Doug writing from Nicaragua!

Greetings from Nicaragua!  I arrived last night, no problems.  Thank you for your prayers.  Mario picked me up at the airport in the truck, and we took the 3 hour drive up the coast to Bethel.  I ate dinner with Mario and our cook Antonia at a convenience store named “On The Run”.  I am here without an interpreter, but my Nicaraguan friends are patient with me.

Today, I re-discovered that the sun comes up at 5:30 bright and early here in Nicaragua.  I ate eggs and rolls for breakfast.  The eggs had cooked onions in them, and they were delicios.   This morning I spent a lot of time with Seferino, our maintenance man, and walked around with him, making a new list of things to fix.  Also had an idea session with Roberto who runs the concrete block enterprise to see how we can sell all the blocks they have made.  They are having a difficult time selling, so they have a lot of inventory but need to sell them in order to make more. 

The ongoing tragedy of the Men of the Fields is that the pesticides shrink the kidneys over time, and the men eventually die very early.  Today, a friend of ours is close to death.  His name is Martin, and he helped build the Mission House for Vision Nicaragua here.  I went to see him in the hospital at the sugar cane factory.  His creatin level is 33.0; much higher than the normal 1.1.  He is in much pain.  He and his wife have 3 children, 8, 12, and 14, and his mother is widowed from her husband who died of the same pesticide poisoning.  That makes me angry.   Both father and son!

As we make preparations for Martin´s death in the coming days, tomorrow I plan to take many photos of kids in the village.  I will set up at the school, and will have several people helping me.  Did I tell you that I am here without an interpreter?  Habla un poca español.

More tomorrow.  Hasta Mañana.

Your friend, Doug