Q & A...

We have received so many questions about our life here and although we try to answer our e-mails in a somewhat timely manner, we’re discovering that there are so many factors that have changed from when we were communicating with one another at home. Sometimes our e-mails disappear while we’re in the process of writing them; sometimes if we’re actually able to try to save them to our draft file, they will store and other times, they’ve disappeared; sometimes they get sent only to bounce back; sometimes they get sent but don’t arrive, sometimes they get sent, don’t arrive and our sent file doesn’t even reflect that they were sent!; sometimes we don’t receive the ones we’ve been told have been sent; and this one happens the most – the signal is dropped in the middle of the send function and who knows what happens to the message?…so much of electronic communication in Nicaragua seems to be like that Las Vegas commercial on tv…what happens here stays here! Susanna has told us this is not at all uncommon and that all of the above happen to most of the missionaries to the point they’re not surprised…frustrated, but not surprised. I think it’s the prince of the air doing his own form of wire tapping!

So, in order to save us all a great deal of headaches coupled with the fact we would be responding with the same answers to different people, I’ve decided to do a little Q & A and hopefully, that will cover some of the things you are interested in. As if I weren’t “chatty” enough with the other blog entries, let me just issue a warning right now…this one takes some time...so either be prepared to be here awhile or else do it chunks...whichever works best for you - we're just glad you're here!

Q: What is the temperature like? Is it hot all the time?

A: Actually, right now, it’s not ridiculously hot like it was last month…although it’s plenty warm. Our temps have been in the low 90’s during the day and will even get down to the upper 70’s at night…but we’re up on a hill outside of Managua and we’re about 5-8 degrees cooler here than there. Today, we have a good strong breeze (which is great for drying clothes) and although we’ve had a mild morning, it’s going to be a hot afternoon, I can already tell. The sun is much more intense here and it is quite draining. Whoever said it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity, needs to spend some time in Managua…it’s both! And it does take some time to adjust. I started laundry this morning at 6:00 a.m. just so I could get the majority of it hung out before the heat of the day started in.

Q: Is your house like houses in the states?

A: Actually, our house is very much like a house you might find in south Florida. God has blessed us with a very nice house…although we do have our own wildlife preserve located between our ceiling and our roof…but we have learned to live with that. Our floors are all tile and our walls are a stucco-type material and we have a hand-crafted brick tile roof. We have screens on all our windows and iron bars secure each window and door. It is a very open style home and as a result, sound travels extremely well. There are no secrets in our house! Our furniture is basic and functional…although I have to admit, I splurged on an upholstered living room set…I just couldn’t hack the hard, un-cushioned couches that are typical for upholstered furniture here. We are also fortunate in that our house has a closet in each bedroom and actual closed cabinetry in the kitchen.

We do have hot water in two of our bathroom showers which is supplied by a handy little attachment lovingly called a “widow maker”. It is an electric water heater that is the actual shower head and is wired directly in to current. It is activated when the shower is turned on. The water actually goes over exposed coils inside the shower head and thus, hot water! Okay…it’s not really hot, but it’s pretty warm and no, it’s definitely not a UL or OSHA approved item…but it works. The trick is you do not want to touch the shower head while the water is running…now you know why they call it what they do! I have a washing machine but no dryer…it’s too expensive to operate here. We don’t have hot water anywhere else in the house so I wash in cold water and the dishes are done in cold water washed with an antibacterial liquid and paste…that one took some getting used to, believe me!

There are no garbage disposals and toilet paper cannot be flushed – it must be put in the trash…another adjustment. We don’t have air conditioning and we try not to run our fans unless we’re parked in front of them…again, a cost issue. We have a regular refrigerator, a microwave – which we plug in to a surge protector only for the time it’s being used and then unplug it again (same with all our small electrical items in the house as electricity is so expensive here) and a gas stove which is hooked up to a small propane tank when in use. The tank is kept in our laundry room and connected every day with a 20’ hose - the stove has Celcius markings…makes baking more of an adventure that way!

Q: How is the food?

