Because we screened so many patients until so late in the night last night the team leaders didn't get together until this morning (& most all day) to create our surgery schedule. They are sending some patients to the other site a few hours away & we will have a packed schedule. I actually slept in until 9 knowing it would be my only day to sleep in! I REALLY tried to eat the breakfast they offered but beans, rice, fried plantains, & a chile type dish while all on my plate in small quantities did not end up in my stomach! A protein bar was perfect!
Erika, Lisa & I got a driver from the hotel to take us to a local "Mercado" we had looked it up on lonely planet & there was a very dangerous one we knew not to go to & this one that many tourists went to. Still as we left Jordi the coordinator asked for my cell #, told us to call if we had any problems, reminded us to watch our belongings, only ride with the Hotel Hex taxi company etc...all of which made me nervous which I hadn't been 5 min before - but it was all totally fine :)
Gustavo was our driver & I practiced my Spanglish on him - Erika & Lisa thought I was really good at Spanish - mostly because I can understand but as I told Gustavo - my Spanish is probably like a 3 year old!
We wandered around for a couple of hours, much of what we saw was very similar to what I have seen in Guatemala & Honduras the neighboring countries but Erika & Lisa had done research & said that the #1 item you should buy in Nicaragua was the handmade hammocks. We found a specific Hammock "tienda" & they had some disabled people working there so that was all it took to make me want to support it & YES!!! I bought a double size hammock. The man in charge was so happy we purchased them there cause they are about $20 more than in the market.
We called for our driver to come back & get us & as we waited, lugging around the hammocks, we wandered thru the market in search of a Diet Coke or Coca Cola Light - they actually had coke zero. Erika after now seeing my skill at locating diet cokes in 2 countries & knowing I have done it in 10 said it probably could make for a good reality show....in search of diet coke across the world LOL.
The driver that came to get us was Norlang & I practiced my Spanish on him too. I may actually try some Spanish this week - I feel like I am dusting out that part of my brain...from 2 years of High School Spanish! We asked Norlang to drive us around Managua a bit on our way back. If you look on lonely planet there isn't much they say to do in Managua - most people fly in here & then go out to the coast. We saw the central downtown area where the bigger hotels are & a nice park & had him take us to his favorite restaurant & then instead of having him wait in the car invited him to come in & treated him to lunch. He is a single dad with a 4 & 7 year old daughters. His mom lives with him to help with the girls & he drives a hotel taxi which I think is a better job than a regular taxi. He was a nice guy.
I had been emailing with a few different LDS church leaders before I left home & before bed last night emailed & said I would meet one at 5 at the hotel & perhaps we could later connect with the other. So Pres. Sobalvarro & his daughter Camilla & his wife came to the hotel with Ricardo an 18 year old young man who wants to serve a mission for the church but has some financial challenges. His parents have only elementary school educations & work in the plantain fields. Ricardo works construction & makes $2/hour or $20/day for 10 hour days. He is saving but needed some help & encouragement & that is what I was able to bring him because of some generous friends who gave me $$$ before I left & asked me to use it to do good in any way....As we drove to the store where many locals got their mission clothes (sort of like a strip mall) & I talked to Ricardo thru Camilla - he said all he really needed was a suitcase because he would never be able to afford that ($100) & probably others could use help - but Sis. Sobalvarro told him not to be humble & think about maybe a pair of shoes or something else too. We got to the store & found the suitcase...I asked him about clothes to put in it...white shirts, ties, pants & he knew his shirt size & picked out one so I added 7 more & told him he could do laundry once a week. Then has asked if he could get a pair of pants so we got him 4 & I had him pick out some ties - it was SO SO FUN as we piled it all up at the register & he was grinning ear to ear!!! They didn't have shoes there but there was a nice shoe store with "Hush Puppies" & thick soles & soft inserts so I asked him if he wanted to try those on so he had almost everything he would need - encouragement he did & we bought them. when we went back to the Sobalvarro's truck he put all his stuff in the back of the truck & insisted on sitting back there with it so that if the car stopped on the street no one would steal anything. He also told Sis. Sobalvarro that he didn't think he was going to be able to sleep tonight!
