 We awoke this morning to strains of “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” coming from prayer meeting at the church next door . . . at 5:00 AM!! They do start their day early here.
We arrived in Managua on Monday, January 7th. Our flight arrived a little late and it took extra time to clear the dog, so we stayed the night in Managua and flew into Bluefields on Tuesday, January 8th.
 The first night, the power went out and stayed out all day (the power is fairly dependable here, but outages are also common). The propane tank for the stove was also empty, so cooking was out of the question. We managed fine.
We have spent most of the first week just getting our temporary house set up. It is a mission house (like a parsonage) that is not used on a regular basis, so some maintenance was required, but we are grateful for the accommodation.
 Kim has been helping with the young children in the Vacation Bible School and Tim has spent most of his time working with the construction people to get the house construction underway. We have to get permits.
In order to get the materials for the house, Ralston and Javier need to go to Managua and purchase from the distributors, then arrange transportation to get the materials back to Bluefields. The materials are much less expensive in Managua. The bricks are of better quality because they are not made with salty sand.
 We are going to need to find a way to get our materials here because the workers need the tools that we have in Dallas. Buying the power tools here is not a good option because the quality is poor and the price is high. We are considering all our options on this. We have to get the stuff to Miami, then get it on a container to El Bluff, Nicaragua, then get customs clearance.
Thank you for your emails and prayers. We do not have our internet access installed yet, but we have an internet cafe very close that costs only about 30 cents for a half hour.
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