Isaac was kind to us!

Well, here we are, blogging from Nicaragua once again! I’d forgotten how much fun it was to sit here, sweating profusely, writing about our travels! This is the second day I’m trying to finish writing this. When we were just about to go the little store around the corner to buy an hour’s internet, the heavens opened, and it didn’t stop the rest of the night. I think I heard the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard.

Sunday we had an amazingly smooth trip here. We got to Miami on time, with about an hour layover, and our flight left there on time. It was a bit windy and raining when we were there, and I saw tons of cancelled flights on the board, but thankfully ours wasn’t one of them. Charley tried to make us miss our flight out of Miami for the second time – it’s become a bit of a habit. He did this to me last year too, although that time it was on the way home and was because he put the hammock chair we were carrying through security check and forgot to pick it up. If you’ve ever been to Miami airport, you know how far apart everything is!

So, here’s what happened. Charley was on a desperate search for a Starbucks that he didn’t have to go through security to get to. He eventually figured out where it was, but by then our flight should have been boarding. But they hadn’t announced anything yet so we figured we had time. About 2 minutes after he walked away, they started boarding, and since the flight was nowhere near full, it didn’t long to get everyone one. So, I called Charley to tell him to hurry. He was just arriving to Starbucks when they started boarding. By the time everyone else was on there was no sign of him. So I got up, with two carry-on suitcases each weighing about 30 lbs, and one with really bad wheels, a backpack, a laptop bag, my purse, and Charley’s two hats, and tripped over myself dragging it all to the doorway. I called Charley and told him to hurry. But not to Charley-hurry, to Rachel-hurry, ie, RUN!!! He did, spilling coffee on himself along the way, and we got on! I don’t suppose they would have left without us since we had checked luggage on the flight, but it makes for a more dramatic story if you imagine that they would have! And I must admit, his mocha was DELISH, so it was worth the hassle!

So, we arrived, our ride was here with the truck at the airport, all of our bags where on the belt by the time we got to them, we had no problem getting our 90 days of tourist visa. All in all it was a very successful trip down here.

We got to the house, started to unpack a bit, went to the store to buy a few things for the next few meals, and then lost track of time and went to the meeting, getting there about 10 minutes late! It was funny when we walked in because the attendant sat us near the front, so a lot of the brothers saw us and were all grinning and surprised to see us! We visited the congregation that we served in for three months last time, so after the meeting it was wonderful to hug everyone and chat with them. They already knew we’d be serving in a different congregation, but were happy to see us even if just for a week! That night we got home and finished unpacking, almost, and were asleep by 8:30. The two hour time difference caught up with us!

Woke up bright and early, about 5:30, Monday morning. I stayed home and finished unpacking and Charley went out in service with the congregation we visited on Sunday. In the afternoon we went to a local market and bought a few things we needed around the house. We also tried out the GPS and it works down here – thanks Dad!! It had the market in its Nicaragua map and took us right to it.  It was funny though because only the main streets really have names, so after a while it told us in 1 mile to turn left on “Road”, then after that, we turned right on “Road”!!!!

Today we went out in service for a few hours in the morning.  The road we had to drive down was already the worst one in the territory, and since the rainy season started it was even worse! We got within about 30 feet of the house we were meeting at, and left it there since it turned into a bit of a stream at that point! I had a really nice conversation with a girl this morning for quite a while. The sun was really hot thought, and standing talking to someone, it felt like someone had poured a bottle of water down my front and back. I hate sweating like that, but I’ll just have to get used to that!

Well, it’s time to pay attention to our visitors! I haven’t taken a single picture yet! Maybe I’ll take some of the house tomorrow. It looks a lot different to last time, all painted different colors inside. It’s really pretty. 

Hasta luego!