The best laid plans...

I’m writing today’s blog, sitting out on our terrace, babysitting Susanna’s dog, Pixie, and guarding our clothesline adorned with 30 pair of gloves and 4 nail aprons along with 8 pairs of shoes lined up neatly on the pavers…the last three items “souvenirs” from our week up in Rio Blanco. We got back to Managua Friday afternoon, back to our house Saturday morning and have been doing laundry non-stop since then. Having to depend upon skies that are not laden with copious amounts of rain has made the drying process a bit trickier and certainly, much more time-consuming.

The last few days have given me some time to process all that occurred last week…and as usual, there is so much to share. It’s difficult to know where to begin and I’m sure I can tell you with great certainty that it will be even more difficult to know where to end. This will probably be another one of those novellas to which I seem to gravitate…obviously, short stories aren’t my forte, but maybe I’ll be able to do it in “chunks” again…might be easier for all of us. This first part will lay the groundwork for the next few blogs…I want you to know how we started out because it’s important to how we ended up.

The group from South Carolina arrived last Saturday night, their flight delayed by half an hour, and they were quickly introduced to the pace to which it seems most of Nicaragua operates…hurry up and wait. There were four groups which were on that flight and customs was having the time of their lives with all of them…that equates to a lengthy and frustrating amount of time spent at the airport. Meanwhile, we were waiting their arrival at their hotel, which is located only 1 km from the airport…we assumed they would be arriving in a reasonable amount of time after their flight was due to arrive. The plan was that instead of meeting them at the airport and then following the shuttle bus to the hotel, we would just be waiting with our laptop ready to go so that they could each call home as soon as they arrived, using our Skype function. Two hours later, a tired yet excited group of young people, all in their twenties, came through the doors of the hotel, smiling and chattering, full of anticipation and promise.

With the exception of the leader, none had ever been to Nicaragua before but all were ready and raring to go. Their enthusiasm was contagious and all the apprehensions that had been building up in Jim and me for the last few months just melted away. This was going to be a fun group! They weren’t afraid to ask questions and they were very open to receiving the few guidelines we felt were necessary to have in place for the sake of their health and safety in the coming week. Four hours after arriving at the hotel, we headed back to our house, with our unfinished task of packing waiting to be completed.

The morning’s sounds woke us up bright and early…too early after only 3 ½ hours sleep. We finished packing, loaded the car with our supplies, got dressed for church and headed out the door with the intention of stopping at the gas station to pick up a bag of ice and some bottled water for the 4 ½ hour drive we were going to be making to Rio Blanco after church.

We had just pulled in to the Texaco at 9:00 a.m. when our cell phone rang. It was Jay, the group leader, telling us that the bus still hadn’t shown up to pick them up for church. The bus was scheduled to pick them up at 8:30, church was to begin in 30 minutes and the ride from their hotel to church was every bit of 30 minutes…this wasn’t a good start to the morning. I told Jay I would try to get hold of the driver and pulled out my trusty little notebook with all the notes in it which Susanna had left us. She was the one who had contracted the bus and driver and so I was hoping that would have been one of the numbers she left…nope. But she did leave us a couple of contact numbers for her in the States…so, I called both to no avail. I then called Elizabeth Buzbee, Susanna’s best friend, who had been appointed our “surrogate Susanna” while she was out of the country. Unfortunately, she didn’t know who Susanna had gotten for our bus driver. The next step was to call the pastor with whom we were going to be working, Sergio Torrez. Not a problem, Susanna had given us his number. Oops, a problem. He doesn’t speak English and guess what, “No hablo Espanol”! So, another call to Elizabeth. Gave her the number we had for Sergio. Got a return call from Elizabeth…that number was to his cell phone and he had left it with his wife. Elizabeth called her back, asked for a number where he could be reached in Rio Blanco (he had gone up the previous day to get things lined out for our arrival up there). Sergio didn’t know the bus driver’s name or number either.

This was getting sticky…and was not reflecting well on our desire to come off looking like we knew what we were doing. We knew that this team had requested Susanna and we were the pinch-hitters. New in the country, new at coordinating a team’s project and new to such issues as no-show bus drivers. What would the team think of us? What would Jay think of us? How could we be looking like failures so early in the game? You know, God hates pride even when it’s covered with the shiny covering of “doing His work” and He will do whatever it takes to get it out of us. So, after exhausting all our human efforts, what did I do? Prayed. Why couldn’t I have made that my first “call”?