A: Expensive. But isn’t that the case everywhere these days? The poorer people shop at the open air markets for their food whereas the Americans and the Nicas who happen to have a bit more income shop at grocery stores. The typical diet here is based on beans, rice, tortillas and platanos (resemble a banana but must be cooked to be eaten). Depending upon the income level of the family, other items that can supplement are eggs, chicken, cheese, fruit such as mango, avocado, pineapple, lemon etc. The main other vegetables eaten are corn – not sweet corn but more like field corn, tomatoes, onions, garlic and squash.

Now, that being said, I want to share with you some of the food things that we have found to be “new” to us…crema acida is like sour cream but it is liquidy and comes in a plastic bag…very good over red bean paste, I might add; guidilla – a sweet corn tortilla grilled between plantain leaves and served with a piece of soft white farmer’s cheese in a bowl of warm, sweet cream….very yummy!; quesillo is a piece of the cheese wrapped up in a torilla and put in a plastic baggie – then pickled onions are poured in to the tortilla and topped with warm cream and a pinch of salt…an acquired taste but very good; nacatamales – a combination of cornmeal outer wrapping surrounding pork, rice, potato, onion, tomato, green pepper and a mint leaf all wrapped up in a banana or plantain leaf like a package, tied with twine and boiled or steamed and is considered to be Nicaragua’s national folk food…good if it’s good; cacao which is a chocolate type drink…it makes a great smoothie! There are lots of other new and different foods as well as new ways to prepare old favorites…eating anywhere other than home is great if your adventurous.

The biggest hurdle I’ve yet to overcome is defining the cuts of meat here…and so far, everything that is beef (with the exception of ground beef) has been tough. I’m told it’s because the cattle here are so lean and I’ve also been advised to invest in either a crock pot or a pressure cooker. We’re eating a lot of chicken…

Q: What is driving like?

A: Insane. Actually, I’ve not driven yet. I think if we had an automatic transmission I would be more inclined to try it, but with all the hills and the crazy drivers here, I’m too intimidated to get behind the wheel of a standard transmission…that plus the fact I would probably have to live tranquilized after every driving experience has so far kept Jim in the driver’s seat.

Everyone drives as fast as they can and the lane markings seem to be suggestion only…because the roads are so terrible and filled with axle-breaking potholes, everyone fights to have the one patch of road that is the least destroyed…which so far, has always been the lane we’re in and has not mattered whether it is a truck next to us or a taxi barreling straight for us, whoever gets there first, seems to claim it. This on-going game of chicken somehow works and although every taxi and bus we’ve seen has dents all over it, we’ve seen very few accidents that have stopped traffic. It seems to be a matter of being able to drive as aggressively as possible, without flinching and yet somehow knowing when to back off at just the right moment…kind of like a mad, high-speed, 4-wheel chess game...I'm not sure I understand the strategy.

My place in all this is to grip the door handle, slam on the non-existent brake pedal in 15 second intervals, gasp and cringe in unison and at the same time, stay in constant communication with God about our safety and our desire to see our grandchildren again. It really is amazing the coordination that goes in to one of our daily outings.

Q: How can you live with all those bugs and things?

A: They came with the house. No, really…it’s Nicaragua and I will just take this opportunity to use what has become my favorite explanatory phrase which covers just about all circumstances…it is what it is.

Q: What do you miss most?

A: Our families and our friends. There are lots of things we miss on occasion but those “wish-I-had” attitudes come and go depending on the mood. There is a constant longing though for our loved ones. Leaving was hard…staying is going to be even more difficult. Truthfully, the lifestyle we left behind was not necessarily a healthy one and I don’t mean that statement to be reduced to simply our physical health…although we do have a different diet here, I don’t know that overall, it’s healthier…we miss having salads and veggies and many of the fruits we loved. But, it has been nice not to hear Wal-Mart whispering in my ear to come spend money on things we didn’t need. Or to worry about whether my hair looks good or not…it doesn’t – the humidity is not my friend. We don’t look at what someone else has and wish we had “it” too…the majority of the people around us don’t have anything either.

But we do miss being “loved on” and giving it back…hugs and kisses from and to our grandkids, great conversations and time spent with our daughters and son-in-law, spending time with Jim’s folks…those are the times we miss. We miss our church family – the genuine sharing and caring that occurs there. We miss worshipping in our home church – we miss the teaching and we miss our Sunday school classes. We miss not being there for important moments in people’s lives; we have missed Jeremiah rolling over, friends who have had surgery, are battling cancer, are facing life-changing issues, have experienced losses and those that have had celebrations, weddings, graduations and such – and we are here. We cry with them, rejoice with them and pray for them but it’s all been at a distance and there are times that our arms ache to embrace them and our hearts hurt that we can’t. Our ears want to hear the news firsthand, our eyes want to see these things for themselves and our voices long to speak directly to those we care about…but that’s not possible.

