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Buenos Dias from beautiful Nicaragua!  While the forecast in Atlanta is calling for snow, here in Nicaragua we have 100% chance of heat, humidity, and cattle crossing the roadway.  After an uneventful plane ride and only a few bumps in customs we arrived in Jinotega at 10:30 PM local time. (11:30 EST)

Our first full day in country, Sunday, was spent unpacking, sorting, counting meds, visiting the local orphanage, and wrestling pigs and goats.  An elite team of livestock handlers helped the orphanage staff vaccinate and de-worm their 26 goats and 33 pigs.  (Or at least that is what it felt like)  Thank you to Jeremy for lending your animal husbandry skills to make this happen.

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Sunday evening was spent in worship with a congregation of approximately 50 in the nearby city of Matagalpa.  After a praise filled church service the team returned to Jinotega for a late supper and an early bedtime.

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Monday started early for our dedicated mission team.  With the city of Pantasma was awaiting our arrival, a departure time of 6:30 was in order.  The host church graciously allowed us to use their building to house our clinic.   A full day of medical exams , dental cleaning and filling of prescriptions kept the team busy.  Monday saw a total of 169 medical exams with 554 prescriptions filled and 50 dental cleanings.  The residents of Pantasma were thankful for the tremendous outpouring of God’s love in a tangible way.

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Tuesday started much the same way as we bounced happily down the road to Yali.  (not to be confused with Bali or Mali).  While Yali is much smaller and more remote we still saw 177 patients, filled 548 prescriptions, and performed 47 dental cleanings.  The children turned out in droves even without being seen by our doctors and hygienists to see what the gringos had to offer.  While we were offering gifts of simple toys God was offering the gift of Salvation thanks to Pastor Marvin.  Along with sharing the gospel each patient was given their own spanish New Testament.  As we ended our day in Yali with God’s gift of a double rainbow we were delighted to see the children running with their new sunglasses on and pinwheels in hand.

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