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.

Post Cast

     Went to Dr Lillich for my third post-op visit on July 8. Joe and I were expecting a new cast. I had decided to go from green to purple.
     While we were in the waiting room a woman came in using a wheelchair and had a cast on. We spoke and found out that we were seeing the same doctor. She said that she uses a knee scooter too. She was about 8 weeks post-op after having her ankle fused.
     The nurse came in and cut the cast off. I was nervous about that - wondering if there was any way she could cut me. Leg was skinny, foot was fat. She took the stitches out. Some really stung and hurt coming out.
     Dr Lillich came in and said that I could go into a boot or go back in a cast. I told him that I wanted to do what is best for healing. He said that most people want to go to the boot because it can be taken off to sleep and bathe. That sounded great to me!
     Doctor wants to see me in 3 weeks. He said that I could begin walking in the boot around July 19-20.
    PA came in to put me in the boot. I got a new one because I had broken the one I had earlier. I tripped in the yard and broke the front piece. PA put a couple of pieces of hard felt looking material in the heel to be a heel lift because my foot is not at a 90 degree angle yet. That will come with therapy. When she put my foot in the boot, it hurt too much and really wouldn't go. She said to keep it off 2-3 days and flex my foot so it would go into the boot.
     Well, it took almost a week for my foot to go into the boot. By then it was almost time to begin walking.

Cast

     On Monday, June 23 I went for my first post-op visit with Dr. Lillich. I thought that I would get my stitches out and have a cast put on. Stitches didn't come out but cast went on. I have 18 stitches on the outside. Dr. Lillich said that I had lots on the inside. I will spare everyone the picture of the stitches which really look very good. I had a choice of the color of cast - yellow, red, blue, green, purple, camo, soccer balls, smiley faces. Decided on green because liturgically we are in ordinary time which is green. 

     Geoffrey continues to be a good friend. He takes me everywhere, and since our one fall we have had no other issues. 
     The cast is fiberglass which is much lighter than the old plaster casts, but fabric sort of attaches to it. Sleeping has been the biggest problem for me as it is very difficult to move in bed with the cast. I have used 2 pillows under my foot, one pillow at an angle from the bed to the top pillow, and one pillow between my legs. I don't like to sleep on my back so it is hard to get comfortable on my left side and stay there all night.
     I have been drinking lots of water thinking that is good for my healing process. That means that I have to get up during the night for a potty break. I have to sit on the side of the bed for a minute to make sure that I am awake enough to get my knee on Geoffrey. Then off to the bathroom which means pulling forward into our closet and backing into the bathroom.
     I go to work every day but only work a half day as I am tired after that. Afternoons are spent on the couch or bed resting or taking a nap. I had great plans to do constructive things in the afternoons but I never seem to get around to it.
     Each day my upper body get stronger. I can tell because it is not as difficult to move myself around like it was at first. I have told people that I should have had physical therapy before the surgery to work on my upper body.
     I continue to be thankful for Joe and everything he has been doing for me. After helping him after his surgeries, I know that it is very hard to be a caregiver.