Surprise, surprise, surprise...

It seems like every time we make the trip to Rio Blanco, there’s always a nugget of the unusual tossed in just to make the trip interesting. This trip was no different in that respect. It was a trip filled with little surprises. Wikipedia defines surprise as, “a brief emotional state that is the result of experiencing an unexpected event. Surprise can have any valence; that is, it can be neutral, pleasant, or unpleasant.”

We left Friday afternoon with Jim driving Susanna’s car and Pastor Sergio riding up with us. As usual, we didn’t leave on time…that’s one of the things that’s most difficult for me to get used to…that schedules are more suggestions. No surprise there.

Freddy had decided he would stay the night Friday night so that our house would not be left empty. We told him it wasn’t necessary but he didn’t like the idea of no one being here at night. We set him up in the bedroom downstairs that can be accessed only through the exterior entrances. It is where we keep the gardening tools and Freddy is accustomed to it. It has its own bathroom and shower which makes it nice for things like this. We put up the mattresses that had come with the bunk beds we had bought months ago. They are typical Nica mattresses, definitely not the kind Americans are used to sleeping on, and are easily folded in half. We gave him a plastic chair and table to use and told him we would probably be back Saturday night and that it wasn’t necessary for him to be here and that it would be okay.

When we arrived at Sergio’s house to pick him up, his wife and one of his sons were outside to see him off. There was also a gentleman sitting just inside their gate and he looked familiar. Recognition hit both of us at the same time. It was Simon, the man from Rio Blanco, whose house the team from South Carolina worked on when they were here in June. He is the gentleman who has had a leg amputated and has been having some serious health issues at the site of the amputation as a result. We visited him again in July to see how he was doing. Simon is one of the people we took a food basket to when we were there. He is also the gentleman for whom we paid to have transported to Managua to seek medical treatment. He recently had another surgery and it has been a lengthy and painful ordeal for him. We always ask Sergio how he’s doing but we had no idea we would find him at Sergio’s house.

It seems that he needed a place to stay that was closer to the hospital where he’s currently taking treatments – Sergio says it’s chemotherapy, but someone else says she thinks it’s physical therapy. Either way, it’s taken him away from his home and his family. Simon was staying with another friend but the financial strain was proving to be too great on that family. That’s when Sergio stepped in to help.

It was such a nice surprise to see him and to see his smile when he realized it was us in the car. He just lit up and instinctively, tried to stand. He grabbed his homemade crutch and reached for his shoe to put on his remaining foot. We were in a hurry and so I waved him to stay there but we hollered greetings at one another, like two old friends. And I hope when we left Sergio’s house that Simon had the same warm feeling watching us pull away that I did as I waved goodbye.

Simon said in July that God brought us here as a gift to him. It was such a sweet thing to say and it was so nice to hear, but that’s a humbling thing, you know it? It’s a praise that is weighty with responsibility. We do feel a burden for Simon and it’s been such a privilege to be able to help him through the giving of others. We want him to know that our God is a big God who loves His children equally and that we believe we are blessed to be a blessing. That the acts of kindness and caring do not come from us, not even from you, but are fruits from the Spirit that are being poured out on and through God’s children. Simon is more than a person in need whom we have been able to help. He is our brother because we share the same Father.

Another pleasant surprise came when we had just passed Matiguas, the last small community we go through before getting to Rio Blanco. It was nearing dark and all of a sudden, Sergio hollered for Jim to stop the car. It seems we were passing a place that makes molasses…or that’s what they call it, anyway. Here it is used as a supplement to feed the cattle. Susanna had been asking where she could find molasses and Sergio pointed this place out.

Jim stopped the car and backed up in to the yard/driveway area of the place. We got out and saw probably ½ dozen or so men working and just as many sitting around and watching. It was a fascinating procedure and I wish it would have been lighter so the pictures would be easier to see but I will try to describe the process.

The only artificial light was from a light bulb strung over the center of activity where two oxen were yoked together (equally, I assume) and were fastened like a spoke in a wheel to a “hub” which contained a mechanical press. They were motivated to keep walking in a circle by a young man with a switch who walked behind them, swatting them periodically. He walked with a pronounced limp and I wondered if that was the only kind of work he would be able to find. He stared at us with great curiosity. There was another man standing before a table filled with cut sugar cane which had been stripped of all foliage. That man would feed the stalks of cane in to the press. The oxen powered the press to crush the cane and they caught the liquid “sugar” in to a bucket. There was a third man on the other side of the press who would remove the remnants of the pressed cane.

The next step was to take the buckets of liquid sugar over to a huge open oven which was fueled by wood. There was a giant vat, of sorts, that lay on top of the oven. The liquid sugar was put in the vat and another couple of men would stir it. The heat was intense from the fire. As the sugar boils down, it creates a syrup. There was another man who somehow opened a drain and filled buckets with the dark, thick syrup. Susanna was disappointed to find out that the molasses wouldn’t be ready until much later that night or perhaps, even the next morning. So, our time there was over.

The whole scene was mesmerizing and I could have stood and watched for much longer but we still had a ways to go to get to Rio Blanco. In just the fifteen minutes or so that we were there watching, the sun had quickly gone down. We would once again be entering Rio Blanco in the dark. And boy, was it dark. The power was out. Surprise!

