Video - - Finally!!!

We figured it was about time to get a video out there of what we do here in Nicaragua and the people we work with! (With a little push from some friends!!) :)

We are so thankful to all of you who have given financially and of your prayers to encourage us and be that support that we need. This isn't just a job that the Euceda's are doing but it's all of us....working together...doing our part...being the Body of Christ!!!

If you have the time, check out the video. We pray that you are blessed. We are so excited to bring to you a bit of what we do here!!

With much love and gratitude,

Euceda family

November Clinic....

Well I am a bit late on writing this but at least it's before next months clinic..haha. We had such a great time, as usual, doing the November clinic. Rainy season had finally come the end of October and had rained enough that we weren't sure how the roads were going to be. We go no matter what, just a bit more prepared with a tow rope and all!! The roads were quite slippery but still pretty solid underneath, so it was no more than a bit of slipping and sliding as you can see in the pic below. (Roger was driving straight. I think he was a bit disappointed there wasn't more of an opportunity to drive in deep mud..hehe)

We made it in good time and there was a bit of a shorter line, which we expected with the rain that was coming in that morning. A couple of the ladies kept saying, "I told them all you guys would show up." It was so funny, but made me so happy to know that they know we are there for them rain or shine :) Of course as the word got out more and more kept coming. There ended up being a bit over 40 in all. It ends up being nice when there are fewer patients like this, we are able to spend more time with them and pray with them. It's really all about relationships and Him being glorified in it all!!

(This is a precious little girl...I still don't know how they keep their pretty dresses so lovely in the rainy and muddy weather.)

(I had forgotten our step-on scale, but thank goodness Susanna brings her infant scale and Roger his muscles..haha. The kids thought this scale was pretty fun though.)

(This family had come to see the doctor about other things but when the mom asked if we could remove the boys stitches we were more than happy to help. Saves them a trip to town to see the doctor, which could have been a whole day affair. He was so brave and a cutie.)
(And here he is, stitch free!!)

(Went to deliver meds and powdered milk to our faithful old lady, 80+ yrs. old, it was too rainy and muddy for her to have made the walk to the clinic....so we delivered. You like my boots?? haha)

The Road Not Taken

We went Monday to deliver school supplies once again. Had such a good time. I will write about it soon. More than anything I enjoy the travel through the communities and passing by friends we know, giving rides where we can. It is so beautiful out there. With a little electricity, running water and better roads could be a perfect place to live :)

Anyway, as we were driving, when I saw the roads we were traveling on it immediately made me think of this poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. It was one of my favorites when I was younger. I definitely feel like this is true in my life. I pray that I always have the strength and wisdom to make the tough decision to take that road not taken. To not worry about the difficulties of not taking the easy road. The easy road is easy for a reason!! And oh so sweet the reward of taking the road less traveled.

Blessings to all and enjoy the poem!!
Rhonda

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Trip to the Northeast

This past Friday we began our trip, as we do every month that we can, to do the clinic in Rio Blanco. This is a town that is about 3 1/2 to 4 hours from Managua. It is the last town on paved road as you are heading east towards one of the major ports. This month was a bit different because we couldn't stay the entire day on Saturday to help out. We had to leave by early afternoon because we had a long and unknown trek ahead of us. We enjoyed our time at the clinic so much, we love going to help!

Saturday afternoon we got a bit of a later start heading to Las Brenas. We were going to spend some time with a pastor and his family. Roger has gone up to this area to work a few times now, but had only traveled by plane. This was to be our first time driving all the way to this community. Before we even left Rio Blanco we hit the dirt road, or better yet the rock road. I can handle a dirt road just fine, but these were rocks bigger than your fist and not smooth at all. There was a constant banging around that I don't think a chiropractor can even fix. It was a bit different getting used to such a drive. We managed to hit one patch of pavement that lasted about 2 mi. and then thankfully we hit another patch of road that they are working on that lasted about 10+ mi. (it may have not been all pavement but at least it was a smooth dirt road.) It was dark before we were even halfway there, which made it a bit more challenging for Roger to drive on a road that he didn't know.

