I am on a plane at 33,000 ft somewhere over the east coast, but it is dark so I cannot even guess where. You get such a different perspective up here, even big things look small, like mountains that look flat, and cities that look like villages, and rivers that look like ribbons, it looks different, but it is the same. Sort of like going to another country, where you see new things and notice that some things are different, and some are the same. Like people; they speak a different language and have different color skin and eat different food, but they still have the same heart and soul, still want the best for their family, the joy of simple things. When you take away the stuff that distracts us, the technology that gives us so much information and entertainment but at the cost of building relationships, of true communication, the art of talking and caring and being human, we are better for it. We all desire the same things, but are derailed by the bombardment of information. At 33,000 ft, it looks clearer, simpler, purer. So we spend 11 days in a new culture, and we see people through a different lens, we help in a different way, not to receive but to share. We teach, and we are taught, we help, and we are helped, we love and we are loved. It is the way God planned it. And it makes us more fully alive, more fully human. It has been a great trip, part of our lifelong mission, to love God and serve Him thru loving and serving others. It is win – win, as it is said that we are the people of the incredibly happy ending. We are not sure when, we are just sure that in the end if we have faith in Him who gives life and in His son who died to save us, we will have that happy ending with Him forever. And there will be many others that we don’t know yet, people from other places and different cultures and we will be together, and there will not be this separation of culture and language and distance. That will be something to behold.

When you look back at a trip there are many things you remember, some good, some not so good, and here are a few of them.

I like the shorter trip to Nicaragua compared to Mongolia; anytime the shortcut takes you over the North Pole, the trip is just too long.

I like the Nicaraguan people, I did not like not understanding their language.

I like the culture, very strong in family and in relationships, and although the people do not have a lot of material possessions, they are not poor. In many ways, they are richer than us.

I like the warmth, but I do not like the hot; 90 is ok, but 95 or hotter no no.

I like the countryside and all the volcanoes and lagoons and green trees, I do not like all the skinny animals fighting to survive.

I like fresh fruit juice and banana smoothies, I do not like instant coffee and lukewarm water.

I like sleeping under the stars, I did not like all the noise.

I like parades and fireworks, I do not like them at 4am.

I like chicken, I do not like roosters.

I like Nicaraguan dogs by day, I do not like them at night.

I like all our hardworking vet students, I do not like working in the dirt and wet.

I like rice and beans, I do not like rice and beans 3 times a day for 11 days.

I like riding in the back of a pickup on smooth roads; Rebecca, Kate, and Patty did not like riding in the back on rough rutted country roads for hours, but they never complained. They make them tough in Texas and Oklahoma, I like that.

I like our hosts Oscar and Tamy, there is nothing I did not like about them.

I like our CVM veterinary team, everyone worked hard and played hard, and I would love to work with them again.

I liked being with Caitlin and Emily, I did not like not being with Nancy, Jaime or Meggie.

I like going on mission trips and meeting new people and learning new things and using what God gives you to help people you don’t know. I am looking forward to serving again next year. And if I go, I may just write about it again, because deep down, I like writing these little blogs, and deep down, somewhere, you must like reading them too, because no one forced you to. So until the next time,

Many blessings
Dr Mike

Some days start noisy, today started with a little knock on the door from Emily that I needed to come and look at something. She was pretty calm, considering it was a 4 inch spider stalking their bed. I caught it in a cup to show Oscar and Tamy but they were not impressed, they grow them big down here. I thought it was one of the babies from that big spider on Lord of the Rings, but it was quietly dispatched by Oscar without any Hollywood effects.

One more day, one more opportunity to help the doggies, kitties, piggies, horsies, and bunnies in Catarina. We helped a lot. We did 15 surgeries including a broken hip ostectomy that Mark did. It also had a broken knee, but it was a young pup that was hit by car, so it may heal well and at least it has a chance. We probably dewormed, deflead, and checked over 150 other pets, all who came to Oscar and Tamy’s house for the free clinic. It was a good last day. Afterward we went to the store, went swimming, and had a little going away/ birthday party with pizza (from Papa Johns which was the only chain restaurant we saw in our stay in Nicaragua) and cake. It was gooood. We also got a pinyotta, (at least that is the phonetic spelling) and it was fun to whack away blindfolded at it. Emily landed the final blow, and the poor thing blew its cookies, I mean candy, all over the place. Then cards and fun stuff like that to finish the day.

