Mom the missionary day one

So my mom and little brother are back in Nicaragua on a mission trip. Mom sends daily updates and I thought I'd share them with my 5 blog readers... enjoy!

Greetings from El Ayudante!



Our trip was fine and we are settled in our home for the week. About our accommodations.... because of the numbers of teams here this week, and because Bill feels like we are family, we are staying in the home where interns usually stay. There aren't any interns this week, so that opened up the other building. The good news is that it is air conditioned and we have hot showers. The bad news is that these ammenities feel odd to me. Crazy, huh?



We were met at the airport by staff from El Ayudante, as usual. We saw someone we remembered from last year, hugged and greeted, and then he said, "I think you think I'm my brother." It was the twin of an interpreter from last year. Sure enough, about that time, up walks the guy we really knew, along with two other fellows we remembered from before. They all remembered Robbie and me, but they said William had grown and changed so much they wouldn't have known him.



The bus ride through Managua was a little surreal. Everything I saw was what I remembered, but it took me by surprise. How can something you know about surprise you? I remembered the sadness, the filth, the poverty and all, but at the same time, I took me back. Seemed a little crazy....



At our first stop, there was a young lady with two very young little girls with her. She stood by the door of the bus as we came out of the gas station with our drinks and snacks. She never said a word. Her little girls never said anything. They just stood there. I'm sure they were wanting food or money. We just got on the bus.... I thought I'd die.



Then during the ride in the city just about everytime you stop at a traffic light, people (most of the time children) come up to the window begging or trying to sell you something. You just have to tell them, "No." One little boy in particular broke my heart. He couldn't have been more than eight or so. He had a cleft palate. He kept saying, "Money." He even tugged on the sleeve of our shirts. It was heartbreaking. I guess that's what I'm trying to say. How could I be surprised by this? I knew it was all here. I knew it breaks my heart, but yet I was surprised at how easily I had gone home, slipped into my own comfortable world, and yet there were these people here all along, just like I left them last year.



I need to wake everyone up. We are going to go have breakfast at 7:00, go to mass at the cathedral in Leon, and then go to church at the little Methodist church we attended last year.



I will tell you about seeing Dina (the little girl I loved on last year) later today or tonight.



Thanks to all who helped me get here...



Love and blessings for a wonderful Sunday!

D'Leigh