Newsletter from Nicaragua for our family

Dear Family and Friends,
Several wonderful things have happened with us lately. The most amazing is that we now have full time high-speed Internet at our house here in Tronquera! It took a week of work checking land contours, an hour of flying the plane checking signals, and then it took 2 days to cut a trail into the jungle to the top of a hill, where we put a repeater. Finally, it took a week of living deep in the jungle with 10 local guys building a 25 foot tower.  It relays the signal from our nearest town 12 miles away, to us another 4 miles from the tower. The people were happy to have the work, and it was a nice challenge to build a tower on top of a solid rock with 50 foot drops on 2 sides. Pictures are on our web site under photos, family.
We have done a mobile clinic in Lapan lately, and also in our local village of Tronquera and nearby Santa Rita. We saw 64 people in Lapan, a place that is very hard to access by road. The people were very happy and appreciated the airplane.
The airplane is keeping busy with emergency flights. We flew 2 pregnant ladies out of Lapan, and one lady with pregnancy complications from Waspam to Port. I am currently working on setting up better radio communication for Lapan.
Our runway inspection of all the runways went OK for Lapan and Tronquera, but San Carlos, the main place that needs our help, did not pass the 6 month inspection. We will inspect them again in another couple months. The people there did not keep the runway in good shape, in spite of a meeting I had with the leaders telling them the inspector was coming.
One of the best things that has happened to us, is we have an English speaking doctor with a nurse wife who took their training in Mexico living next to us at the Tasba Raya Clinic in Francis Sirpi.  They have agreed to work with us for a few days every month. Since they know good Spanish, and are a doctor nurse team, and know English, they will be a very valuable asset. We will be able to run a much more regular program in several remote villages with regular clinics to help us work to prevent emergencies.
This coming month as Christmas comes, we plan to distribute some food to the local villages. This area has been hard hit by the hurricane flooding, it wiped out the crops on all the edges of the river.
Currently we have been blessed with funding for a hangar, and that is my priority project to get finished. It will be wonderful to get the plane out of the elements. I have been working on getting this done for almost a year now and I finally see it is able to be finished.
We have broken ground on a widows house. It will have a pad of 20 x 35 feet and the house will be 20 x 25 out of cement. We hope to start pouring the floor in January.
We thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We are thrilled to have better communication now that we have Internet. Especially Marilyn being able to speak with her family daily has been a wonderful blessing.
Merry Christmas to all!
Clint and Marilyn

--
Wings Over Nicaragua
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Web: www.wingsovernicaragua.org
Email: hanley@softhome.net

Our last 3 days

Dear Family,
Let me start with Sabbath morning, which dawned crystal blue and sunny. It was so nice to know we could relax and enjoy the peace and quiet for a day. We leisurely (well, at least me, Marilyn was probably frantically scurrying around) got ready for church. We had eaten breakfast and were almost to leave, when the hospital radio called me and said there was an emergency in Waspam. It was a lady who had just had her baby, and she had pre-eclampsia. I got the stretcher in the plane and was in Waspam on at their airport within 30 minutes. The lady was unconscious. There wasn't room for her family in the plane, but, thanks to some friends in Montana, I gave them some money for transport, medicine, and food. I flew her and a doctor to Port, and met the ambulance on the runway. I had called ahead and told them to be sure to have a stretcher. They had shown up with one before (another flight some time ago) and couldn't figure out how to get it unlocked to take it out of the ambulance. I was hoping for better luck this time. Keep in mind, this is the biggest hospital on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. This time they detached it and got it out fine. There was no doctor with them, which was OK I guess since I had a doctor, but that meant he had to accompany them to the hospital before returning to me.  Anyway,  it was a folding stretcher, and it lifted up so you could flatten it out inside, and lift it up for transport. It was a nice one with wheels. The local airport police figured out how to get it raised up, after some poking and prodding on it by the medical people. We got the lady out of the plane onto the stretcher, and wheeled her the 20 feet to the back of the ambulance. Then they tried to collapse the stretcher down to put it inside, and it wouldn't collapse. The worked on it a couple minutes, then decided to just put it in fully extended. The head went in fine, and the whole unit rolled forward fine with the lady right near the roof, until her feet came along. They almost hit the roof with 6 people pushing it in, but I and one other person stopped them just before her feet got pinched between the top of the roof and the stretcher. The looked it over a bit, then pulled her back out, slid her off the stretcher onto the ambulance floor, left the stretcher, and took off with wheels spinning over the bumps and bounces on the dirt road beside the runway with their siren blaring. Attached is a picture of them trying to get the stretcher into the ambulance , but the feet wouldn't go.
I was back home before lunch, and had a quiet Sabbath afternoon.
Sunday we got up at 5 AM and finished our preparations to go to Lapan for a mobile clinic. By 6:50 we were ready to go. I decided to take the whole family, the kids have never been to Lapan. I had the room, and it is good to take them when possible. Gerson, the doctor in training from Leon (Pacific coast) showed up late, at 7:30, he had a flat bike tire during the 1 hour ride from his local village to here. We piled in the plane with all the medicine. I left my fuel a little low, so we were still 200 pounds under weight. It is only a 35 minute flight. The Lapan runway was nice and dry, compared to what it had been earlier. We hiked the 1/2 mile to the town through mud that sometimes went over our boots. The local nurse helped a little, and Marilyn and Gerson saw 64 patients. I traded the weight of the medicine used for oranges, and we used 3/4 of the runway taking off. After returning home, I took Gerson the 1/2 hour to his village on my motorcycle, returning in the dark. The people in Lapan are happier from our help, and I hope many people slept better. We were tired out, and our kids had a wonderful time playing with the local village kids. Pictures are on Picasa, accessed through our web page under photos, www.wingsovernicaragua.org. Many of the local kids had never seen white children.
Monday morning we got up early and got ready to go to Port for our monthly shopping trip and a big church meeting that lasts 3 days. We packed everything, which is a major job for a 3 day trip, and left at 7:30 AM. We got 1 mile to the main road, and were told there is a strike closing down the road 5 hours ahead, 1 hour before Port. They were currently stopping only buses, and letting trucks like ours through, but that changes minute by minute. We didn't want to risk driving that far to be turned around, so we returned home. Now maybe we'll take a day to recover!
Relaxing in Nicaragua,
Clint

