Time: 2000 (that’s 8pm).
Place: CEPAD’s Nehemia Center.
Elevation: somewhere below where we were earlier today.

okay, let{s get a couple of things straight right off the top. 

1.  nicaraguan keyboards have a { where the apostrophe is supposed to be. so if you see a { in the middle of a word, i was just typing along and didn{t notice.  i{ll try to catch{em though.

2.  if you enter type the web address ccckc.org, you will end up at the crystal coast canoe and kayak club{s website. they have, as yet, not agreed to post this blog (although glen is talking to them.)

3.  when i type, i tend to shun caps (the last post came from my crackberry and i haven{t figured out how to turn off the auto…(searching for the hyphen on this keyboard)…auto…(there it is)…auto-correct function.

now, one with the day’s events.

day one is in the books…at least for the EARLY morning group. after a 6am flight to houston, we arrived in managua just after noon, breezed through customs and immigration and made our way to cepad’s nehemia center. a little rest, a little lunch and then a little trip around managua. (that little sightseeing tour lasted about an hour and a half and when we returned, we were exhausted — what’s that all about?)  (by the way, at this point, the afternoon part of our group is becoming one with the houston airport.)

after dinner, stephanie started pointing, directing, shuffling through pages of labels and the work began.  dozens of boxes of bandaids are now broken down into user-friendly packs. hundreds of boxes of antibiotics, ointments and other medicines have labels on them, ready to be prescribed and personalized for the folks we will see in the clinics next week. still to be done: the 96,480 vitamin tablets that we’ve brought with us have to be sorted and repackaged.  so…we will not be bored.

the schedule may be a bit different than originally planned. looks like we will spend sunday in managua instead of heading to the cepana farm.  monday we will head there, begin setting up and the clinics will run tue – fri instead of mon – thu.  but of course, that could always change.  we’ll see. oh, and by the next post, carla and the afternoon group will be here.

now, here’s today’s nicaragua fun fact: the president of nicaragua doesn’t live in the official residence (it’s now a public museum).  why not?  his wife refuses to live there because “it’s cursed.” 

note about the author: my name{s e.j.  carla asked if i would be the blogger for the group and i said “sure, why not.”  (and lara back at the church requested that i write a bit about myself so you would know who{s at the keyboard.) this is my first mission trip (oooh, my ears just finally popped) and i, like everyone else, am looking forward to sharing, learning, listening and serving. perhaps what makes my experience unique, of the 21 people travelling, only 2 of us have never been on a mission trip.  so i go into this unsure of what to expect, and eager to experience whatever awaits us.

good night and god bless.