while we were out someone from Op Smile text me to say Pres. Rivas was at the hotel waiting for me-our communication crossed & he was there with 2 girls who already had mission calls & also were in need of some good shoes & sturdy backpacks - We were on our way to a grocery store but I couldn't leave them stranded so I had the Sobalvarro's take me back to the hotel - I gave the Sobalvarro's cash for food that some of their congregation & neighbors needed that we had planned on buying (rice, beans, sugar, corn) & went to meet Pres. Rivas & his daughter & the 2 cute girls Heidy who leaves for the Dominican Republic Dec 16th & Marlin who will go to Anchorage Alaska March 1st (boy is she in for a HUGE weather change). There is actually a "mall" by my hotel so we walked there & found them some good sturdy "Hush Puppies" shoes too- they started at a discount shoe store with $15 flats & I reminded them of all the walking they will be doing & that I saw another shoe store we passed..so with prodding we went & got the good ones! We then went to a kiosk that had nice backpacks ($50-75 each) I am curious who here buys them but it was exactly what they needed so they each picked one out. I asked if there was anything else - we laughed that unlike the young men they couldn't just get white shirts & ties! After we walked back to the hotel & they were ready to leave I told them also (but this time I got a little teary) that this was not from me but was from wonderful members of the LDS church in my area who want to help others. I told them we are all brothers & sisters & we needed to help each other - that they & Ricardo will help people in ways that we cannot & we are grateful that they want to go & serve others.
TRULY I AM BLESSED to be the one who gets to be the conduit for other peoples goodness & generosity. All of them are so humble & grateful for the help but I am more grateful that they allow us to help & that both of the Stake Presidents made the effort to connect me to those who could use a little lift as they prepare to put their lives on hold for 18 months or 2 years & go serve others. I am telling you it was like CHRISTmas came early for me watching the immense gratitude they had as we provided them with these things. I love being here for Operation Smile - that is what brings me to the country & then connecting with other members of our worldwide church is just an added blessing & have friends who help me help others is simply indescribable....PURE JOY that is what I felt & I wanted to do all I could for them because truly we are SO SO BLESSED in the USA.
The Sobalvarro's asked if I could go to church with them but we will be setting up the hospital all day tomorrow. The only break I have is 5-7 & they want to come & get me & take me to their church building so I will do that...I am sure it will be another blessing to me.
I missed a team dinner tonight down on the waterfront & while that sounds really nice & I wish I could have gone....I am 100% confident that I was where i was meant to be tonight :)
Wake up call at 6:30 bus leaving at 7:30 & hospital set up & a visit to the patient shelter is on tomorrows agenda finishing at 4 then a team mtg 7:30-9:30 (& my 5-7 plans). I am looking forward to the patient shelter - another opportunity to connect with the children & their families who will have surgery this week...things will be getting very busy starting tomorrow...and I am ready for it!
Erika, Lisa & I got a driver from the hotel to take us to a local "Mercado" we had looked it up on lonely planet & there was a very dangerous one we knew not to go to & this one that many tourists went to. Still as we left Jordi the coordinator asked for my cell #, told us to call if we had any problems, reminded us to watch our belongings, only ride with the Hotel Hex taxi company etc...all of which made me nervous which I hadn't been 5 min before - but it was all totally fine :)
Gustavo was our driver & I practiced my Spanglish on him - Erika & Lisa thought I was really good at Spanish - mostly because I can understand but as I told Gustavo - my Spanish is probably like a 3 year old!
We wandered around for a couple of hours, much of what we saw was very similar to what I have seen in Guatemala & Honduras the neighboring countries but Erika & Lisa had done research & said that the #1 item you should buy in Nicaragua was the handmade hammocks. We found a specific Hammock "tienda" & they had some disabled people working there so that was all it took to make me want to support it & YES!!! I bought a double size hammock. The man in charge was so happy we purchased them there cause they are about $20 more than in the market.
We called for our driver to come back & get us & as we waited, lugging around the hammocks, we wandered thru the market in search of a Diet Coke or Coca Cola Light - they actually had coke zero. Erika after now seeing my skill at locating diet cokes in 2 countries & knowing I have done it in 10 said it probably could make for a good reality show....in search of diet coke across the world LOL.
The driver that came to get us was Norlang & I practiced my Spanish on him too. I may actually try some Spanish this week - I feel like I am dusting out that part of my brain...from 2 years of High School Spanish! We asked Norlang to drive us around Managua a bit on our way back. If you look on lonely planet there isn't much they say to do in Managua - most people fly in here & then go out to the coast. We saw the central downtown area where the bigger hotels are & a nice park & had him take us to his favorite restaurant & then instead of having him wait in the car invited him to come in & treated him to lunch. He is a single dad with a 4 & 7 year old daughters. His mom lives with him to help with the girls & he drives a hotel taxi which I think is a better job than a regular taxi. He was a nice guy.
