THURSDAY- JUEVES
At 6:30 AM Stephen left for the mechanics. We have found that things tend to move forward when he is present. The reality though is that he goes and sits in a dusty, hot, dirt lot with 5-10 broken cars. The time is long, boring, with some interaction with the young men working on the cars.
Stephen spent the day in Masaya while I tried to catch up on things- making dinner for our Bible study helpers, planning the kids study, going to Granada to make copies, get supplies for the kids study, doing payroll for a local ministry, doing some shopping, and being ready for our Bible study that evening.
Stephen got home at 4:30 without the car, and our study started at 6 PM. We enjoyed the time together with 25 of our neighbors, being reminded why we are here. We headed for bed early knowing we had a very full day on Friday.
FRIDAY- VIERNES
So, in previous blogs I have mentioned that Nicaragua is hot and dusty this time of year. The last time I remember rain was about a month ago, and it rained enough to make it humid. Every day we want the wind so that the high 90s are bearable, but with that comes clouds of dusty. Life here is just dirty, and then there is the sweat.
Stephen woke me up and told me that we had no water. This is not unusual, so I hoped it would come on before we left at 6 AM. Unfortunately I had but oil spray in my hair the night to keep moisture in it during this dry time of the year. There was no water by 5:30, so we washed up the best we could with our precious purified water and baby wipes, and headed to the road for the bus. We were trying to get to Trinity for their Passover celebration. We felt bad canceling with them twice this week and wanted to make it to this special event that the kids had been preparing for weeks.
We let a few buses pass that would make us too intimate with our fellow Nicaraguans, and settled on a “chicken bus” (Old American school bus) where we were able to sit down for the ride. We arrived an hour and a half later at Trinity and enjoyed a great program of singing, drama, and dancing of the students.
We had to leave early though so we could make it back to Granada for our 11:30 AM Bible Study. When we got to the bus stop, we got the call that the mechanic needed some of Stephen’s tools to complete the work on the car… Hmmmm… Another change of plans- tranquilo.
Image a line about 40 miles long; Granada is on one end and Managua is on the other, with Masaya being in the middle. The Bible study is several miles south of Granada. This is not going to work out.
We canceled the Bible study, Stephen went to Granada to get the tools then back to Masaya for the afternoon and I headed into Granada to do all the things I had planned to do the day before but was not able to. I got home mid-afternoon hot, sweaty, sticky, dirty and no water in the house.
Stephen got home about two hours later hot, sweaty, sticky, dirty, sun-burned and no water in the house
We did our best to pull ourselves together and left 45 minutes later for a new Bible study that we were starting that evening in Granada- back to the buses, taxis and walking, but at least the sun was down.
We had a great study with this new family, who is excited to learn more about the Bible. We are excited about these relationship possibilities
They gave us a ride home to a home with still no water. I did not even want to touch myself, I felt so gross. I fell into bed feeling claustrophobic in my own body. All I wanted was to be clean!
I woke up around 3:30 feeling pity for myself. I grabbed my Bible planning to read until I was either encouraged or asleep. I thought about my neighbors; many of them do not have running water in their houses.
At 4 AM the water came on! I got up and took a shower; I did not want to miss my opportunity!
Then I went back to sleep.
This adds new meaning to “life is never boring” 🙂