So, those are the things that create the void we sometimes experience here…but we’re thankful we have Skype and the internet and we’ll just keep trying to outsmart that enemy of the airwaves and remember that we wouldn't know gain without loss nor pleasure without pain.

Q: Are you happy there?

A: That’s a loaded question. Not always…and right now, probably the truthful answer would have to be most of the time, no. It’s too new, we’re too alien and home is too far away. But are we joyful? Absolutely. God brought us here and it’s really not a matter of whether we’re happy or not…that’s circumstantial at best. But we’re trying very hard to be obedient and there’s a joy and a peace in that I can’t even describe. Would we have done anything differently? Perhaps one or two things but choosing not to come here would not even be part of the equation.

Q: Are you ever afraid?

A: Sometimes. There’s a peculiar thing that happens when you suddenly become a minority in an unfamiliar environment…and one that doesn’t speak the language, to boot. With it comes a great sense of being extremely small and vulnerable but that’s also when we tend to see God more clearly in our circumstances. I have to say it's also given me a new appreciation for those who are immigrants in our own country...setting aside the legality issue for a moment. I think my eyes might now see them through a little bit softer lens than in the past...you know, it's that "walk a mile in my shoes" theory coming in to play.

In truth, Managua is no more dangerous than any other city of the same size and probably less in some instances. What I am most afraid of is not hearing God…or maybe, more to the point, not being obedient to what I know He is calling me to do at any particular moment. That is not location specific – that is submission specific.

Q: What have you seen that bothers you the most?

A: That one’s easy…the poverty. It sometimes keeps me awake at night. Seeing it in a concentrated area for a short period of time on a mission trip impacted me. Seeing it every day, the results of it, how people react to it and the sense of hopelessness has changed my life forever. Just today, after Margarita left, I discovered she had fished out of the trash some molded rolls I had thrown away (didn't refrigerate them and I should have). I stood in the kitchen and just looked out the window wondering why she would do such a thing. We pay her well and with the other cleaning job she has, I know she shouldn't have to resort to such a thing. And then it hit me. She's known what it's like to not have enough food and she's going to do everything she can to see that doesn't occur in her house again. Perhaps she took them home to feed to her pig - I hope so. I know she had saved for a long time to have a pig. I would hate to think that my garbage would be part of someone else's dinner who wasn't walking on 4 feet.

I wonder sometimes why God waited until this time in my life to bring me to such a place…the answer is really quite ugly. I was too self-absorbed and too myopic to have been brought here any sooner. I don’t know why God has us here… what program we’re supposed to establish or project we’re to initiate. I do know that we can’t change the politics, the effects the natural disasters have had on this country or the lives of the millions who struggle from day to day. I know that we're starting way late in the game and with so many handicaps, we shouldn't even be playing. But God must see it differently.

He has told us we can touch one person and we can share with them the hope of Jesus Christ…and because He cares for them, we do too, and we can also share beans and rice along with a tender touch and a warm smile...and I guess, moldy old rolls from the trash. I won’t debate that there are poorer places in the world – I know there are. And I won’t argue that there are so many who just want a handout…I have seen that firsthand both here and in America. I don't think that's a regional distinction, I think that's a character distinction. But I will say that poverty is what bothers me most here – physical and spiritual. We may not be able to do much but we better do what we can…I believe that’s what God expects from each of us.

Well, hopefully that answers some of the most common questions. We love hearing from you. God uses each one of you every time you write us, did you know that? Your words of encouragement, your stories about what's going on in your lives, the pictures of your beautiful flowers that you share with us...those are sweet and tasty pieces of home and we eat up each one of them with an appetite I never knew dreamt we would have. So don't hesitate to keep feeding the ol' folks in Managua...and Chiang Mai...and Mali...and Guadalajara and anywhere else there are people who have left their families and friends in answer to God's call of "Who will go?" They just might be hungry for the very thing you have to offer.