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Everyone
made it safely to Managua on Saturday and half of our baggage accompanied us
too! The other 23 bags arrived later that night.
This year we only had to
wait one hour in San Salvador before connecting to Managua. Believe it or not
most of us were disappointed that we were not going to be able to spend our
normal 7 hour lay-over at the beach, but it was really great to arrive at our
destination in the daylight and have a nice supper too.
We had a good
opportunity to look around the property and see the changes that have taken
place in the past 12 months. It was also beneficial to give an
"orientation tour" to members of the team that are here for the
first time.
There were lots of our local friends there to welcome us back too. Pictured
here is Eric Jolin with a few of the guys!
As you might remember - last year we were involved with the construction of a
warehouse on property acquired across the road from the Mission. Our team was
responsible for installation of the roof trusses for half of the 200'
building. Another team completed the other half and finally the roof went on.
The
Bike Shop has been moved into the new facility as well as a Grinding Mill
which was donated.
This year we will be making signs for both these ventures
so that it will bring in more business. Vinyl cut-outs were designed and sent
down with us to be assembled and installed by Penny Southworth, our resident
craft leader.
Our
main project - replacing the roof on the main house - seems to be coming along
since Sae, Eric Jolin & Keith have come up with a plan that will see
things completed by the time we leave. We were concerned that we would only
get a section of it done but now it looks much more promising. I wonder if
their plans include re-locating this iguana that lives in one of the holes in
the roof!
We
were off to church today at a location in Managua that is very poor. This area
is one that started out as a feeding program for the children. There was no
school for the kids and no church either. Some private funding came through
for the Mission which has allowed a school to be built and church services
will take place there too.
![Sae0016_3_1.JPG (771492 bytes)](Sae0016_3_1_small.JPG)
Today
was their third service and we were able to participate by providing some
music and a sermon. There was a Worship Team from another church that provided
most of the singing - in Spanish of course! It
was very loud! When it was our turn to sing our
translator, Edgard, read the verses and chorus of each song before we sang.
![IMG_0537_7_1.JPG (381044 bytes)](IMG_0537_7_1_small.JPG)
After
lunch we went down to the newly named (as of tonight) Fairhaven Retreat Centre
to see the progress there. Things are moving along quickly and we all had a
dip in the Pacific Ocean! We got our Beach Day after all! We spent a few hours
there and watched the sun go down.
Pictured
on the left is team member Lynn Beaudry from Bethel Gospel Chapel in North
Bay. After her first time swimming in an ocean she sat on the beach having
some quiet time and appreciating the spectacular view. Roger, Verla and Marlene were checking out the "front porch" of the Centre - pictured
right.
![IMG_0608_11_1.JPG (213841 bytes)](IMG_0608_11_1_small.JPG)
All
in all we had a good day of R&R before we get down to business tomorrow.
It wasn't too long before the sun started to set and it was a beautiful
stunning display. Pictured left is John Campbell shooting some video and on
the right is Lynn looking at the horizon.