All in all, it has been a great mission in Nicaragua. Tomorrow morning we head back home via Miami. It will be good to see Nancy again, as we all miss her. And I am glad to see the weather report, as it looks like some of this 90 degree weather is headed north, and none of that snow is coming this way. They have never had snow down here, and it doesn’t even get into the 40′s, so if they ever come up north I will have to take them skiing, on the bunny hill of course, unless I want to get them back for all that noise stuff they pull down here, and then I will take them on the black diamond trail, but I will surprise them like a 4am parade haha and lets see if they think it is so funny. But I am feeling a little better now that I have gotten some sleep, thank you, as you can tell by the cheerful tone of my blog. You know another thing, the drinking water is always warm. It starts out at about 75 degrees, but then warms up to about 85, and there is no ice, so lukewarm water it is, and you have to drink a lot of it to stay hydrated. I am looking forward to fresh hot coffee and ice cold water, yes sir.

Well, time to pack. I will write one more blog, in case you were hoping I would finish early and quit while I was behind and make this the final one. But no one is forcing you to read these silly things, so as I said before, don’t blame me.

Until tomorrow, blessings from Catarina
Dr Mike

Today, being Sunday was a day of rest, theoretically. We started off by going to a lagoon, which is a circular deep lake formed when a volcanoes erupts and spews lava, then collapses on itself and eventually fills with water. The day was warm and sunny, the water was warm, the sunscreen was liberally applied, and I still burned, or as I prefer to call it, an Irish tan. But it was worth it. We swam around like wounded fish, played some baseball with a noodle for a bat, which made it kind of difficult to hit because it is so limp, but we had fun anyway. We rode in the back of the pickup again and felt happier than a bird dog on scent, as they say in the south, I think. Then some lunch and some more shopping, but I stayed back because my gastrointestinal system was in an inflamed state. I feel better now, but there are conditions down here that are probably still unnamed but very real nonetheless, and they leave you feeling, well inflamed, which is sort of like the Smithers when they lose a game, but they get over it pretty quick also.

We went to church at 6:00 pm, and Oscar led us in a hymn where we alternated between English and Spanish, which was nice. May 30 is Mother’s Day which is a big deal down here, it is actually a national holiday and they close most things, so they invited all the mothers to come up and then their kids came up and put their arms around them while they sang and prayed; family is very important down here which is refreshing to see. Then we came back and ate, I only had bread and cheese, but then they bought out the ice cream, cookies and cream, and who can resist that even if you are arguing with your stomach, so I just told my stomach what was coming down, and everything was fine. Sometimes you just have to get a little firm with your innards and let them know who is boss and hope you don’t toss the cookies and cream, and it works out fine. But you have to be careful and not push that game too much, but tonight I won and it was good. After playing another game of peanut butter, where we tried to steel the sign of the Smithers, which was some kind of smirk/smile, we lost, and they won, which was probably good cause there was no fight afterward.

Well tomorrow is our last workday, and it should be busy, so off to sleep, hopefully, and then some more fun.

Until then, blessings from Catarina
Dr Mike

I wake up at the same time as at home, at 5:30 am, even though we are 2 hours later here. I don’t try to, but that’s what I’m stuck with. I wish the roosters were that consistent. Lots of things grow very well here like fruits and vegetables and bugs. And coffee beans. They have lots of coffee bean trees. So how come the only coffee they have here is instant coffee?? No fresh coffee in a tropical climate. Ketamine yes, coffee no. I understand it in Mongolia where the only thing they grow is snow, but here, it does not make sense. As soon as we pull into Miami, I’m gonna have a big one, even if its at McDonald’s.

