The other side of the country

On the other side of Nicaragua you will find the Rio Coco. You will find gorgeous land full of straight trees that reach up to the heavens, you will find the town of Waspam, and you will find a hundred other small communities that make their lives off the resources of the land. That is where you find the Miskito people. A people who have grown very near an dear to my heart. Almost all the children in our home are from this region of the country, and this last week I got to visit for the 3rd time.

We flew in on the little 12 seater airplane, landing on a gravel runway and being met by a single roomed cement airport with no security checkpoints. We had a number of objectives to fulfill on this trip. Mary, Rachel, and I were going to be helping Charity's dad on the construction site, and in a few days Charity and Leo would be arriving with 7 of the kids from our home. Family members had been called to come in and visit our kids, and we were also needing to work on getting birth certificates written up for 6 of them.

The ministry has begun working on a project in Kisalaya, one of the villages near the main town of Waspam. Construction has begun on a building that will soon be the new children's home for the kids we have living over there as well as a space for visitors and volunteers to stay when they are in that area helping. The building is already 10 high, and although I don't have a picture of it, the roof beams have all been put in! Mary was very useful in helping supervise and be a part of the construction, while Rachel and I found ourselves to be much more of service by translating her and Brother Davids directions.

Rachel, Mary, and I were able to spend a couple days there before all the kids came and we enjoyed playing 'princesses' in our elegant mosquito nets :)

I loved seeing our kids who live in El Crucero interact with the kids we have in the childrens home there in Waspam. I was very proud of their 'mingling' skills. Here a number of the kids are huddled over Leo as he was showing them all the fun pictures and things you can do on an ipad.

It was great getting to visit with the 11 kids over there that I see so infrequently. Leaving last Friday was of course very difficult and there were a couple tears shed not only by me, but some of the dear girls who live there too. Being in that area is always a very emotional experience. This trip was compounded emotionally by meeting Griffin too.

When Jhoselin's family came to visit her, her mom also brought Jhoselin's little brother simple because he was a baby. She didn't consider the fact he needed any medical attention at all, but when we saw him, we were just stunned by his physical shape.

He is 2 years old but he looks more like a baby skeleton with skin. His bones stuck out at every joint, and when he cried no tears would come, just noise.

I will write more about Griffin later. We brought him back with us on the airplane Friday and he has been in the public children's hospital in Manauga since then. We know God does miracles, so that is what we pray for now; complete healing of his little body and also a smile.