Day One: February 2nd, 2012

Dear Internet,

Day One started out way to early for my taste. Alarm went off at 1:30, out the door by 2! Mom and I then drove to pick up two of my team members who live in Dresser, Carolyn and Steve.

We met the rest of the team at the airport around 4. We were all given a very fancy name tag, on the front was our name and on the back was all of our in-country contact info. (the address we needed for customs was on there) 

Once my small group was there, we were given the go ahead to go check in. The small group ahead of us had overwhelmed the self check in and it no longer worked, so we checked in at the desk. I handed off my huge checked bag (which was under the weight limit by about 10 pounds, although you couldn't cram anything more into it) and got my boarding passes for both flights. Next step, security!

Me, Emily, Kristin, Carolyn
Lindee, and Karen

We all got thru security without a problem and there wasn't even a line due to the early hour. The team waited on the other side of the checkpoint to make sure we all got thru, and then we headed en mass to our gate. I've been in the MSP airport more times than I can count, but I had never been to this gate. Kind of fun.

We didn't have to wait overly long before we boarded the plane. I helped Lindee figure out her camera, that was really fun. Come to find out she had the same camera as I did. :)

Our seats were assigned alphabetically, so I sat next to Lexi and her mom! That was fun. Lexi was the youngest person on our team (she's a sophomore in high school) and I was the second, so we bonded pretty good. I got to sit next to the window both flights. :)

Sunrise

We got to see the sunrise above the clouds! It was so beautiful! And pretty quick too. 

The flight to Miami was very uneventful, which was good. I listened to the audiobook of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and crocheted.

We landed around 11 I think, and discovered our next gate was on the other end of the airport. We had plenty of time to get there, but it was still a considerable distance.

My group wanted to walk the whole way. After sitting on the plane that long, I sort of agreed, but my carry-on was very heavy. And I hadn't figured out that I could attach my backpack to the rolling carry-on yet. I lasted about halfway. :) Carolyn and I took the tram the rest of the way. The rest of the group got there first, but I didn't mind.

We then found lunch and re-assembled at the gate. I chatted with mom on the phone for a while.

The flight from Miami to Managua was a little over two hours. Towards the end of our flight they handed out the customs paperwork we needed. There were three different forms, although they all asked about the same thing. Where we were going, how long we were going to be there, the reason we were going, that kind of thing. 

We flew over Nicaragua for a little bit before we got to Managua, as it is closer to the west coast. This was my first "I'm not in Kansas anymore" moment. Mountains, volcanoes, rain forest. Definitely not Minnesota.

We touched down in Managua, it was the worst landing I've ever experienced. :) Seat belts were needed.  I didn't think we were going to crash, but it was a little intense for a while. We pulled up to our gate (one of six) and saw that this was definitely not what I was expecting. Managua is the capitol of Nicaragua, and because of this I was expecting an airport about the size of MSP. Totally not the case. 

We got off the plane and followed the hallway to the customs check point. Here they looked at he forms we had filled out, and we purchased our tourist card. My passport got stamped and off I went. 

The next step was to pick up our baggage. We were the only flight there. Once everyone had their bags, we then had to go thru the next customs step. We put all of our bags on this conveyor belt thing and then they went thru a scanner. We handed the operator the final customs form, and we were good to go!

Christina was there to meet us. She works for ORPHANetwork and she is the one that coordinated all of the activities we did that week. She explained that we would be taking a bus to the orphanage. So, we walked down the sidewalk with our large amount of luggage. 

We loaded everything up, and off we went. The bus ride was about 45 minutes long. This was my first look at Managua! The traffic was crazy, and so different than traffic in the USA. For one thing, motorcycles frequently ride in between the lanes of traffic. More than once I thought someone was going to hit us, they were so close. It was crazy.

We finally turned off the highway and onto the road to Vera Cruz (the town where the orphanage is located, population about 2,000). This road got to be very familiar, as we traveled on it every time we left the orphanage. It is still amazing to be that there would be a nice house surrounded by a fence, and then a run-down shanty. 