--
Wings Over Nicaragua
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Web: www.wingsovernicaragua.org
Email: hanley@softhome.net

Medical - Lapan

Dear Family,
Last night we got a message from Lapan that they had a lady in labor with twins - and she was having trouble. It was too late to fly, so I left before sunrise  this morning. I was in Lapan just after daybreak. It took the people awhile to haul the lady the normally 1/2 hour walk from the village through knee deep mud. Guys hauled her in a hammock. It turns out there was another lady too, so I took 2. The runway was a bit better than yesterday, it wasn't too hard taking off. It did cover the plane in black mud, but the majority of it was from the front of the doors back. I put a nice little mud flap on the front tire, it seems to help quite a bit.
I delivered the ladies to the airport in Puerto Cabezas, but the hospital would not answer their phone, so I put them in a taxi (it is only about 5 minutes) to the hospital. I paid their fare and they looked happy. One kept holding her belly with the twins, the younger one didn't appear to be in labor, but she looked scared. Imagine at such a young age (mid-teen) getting whisked off to a big city where you may never have even been before and getting put into a hospital of strangers for your first baby. Her family should be along later today or sometime tomorrow.
I filled my gas again in Port and was home for breakfast at 9:30. I have now been painting a backdrop for our projector on the cement in the front of our church. I filled in a window and now have a nice flat spot so we don't have to use a sheet blowing around in the wind every Sabbath.
We have started listening to Christmas music last night and are putting up Christmas lights on our porch today. The kids are excited!
The pictures from this morning are on Picasa right now.
Happy Sabbath,
Clint

--
Wings Over Nicaragua
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Web: www.wingsovernicaragua.org
Email: hanley@softhome.net

Runway Inspections

Dear Family,
Today I flew to every runway on this side of the country. I didn't land on every one, but flew over every one.
I left this AM and went to Port and picked up the inspector lady. We left Port about 8:30 AM and flew to Lapan, 25 minutes. The runway was wet, but she approved it. We then left in low ceilings and light rain and flew 8 minutes to Kukalia, which was right on the edge of a major storm. The runway was completely covered in water, several inches of standing water, I was disappointed we couldn't land. Then I climbed above the rain and flew an hour to San Carlos, our main runway we often use for medical evacuations. That runway was muddy, and the village has done nothing to fix it, in spite of a meeting I had with the leaders 3 weeks ago, and the 3 days notice I gave them of the inspector coming. When I landed there 3 weeks ago it covered the plane in mud, and put 3 small nicks in my prop, so I wasn't excited to do that again. I knew for sure the inspector wouldn't approve such a runway, so I just left without landing. That runway is now closed for a couple months. On top of that, I have to pay the inspector another $35 for another inspection! I think I will ask the village to pay that. In January the runway will likely be better and I'll go check it again from the air, that will be the dry season. Anyway, that was disappointing.
I then flew to Tronquera where the inspector approved our runway.  Marilyn had a wonderful lunch ready, and then we went on back to Port. I hardly flew IFR, but there were scattered storms around. Marilyn was able to keep track of them on the Internet and while watching my SPOT track tell me the way around them, quite convenient!
I bought another 20 gallons of gas in Waspam and loaded it into the airplane. I ran into a guy who needed to go to Waspam, he is friend, and so I took him to Waspam and then the 8 minutes back to Tronquera, landing right at sundown.
The little plane ran wonderfully today. The weather was marginal, but the Lord blessed and I was able to make it to every place safely and on schedule.
On the way back from Port, Lapan called with a lady in labor with twins. It was too late to go get her before dark, but I will go there first thing in the morning.
I have already uploaded pictures under Mission Pictures to Picasa. It sure is nice to have Internet, you guys get things in real time!!
Later,
Clint