We went to a different village today, and it started slow, and our only entertainment was a cute little 4 year old girl who would just laugh and smile at everything and had us all playing with her, but then after an hour or so they started coming in bunches with the dogs and pigs. After about 5 hours we finished and headed back home a little early, ate lunch, and then played pool volleyball until we all pruned up. It started sunny and hot, then some clouds, then some rain, then it poured, then the mist and the wind picked up a little bit, but we still kept playing, not because we are tough, and not because we are stupid, but because even though the temp dropped 10 degrees it was still about 80. When we heard there was a chance of snow in the higher elevations back home, I have to admit I was glad to be here today, except we could not watch the bruins win. After dinner, and the food here has been good and plenty, we played cards for awhile. We played a game called peanut butter, which is basically a group of card grabbing signal steeling false pretending poker like card game from the south, where they are naturally more sneaky so they have an advantage. But actually the best people at it aren’t specifically from the south. They are specifically the women. You can read into that what you want, but I think there is some kind of genetic thing going on, and I am not going to say anything else because I married one, have 4 of them as kids, and work with a whole bunch of them. But I’m just saying, it does seem kind a peculiar how good they are at it without even trying.

Well it is time to go to bed, but I have to leave the light on for about 10 minutes at first because they have this bug that is like a cross between an ant and a small hornet and they dive bomb from the ceiling when you first get in the room, but they don’t sting, they just crawl around your legs which makes it difficult to sleep, not that we need more problems in that department. But they don’t have black flies or Yankee fans here, so that is a good thing.

Until tomorrow, blessings from Catarina
Dr Mike

The people here love to celebrate and have festivals with lots of color and music and fireworks and drums and noise. Last night they had a good one that marched right outside outside our cabins. They especially love fireworks, but only the loud boom kind, I have not seen any of the color burst kind. And drums, they like those too. And last night was no exception. Except it wasn’t last night, it was this morning. And not like early morning ,12:20am or something normal like that. But like stupid rooster who doesnt know how to tell time and just wants to wake people up kind of morning. The kind where you are woken from a sound sleep by bombs and yelling and drums and you are not sure what’s going on because no one starts a noisy parade at this time of morning. It was 4:00 am, on the dot, like it was planned by those roosters. But now we know the truth. It was the people who train their animals by example and then the animals think it is alright to make a lot of noise anytime, but especially when gringos are near. I mean who starts a festival with fireworks and a parade at 4 am? Maybe they don’t have clocks, or maybe they think that it is east coast time which is 2 hours earlier and they get confused, or maybe they just like to bother us because it is fun. But I don’t like this fun. I think sleep is fun. I wake up happy and not sleepy and grumpy. Maybe tonight we should all get up and bang pots and pans and hoot and holler like its a college football day at Oklahoma or something noisy like that, but at 3 am and see how they like it. But we would all sleep thru it because we are too tired. I know that does not sound Christian, but I am just expressing my inner feelings, because they certainly do anytime of the day or night.

Well we put it all behind us, and went to our destination today, which was a small town about an hour and 20 minutes away, but it took a little longer because of our smoking brakes, but we figured that out pretty quick (you can’t drive with the emergency brake slightly on) and got there ok. Today was mostly dogs, with some pigs, rabbits, and cats sprinkled in. We spayed 12 dogs, 3 cats, and dewormed and applied topical flea and tick medicine to about 100 animals, and treated a bunch of sick dogs. The students do most of the work, with Mark and Adelaide and I bossing, I mean guiding, them around. They are learning very quickly and can now do a spay that would have taken them 8 hours with a 3 ft incision, in 45 minutes with a 3 inch incision. Most of the treatments are quick and quiet, except for the pigs, who must have been taught by the roosters, how to make noise. Because they are LOUD, like lawn mower loud, like you are torturing them with knives loud, and even if you just touch them they Squeal like a pig, which should not be surprising, except for the volume, which is well, loud. While we are working on the animals, Caitlin, Emily, and Alex, minister and play with the children, coloring, playing games, and handing out candy. Everyone likes them. And Oscar and Tamy will talk with the adults and help them and encourage them, and they come back every week and have a bible study with them. And these clinics help them reach out to new people and give them a chance to talk with them and invite them to church or to a bible study. So they can build their relationships with the people. That is the best part, and they are making a difference, as they see changed lives.

