Pinas de Paz - Ticuantepe

Dateline – 1247 mables

Ruth and I just spent 3 wonderful days with Robbie and Murray Lathrop at their missionary home and compound.  Robbie and Murray have been serving God and the people of a very remote village outside of Ticuantepe for almost 10 years.  Did I say remote?   I mean remote.  It is a 25-30 minute ride in on what some might call a road.  I would call it a goat track but that would offend the goats!  It is so bad, that Robbie has to rebuild the entire front end of his Land Cruiser every year.  You may drive a city slicker SUV but wouldn’t last 3 months in this environment.  It is nuts.

However, when you get to their place, it is paradise.  Pinas de Paz a missionary camp/retreat.  They host both foreign and local mission groups at their facility.  These groups provide some of the horsepower to help PdeP take on construction projects, school improvements, home-bound visits and other hands on support for the local village.  In addition PdeP provides quality employment to numerous locals.  This is a really big deal in a community with 60+% un/under employment.  It is hard to imagine what their community would be like without the Lathrops and PdeP.

I first met Robbie and Murray in November when I joined a mission group from Peachtree Road United Methodist.  Peachtree has a long standing relationship with the PdeP and I was so impressed I wanted to start my journey off by introducing Ruth to Robbie and Murray.  They provided great insights and prayer support for what will be a fun yet stressful adventure for Ruth and me.

Our stay was not all serious.  Robbie took me on a white-wing hunt in the shadow of the ACTIVE Masaya volcano.  Who can say that have shot birds with a volcanic plume in the background!  Ruth and I also hiked a nature preserve which was beautiful.  We saw Howler monkeys, various ground-based critters and green parakeets (think parrots, not the pet store variety).  Over 400 pairs of the parakeets nest in a cliff at the end of our canyon each night.  It was beautiful seeing and hearing them fly home for the evening.

After a great three nights with Robbie and Murray,  Ruth and I are headed out for San Carlos, Nicaragua at the mouth of the San Juan River.  This is by far the most remote part of our journey.

Note> we have had poor internet connections so my posts will be sporadic and pictures non-existent until we get back to some connectivity.