Our Last Day in Bluefields

The day began almost as any other with our worship time and devotional.  Our designated worship leader had a difficult night sleep, so we sang our three songs acapella and Liz took on our devotional.  She relayed a number of stories from her past related to miracles.  It was inspirational to say the least.

We hopped on the bus and headed for the work site – minus a couple of bodies who were staying behind (Juanita to get some rest, Todd with a slightly upset stomach and Cathy with a sore ankle).  We arrived with things ready to go so we began mixing cement and after 3.5 batches we had completed all of the concrete support work for the roof.  In speaking with Umberto (who is the project manager), he says he never expected us to get as far as we did.  Some of the materials for the roof (tubing steel and zinc sheets) will be ordered from Managua and the workers will continue after setting up the gables on either end.

Just before we began mixing cement, one team member had a little fall.  Shirley was coming around the side of the building when her foot caught on some re-bar cages that were lying beside the building and at the same time her foot slipped off the curb.  I was just about to go up the stairs and heard that dull “thud” sound when someone hits the ground.  As I wheeled around I saw Shirley head first into the small 12” gully by the building.  She scraped her knee, elbow and shoulder - as well as getting a scrape and slight cut near her left ear – but she was completely alright.  That could have turned out much worse – but thanks be to God that she was relatively unhurt.  A few moments later, she was joking about the incident.

We had an amazing group of guys working with us: Noel (the lead), Namessio and Antonio.  These guys were such incredibly hard workers and patient to work with us who knew very little Spanish.  We also had many times of laughter as we attempted to joke with them in a mix of Spanish and English.  I think we all will remember them dearly.

The last day's work group

Nathanial and Timothy worked hard on the rocks for the “round about” project that they added to our task list.  It turned out pretty good.  Umberto indicated that they would pack it down and then place some rebar and more forms and eventually fill it with concrete.  This will make turning around down at the bottom easier when things are wet.

The "round about"

Overall, we made tremendous headway on the school building and our reputation of being a very hard working team stays intact.  God gave us great weather and great strength as a group to push forward.

As we reflect on our time here I think that if we were to describe it all in one word it would be “community”.  We connected with many different people and groups during our time here – building friendships and planting seeds.  Pastor Ed has continually said that us being here was a great blessing for him.  I know that each of us has special memories already of this project and many lives within the community have been touched.  From food hampers to the very poor to curtains at Casa Materna and gifts and prayer at the girl’s orphanage – God has truly been moving here amongst us.

Tomorrow is an EARLY day to the airport so that we make sure to catch the first plane to Managua.  Pastor Ed is actually going to Managua for an appointment as well, so we will say our goodbye’s there instead.
Please pray for travelling mercies and continued protection for the team.

Curt

(for the Nic Team)