It was nice to see Pastor Patricia’s house completed today. After the many setbacks we had on the first day I was not sure that we were going to be able to complete the house in three days like we had planned. But Team Two worked hard yesterday and was able to finish the roof and all of the blocks, so all that left us was the siding. We were able to make short work of that and finished the house before lunch.
Quinton making concrete the Nica way
Amber and Joanna
The "Sun Team" finished the house today
We could have probably finished the house a lot sooner but
we had about ten four-legged distractions out in the field. At first our
interactions with them were innocent enough. But then it became obvious that
our buddies did not have harmless intentions. It started out with Quinton and
Joanna trying to put their hats on a bull calf, but he was too shy for them to
get close enough. Then Quinton tried it on another more curious yearling, causing
both cows run to the other pasture. A few minutes later after the cows became
comfortable with us again they wandered back over to where we were working.
Quinton again went after the yearling bull, managing to throw his hat around
one of the bull’s horns. I however had my sights set on another bull. This one
was the largest (besides the one chained
to the largest tree on the property) and was probably three times the size of
the yearling. As I began approaching him it was clear that he was avoiding me,
but that did not deter me. Eventually he and I were face to face. I began to
walk towards him with my arm extended and as I reached to place that hat on his
head, he decided that he had had enough and that it was time for me to get out
of his way. I was quick enough to grab his sharp horns and push his head off
its course and scramble to safety.
I guess I had just not had enough, because the next time he
came near the house, I was at it again. This time, however, I decided to try a different
strategy. I approached him at a slight angle this time, so if the opportunity
presented itself and I had mustered up enough stupidity, I could try to throw a
leg over him. But before I could do that, the bull flipped his head around and
gored me right below the shoulder. Thankfully, they were able to get me to the
best hospital in Nicaragua, where they gave some antibiotics for the wound and
set my broken arm. No, no, no, I’m just
kidding! I’m fine. (This paragraph is not true – just a joke!)
VBS was insane today. We had about 70-80 kids, over twice
the number of kids we had yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if the number were
to double tomorrow.
A full house for VBS
Craig and Kristi were Eduardo's "puppets"
It is encouraging to see the kids telling their friends
about the gringos and inviting them to VBS. Also, I saw a lot more teenagers
than usual attend today. Other than that today was pretty uneventful.
Vale
Today was a nice hot day of walking up and down the street
talking and telling people about the VBS that was going to be happening that
afternoon. Clearly, it was successful
because there was almost double the amount of kids today than yesterday. Some of our group had the opportunity to go
and talk to the kids in the school which was amazing. Normally the school would not be allowed to
let people in to talk about Christ since it is a public school, but because the
principle is a believer she let us talk to all the classes. We went to every classroom, which was only
four rooms and told them why we were here and what we were doing. When we walked in the room, the kids’ faces
lit up. Not every Nicaraguan kid gets to
see a group of Montanan gringos every day.
We continued walking through the streets, talking and inviting people,
as well as helping the translators with their pronunciation and trying to get
Tim to roll his “r’s”
At the VBS, there were tons of kids and they were so excited
to play the games and they absolutely loved the balloon animals and shapes we
made. It was so hot that the balloons
kept popping throughout the afternoon. We finally had to just say “no mas” (no
more) or we could’ve been blowing up balloons for another hour.
Such beautiful little faces
All went smoothly until the table with our water and Gatorade
collapsed, but other than that it was amazing to see how happy the children
were.
On the way home, we were following a large truck carrying a
backhoe. It stuck up so high that it snagged a power line that crossed the
road. Thankfully, we weren’t going very fast because Eddy (our bus driver) had
to stop very quickly when the power line dropped way down low in our lane.
Those who were riding in the front of the bus saw it and heard the two big pops
of electricity. After several minutes of waiting for the traffic policeman to
decide what he wanted to do, we were able to back up and get into the other
lane and pass under the line and continue home.
-Macy
After we left, our translator, Eduardo, talked with
Patricia, the pastor of the church, and she told him that two of the ladies in
that house were witches. Patricia has
been teaching one of the daughters in the house about Jesus. She said that when we started to pray, one of
the witches tried to rebuke us to keep us from praying, but that she literally could
not speak up. This sure reminds us how
the power of Jesus Christ, Who is in us, is greater than he who is in the
world.
Thank you for your prayers for our team as we see daily how
God is protecting us and guiding us and leading us on this trip.
Gerry
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