I had been emailing with a few different LDS church leaders before I left home & before bed last night emailed & said I would meet one at 5 at the hotel & perhaps we could later connect with the other. So Pres. Sobalvarro & his daughter Camilla & his wife came to the hotel with Ricardo an 18 year old young man who wants to serve a mission for the church but has some financial challenges. His parents have only elementary school educations & work in the plantain fields. Ricardo works construction & makes $2/hour or $20/day for 10 hour days. He is saving but needed some help & encouragement & that is what I was able to bring him because of some generous friends who gave me $$$ before I left & asked me to use it to do good in any way....As we drove to the store where many locals got their mission clothes (sort of like a strip mall) & I talked to Ricardo thru Camilla - he said all he really needed was a suitcase because he would never be able to afford that ($100) & probably others could use help - but Sis. Sobalvarro told him not to be humble & think about maybe a pair of shoes or something else too. We got to the store & found the suitcase...I asked him about clothes to put in it...white shirts, ties, pants & he knew his shirt size & picked out one so I added 7 more & told him he could do laundry once a week. Then has asked if he could get a pair of pants so we got him 4 & I had him pick out some ties - it was SO SO FUN as we piled it all up at the register & he was grinning ear to ear!!! They didn't have shoes there but there was a nice shoe store with "Hush Puppies" & thick soles & soft inserts so I asked him if he wanted to try those on so he had almost everything he would need - encouragement he did & we bought them. when we went back to the Sobalvarro's truck he put all his stuff in the back of the truck & insisted on sitting back there with it so that if the car stopped on the street no one would steal anything. He also told Sis. Sobalvarro that he didn't think he was going to be able to sleep tonight!
while we were out someone from Op Smile text me to say Pres. Rivas was at the hotel waiting for me-our communication crossed & he was there with 2 girls who already had mission calls & also were in need of some good shoes & sturdy backpacks - We were on our way to a grocery store but I couldn't leave them stranded so I had the Sobalvarro's take me back to the hotel - I gave the Sobalvarro's cash for food that some of their congregation & neighbors needed that we had planned on buying (rice, beans, sugar, corn) & went to meet Pres. Rivas & his daughter & the 2 cute girls Heidy who leaves for the Dominican Republic Dec 16th & Marlin who will go to Anchorage Alaska March 1st (boy is she in for a HUGE weather change). There is actually a "mall" by my hotel so we walked there & found them some good sturdy "Hush Puppies" shoes too- they started at a discount shoe store with $15 flats & I reminded them of all the walking they will be doing & that I saw another shoe store we passed..so with prodding we went & got the good ones! We then went to a kiosk that had nice backpacks ($50-75 each) I am curious who here buys them but it was exactly what they needed so they each picked one out. I asked if there was anything else - we laughed that unlike the young men they couldn't just get white shirts & ties! After we walked back to the hotel & they were ready to leave I told them also (but this time I got a little teary) that this was not from me but was from wonderful members of the LDS church in my area who want to help others. I told them we are all brothers & sisters & we needed to help each other - that they & Ricardo will help people in ways that we cannot & we are grateful that they want to go & serve others.
TRULY I AM BLESSED to be the one who gets to be the conduit for other peoples goodness & generosity. All of them are so humble & grateful for the help but I am more grateful that they allow us to help & that both of the Stake Presidents made the effort to connect me to those who could use a little lift as they prepare to put their lives on hold for 18 months or 2 years & go serve others. I am telling you it was like CHRISTmas came early for me watching the immense gratitude they had as we provided them with these things. I love being here for Operation Smile - that is what brings me to the country & then connecting with other members of our worldwide church is just an added blessing & have friends who help me help others is simply indescribable....PURE JOY that is what I felt & I wanted to do all I could for them because truly we are SO SO BLESSED in the USA.
The Sobalvarro's asked if I could go to church with them but we will be setting up the hospital all day tomorrow. The only break I have is 5-7 & they want to come & get me & take me to their church building so I will do that...I am sure it will be another blessing to me.
I missed a team dinner tonight down on the waterfront & while that sounds really nice & I wish I could have gone....I am 100% confident that I was where i was meant to be tonight :)
Wake up call at 6:30 bus leaving at 7:30 & hospital set up & a visit to the patient shelter is on tomorrows agenda finishing at 4 then a team mtg 7:30-9:30 (& my 5-7 plans). I am looking forward to the patient shelter - another opportunity to connect with the children & their families who will have surgery this week...things will be getting very busy starting tomorrow...and I am ready for it!
Loved reading this! How much fun to help those sweet missionaries! God bless
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