Our day started out nice and calm and dry, but just like a faucet the rainy season started again, and we got nice and wet. But, not being one to complain, we pressed on and got everything done. It was a good productive day. We stopped at the roadside stand to buy more ketamine, but it is still hard to understand how you can have a shortage of running water, electricity, and good clocks, but you can buy a controlled anesthetic like ketamine at a stand without a license. Go figure.

Well tomorrow, which is Saturday here, we will do another clinic somewhere. And I will put on my happy face, which is the one that is not sleepy, and go to work. And maybe I will learn some new surgical techniques, like vocal cordectomies on birds and pigs, and practice. Or maybe we will just have pork and chicken for lunch. I would like that too.

Until tomorrow, blessings from Catarina
Dr Mike

There are many things to worry about back in the states, like hurricanes, blizzards, and tornadoes. But here there is another natural disaster waiting to happen…volcanoes. They call this the land of lakes (not the butter kind) and volcanoes. We went to see one today. When we got there they said it was closed because of the fires and was too dangerous, because it sometimes hurls small rocks (sort of like hurling cookies, but real far). Turns out the fires were from some careless people who started the fires from smoking. They need to have smokey the bear come down here and give some talks, if he speaks Spanish; I am really surprised they could teach that bear how to speak English anyway, so he must be really smart. But we did get to drive up to the crater and look down, but it was real smokey and stinky, so we could not see all the way down. They call it “la boca inferno” which means the mouth of hell, but even though we are Christian, we thought it would be ok to go anyway. It was interesting. There were some ladies selling fruits and things, so we got fresh coconuts, and they whacked off the tops with a machete, and put a straw in it and we drank fresh coconut milk. It looks really good in those Hawaiian commercials with a garland around your neck and girls dancing around, but in truth I did not like it very much. I guess my Irish genes don’t have many taste buds for some of this tropical stuff, like coconut milk, hot weather, and mouthy roosters. But I still like it here.

We then went shopping at the bazaar, or market, in Masaya. We got some good things for the family back home, but I can’t tell you what because it is a surprise. However, I learned my lesson after my experience in Mongolia last year, and I did not buy anything tricky, which is anything for a girl that has a size. No, no, no, just don’t do it. Get jewelry, cute pictures drawn on leather, trinkets, boston bruins stuff, or anything neutral like that. Nancy will like what I got her, and if she doesn’t, she is always gracious enough to pretend like she does. She is a good wife and mother, and Cait and Em and I really miss her. Hope you are feeling better honey.

After that we did something really really fun, we went zip lining. Through the forests of Nicaragua at like 100 mph, well that’s what it felt like anyway. We all went and zipped and spun and went upside down and pretended to be superman and Spider-Man and cool things like that. It was great. After that we went to an outdoor park in the city and sat in these really tall chairs and drank fruit juice smoothies, and then we went out to eat at an authentic Nicaraguan restaurant (as opposed to a fake one) and stuffed ourselves on beef and chicken and plantains and cheese and rice and beans, and after that we came back and played volleyball in the pool, but we almost had to call the game because the Smithers boys from Texas were getting a little rowdy, but the Oklahoma girls were able to calm them down a little and we finished the game without any major fights, although they were doing some wrestling after the game because they all could not win. Now in case you had not figured it out, today was an off day, but tomorrow we will be back to work, so don’t think we are slacking. We are just recharging, like our cordless surgery clippers, so we will be sharp and focused tomorrow.

The other thing I like here is the driving. When you see things like red lights and double lines and stop signs, they are “suggestions”, which of course means you can act like a Massachusettes driver and ignore them. And you can ride in the back of a pickup like a hunting dog. It feels like the Wild West. I have not learned much Spanish, but I can now say hello, shut up, and good bye.