We arrived at church, hoping against hope that there had been a miscommunication and that the bus driver thought perhaps he was to pick the group up there instead of at the hotel. No bus. But, we did see Mike and Sue Buzbee, who had been informed by Elizabeth what was going on with the MIA bus. Mike very calmly told me he would help me get a truck to haul all the luggage and supplies up to Rio Blanco and that we could rent a van to take the kids up…that the unexpected is to be expected and that this would be a good test to the flexibility of the group…it wouldn’t be the last.

I called Jay to let him know what we could do and he told me they were in the process of loading the bus – he had finally shown up! Praise God for answering the prayers of a frantic and sleep-deprived woman who was just hoping at that point that the health issues of the previous weeks would not choose to resurface with what was looking to be a less than stress-free week ahead. I knew that with this less than sterling start, I was going to have to be as healthy and focused as possible.

While waiting for church to begin, knowing our team would be very late, Sue and Mike shared a bit of wisdom with us. They told us that we would need to be SURFing all week, that the enemy would be attacking on every front and that we had to be prepared. Some of you may already know that acronym but it was new to us…”S” stands for service, “U” stands for unity, “R” stands for relationship and “F” stands for flexibility. Jim and I were about to discover we were going to be catching some pretty big waves in the roles we had assumed.

The team arrived and stood at the back of the church. Service that morning was filled to capacity as there were apparently a lot of groups attending and so there weren’t any empty seats. After praise and worship, the team was recognized and applauded for their upcoming work and almost on cue, seats began emptying out as people offered their chairs to the group who had come all the way from South Carolina to come and work alongside their church plant up in Rio Blanco. It was a very touching moment to watch the looks of gratitude and appreciation cross the faces of those who chose to stand in honor of those who had come to help. I hope it didn’t go unnoticed…I am quite sure Jesus caught it.

After church, we went outside to transfer some of the luggage from the bus to our car. Because they were in a hurry to get loaded at the hotel, much of the luggage along with a huge white “coffin” cooler loaded with ice and bottled water, had been put on top of the bus. Due to the certainty of rain coupled with the condition of a stretch of the road we would be traveling, we thought it best to put everything inside either our car or the bus. While four of the young men were lifting the loaded cooler down off the bus, it tipped and ice-cold water (literally) poured out on one of the guys, Aaron, soaking him to the skin. As much of a shock as that had to be to him, I have to tell you he never once loosened his grip until the cooler was set on solid ground. And then, still smiling his all-star smile, without a trace of disgust, anger or animosity in his voice, calmly asked if anyone had a towel so he could dry off a bit. Thankfully, my bath towel was readily accessible and so Aaron was able to mop up the icy stream of water that was running fast and furious off his sweet little Carolina self! That guy was going to be a keeper!

While we were in the process of getting all of the luggage shuffled around, Jay realized that one of his translators had not yet shown up. He called her and found out she had decided the night before to back out of the trip due to some obligations at school. This left Jay one translator short of the five he had planned. Planned. Nothing was going quite as planned. It was a pattern that would be repeated throughout the week. I think Nicaragua is a country where God sends those of us who like to make plans just so we can see that in the grand scheme of things, our plans mean nothing…God is the One Whose plans come to fruition.

The group boarded the bus, I got the bus driver’s name and cell phone number…just in case…and we headed off…only to make it to the Texaco station a few blocks away for a bathroom and snack stop. It was there that one of the young men, Lee, told me that he thought he had ruptured his eardrums on the flight the night before. He said that it had happened before and that he was experiencing some pain. Well, my resident nurse and safety net was out of touch in Tallahassee, so I reached for the cell phone to call Elizabeth again. My phone had a different screen on it than I had ever seen before and when I went to pull up Elizabeth’s number, it was gone! I then tried to call Mike and Sue – their number was gone. All the numbers of the people whom I knew in all of Nicaragua were missing! And the phone was acting weird…of course, do you think any of the messages were in English? Of course not! We were in Nicaragua and…no hablo Espanol! And all those numbers were in my phone – not written down in my notebook! Note to self…don’t depend on electronic equipment of any type!