We drove thru the gate of the orphanage, and the fun began. The gate keeper smiled and waved as he let us thru. We were now at Casa Bernabe! We passed the school where the kids attend (they started their school year yesterday, on the 13th) and continued down the bumpy dirt road that led to the orphanage.

The "orphanage" is made up of four different buildings (plus the school) and is located on a huge piece of property. I don't know how many acres, but its a lot. We passed the Casa Bernabe building first. This is where the younger boys and girls live (about 12 and younger). You could kind of see the other two "home" buildings from the road, but there are a lot of trees in the way. 

We then continued down the road to the Team Center. The Team Center is where we ate all of our meals and where our rooms were located. We pulled up to the front of the building and finally stopped. It had been a bumpy ride. :) We all got off and realized that the kids had been following us!

We unloaded our bags, and then went to greet the kids who had assembled in the "porch" area of the Team Center. There were a few my team members who had been there before, and they went and hugged many of the kids. The rest of us kind of hung back and observed. 

The kids then put on a welcome performance for us. Two of the girls danced in traditional costume, and one of the boys spoke to us. After that, they left. It was like they were there, and then they weren't. :) 

The cooks gave us a fun fruit drink, as we were sort of hungry. After that, we went on a tour of Casa Bernabe! There is a path that goes from the Team Center to each of the buildings... it became very familiar before we left. :) 

First stop was the older boys' house. The building's name is Posada Samuel. Posada means house, or a building you live in. We got to go inside and see what it looked like. Very cool. All of the rooms opened up into a central "courtyard" type room. It looked like there were about 4 to 5 bedrooms. I believe that there are about 7 to 9 boys (plus a caregiver) that live there. The ages are about 12 to 18.

Next, was the older girls' house. I think the name was something about Ruth, but I don't remember. It was painted a really fun purple color. When you walked inside, you walked into a living room type area with a small kitchen to your left and a hallway lined with bedrooms to the right. I spotted a sewing machine, that was pretty cool. I believe that there are about 10 girls living there. (again, ages 12 to 18).

Our last stop was to the Casa Bernabe building. The building is really long, with their dining room in the middle. The boys live on one side, the girls on the other. Someone mentioned that there are about 15 girls who live there, and I want to say around 7 to 10 boys. Paula is the youngest, and she's seven. I believe Ponchito is about the same age, he's the youngest boy. They live in more of a dormitory style room in this building. Each child has a bed (bunk beds) and a wardrobe-style closet. The beds were all very neatly made. As we walked into the girls' room, almost all of them came and gave us a hug. It was amazing.

I'm standing in the door way

Once we had visited the boys room, we walked back to the Team Center and had supper. It was now dark. We usually had supper around 6 or 7. I don't remember what we had, but I wrote in my journal that it was "successful". :) Which means I ate what was served! Yay God! 

We then brought all of our stuff to our room. I was in room #3 with my small group.

Around 7:30 (which was much earlier than usual) we had our first "Porch Time." Every night we would sit in a circle at the Team Center and talk about the day. We would start out with "remember when" moments, then move on to where we saw Jesus that day. Later in the week, Christina would also answer questions about what we had seen or gave us more information on where we had been. We would pray, and then Christina would talk about what we were doing the next day. 

The Bathroom

We then went back to our rooms to unpack and settle in for our first night in Nicaragua. There were four bunk beds in our room, one along each wall. We only had six people, so we had two extra beds. One was beneath mine (I had a top bunk), and the other was above Karen. Each room had its own bathroom (which included a shower). It had two sinks, but we found that only one worked. :)

Carolyn's Gecko

Carolyn had gone into the bathroom to take a shower, but it wasn't a minute later that we heard her say very loudly: "There's ANIMALS in here!". Brave Lindee went in to help her, and I expected that there were a flock of spiders or multiple lizards in there. Nope. One little gecko. :) He was our only visitor tho. We didn't have any spiders or any other geckos after that. We all (including Carolyn) had a good laugh.

In Christ,

Laura