We finally arrived at Las Brenas around 1am, and exhausted! The family woke up to greet us, but we were ready to hit the sack. But not until a quick bathroom break about a block behind the house in the outhouse. (Thank God for flashlights!) We were able to gather our strengths after a good nights rest, Roger had to preach the next day at the pastor's congregation.

Las Brenas is a community right on the main 'highway' but there is no electric lines (they ended 4 hours up the road) and there is no running water. I wondered how the kids would do without all those ammenities that we take for granted. Don't get me wrong we have had a fair share of electricity going out and no water at times, but you never know how your own kids will react. I will have to say that I was truly amazed. By the time the trip was over they didn't want to leave. I guess they wanted to experience the farming life. Josiah woke up Monday morning ready to milk the cows. Rachel helped clean the beans that they had grown. We made all kinds of food from food that they had grown (they are a fairly self sustaining family). I learned how to make cheese from fresh cows milk. It was such a great experience for us all. But most of all, the time with this family was amazing. The pastor's name is Luis and his wife Glendy. They have 6 children; Amir, Kenia, Javier, Julissa, Melissa and Benny ranging from the ages of 17 to 6.

There is truly not enough space to tell of all the fun and new experiences that we had. It is definately a 'sit down with a cup of coffee on a comfy couch' type of stories. I have one last funny thing I will share with you before I leave you with some photos for our trip. Each day when it came time to take a shower you had to learn to be very vulnerable. Their shower room was off to the corner of the kitchen with a large bucket inside in order to use the bowls to bathe. It was closed in of course, but you could hear and see most of who was there at the table (they couldn't see you), but that wasn't the hard part. The other two walls of the shower room were outside walls with gaps between each board at least 1 in wide or more, perfect viewing space both from the inside and the outside. Thank goodness we were in the campo (rural)!!

By Tuesday we were heading back home. It was a wonderful drive back, bumpy road and all. Of course, somewhere along the way we lost our rear license plate. There's no telling where it is now. We made it back home in 13 hours, wasn't half bad!! It was really great to see that much of Nicaragua. What a great trip!!

Here are some pics from our trip, but to see more they are at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rreuceda/TripToRioBlancoAndLasBrenas#

Here is a video of Josiah's first time milking a cow. He was so proud!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxqbYSPjNog

typical house in the northeast



bringing water back from the well or river



Roger ministering at Luis's congregation



Kenia teaching me how to make cheese

Julissa and Rachel getting the beans out of their shell

our bathroom accomodations (a nice hike from the house)

Josiah milking a cow with Amir

Benny and Josiah enjoying a coconut

Julissa, Melissa, Rachel and Kenia playing on the hammock

Javier getting the cows ready to be milked

Amir teaching Josiah how to milk a cow

our drive back home....lovely sunset!!

Schools Almost Here!

Ok, so I am so far behind right now. I need to tell you about our trip to Rivas and our trip to Rio Blanco and so much. The only thing I need right now is time!!! I can't believe it is already the end of the month. Where does the time go??

This past week, after returning from Rio Blanco, we have been gearing up for the Nicaraguan school year to start. This will be our 3rd year with the honor to be able to provide school supplies for 5 rural schools outside of Jinotepe. For those that keep up, these schools are in the same area where we hold the medical clinics every month and also where we have begun to have movie nights. School begins here next Tuesday. I can't believe it snuck up on me this year. We are getting all the final data so that we know exactly how many students there will be in all the schools. This year I have been told it will be around 340.

This past year we were told that it was a very good year for attendance. The teachers and principal have noticed that the children and their parents have taken more responsibility to attend classes and also to stay in school (there is a high drop out rate after 2nd grade). It has really been a blessing to help these families and give them hope. Both through the school supplies and the clinics but most importantly through the tangible love of God.