Adios amigos from Catarina
Dr Miguel

So you are back, wondering with just a touch of sarcastic humor if we actually slept last night. Well I am glad to report that the animals in Quebrada Onda were much more educated and civilized than in El Naranjo. The dogs did not bark unless asked, and the roosters could tell time and would start their cock a doodle doo at the acceptable time of 20 min before daybreak. They need to start a little grade school for those uneducated critters in the other town, but I am feeling a little better now that I have had some sleep, but I would still eat one if I had the chance – not the dogs though, that would not be right. When I got up this morning and came back from a walk, a bull, with large horns, decided he liked my cot, and claimed it as his own. I evaluated my options and decided he could have it, but I was hoping he would not try to use it, which he didn’t, and he finally walked off after he left me a large present, which I graciously accepted as I did not want to make him mad at me too.

I took a little walk in the morning to see some of the countryside. The land has a lot of mid sized mountains and is very rocky. It is the dry season, so there is no green on the ground, unless it has big thorns to protect it. The animals are all very skinny, almost emaciated by our standards. They are in survival mode until the rainy season, when the grass and food starts growing and they can fatten up. They forage on any small thing they can eat. All the creeks are completely dry, except for the small river we swam in. The rainy season normally starts the beginning of May, but it is late this year, and they need it to start soon. Well, they no longer need to wait, because it started today, 11:30 am to be exact, as we were doing our small animal surgeries. Outdoors. On us. It made for interesting surgeries, but a little extra water in the incision should not hurt anything, we hope. We had to move the surgery table inside, but it was very hot, muggy, and dark, so we would move it outside when it cleared up, only to have it sneak up and rain again, almost like it was planned by those sneaky roosters or something. The large animal team had the right idea, as they were doing their spays outside and they just stayed outdoors and smiled thru the wet and rain, which really must have bugged those roosters. We spayed 10 or 11 dogs and castrated a pig or 2, and dewormed a bunch more, then had lunch and packed up and came back to Catarina for a wonderful swim and meal. The students are all great, they all have a very good attitude, get along great, work hard, play hard, and are a real pleasure to be with. Caitlin and Emily are helping out and drawing up all the dewormers and vaccines, and even giving the injections, and helping with the spays. As we get into the towns later this week there will be more kids, and then they will be busy with them.

We are all really enjoying this mission, getting the chance to live in small villages with no electricity or running water or reality tv shows, and we get the chance to see how rich the people really are. Rich in relationships, in culture, and in spirit. We learn more from them than they do from us. This is a good mission. I am glad we came. Once I reach out and touch a few more of those roosters, I will feel more complete. Until then,

Blessings from Catarina
Dr Mike

Hola from the countryside of Nicaragua. That is about all the Spanish I know so far. I am not a quick language learner. It took me 20 years of school to figure out English, so I picked science because you can learn how to make up big words that sound, well, scientific. But that does not work here, it just sounds like jibbered Spanglish from the loco gringo. It’s better if I don’t talk at all. But at least I can write this blog, and other loco gringos can read it and weep and I don’t have to hear it.

We had a nice 3 hour trip into the country, most of it on dirt roads, but they are working on paving it, or more specifically, bricking it. They actually hand lay brick pavers with large groups of about 50 people every kilometer for the entire 30 kilometer road. And there are no flag men or police with their lights on sitting around and “directing traffic” on overtime pay, and I did not see a single accident. We arrived in the village of Narangu, set up in the local church and started to see the animals. We went on 2 farm calls where they roped the cattle and we would vaccinate and deworm them by injection of ivermectin. We would deworm the dogs by giving them chewable heartworm pills, but we could not get close enough to do anything else. Then we split into 2 teams, and one team continued to do large animal, and our team did small animals, which involved spaying the dogs, many of which were pregnant. We did it outdoors on planks of wood between 2 benches under injectable anesthesia, with the students doing much of the work. We did 8 dogs and 1 cat, so we were busy. The people are starting to trust the teams that come thru here 2 times a year, so this time they bought us more females for spaying. We had a church service in the evening with singing and a brief message that they asked me to give. I had prepared stuff ahead of time, but I left the folder in the pocket of seat 26 D on the plane, so I had to wing it. And did I mention it was hot in there. Not summer hot, but melt the butter hot, no even worse, fry the egg hot, and I was the egg. So I kept the talk short and sweet, well at least it was short. They said they liked it, but they are very nice people who like everything, like the weather and people who speak jibberish, and noisy roosters.

