Nicaragua 09

Dr. Fun

2009-07-25T22:00:00.001-04:00

Where ever we go we will always remember the craziness of Dr. Fun!

A little zip line fun!

2009-07-25T21:58:00.000-04:00

The zip line is great!!

Just ask Dr. Fun

Day Trip in Managua

2009-07-25T21:12:00.000-04:00

The team in front of Momotumbo Volcano

Can you name the leg? We did a little decorating our last night at El Ayudante

Saying good-bye to the neighborhood friends was hard.
A few were very tired (as usual)

This is the ruins of Old Leon. The tree in the middle is the fruit that Maracas are made from. They are also used as bowls, cups and utensils in Nicaragua.

Interpreters

2009-07-25T20:51:00.001-04:00

This is our group of amazing interpreters and the doctor that accompanied the medical team in La Majada and Apante.

Day 6 - Apante

2009-07-16T23:38:00.000-04:00

Today we visited Apante, we were the first medical team from El Ayudante that has been to that community. Once again you will see beautiful children in this very gracious community. They were so thankful for the help, some of the children helped us clean up and carry bags back to the bus. We are truly blessed to meet the people of Apante.

The scenery was beautiful on the ride.

We had an evening rain and decided to go play a little.

Day 5

2009-07-16T21:32:00.000-04:00

This was the day of contrast. After going with Pastor Felix this morning to the Walter Ferritti we were given a break and taken to tour Leon at the Cathedral and also to the beach for a wonderful dinner. The beach was beautiful, check out the pictures below.

Day 5 - Walter Ferretti, near the dump

2009-07-16T09:51:00.000-04:00

Today we went to the area near what used to be the city dump. They closed down this dump just this month, that means that the people who live here that are already in extreme poverty no longer have a way to find items to use for their homes, items to sell and for some scraps to eat. The new dump is 11 kilometers away and they have no way to get there. Pastor Felix runs a church just on the edge of this settlement and with the help of places like El Ayudante provides food bags for the most needy of the families. We also took medications, parasite pills and vitamins with us to try to help the families we talked to. There are about 150 families in this one area that live in this extreme poverty, we only gave food bags to 25 families. Thankfully there are more teams going next weeks that will provide another set of food bags. These food bags contain beans, rice, cooking oil, coffee, matches and sugar - enough to eat for about a week for one family. Pastor Felix keeps in close touch with this community and helps those in the greatest need although for us they all seem to have great needs. We should never again take for granted the fact that we have or can obtain food, shelter and clothing in the United States.

2009-07-14T22:54:00.000-04:00

The medical team saw the El Ayudante staff and children as well as patients at Sacred Heart of Mary children's home

Random pics of our team

Group picture of the VBS team with the girls from Sacred Heart of Mary

2009-07-14T22:44:00.000-04:00

More from Tuesday afternoon

2009-07-14T22:34:00.000-04:00

We worked until the cows came home!!

Sacred Heart of Mary children

2009-07-14T22:31:00.000-04:00

These girls were just wonderful, we have all fallen in love with them and will keep close to our hearts always.

Day 4 -

2009-07-14T22:20:00.000-04:00

Morning time, the VBS team did a little more painting

The sleepy ride to Sacrad Heart of St. Mary

View from the drive. The scenery was beautiful.

The ride was more exciting on the ride back

Painting at the chihldren's home

2009-07-14T09:27:00.000-04:00

Lab Tech

2009-07-13T23:29:00.000-04:00

Woody is our colorblind lab tech - he did a great job!

Day 3 - La Majada

2009-07-13T22:59:00.000-04:00

These are some of the beautiful children at school in La Majada. Some of these kids live about an hour away but still come to school each day. Most walk, some ride horses.

The VBS team went to each classroom today about 120 kids saw the puppet show, got to make their own puppets and have lunch (bologna & cheese sandwich, snack mix, cookies and a drink). Almost all of the kids took their food home with them to share with their families.

Medical team saw 102 patients, provided much needed vitamins, medicine and love to all of them.

A night out with the neighborhood kids.

Road to La Majada

2009-07-13T19:39:00.000-04:00

The road to La Majada is something else. A litte scare at times in the back of a pickup, especially on the way back when Bill drove us in half the time it took us to get there!

Road trip to La Majada

2009-07-13T15:43:00.001-04:00

We are loading up to go to La Majada. The road becomes very bumpy as you will see later. Mario, one of our translators, promised the ride would be better than Six Flags - it definitely was exciting!!

Don't worry mom - we're perfectly safe.

Part of the town of Leon as we drove through

This wagon was really weight down, but the two guys pulling do not even have shoes on.

Playing with the kids from the bario next to El Ayudante

2009-07-13T15:26:00.000-04:00

Packing for Monday

2009-07-13T15:24:00.000-04:00

Medical team getting ready

VBS Team mixing snacks

More from Sunday

2009-07-12T19:35:00.000-04:00

Cathedral that we visited in early morning. Was built is 1747, but there was a mistake that made this cathedral so big. The plans were accidentally switched with the cathedral to be built in Lima, Peru. So Lima has a small cathedral and Leon has a very large cathedral.

Sunday School, notice the room we are in in the upper left next to the group of kids.

More from Sunday School

2009-07-12T19:30:00.000-04:00

Sunday School

2009-07-12T19:29:00.000-04:00

Puppet show

Walk back from church

One of the kids puppets

Salvation bracelets being given to the kids

Family Love

2009-07-12T18:42:00.000-04:00

Sunday

2009-07-12T18:39:00.000-04:00

Outside the Mission Evangelica Methodist church

The older girls from the child protection center at the Tip Top cafe.

Sunday school

The younger kids from the Child protection center got to go to the pool.

2009-07-11T19:40:00.000-04:00

Passing the Chiquita bannana truck on a busy 2 lane road - Go Benito (our driver) !!

New soccer goals at El Ayudante for the neighboring bario.

2009-07-11T19:36:00.000-04:00

Momotomba volcano outside of Managua

Loading and ready to go to El Ayudante

Taking it easy

The beautiful grounds of El Ayudante

We are here!!

2009-07-11T17:45:00.002-04:00

We arrived without any issues around 11:00 local time. Thank you for all your prayers and please keep our families in mind as we go throughout this week. We are learning more about what is ahead for us this week as well as how much El Ayudante is helping the surrounding communities.