--
Wings Over Nicaragua
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Web: www.wingsovernicaragua.org
Email: hanley@softhome.net

Internet Works! Sort of

Dear Family,
I worked on the tower for Internet all week. I hiked in with 10 people on Tuesday and spent until Friday afternoon there on the hill, working from the first morning light till we couldn't see to pound nails in the evening. It took 1 1/2 days to haul the 6x6 main supports to the top of the hill, they weighed about 1500 lbs each. The last 50 feet was the hardest. I measured it, it is 50 feet from the bottom of the tower to the base of the cliff the tower sits on, inches from the tower legs. We finally got the tower stood up with the help of the come-a-long and tied to the nearest trees. We built a whole scaffolding beside it to assemble the first A and stand it up. The next day, we stood up the last 2 poles individually and braced them. Then we built a platform on the top of 2"x12"x9' Mahogany. It took Greg and I a few hours to set up the antennas, batteries, and solar panels. It then took a few phone calls to get the Internet cafe to get the Internet plugged in properly, and then we got Internet in Tronquera! We were so very happy! Unfortunately, it isn't solid enough yet to get mail or browse the web, we need to go to Waspam and align that antenna a little better to try and get a better signal.
The tower looks impressive with razor wire around the top and an electric wire through the center. I hope it stops thieves.
Happy in Tronquera,
Clint and Marilyn

Internet

Hello!!
I am sitting on my computer in my house typing an email on my brand new internet connection!!!
Praise the Lord!!
Marilyn

--
Wings Over Nicaragua
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Web: www.wingsovernicaragua.org
Email: hanley@softhome.net

Hurricane Ida - Nicaragua Newsletter

November 9, 2009
Dear Friends,
Last night hurricane Ida came over. It had almost no wind, but lots of rain. It is more rain and higher creeks than anyone here has ever seen. The local little creeks are already dropping, it stopped raining around midnight here. The big rivers are still going up, and will not peak for some time yet. We don't know which bridges will be washed out, or which villages yet. Many Nicaraguan villages are right on the edge of rivers.
We arrived back from our 2 month visit to America one month ago. It was a good visit, nice to see all our family. We enjoyed meeting other missionaries at ASI, a meeting of Seventh-day Adventist businesses and leaders in Phoenix in August.
Since returning, I have been to San Carlos taking in a nurse and medicine, and checked 2 new runways being built. One is in Raiti, about 1/2 done, and the other in Kukalia, which is only waiting for paperwork.
The road we take to Puerto Cabezas every month is deteriorating. It now takes 5 to 6 hours to make the 75 mile trip with the truck.
We are almost done with the dirt filling to level a place for an airplane hanger and ready to start the construction. We have staked out the place for a cement widow's house and cleaned it. We will start leveling it as soon as the water goes down so we can get gravel.
We have an American named Greg here helping us get Internet. He is working where we use to work, at the Tasba Raya mission in Francis Sirpi, 1 hours drive from here. Right now he is staying with us because we are working on building a repeater on a hill a few hours hike from here that will transmit the signal from our nearest town, Waspam, to both us in Tronquera and him in Francia. It will be really life changing if it works.
Runway inspections are coming up next week, but all this rain we just got may delay that.
God Bless,
Clint and Marilyn
www.wingsovernicaragua.org
PS. November 7 update: The water from the hurricane appears to not have substantially hurt any villages upriver from Waspam, which covers our area.

