Good times......good times!

Buenas Dias!

This past week has been one of the most interesting weeks of my life so far. I guess not just because of stuff that has happened to me, but also just learning how to fit into this Nicaraguan culture. I can honestly say that I'm loving it so far! Here's a few stories why:

Last week we had a huge campmeeting for all the neighboring villages to come together. It's crazy how much these people sacrifice to come to these meetings. No one has vehicles here, only bikes, if they're lucky, so many of the people started a couple day journey on foot to go to this campmeeting. They carry everything they need to survive and then camp out when they arrive, building tiny fires to cook over, and families sleep under trees together; so different from the SoCal campmeeting I remember going to.

All of us SM's had a great time at campmeeting. We all got to give our testimony during one of the meetings and, of course, we were asked to do special music on the spot. We're getting pretty good at this impromptu special music deal. One morning when we showed up to the meeting, there were no more seats available. We grabbed the only empty bench left from way out in the sun and dragged it closer so we could pay attention to the message. Even though it was only about 9:00 AM, it was already BLAZING hot. Eventually, the pastor who was speaking turned to all of us fair skinned Americanos and seriously asked: "You want to come sit up on the stage? You white people are all going to burn up!" Immediately everyone in the congregation stared over at us to see our reaction, and as if on queue, our entire bench suddenly collapsed, dumping all of us onto our backs in the grass. It was one of the most hilarious moments we could have imagined. We just lay on the ground laughing at the perfect timing. The audience all chuckled, but they sure gained their composure faster than we did. We slowly got to our feet and DID go sit up on the platform in front of everyone. It was all we could do not to look at each other and burst out laughing again. "Good times... good times" we all agreed.

While we attended the campmeeting, we stayed at our friends, Clint and Marilyn's house in Tronquera (about 1 1/2 hours away from Francia Sirpi). They are SDA missionaries as well and run a plane ministry that they have set up to transfer seriously ill villagers to larger towns and cities for urgent medical care. They have a creek at their house that all of us got to swim in. We were so excited because we cannot swim in our creek here in Francia - too many friendlies. We were also able to use the creek for bathing in the morning as well as cooling off in the afternoon. Here, I have never seen so many exotic creatures in my life! Someone already brought an armadillo hoping to sell it. Also, Clint and Marilyn have an anteater as a pet, and then a man walked up to the gate with a beautiful toucan. Of course Clint and Marilyn's kids wanted it, but Marilyn responded with the classic line of: "No honey, you can't have a toucan as a pet, you already have an anteater." - "Good times" once again.

Another thing that I did this week that I NEVER thought I would do is wash laundry washboard style. Apparently I'm going to get pretty proficient at it - it's our only option. Let me say it was an experience. We all got very wet, very soapy and we eventually realized that we did not have jungle-worthy muscles. After hours of scrubbing and rinsing and wringing and drying, Chelsea, Bri, Jericca and I all decided that we will never again take machine washers for granted. God Bless Technology!

On Thursday, I got to go on my first mobile clinic! Clint flew the doctor and me out to a village called Lapan. It took us only 30 minutes to fly there, but it would have taken us 12 hours to drive there. We flew over some amazing stuff; miles and miles of deep, unexplored jungle. Clint said that no humans have ever set foot in there. How crazy is that?! When we landed on the grassy airstrip in Lapan, we had to hike for 1/2 hour into the village - through mud. I definitely lost my boot and fell in the mud. Ha ha! When I finally arrived in the village the people kinda snickered at me with the lower half of my body covered in slimy mud. I'm sure they were thinking that I was this incredibly challenged gringa who didn't have a clue what she was doing in a place like that. Oh man! Well the mobile clinic was a success! I learned so many new things! - such as how to recognize asthma and pneumonia via a stethoscope, how to determine how old a fetus is by using anatomical landmarks, I gave my first assisted injection, and I also began to figure out what sorts of medicines treat the different respective illnesses. I love learning all this new stuff! For lunch we had some guys chop down some coconuts for us to drink and then we ate PB & J sandwishes that Marily made for us! Oh man - say no more... That was one of the best meals I've had here yet! After we finished up we hoped on the plane again and headed into Port, on the Caribbean, to pick up supplies and meet up with the rest of the group.

God is good! Just this week I got to see a Caribbean sunrise, I had the privilege to assist in 3 surgeries, and I got to talk to my family when I was in port! It's been a good week. Also, I'm really in awe of God right now! I am just now realizing how He can take insignificant pieces of our lives and turn them into something invaluable for Him. This happened to me this last week when I was thinking of two elective classes I took when I was in Spain: Spanish for Healthcare Professionals, and Oral Translation. Just this week I have used all the skills I learned in those two classes to be able to help people down here. All this time I thought I had just picked those classes because they sounded like fun - but I guess God kinda got the last laugh, knowing I'd be here two years later. Like I said, God is good!

Please continue to keep all of us in your prayers! We're all having to make a lot of adjustments and change the way we do everything to live this new lifestyle.