Shawtys fiah is burnin’ in Nicaragua by Jon, Nick & Thelma

  Monkeys!!!!!!!!!!! So the CDCA has this fantastic monkey that has been around for a while that I got to play with today. Sadly she is tied up to a few trees outside of where we are staying, and we were asked not to interact with her more than feeding her. Things like that never quite stop me though So I went over and let her climb on me, and we took pictures and had a fairly novel time. Shhh don’t tell anyone. It was an interesting break from reality to be able to just play around with the monkey. Kind of a live in the moment type of thing. We have seen a lot over the past week, and not all of it has been particularly pretty. Managua is a huge city with people just packed in, and the poverty is very visible on almost every block. It is a very humbling experience when you think about it. Let’s not even get started on the history lessons we have had along the way. The perspectives offered by several of our speakers have been quite colorful to say the least, but they certainly have reason to be. So with all the seriousness we come back to the monkey, and perhaps how it is important to enjoy the simple things along the way. All the other blogs I am sure have expressed in more detail our crazy experiences over the past few days, and so I am just tossing that thought out there as a way of summing up a fun yet sobering trip. Never forget to stop and play with the monkey along the way It has been a fantastic trip, and now I’ll turn it over to my cowriters. That way they can stop giggling over my shoulder at all the innuendos they think they are reading on the page above. Off to the disco!      -Jon

Teeeeetthhhhh!!!!! So Rock Hill has this fantastic dentist that theyve been dragging along for a while. His name is Dirk Anderson and I’ve had the unique privledge of assisting him with dental procedures for most of the week! The clinic has an interesting process of giving out what they call “bonos” (short for probono) to people who either have a turn or do communit service for the clinic. A bono is basically a pass for one free visit to the dentist or whatever service the person needs at the clinic. So while Dr. Dirk is in town, aout 10-11 people a day are given one of these passes. We’ve don work including pulling teeth, adjusting bites, and filling cavities. I got to setup for each patient and got to find tools as well as getting to help with some more up close work like using mirrors to hold mouths open and and suctioning (Narcie would be cringing by now). I think one of the best parts of the whole experience was having to learn enough spanish to communicate effectively with patients. We’re running out of time to write so I’ll pass the writing over to Thelma!  -Nick

Concretttttttttttttttte!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So the battery on this laptop is about to die, so I sadly do not have much time (Jon and Nick took too long).  So I will talk briefly about my experience here.  So I have never done any construction work from scratch.  Here in Nicaragua, everything, and I mean everything is made from scratch.  This week, part of our role here was to help with the JHC center, and to help around their property.  Specifically, they had us make path stones for the entrance and help repair a sidewalk at the Health Clinic.  Let me tell y’all, I have a full appreciation for the work ethic these people have down here.  They work so hard and the processes they have to go through to achieve a result (in this specific case a smooth driveway and sidewalk).  And the crazy thing is they still have a smile on their face while they undergo the hard labor.  I have to tell you, managing a smile on your face while you are working in heat is not an easy task.  It has truly been an inspiration for me.  I have such an apprecaiton for the things I have back home.  I think if I saw the labor that went into every road I drive on, and every sidewalk I step foot on, I would appreciate things back home alot more.  I hope to take this reflective thought with me when I return home, and I hope to think about these people and their hard labor the next time I complain about something.  I adore everyone in the group, and I look forward to coming home and telling everyone at home the things I have learned about Nicaragua and also myself.  LET’S DANCE!   -Thelma

Nicaragua Days 3 – 5 by Andrew and Adrienne

We haven’t had great internet access the past couple days so we’re just now catching up on writing.  Everyone is fine.  Prayers for Nick who is sick but feeling a bit better.  Andrew hurt his leg playing soccer with Jon, Jordan and some kids but he’ll deal with it – you know Andrew.   Prayers for tomorrow as we hear more about Nica and visit the city dump.  And more prayers for rain, cooler weather, and no sunburns!  Now here’s Andrew and Adrienne…. 

=0), Narcie

Adrienne Chlumsky from Burtonsville, Maryland:

As one of the only collegiates that has actually been to Nica before, this trip has definitely been different. Last year, only 3 people from Wesley and our token dentist, Dirk, went. This year our group is much larger and louder. So I love it! Yesterday we took our long 4 hour journey (each way) to El Porvenir. My trip was very different this year. I was asked to assist our dentist and was able to help set up equipment and assist in cleaning teeth of people who are up in the village there. For anyone that knows me, I hate the dentist and I HATE having teeth pulled so watching that was not very fun and very gag-worthy. Anyway, this community is  at the top of the mountain and the view is beautiful, including a view of Honduras on one side and Costa Rica on the other. So, unlike most dentist’s offices in the US this one had an unbelieveable view. And to top  it all off we actually made it home safely and in less than 8 hours and no rain storms that flooded the riverbed we were driving in… let’s just say last year’s trip was… interesting. Being here a second time has really helped me enjoy the trip a lot more, I feel like I have more of a feel for what I am doing and understand more of the country and it’s circumstances (unlike last year when I was a lost soul and Narcie wasn’t here to explain anything to me about what was going on). We have a great team this year and everyone is working together so well! Today we started to fix the entry gate road to the community where we are staying, which had a large ditch in it (probably almost a foot deep). It is very exhausting, but in the end, I know that it will be extremely rewarding to see the difference it will make. I am so glad for the opportuninty to be here again. So, Mom and Dad, if you are reading this– I am safe and totally loving the experience (as Thelma and I would say I “totes loves the experience- lol” ) a lot more than last year. Thanks to everyone who is keeping us all in your prayers!

Andrew Wilson from Greenwood, SC:

Earlier this summer I listened to a message and a phrase really stuck out to me. That phrase was, “There is beauty all around us and I believe that in beauty there is God.”  Nicaragua has been no exception to this idea. As someone who travels as often as possible there is always a search for the thing that no one else has seen before. The search for the most authentic experience. We’ll call this the authentic effect. Well this trip has been the authentic effect to the maximum. I have done things that few others have done. For example,  I rode in a cart up a steep mountain to a mountainside coffee plantation and looked out over almost all of Nicaragua. From that spot, I saw Lake Nicaragua, two of the largest volcanos in Nicaragua, and a Nicaraguan landscape that would make anyone sit in wonder. So, if it is true that God exists in beauty than I have never seen a greater example of God than here. Not only have I seen beauty in nature, but I have seen it in the people. In the way they trust, in the way they dream, and most importantly in the way they show love. They have shown this gringo a lot of love. They have also shared their amazing stories with me, which has given me a perspective that I wouldn’t be able to get in the United States. All in all, it has been an amazing trip so far and I want to sum up my experience with this final idea… Learn to appreciate beauty in all forms, because God doesn’t always show up in a beautiful mountainside or in a elderly Nicaraguan women with three teeth, but he is always around us all we have to do is look.