver where the other taxi was. He assumed that they went to the pier to Little Corn Island to drop someone off. Willoughby called Picnic Center (our hotel) to see if they were there. No. Our taxi driver took off to find them. They ended up at Picnic Center. They unloaded all the bags they had which included all equipment. So Tom and I went with a taxi back to hotel to get those bags. Guys started on system only to realize that Jim's toolbag with pipe cutter was back at hotel. So, we decided to all go back to hotel to regroup and take some time off.

Also, learned upon our arrival that the school has not gone back into session since Christmas. No one told me that. No children to teach each day. 

After lunch the pastor got a couple of groups of adults to come visit with us. First group was people from the church. Thensecond group included a Baptist minister, a Catholic priest, the vice mayor who is a member of the church, and a man who works in the mayor's office. That was a very good session.

Jim, Tom, and Willoughby got a lot of work done. Part of what they did was put together the churn. They are now officially the "Churn-meisters." I must say, "It is a mighty fine looking churn."

We were all totally exhausted by 4 or 4:30 when we were preparing to go back to hotel. The principal of the school asked me if we would like lobster and fried plaintains for dinner. No choice but to say yes. Someone ran and bought fresh lobster. Wow! Maybe the best lobster ever. and the plaintains were wonderful as well. Decided to walk back to the hotel which is probably a mile away.

Sorry I don't have any pictures today. Couldn't figure out how to transfer from my camera to iPad. 

Back to Living Waters Mission Work

It has been over 6 months since I last posted. I was hoping to document my recovery from my Achilles tendon surgery. Don't know why I didn't keep up except that the recovery was difficult. It took a lot more energy than I ever dreamed it would. Only in the last couple of weeks have I ventured on to the tennis court. I can hit the ball with Katherine and Rachel for about 45 minutes before my leg is too tired to continue. 

The Logans and John Guice asked me to lead a group to Corn Island to install a water purification system. They also wanted me to find some folks to go with me. I feel incredibly fortunate that Jim and Gail Nelson from our church, Tom Caldwell who went on a trip to Haiti with us, and Rachel, my daughter, are going. I asked Rachel because she speaks Spanish. While this area of Nicaragua is English speaking, the pastor of the church does not speak English.

I have worked with AMC in Managua to order the system. AMC is in partnership with Living Waters to install the systems. We still had to purchase here and carry with us things like the ozonator and .5 micron filters. I also put together the teaching supplies. Since I have done that for 3 or 4 trips now, that has become quiite easy to do. 

Tom and Jim will work with Willoughby Cassonova to install the system. I have asked Willoughby to leave plenty of work for Tom and Jim to do. Gail, Rachel, and I will teach the lessons on the importance of this water, how to use it, Bible stories.

We leave from Monroe Tuesday afternoon, Feb 3 and arrive home on Feb 10. Keep us in your prayers as we go to provide life-giving, life-sustaining water to our brothers and sisters on Corn Island.