sunday, 16 feb 14. 1715 (military time because carla and stephanie are the mission trip equivalent of drill instructors). less than 1 week until departure.
stephanie is washing the “sleep pockets” that we take with us on mission trips. think king sized bed sheet, folded over, sewn together across the bottom and halfway up the side. our partners in nicaragua take excellent care of us when it comes to arranging accommodations. but there’s something comforting about having clean sheets, YOUR clean sheets to crawl into after long hot, sweaty, dusty day.
btw, high temp in managua while we’re there…93. low, 71.
if i heard it once at church this morning, i heard it 50 times: “are you ready?” a smile, a shrug, a promise, “i will be.” (i rarely pack more than 2 days out. and i am a list-packer. i’m writing my list now and will start to put things in a suitcase on thursday. once each thing is in the suitcase, it gets crossed of the list and doesn’t come back out. marks on the list must match the contents of the suitcase or i develop a tick that deteriorates rapidly.)
amy holmes is going to nicaragua for the first time. she and stephanie went over what to take (clothing — high fashion only. hair dryer [they’ll share[ — it’s more to warm up after the cold shower than to dry the hair anyway. and the aforementioned sleep pocket.)
lance jesse already has the duct tape ready. fishing line, pliers, extension cords. he still has to buy some light bulbs before we leave next saturday. lance, in case you didn’t know, is the mission trip incarnation of mcgyver.
and nancy lear checked in this morning to make sure we have enough toothbrushes for the trip. (“checked in” means she texted at 7am, woke us up and then gloated about basking in the sun on a beach in mexico. (how does one say “payback” in spanish?))
in a week we will be with old friends from north carolina and nicaragua and meeting new friends as well.
but for now, we prepare, we pack, we pose to ourselves the simple yet multifaceted question: “are you ready?”
E. J. Becker will be blogging for the 2014 Nicaragua Mission Trip Team as they travel from Feb. 22-March 2.. Check back regularly for updates from the team.
