What we've learned

The last two days we finally got dirty and I mean filthy. We have been working at the Villa Esperanza doing anything they tell us to do. The Villa Esperanza is beautiful and will be a wonderful place for the girls to live. They are close to being done with 2 of the homes and hope to be done by possibly March (the rumor on the street). Construction is done a little differently in Nicaragua -- no codes, no mortar mixers (the ground works fine), very little machinery or tools. Life moves a little slower. The heat has not been horrible and there is always a breeze which is a blessing and a curse in the dry season.

So here is what we have learned:
1. The dry season should be called the dusty season.
2. Eating unripe mangos with salt makes you a "very good Nica" (Victoria has learned).
3. Geckos can and DO fall off ceilings onto peoples heads (Suzanne had a hard time getting to sleep later).
4. They do have tarantulas and great big beetles with horns and big moths the size of bats.
5. Earplugs are a good thing (geckos chirping tends to be annoying when sleeping).
6. Showers are very good things.
7. Nicaragua dirt is harder to get off (Team 2 - bring lots of soap).
8. The Nicaraguan food is amazing! And our hostesses cook very yuuuummmy food.
9. Fresh hand squeezed orange juice is better than anything.
10. Nicaraguan coffee is the best in all the world.
11. We could live here.
12. A pair of gloves can bring joy to a man's face and joy to the giver's heart.
13. Nicaraguans, who are very poor (the workers at the Villa make 80 cents an hour), are a very generous people.
14. Yesterday we were working with Nicaraguans. Today we were working with friends.
15. And while sometimes our labors seem small we don't know how God can use our simple act to change a life
16. And God sometimes lets us see the end result of our labors (ask Judy Hill --a beautiful story to be posted later hopefully with pictures).
17. Nicaragua can change your life.