A Day of Relationships

Today was an amazing day! We started out with a devotional finishing the book of 1 John, which was full of great conversations through chapter 5. The love of Christ flows through us as our faith strengthens, as one grows the other. We then enjoyed breakfast with Meg before Matt picked us up to head to the rescue.

Matt had shared with us that 2 Nicaraguan veterinarians were potentially coming up to spend a day with us and today was that day! Matt shared on the car ride over that this is one of the first times that an international team has worked hand in hand with these Nicaraguan veterinarians in this area. He was so excited about this opportunity! When we arrived at the rescue the 2 veterinarians, Lestor and Marcos, had just arrived. We took some time to talk through protocols and started to set up. It quickly became obvious what an amazing skill set these men have with high volume spays and neuters. We couldn't get exams done fast enough, and dogs anesthetized quick enough, as they would already be done with the animal they had in front of them! We quickly settled into a rhythm as people from the community showed up with their animals, and we filled any gaps in the day with the few spays and neuters that Matt had left to be done on the rescue dogs. The huge blessing with have 2 more vets is that we now had the time to spend with the people! We spent time making beaded bracelets/necklaces with the kids, coloring, and playing soccer. It was just such a wonderful day that made our hearts very full! We had so many opportunities to pray with families that came through, get to know them, and love on the kids. Each family went home with a Spanish Bible and the kids had arms full of crafts. At lunch time, Matt got enough pizza for everyone there to be able to eat, including the families. The kids helped Angel pray for the food, and then we all enjoyed pizza together!

The rest of the afternoon went very smoothly. We started to run out of some of our anesthetics, but Lestor had extra and we were able to keep rolling. We used every last sterilized surgical pack, but it was the perfect number for the day! After a little bit of time to fellowship at the end of the day, they got back on the road to head home. As we were driving back to Meg's, with a car full of dogs from the rescue that had surgery for the day, Matt let us know that this is the first time he's had this many animals done in a week without a patient dying (always a higher risk when working with dogs that have had little access to health care). He shared how you could really feel God at work through everybody on the team, and the health and safety of the pets. What a blessing this week has been! With this being our first trip here, our biggest prayer is that we come and build relationships and build trust in the community. A week full of successful surgeries, and time with families, is one of the best ways to accomplish that!

We made it back to Meg's in time to head to the beach for a sunset, the one thing that Katelyn has wanted to make happen on this trip! We spent some time soaking in the big Pacific waves while the sun set before walking back, accompanied by many crabs along the trail. Meg had a wonderful dinner prepared for us, which we enjoyed together before one final game of Rumikub for the evening. We are heading to bed tired, but with full hearts, thankful for how God has allowed us to be a part of the work being done here!

Photos have been uploaded on yesterday's blog, but we have realized the ability to upload things decreases significantly after 9 pm local time. We will add pictures here tomorrow!