It was a great day working and helping in the countryside. Even though you can’t directly talk to them, just living in their culture and watching them relate to each other, seeing how important the family is, how they interact and play and laugh, how they are so happy with the simple things, in a way I envy them. They are happy with so little, they are always relaxed and unrushed, that I wish we could get some of that in our country. We have a lot to learn. And I am learning a lot. I am looking forward to tomorrow. Until then,

Blessings from Narangu
Dr Mike

I guess I shouldn’t have said how much I was looking forward to tomorrow, because it started much earlier than planned. In fact the day kind of started at night, as soon as we put out our cots to sleep under the stars, the guys outside, the girls inside the church. The girls had to deal with the bats, but at least they weren’t the vampire bat kind, just the fly around your cot looking for bugs kind, and none of them were injured. The real fun was outside, waiting for us to lay down and close our eyes and thank God for the wonderful day and the quiet peaceful countryside and the gentle people….do you remember when I told you about the dogs and cats and rooster in Catarina? Well they were 1st grade amateurs compared to the pros in Narangu. I thought bruins fans were loud, but they are bush league compared to these veterans. As soon as we layed down and the peepers were peeping and the crickets cricking and cows were lowing (whatever that means), the dogs were scheming. And they were ready, like they had been practicing for months. Now dogs can bark and growl and make noise, but there was something about a group of gringos sleeping where they had no business sleeping that really ticked them off. So they started barking, but not just a yip here and there, but a full out vocal cord straining non stop neighborhood piercing barking, and not just from 1dog, but he called in his whole team for decibel deafening support. It was a canine cacophony, a mad dog rap session, and it was aimed at us. Now I know you think I exaggerate sometimes, and I guess in my soiled past I may have embellished things a tad, but that was the old Michael, and I have been transformed, and this is the truth. It was so bad that even the locals had to come out, after like 2 hours, and shush their dogs, and it even took a while for them to obey. But finally, after like a million years (oops I did it again), they stopped and we fell asleep until dawn, when the roosters would start their morning wake up. Except it was still dark. And it wasn’t even close to dawn. In fact it literally was at 2:30am when no decent time telling rooster would ever start crowing. Well we must have ticked them off too because they took over where the dogs left off, except they climbed on the stone wall 15 feet away from our cots and like a bad dream they just wouldn’t go away. They would crow for a bit, then stop just long enough for you to relax, like 1 or 2 minutes, and then go off like an avian alarm clock again, over and over, with no snooze button to push. Throwing sticks and stones, making hissing sounds (that always works for cats), covering your head, counting sheep (they started crowing too), nothing worked. If I had a gun I would have shot it, if a grenade I would have lobbed it, a napalm flame thrower – I would have used it and eaten their charred flesh with a smile (as you can tell I had plenty of time to stew on this). When I don’t get much sleep I can get a bit cranky. Well shut the front door and get me out of this countryside. Daybreak came too soon. Time to wake up, I mean get up. Of course those scaredy cats scattered like the back biting tick eating vermin they are. But we did have chicken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (really did) so just the thought that it was one of their relatives made me feel better. I hope we sleep better tonight because we are sleeping outside again, but we will be in a different village, so maybe they won’t be so ornery and unreasonable. I will let you know. And I bet like your rubber necking at the accident scene you’ll be back just to find out if I had another miserable night, and you may just be hoping I do. Well the jokes on you because I will just wear my Bose noise canceling headset….oops I left it back in Catarina, bummer. I may have to borrow a machete, or a flame thrower…

