MISSION WORLD

Church

Sunday morning half the team get up early for church. The other half sleep in planning to attend evening services.

Most all the protestant church services I have attended in Nicaragua are animated, passionate and LOUD! REALLY LOUD!! And it seems like they prefer their sound systems with broken speakers so you get that “bee-in-a-tin-can” tone to everything you hear.

There are plenty of Assemblies of God churches here, but even the Iglesia de Bautiste (Baptist Church) services resemble more charismatic services in the U.S. The freedom and joy these people exhibit in worship combined with the welcome we received helped everyone to worship with abandon and anticipate His presence in our work for the week.

As if to model the hospitality and love of Jesus, the pastor invited the entire busload of missionaries to his home for refreshments after the hot service. Although he did not know it or intend it, his willingness to share his humble home and meager provisions set the tone for the rest of the mission.

Sightseeing

Meanwhile back at the ranch: The rest of us who slept in decided to use our time off for a little sightseeing in Leon. We visited the Cathedral of the Acension – the largest in Central America, taking 100 years to complete which is also the burial place of Ruben Dario , the famous poet. It sits on a beautiful city square with benches, vendors, lovers and strollers everywhere.

You can take a tour of the whole cathedral for around $2 USD – roof, belltower, AND the catacombs where bishops and priests of the past are interred. There is a story accepted as fact by most Nicaraguans that a tunnel runs from the cellar of the cathedral, to a fort some 15 miles outside of Leon formerly occupied by Sandinistas during the revolution. It was supposedly used to help priests and others escape bombings in the city. The entrance has been bricked up - this much I know to be true!

A couple of blocks away is the market; food clothing and all the neccesities of life. Here is the unbelievable variety of fruits, vegetables and beans grown in the surrounding countryside we traversed the previous night. It is disconcerting to see meat and seafood for sale, hung on bars or sitting on counter-tops unrefrigerated in the hot air – you smell it long before you see it. Some of the fare in this section remains alive and thus – fresh. A basket of crabs (a little boys guides one on a string like a pet on a leash), a bowl of wriggling iguanas wondering if they shall be frita (fried) or sopa (soup), chickens and even a duck or two.

We stop to exchange some dollars for cords and head to my favorite place in Leon; El Sesteo. No one can tell me what it means – even the Nicaraguans, but they are well known in Central America for great fruit smoothies (fruta refrescante) and ice cream deserts. I can also tell you that their camarones (shrimp) are as good as any I have had anywhere.

There are tables on the sidewalk if you like, or inside, out of the sun, no walls to obstruct your view of the square and the Leon Cathedral. We sit and talk for an hour or so, then catch a 15 cord cab ride back to the house. Click here to do the conversion and see how much this costs.

Packaging Drugs

Soon our friends arrive back from services, we eat lunch and dive into the inventory and packaging of medicines.

We want to seperate medicines by type – antibiotics, vitamins, pain relief, etc. so that non-medical people working in the pharmacy can find things easier. Once the doctors begin seeing patients, it is 90 mph, non-stop.

Our inventory varies each year according to what is available through our suppliers. This year we are fortunate to have plenty of vitamins. This is not always the case and vitamins are particularly expensive in Nicaragua. We are good on Tylenol and other pain relievers, blood pressure meds, and antibiotics, but we are short on anti-fungals; we will have buy some at the local farmacia (pharmacy).

We have 2 full totes of eyeglasses and another 2 of orthopedic supplies. The rest of our 15 total are medicines. Added to those there are about 10 or 12 others with medicines left over from other mission trips, and even some left from our trip last year. There are empty bottles for liquids, small plastic bags for pills and the greatest time saver of all – LABELS!

Laura Hay, a nurse from Forest Park Church who went on last year’s medical mission has printed out labels; hundreds of labels; in Spanish AND English for everything we will be dispensing. This means all the pharmacy people will have to do is fill in the blanks for days, hours, # of pills, teaspoons or whatever and they are ready to go. The new people will never know how good they have it, and the veterans will bless her name.

3 hours later, it’s all done. The containers are stacked waiting to load on top of the busses in the morning. Everyone cleans up, has supper and the church-goers from morning become the sightseers this evening and vice-versa.

By 9 or 10 everyone is home, bags are packed and waiting by the door. We are staying in a hotel the rest of the week and will not be back to Leon, so we say our goodbyes to Claudia the lovely cook and housekeeper and retire to prepare our minds, hearts and bodies for the clinic tomorrow.