Day 2:
Team Best Western:
Our morning began a 3:00am in Manaqua with a flight to Puerto Cabezas.  Security at the airport was a little different but a breeze to get to our little aircraft.

A view of Manaqua from the air.

The Rio Coco where are guests are travelling today and tomorrow.

Our pilot did a GREAT job landing our aircraft - I was looking over his shoulder....LOL

Puerto Cabezas from the air.

John using a battery powered fan to cool Steve off before church! HAHAHA!

Pastor Bill and Pastor Earl giving a sermon about Psalm 51 this morning at church - I'll try to post video later.

Los Ninos at the orphanage... good kids who helped me shuck a coconut.  Rewarded with Gum... Good Times!

A new division of the orphanage under construction.

Samuel wanted my coconut... I'll be honest.  I had a hard time giving it up!

The medical clinic that RHCC helped build!

The school for the kids.

We wrapped up with Steve storying Matthew 20 1-16 with our team - AWESOME TIME!

I'm beat - it's been a long day.  Pray for us - we continue our coordination for our Pastors conference tomorrow which starts on Tuesday.

It is great to be sweating here in Nicaragua with my brothers on the elder team.  As others have mentioned we had an adventurous beginning but we are all here now. 

It is such an honor to be here with such a great group of guys.  We went to church today and it was wonderful to worship with a bunch of brothers and sisters from a totally different culture.  We sang songs in Spanish, Miskito, and English.  I can't wait to get to heaven and worship the Lord with people from every tongue and nation and culture today, was just a dim picture of the future. 

Tomorrow we have a full day of preparation for our pastors conference and will visit the school and the clinic while they are open and people are there.  Anyway we are alive, here, and all is well.

Steve Catts

First two days in Puerto Cabezas

An Individual Story Amid a Sea of Matching T-Shirts

The five of us "left behind" in Managua miss the comaraderie of our fellows who are currently in Puerto Cabezas, but I'll bet we arrive better rested!  :-)

On the flight from Houston to Managua, there were two prominently attired mission teams, wearing colorful T-shirts emblazoned with the themes of their trips.  For example, there was the blue "Water and the Word for Nicaragua" (or something like that; probably Christians building water wells). Then there were the orange T-shirts for "BMDMI," but initially I couldn't figure out what that meant.

As "luck" would have it, my airplane seat was next to Cassie, who was clad in one of the orange BMDMI shirts.  I asked about her mission, and learned that the acronym stood for Baptist Medical & Dental Mission International.  Although most of the team members were on a one-week medical clinic relief stint, Cassie's story was completely different.

She was staying for three weeks working in a home for sexually abused girls, helping them cope and learn life skills they can use to support themselves.  Some of the girls escaped from the sex slavery trafficking world, others were abused by relatives, etc.  The Nicaraguan govenment provides little or no assistance to these tragic victims, which is why BMDMI is involved.  One of the biggest ways Cassie helps is by watching the children that have resulted from the forced "unions" when the girls were sex slaves.  The youngest of these mothers Cassie helped was only 12!

I asked if BMDMI, being a Christian organization, dealt with the spiritual aspect of the girls' recovery.  The answer was yes, although of course they don't push Christianity on them.  But their relational approach results in many of the girls seriously considering the faith held by these young people who give of their time and resources to help the victims of sex trafficking, expecting nothing in return.

Cassie has been doing this every summer for eight years; in most cases the entire summer, not just a few weeks.  I am encouraged by the example of those like Cassie, and look forward to the relational ministry of our own trip to help the village pastors in the Puerto Cabezas region.

-- JohnH

Greetings Everyone - great first day!  We all made it safe and sound to Nicaragua... we're just not all in the same location!  We had to distribute some of our load over two separate flights from Managua to Puerto Cabezas.  John H., John G., Steve H., Nathan, and I are bunking up at the Best Western near the Managua Airport until our flight tomorrow morning.  Very excited to get to know more about my teammates and look forward to serving with them.- God has big things in store for our team!  Pray for us! 

Here are some pics of our current travel experiences so far... Enjoy!

Saying see you later to my LOVELY bride Joanna at PDX.

Steve and I getting ready for the Trip - excited to say the least!

Steve leading the way coordinating our two flights to Puerto Cabezas - Good Times!

Forgot my tie for church tomorrow so we came up with a substitute... Pretty Fancy!

Funny story - At the last minute we needed one more guy to stay behind in Managua so I volunteered.  I walked over to the Best Western with all of my gear plus a bag full of bibles and thankfully found John, John, Steve, and Nathan still at the front desk checking in. I must have gotten excited about finding my team because I apparently set the bag of bibles down enroute to our rooms... 2 hours later.... I remembered that I was carrying a bunch of bibles and asked around to see if anyone in our team had picked them up.  You guessed it... no one had my bible bag so I got a little concerned...  Theft is kind of a big problem here... Anyway... Nathan and I decided to check with the front desk and... TawDaw!!!! There it was...  behind the front counter!  Whew... Thank you JESUS. 

We're in Puerto Cabezas - at least most of us

As John already advised in an earlier post, 5 team members (and all the luggage) remained in Managua this afternoon, but 10 of us are now in Puerto Cabezas.  We're tired after very little sleep overnight, but everyone is doing well.  Pastor Earl met us at the airport and took us to the Verbo compound where it was fun to meet up with Austin Fricker and Alex Schmidt! We got a tour of this compound (school, clinic, boys orphanage, girls orphanage, church, and dining hall) and then we put the dining hall to good use with a fantastic meal.  Pastor Bill is teaching in the church service tomorrow and we believe our remaining team members will arrive in time to join us.  Everyone here is doing fine (other than being tired). It's warm and muggy, but the cloud cover is keeping it "cooler" today than is usual.  It's still hot and sticky, but not too bad  - and we're being treated very well.  More tomorrow including some early photos. - Chuck Easterly

Off to a great start

We all got in to Managua safe & sound.  Except for a bit of a delay getting out of PDX flights we're fine (although Marty may disagree somewhat).

Only 10 of the team were able to fly out to Puerto Cabezas (PC) the rest of us including Nathan, Linn, John H, Steve H and myself are staying in Managua at the Best Western across the street from the airport.  It's actually a very nice place.

On the flight from Houston to Managua I had the pleasure of meeting Lionel, a Nicaraguan who came to the US years ago and established a new life for him and his family in Houston.  It was great sharing our stories of God's faithful guidance, protection and provision through our lives' up and  downs.  Lionel joined the Nicaraguan army at 15 years old and fought for four years in the bloody Nicarguan war in the 80's.  I think we spoke for most of the flight and parted new friends. 

I then had the pleasure of spending a couple hours in our little hotel room getting to know my fellow travelers Nathan and Lynn. What great young men who are so eager to follow hard after God.  These trips to Nicaragua for me have been such wonderful opportunities to connect to God, my team and to our wonderful Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. 

This is just the "appetizer" and I'm so looking forward to the "main course" of the pastor's conference.