It amazes me to see how many children aren't able to attend classes because they can't afford a pencil or notebook. Their whole school supplies for a year are around $10 per student. They don't worry about the new pair of shoes, or who has the cool new clothes, or their nice new backpack. The students are supposed to wear uniforms to the public schools, but for the rural schools they wave that so that they can attend. Most kids are happy that they have flip flops to wear, some have no shoes. And from what I have seen, less than half even have backpacks. All these things are the least of their worries. I remember last year Josiah asked if the boys would get upset if they got one of the kitty cat notebooks. I just smiled and asked him to watch as they opened their packs. The boys were just as happy with the kitty notebooks as the girls were with the car ones. They didn't care, it was still paper.

So once again, we are on our quest to get supplies. It is always a tiring week or so but so worth it. Even the teachers get supplies. The govt. only gives out very little, like paper and chalk. And with only making a little over $100 a month, they can't afford to supply it themselves.

Anyway I will quit rambling on about this, I just love to see how God touches these lives with the littlest of things that mean so much. And beyond that, how God reminds me how to be grateful for the little things in my life. Our lives are truly blessed through all the lives that have crossed our path and those who remain.

Thanks to all who have helped and who continue to help....there aren't enough words to express our extreme gratitude, so I will just say Thank You!!

Much Love!!

Much Needed Family Time

After a busy month in December and an equally busy first week in January we needed a day getaway. We decided to surprise the kids and take them to the volcano. There are several around but the closest one is in Masaya (40 min. away). And it also happens to be one that is still semi-active. Lots of smoking and at night you can see the lava in the crater.

Once we arrived the kiddos were so happy. We had no where else we had to be at a certain time. We could spend all day there or just an hour, whatever we wanted to do. It was so nice not to have anything else on the schedule for that day. When we first arrived they tell you to park facing downhil....hummmm, I was hoping the volcano would behave today. Once it threw big rock out of the volcano and it landed on a tourists car. Kind of funny but I am sure it wasn't for that guy. After we parked it was just a short stroll to see the largest and smoking crater. It was a pretty big drop. At the bottom you could see the opening where the smoke was coming out. Next we walked up a bunch of steps to the top to be able to see the other crater that is next to the smoking one. And as we turned around there was a pretty great view of Nicaragua looking onto the lake as well. This country is pretty stinkin' beautiful!!!

When we came back down from there we realized there was another crater a little ways away. We asked the kids if there were up to taking the hike and they were game. About half way up they had second thoughts, so we stopped for a bit to enjoy the view and for them to get their second wind. We finally made it to the top and it was quite pretty as well. This crater was filled with all kinds of trees and plants, much different than the other two. The others didn't have a single thing growing do to the sulfur, but the rock was beautiful.

Once we were done looking at the volcano and climbing the huge volcanic rocks we headed back down to play in the playground they had. The kids love them some playground!! We had a great time there.

After we left we were a bit on the hungry side so we zipped up to Managua to eat some lunch. Kid's choice of course...family day! Then they, of course, just had to look around at a close by toy store to do some dreaming....as if they need more toys. :) It was so great just to spend the day together. Nothing planned. To do just whatever the day brought. In a strange way, it was quite a restful day. I think we are going to have to make family days a bit more frequent than once every few months. We gotta get out there and really see all of Nicaragua we can before God has us move to the next place.

God bless and enjoy your family and the days God allows us to spend with them!!

Literacy Training

Well the time finally came for me to train teachers to teach literacy. I had been a bit nervous about the upcoming 2 day training. It was a bit odd, a white girl teaching spanish speaking people how to teach other hispanics to read spanish. I am fairly comfortable in my spanish, but it is just in conversation, never taught a class before.

