January 1, 2011

Happy New Year! It feels wonderful to be starting the new year here in Nicaragua. Just feels perfectly natural!

We had a quiet morning and I got a load of laundry done and dried on the line. We got ready and left the house about 10:30am. We stopped at Suyapa restaurant in the next little town on the beach. We made our reservations for tonight's dinner and pre-ordered our food. The wait staff know us (Voice of Hope) and were happy to make our reservation. I'm sure they have seen Mary plenty of times. This was my second time there.

We headed into León and had lunch at Tip Top Chicken. They know Mary and I there very well by now. I think we have averaged eating there at least once a week over the last 2 months! The team enjoyed the chicken. Then we stepped next door to La Unión grocery store for food for the next 2 days and so the team could buy some coffee and other things to take home. The store was so empty compared to usual. The extra displays for Christmas and New Years parties were down and you could actually walk through the aisles! There were hardly any shoppers either. It was quite nice!

We packed the grub into a huge cooler in the van and headed off for some sightseeing. We went to the Cauldrons at the Telica Volcano. This area is super hot with steam and bubbling earth and sulfer. We were just there in December with the team from Paragould, AR. Mary and I could not believe how much it has changed in just these weeks. It was amazing. The small bubbling holes from December are now huge craters with hissing and bubbling earth. Some of the ground was actually soft from all the steam holes. We took some pictures and some videos and got away from all that heat. The team enjoyed seeing it.

We returned to the house and unloaded all the groceries and everyone went their own way to rest or walk on the beach. I did some work on the computer and put my feet up for a while. The beach was crowded today. Mary and I are used to a deserted beach with just 10-20 people tops. I walked out and took a zoom picture to the south and to the north. I didn't venture down the beach. There were more and more people coming and going to this area today. We got into a line of vehicles waiting at the checkpoint to get into the Las Peñitas/Poneloya area. We had to pay a toll again because of the holiday. There were buses packed and trucks with tons of people crammed in the back. So many people.

This morning, we lost electricity for awhile. That's not uncommon and sometimes it's an accident and sometimes it is planned by the city. You never know. And you never know how long it will be out. But it wasn't more than an hour this time. We were without power to pump the water during that time, so we couldn't shower, wash dishes, flush toilets or wash clothes. We were glad when it came back on.

On our way into town, we went past a wreck site where a truck had went off the road and down an embankment and into a huge concrete pole that held the power lines. We figure that's why we lost power. The people were all gone from the area, but the truck still remained down the side of the hill. We hope the truck was not full of people on their way to or from the beach. They would have been hurt really bad. The city was putting up another concrete pole. Very interesting work since they don't have all the equipment that is taken for granted in the states.

We left the house about 5:30 for the 5 minute drive to the restaurant. It took over 30 minutes to just get within 3 blocks of it. We finally got out and walked the rest of the way and Danilo waited in traffic to park the van. He came into the restaurant before our food arrived, so it was okay. He carried in a flashlight with him because the restaurant had lost electricity for some reason right when we got there. It came back on before we ate. The restaurant is on the beach and our table was in the sand under a thatched roof. When you sat in the chairs, they sunk into the sand. It was funny to see everyone at different heights around the table. The food was yummy and we enjoyed the dinner. We missed the sunset since we had been in traffic so long. But we had a good time.

We came home and sent Saturnino home for the night since we have Danilo here. He will be our fearless guard for the night. We all settled in for the evening. Some playing games, some chatting and drinking coffee. I came up to my room to get on the computer to do some emails and to post some pictures on facebook. I have tons to do still.

Now it's time for sleep. We'll be going to Rose of Sharon (Rosa de Sarón) church tomorrow morning. We don't have to leave the house until 8am, so that will be nice.

Mary and I are trying not to think about the fact that we are leaving on Tuesday. I choose to think of it as packing for a vacation in the states. We have lots to do in the next 2 days to get ready to leave the house for a few months. We'll do a little tomorrow between church services and shopping at the park. Then we will finish up on Monday evening after the Fiesta and feeding at Posoltega. I get all antsy thinking about leaving. But I know it's God's plan for now. The plan looks like I'll be spending about half of 2011 here off and on. I love that! I'm so blessed no matter where God leads me or for how long. I love being His child and His tool in His work. What a blessed life He has allowed me to live.