After dropping Sergio off at his brother’s house, we headed back out to the hotel. One of the workers and the security guard recognized all of us and came to meet us with flashlights. There is a great deal of construction going on at the hotel and the owner is adding more rooms and a “conference” room. The young man who asked us about what kind of rooms we needed wanted to know if we wanted air conditioning. We told him “no” and then later laughed at the question…the power was out…what good would air conditioning do us?

We were shown to our rooms…thankfully, we had a different room than last time. Hopefully, the bedbugs hadn’t found this one yet. It was really a pretty nice room, all in all. The double bed had a bedskirt but no bottom sheet and a twin size top sheet. The pillows were in bright, red pillow shams which were made of some sort of thick, heavy material. But it was a clean room. We had a little sink, a small table with a color tv, a straight backed wooden chair and two floor fans. The bathroom “door” was a shower curtain liner and the shower was huge. The one thing that was the same was the nice “refreshing” mountain stream water. Br-r-r-r!!!

We had each thought to bring flashlights so we were able to see to open the window and we opened our door to get a breeze through the room and it actually was quite nice. Susanna had ordered our dinner when we first arrived and we ate dinner on a plastic table with two candles stuck in beer bottles. We were hungry and the food was excellent. The candle lit dinner was perfect and we enjoyed our time. But by 8:00, we were all exhausted and ready to go to bed. It had been a long day. Just as we got up to leave the table, the lights came back on. It was then that we got a better idea of the amount of work that was being done in regards to the expansion. You can see in these pictures that I took the following morning some of the “scaffolding” they use, donated by "clear-cutters-r-us"! Just kidding.

When Jim and I returned to the room, we put down a blanket and a sheet on top of the bedskirt. We had brought them from home, along with our own pillows, in hopes of putting some distance between us and the bedbugs. Jim and I made sure we were well-covered with our heavily laden deet bug spray and we retired for the night, praying that morning would find us bite-free. Thankfully, those prayers were answered as we had hoped. I hate to say we were surprised…I prefer to think we were blessed!

We were off to set up the clinic at the church by 7:15 Saturday morning. It was a slow start and we weren’t sure we would have very many people at all but by mid-morning, the place was jammed and the pace remained hectic for the remainder of the day. Susanna lost count on her numbering of patients that she checked in, but we think there were somewhere between 115 and 125. We finally finished up with the last patient leaving about 5:00, realizing we hadn't taken any pictures since early that morning. The only time Jim and I sat down was for our 20 minute break for lunch. The rest of the day found us bent over a table, counting pills, writing labels, tagging meds. It was a hard day for us two oldies…my neck and shoulders still hurt today.

Another surprise. ..I didn’t really expect to see anyone I would know – not in Rio Blanco, especially. But I looked up to see a dark, serious young man rounding the top of the steps and once again, dual recognition happened as we saw one another’s faces. It was Fausto! He was the Nicaraguan carpenter who headed up the construction when the S.C. team was there in June! I never really expected to see him again after that week as he lives quite a distance from Rio Blanco – several hours away. But he had heard about the clinic and had come to town that day to do some shopping and to take advantage of the low-cost treatment. We all shook hands and hugged in the typical Nica fashion and it was such a delight to see another heartfelt smile from a contact we had made months earlier. I love how God weaves people together. It was obvious he was as surprised to see us as we were him.

Fausto’s not a believer in Jesus but he couldn’t escape the reminder that Jesus was caring for him through those in that room. He was checked in by a Christian nurse. He had to wait for over two hours listening to Christian music – obviously not the old hymns or the contemporary Christian music that we love but still, music that praises God. He met with a Christian doctor, was prayed over by a Christian pastor and had his prescriptions filled by Christian missionaries. I wonder what he was thinking as he left yesterday. We pray that God will call to him through visions and dreams and that he will remember there are people in Rio Blanco who care for the health of his soul as well as for the health of his body.

We left Rio Blanco at 5:30. One more surprise. Ramon, a friend of Sergio’s and Susanna’s wanted to go back to Managua with us. Susanna said he was a professional driver and knew the roads. Jim and I were both bushed so we climbed in the back and Ramon drove with Susanna up front. He crept along, slower than the molasses we didn’t get. We thought we would never get home. Until he hit the main road going back in to Managua and then it was as though a fire had been lit under that boy! It is with all seriousness when I tell you that he drove faster once we were in Managua than when we were on our way there. There were more than a few times that I prayed we wouldn’t hit anyone or be hit. Again, God was merciful and we made it home without a scratch…even tighter neck and shoulder muscles but thankfully, nothing more serious than that.

We pulled up in front of our gate to unload our stuff and the beam of a flashlight was coming up the driveway. It was Freddy…faithful and good to his word. He welcomed us with his smile and immediately began carrying our things to our porch. He asked about our trip and I asked about his family. He then said he had something to show me. He took me out to our front yard where he had planted flowers and the start off a bush I had loved at the old house. It was a wonderful surprise! He was as pleased at my reaction as I was at his action. I told Freddy that Jim could take him home since the buses had quit running and he said that he would stay the night downstairs again because it was dangerous for Jim to be driving in his neighborhood that time of night. He said he had told his family he would be here all night and so they wouldn’t be expecting him. And so, we all said good-night. Freddy went down to “his” room and the nicest surprise of all was when we came inside…it felt good...we noticed it’s starting to feel like home…“a brief emotional state that is the result of experiencing an unexpected event…”