First I will give a bit of stats for the literacy here in Nicaragua. According to various websites the illiteracy rate is anywhere from 25% to 35%. With the population of Nicaragua at 5,800,000 that leaves anywhere from 1,450,000 to 1,800,000 that can't read. Now back to the training.

Thankfully I had a small class for the first one. I had a wonderful group of 4 that have a real desire to help others to become literate. And it also helped that they were all I know pretty well, so they were a bit forgiving with my spanish if I hit a rough spot.

We started Thursday morning at one of the student's house, Lenin. It is a small one room house and it worked beautifully. We had a wonderful day filled with learning and with fellowship. His wonderful wife had made lunch for us as well. Some very delicious rice, beans, platanos and cheese. I finished Thursday feeling very satisfied and thankful that I got the first day out of the way.

Friday, we began our second, and last, day of training. We had to change location to another one of the student's house, Jhossy. Once again we had a wonderful time learning and laughing together. Her mom was gracious enough to make lunch for us as well, (repeat of the first day, very tipical lunch). Once again a wonderful day. We finished it with 4 teachers ready to teach. I finished feeling a little tired of speaking spanish for 16 hours, and extremely satisfied that the first literacy class training was completed and successful.

First Clinic of the New Year!!

I couldn't think of a better way to start out the new year than to be out with our friends in the community and have our first clinic for 2009!! Susanna, our friend that's a nurse, was able to be in the States for the holidays, so I was able to great each patient and sign them in. I had a good time but I still have trouble sometimes with their names. It's not as simple as Bob, Jim, Sally and Sue. We had the priviledge to help 67 people this month.

After we finished we packed up and headed back to town for a late lunch...yummy pizza!! As we were on the road we noticed our faithful Emelia (80+ years old) coming for a consult. So we stopped and took care of her on the road and pulled out the meds from the back of the pickup, and of course gave her a ride back to her house. We would really appreciate any prayer for her, she is not doing too well.

As we continued on our drive home we saw this group of girls standing next to this little wagon that they were playing with. I thought it was pretty cool how they enclosed it.

I wished I had my camara but thankfully Jim and Lynne did so her and I hopped out and I asked if we could take a picture of their cart. I asked who had made it so nice and the girls pointed to the inside. I thought for sure that they were just pulling a younger sibling, which is very common here. So we looked in and to our surprise there were 2 bigger kids and one toddler. We just smiled. The kids got a kick out of us, but were proud to show off their wagon. I was very impressed by their good use of materials. They used foam insulation tied with ropes to make the encloser.

These faces of these children is only one of the reasons that we do what we do. How could we not help. What a blessing for us!!!! I thank God everyday for the priveledge He has given us. I so look forward to the things that are ahead.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Well it's here, 2009!! I can't believe how this past year flew by. I am looking forward to see the amazing things that God has in store for this new year. We desire that God does the same with each and every one of you and blesses you as we have felt blessed to know you all. Happy New Year and live it with expectation!!!!!

Movie Night

Tonight we had our first movie night out at the communities that we have been helping out with. We were able to get a great little video of "Coco y su pandilla". It is of a guy that does ventriliquism with a variety of puppets. He is a Christian and uses it as a way of evangalism.

First I want to say thanks to all for the support that we were able to purchase a projector with!! So of course we had to try it out. We had a tarp made to use as the screen. (The thing is huge.) Roger had made contact with a local radio station that he could make the announcement for all to hear in the community. Then he went and talked to a few community leaders to get the word out. You never know how many will really show up to something like this, even if you think it would be fun.

We arrived around 6 pm to the school and some of the guys started hanging up the tarp on the outside of the building. They also pulled out some chairs from the classrooms to give seats to as many as possible. We started the video once it was all set up and when we thought everyone had arrived. It worked so wonderfully!!! As the video was going, more and more people kept coming. By the time the night was over, there were well over 100 people that attended!! We were so encouraged. Once the movie was over Roger shared his testimony and led them in prayer.

