Nicaragua July 31, 2010

Saturday

Up at 4am to get the girls up. We are all sooo tired. I hate to see them go, but we have had a good 2 weeks. As much as they didn't want to leave Nic, they are ready to be home now. We got to the airport and got them checked in and I said goodbye at the security checkpoint. I made a quick trip through the check-in counters for the other airlines to make sure the team had gotten through okay. Then I headed back across the street to the hotel. I had the free breakfast in the restaurant and then napped until 9am and showered and left for the airport at 11am.

I enjoyed the alone time in the airport. It reminded me a little of being in NYC where I was alone most of the time. I ran into John Speigle and we chatted a while. It was a nice surprise.

I met up with Mike and German and the drivers. A group of 3 people who knew German were at the airport and had just missed some missionaries they had gifts for. They asked German if he knew any missionaries that they could give their homemade gifts to. German told them about me and they gave me the ceramic animals that they had painted. I told them that I would share the gifts with other missionaries. How neat to share in the blessing of people we don't know who were loving other missionaries who are also working for the Kingdom. Awesome!

We finally caught up with the incoming team and Mike was glad to see that it was made up of a lot of youth. There are thousands of people coming in to that small airport. Many of them are mission teams to work all over the country. It's nice to see.

We put the team on the vans and went to Tip Top to grab some chicken for lunch. I got to have a good discussion with some of the team. I enjoyed a grilled chicken breast, but the team really liked the fried chicken. One of the guys said that Tip Top 'could teach the Colonel a thing or two'. Ha

I rode in Fabio's van with the Youth Pastor and team leader. Fabio and I practiced English and Spanish together. It was very quiet in our van. Luggage makes good traveling companions.

We arrived at the team house and the team hit the beach and found the waves strong and the sand sticky and went through a bunch of towels in the first 30 minutes. Mary shared the house rules with the group. This is the first mission trip for most of the youth. They are really excited. We had sandwiches and chips for dinner and then went into León for a walk around the park and some Eskimo icecream.

We returned back home and I went to bed fairly early. I was ready for a good night's sleep in 'my own bed'. I love living at the team house.

God is good and I love Him so much!