I knew then the enemy had shifted his focus from our computer to our cell phone…that’s not paranoia, that’s just another skirmish in spiritual warfare. In any battle, it is always beneficial to cut off the lines of communication. Silly Satan. My line to the Lord remained open and fully operational in spite of his efforts. So, the prayers began. I had a very uncomfortable young man who could potentially suffer some serious complications if an infection were to set in. Within minutes, Elizabeth called just to check to make sure we were doing okay! God is always on time. She told me the kind of medication I needed to pick up for him in Rio Blanco, first thing on Monday morning…the farmacias (pharmacies) are closed on Sunday. So, Lee took some Tylenol, and off we went.

Finally, we were on the road. Or so I thought. There is a very direct route to the North Highway which is the highway we needed. But instead of turning left at the corner, the bus driver continued on straight. Jim and I thought he must know a short cut…after circling the same few blocks a couple of times, I realized we obviously weren’t headed to the North Highway. I called Jay, and with I’m sure what was a slight tone of irritation, I asked him if the bus driver knew where he was going…Jay asked him and he assured him he did. After a few more questionable turns, we finally hit the right road…fifteen minutes later than we should have. Not what we had planned.

It was after noon and we were just leaving Managua. We did NOT want to be on the road when it got dark. It’s not a safe thing to do…there are no lights along the roads, there are very few guardrails, there are often both people and animals walking in the road, some of the potholes stretch across both lanes and could easily swallow a VW Beetle, plus it’s just common sense that a lonely stretch of darkened highway does not seem to be the best place to be for a vehicle loaded down with gringos with goodies. No, we did not want to be on the road after dark.

The trip normally takes us 4 – 4 ½ hours…that’s basically what we had planned. We had planned on being out of Managua and well on our way by 11:30 or so. We did not take in to consideration that the loaded down bus would have trouble pulling the hills, navigating the potholes, the steady rain that accompanied us almost all the way and the 20 minute bathroom break half-way in to the trip. We finally pulled in to our hotel a little before 6:00…just as it was getting dark. We got our room assignments and then immediately headed out to make the evening’s service at Verbo, the church plant. Of course, we were treated as honored guests. Most of those 20 or so in attendance were women and children…only a few men were there. Sadly, that’s a pretty good capsulated view of the church in general in Nicaragua. The music was led by Sergio, playing a guitar, and a young lady – the handwritten words projected on a wall with an older projector. Both used microphones hooked up to 4 large speakers…neither were necessary in the small space but I don’t know that church could be conducted anywhere here unless the volume is cranked up. Jonathan, who is our Spanish instructor, served as the translator for Sergio’s sermon. He was both pleased and humbled that this team would want to come to worship with his small little church. He preached simply and plainly and it was a beautiful time…and I thought it sad that the men of Rio Blanco were missing out on so much. I prayed that we would have an opportunity to show Jesus to those we would encounter during the week.

After church, the team went back to the hotel, which sits on the edge of town, to unpack and clean up while Jim, Sergio and I picked up the cooked food, the cook (Ida) and her two helpers (Petrona and Blanca) and transported them all to the hotel so that we could have our evening meal. It was the first of a week’s worth of great eating. The team ate well and then gathered together for their evening devotion. We loaded up the empty pans, the cook, the helpers and Sergio and headed back to town. Ida, who is also from Managua, was staying with Sergio’s brother, Julio, and his family…they live and operate a clothing store right across the street from Verbo. We would do these “food runs” every morning and every evening all week long…hauling hot coffee to cold salads and everything in between.

Although we missed out on a lot of “team time” by doing this, it was a great opportunity to get to know these precious women and Pastor Sergio even better. I wouldn’t have had it any other way…we got to practice our Spanish, they practiced their English and we all laughed a lot during those trips. Even more importantly, we worked on the “R” in our SURFing…it was time well spent.

Our first night there, the kids quickly worked out their own room arrangements and we all settled in for the night…and the rains began in earnest. We awoke the next morning, ready to begin the day. After breakfast, we ran by the doctor’s office (this is the woman doctor Jim and I visited with re: beginning a feeding program when we were in Rio Blanco last summer), to get Lee the medication for his ear. Then we headed back so we could load up and get started on the week’s activities. There would be issues to address…but those would come later. Everyone was in high spirits and had great plans…so did God.