We talked with many of the leaders in the community to get their feedback, and they were so pleased. They are just as excited as we are about making this a reoccuring event. It wasn't just the kids that really enjoyed the night.

Rainy, Rainy, Rainy

One could never imagine how much it could rain till you have lived in the tropics, or at least have come during the rainy season. I just can't comprehend how it can rain so hard and non-stop. It has rained, at our house nearly 2 days without stopping. a few days ago we had a bit of sunshine but for 2 weeks before that it was the same....rain, rain, and more rain. It has its moments where it is just like God turned on the faucet (or faucets) to full strength and just let it pour. Nearly everyone walks here. Everyone has their boots, or they just take off their flip-flops, and roll up their pants and deal with it.

In the communities where we help some of the teachers have to get there from Jinotepe, the main town. Normally there is a cattle truck that transports people in and out if they can pay for it. The last 2 months there has been so much rain that the trucks don't run. They walk to get to their jobs teaching. The one teacher, Rina, says it takes here nearly 45 min to 1 hour to get to school and by the time she gets there her shoes are filled with mud. There are about another 3 teachers, that I know of, that live further in the communities, but on the other side of a river. Normally that river is a few inches high to cross and get to their jobs. But now who knows. Last year they said they tied ropes across the river to try to make a make-shift ferry to cross, or just walking but using the rope to guide them. I can't imagine that being the norm for getting to work. I know I like getting the parking space the closest to try to keep from walking another 20 feet farther to get to a store. I feel bad when I know people have to walk to get somewhere but in reality it is very normal. And beyond all that they are more than thankful that they even have a job.

I am so glad that God has me here to keep me grounded. To bring reality to life. None of the 'keeping up with the Jones'' business. But just keeping up with God's business. There is no greater feeling than being content, happy, where you are at and knowing you are doing what you have been called to do. No matter if it is at home, office, business, another country, pastor, or friend.

Be content and if not seek it out!!

Great Saturday

First I will have to apologize, I am bit of a lazy blogger. It seems like days get away from me before I get half of my list done for that day. I am far behind on many of the things that I have thought would be great to blog, so maybe I will try to catch up.

To start, we had the clinic on Saturday. It is the middle of rainy season so the roads are TERRIBLE, and our last clinic was fairly small (a little over 30 patients). I had a feeling it was going to go about the same or fewer. We couldn't get the word out, since there is no transportation going into the communities. We started the day a bit late. We got stuck in the mud, but got out, thanks to the new truck. We arrived about 30 minutes late.

When we got there, there were 20 or more already in line. I don't think the line ended until 3 hours later. It just seemed like they kept coming. The nurse, Susanna, asked if I had more sheets to for checking in the patients. I said no, but I had made over 75, I asked why. She had ran out.
By the end of it we had 86 patients. It was crazy. There was a line to check in, fhere was a line to see one of the two doctors, and there was a line to get the medicines in our makeshift pharmacy. Did I say it was crazy!! We had never had more than 66 patients...needless to say we were a bit ill prepared with the quantity of medicines. By the time we left we were all exhausted. Even Josiah stepped up to help count out vitamins and helped bag the meds when they were ready.

It was over and we loaded up the truck to head back to town and eat a very late lunch. About half a mile from the clinic we got stuck in the road. Roger was driving so good but with all the effort the truck just slid right into the deepest ruts in that part of the road. It is so hard to see where the best place is to drive since the whole road is just a mud mess, and you never know where it is the mushiest and the deepest. Well this time getting stuck there was no moving us. Finally after a few guys tried to help there was still no moving. Finally a guy on a horse and cart gave Roger a ride to a guys house, about another half a mile away, that has oxen to help pull us out.

By the time they hooked the oxen and the chain to the truck, in no time we were out of the mess. The only problem was is they had to pull us out backwards and we had to drive through it again. This time, no problem!! We were slipping and sliding but made it through. All of us in the truck thought...wow, what a great story!! But all in all it was a great day!