Well the day did get better after breakfast, and chicken, and we left for another village. The dirt road we had to take had been washed out so there were huge ditches and large rocks and it was rough, but we were all sleep deprived and in no mood to be pushed around, so we made it thru, thanks to the fearless driving of Oscar and Tamy. We went to 2 different villages and did some more spays and large animal work including castrations, vaccinations, deworming, and some sick animal stuff. A busy but productive day, by the end we were hot, sweaty, and dirty. And they had no running water, or electricity. But they did have a river, and we all went down and had the best swim and cleanup we have ever had. It was wonderful, except for the little fish who thought the moles on my back were little fish food and started nipping at them. Well I already had enough of this bull-poop so I tried to whack them, but of course like the chicken roosters, they ran,I mean swam, away. But the next time I have fish for dinner, I will think of them.

Until tomorrow, blessings from the Nicaraguan countryside
Dr Mike

I like Nicaragua, so do Cait and Emily. It is not like Massachusettes. It is not like the US. It is not like Mongolia. I guess it is like its own little country. I hope I haven’t lost you yet. I don’t want to get too technical this early in a blog.

It was Sunday here today, just like back home. It is supposed to be the day of rest, but that is easier said than done. It kind of started last night with the noise, the party with the music where you recognize the tune but not the words (like rap – I don’t understand any of that either), or the trucks that for some reason honk their horns as they slow down in front of us as they near the intersection, or the cat fights, or the dogs barking all night (they keep them tied up all day then let them loose all night to roam and bark and congregate next to my cabin), or that rooster that thinks he’s supposed to crow for 2 hours straight right next to my cabin (those dogs need to take him out to dinner), or to top it off that woodpecker that likes to peck on the roof of the cabin, and its not even wood, he must not be able to read the labels. So it was not quiet, not like the double dead end road we live on in sleepy quiet Ashburnham, where the only noise is my snoring, but I never hear that anyway. I may need those noise canceling head sets tonight, or maybe I will just snore louder and give them a taste of their own medicine.

We spent the morning helping the kids at their Sunday school classes. There are about 300 kids that meet in 24 homes around Catarina, so we split up and helped out. Or at least Cait and Em did. I tried to help and be good, but when it came to making those paper lions I am afraid I did not do so well. I tried to make them scary looking, but the girls just shook there heads and the boys just laughed and talked very quickly in Spanish all the while glancing at me and smirking; I wish I knew the language so I could straighten them out, kind of like how the bruins teach the rangers a thing or two. Or maybe I will just tell them to behave “or else”, except I still don’t know what that means.

We spent the afternoon going thru the inventory and organizing the drugs and supplies for our work. Then we all went swimming as it was hot and muggy, and the water felt great. We tried to play some volleyball where we just hit the ball around and try to keep it in the air as long as possible, but we are not very good at it. It would have been better on frozen water with a rubber puck, but they don’t have much of that around here. Next time maybe we will just play kill the guy with the ball and keep it simple. In the evening we went to the church for service. Oscar gave the sermon, and Tamy interpreted for us and there was lots of singing and happy faces and an alter call. It is always great to worship God no matter where you are or what language you speak, and thankfully Jesus always understands us.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, but probably not before that special needs rooster starts yacking, we will be up and out for another adventure. We will be going on a 3 hour journey into the countryside where we will be working for 3 days. We will not have electricity, running water, beds or even food and water ( ok I made that one up), so we really will be roughing it. It will be great, and hopefully my daughters will be ok without those umbilical cords they text on all day, although I am pretty sure they will like it too, although not the part about missing the bruins game.

We also will not have any wifi, so you won’t have to read any of my blogs for a couple of days, but like I said before, don’t blame me for you reading this, it is your fault. But if you want, I will write when I get back, and maybe then there will be some of that gross stuff you’ve been waiting for. I just hope it isn’t me so I will have to remember not to drink the water.

Blessings from Catarina
Dr Mike