Mud - Nicaragua

Dear Family,
I had planned on hiking into find the site for the repeater for our Internet on Wednesday. On Tuesday we went to Francia to get some things we needed for the repeater, and got back about 2 PM. An American called us on the radio from Waspam, frantic to get out of Nicaragua. He had just returned from a few days down the river working in small communities, and upon his return to Waspam he found his mother in America had died. Due to the strike, all the buses and planes were shut down in Port, and the only plane to Waspam was full. I flew him and his wife to Managua Wednesday. About 1/2 the flight was IFR, but smooth. Fortunately we didn't hit any large storms, but there was heavy rain below us. Unfortunately, I was just in Managua about 1 1/2 weeks ago, so didn't need so many things. It would have been very sad to come back with an empty plane, so I took advantage of the trip and purchased 2 batteries. I was very fortunate to find a couple new deep cycle 6 volt batteries. They are less amp hours than I currently have with my three 12 volt batteries, but will be better. I will put them in the house, and then use the 12 volt batteries for radio's. One will go to Kukalia, the new runway I am working on getting going, and likely I will use one in Waspam for the radio there. Our house batteries are about 2 years old, also deep cycle. They are still in good shape. Eventually I will try to get two more 6 volt batteries for our house for a total of 4.
I also bought bike parts, some nails, and misc items, so I had about 400 lbs of stuff. Not a full load, but close. I flew back this morning, a beautiful day, couldn't have been prettier. It was clear blue above the clouds, smooth air. The volcano nearby (Masia) was pouring out steam, and the plane flew comfortably at 11,500 feet, where it was a chilly 45 degrees!
The day was so nice, that I made an appointment to meet the hospital people in Waspam and transport a nurse and some medicines to San Carlos. This is the first time I have been there since returning, and I need to go check their runway and inform them that the inspector will be there in 3 or 4 weeks. After unloading in Tronquera and eating breakfast, I landed in Waspam at 11 AM. A wall of rain was coming, but from the back, so I quickly loaded and took off, heading away from it. This time of year, storms go through fast, so I knew it would be gone before I returned. San Carlos was very muddy, covered the plane to the top of the tail in mud. It put 3 little nicks in my prop too. They promised tomorrow they had several communities all together coming to haul rock and fix the drainage ditches to fix it up. I told them they had to fix it before I would fly out emergencies. Then I flew another 15 minutes to Raiti, and looked it over from the air. As I have mentioned before, that is the most remote place in Nicaragua I have seen. They are actively working on their runway. It looks about 1/2 done. That surprised me since the rains are still going, I guess they are anxious to get it finished.
The trip home was IFR for about 1/2 hour through medium rain, I used my GPS approach I made and came out at 1,000 feet.
Tomorrow if it isn't too rainy, we plan to hike the 4 miles and choose the site for a tower for our Internet repeater.
Clint

Trip home

Dear Family,
I had a good trip to Managua and got everything planned accomplished.
On Monday when I arrived I went to government offices dealing with customs for the airplane, it all looks fine. Then I went to the bank and paid for another inspection for our 3 runways and spent time at the airplane permission place scheduling it, that will happen mid-November. I was also able to get some steel for a rack for our truck, which we have needed for a long time, so we can carry lumber and building supplies on it. Gerson will bring it on the bus when he comes in December. He will be helping us with some mobile clinics while on his vacation from medical school in December and January.
The plane was really full coming back. I had 522 lbs. 500 is full, but I took the back seat out before I left, so I had 22 lbs more. I had it packed past the windows right to the top of the roof all the way back from the seats. I got all 8 bags we brought from America plus some other smaller items I bought in Managua. I had Brandel (47 lbs) with me because we got him retainers at the dentist. He has a cute little pilot shirt (thanks Mom!) that he loves and everyone at the airports comment on often about the "little pilot". He charmed my way along nicely through the government bureaucracy and checkpoints.
Today we're off to Waspam for the first time since we have returned. I have a little battery charger to install on our 2-meter radio there. We will also meet with the hospital and see if there are any ladies with new babies that need taken to San Carlos. I need to go check the runway there to have them get it ready for the inspection, and I want to make the trip worth while. Greg, the guy in charge of Francia, is coming in on the noon flight into Waspam. He is helping us get Internet set up. I'll be climbing the tower and putting up some new antenna's we brought, then we drive 1 hour away deep into the bush on a hill where we are trying to see if we can build a repeater to direct the signal to both us and Francia.
Always keeping busy! Sure is nice to have a slow relaxed lifestyle here . . . hasn't happened yet for the last couple years.
Clint

malnourished baby

Dear Grandma,
Today has been a quiet day.
When we went to Puerto last week, we took a mother with a sick baby in. It is actually the baby I caught 3 months ago, before we came to the States. They did not ask me to consult for the baby, which is usually ok. I did notice on the trip into town that she as giving the baby water and juice (more like koolaide than fruit juice). I asked her about breastfeeding, she said the baby wouldn't suck. I asked about milk, she said the baby didn't like milk! (ie, she didn't have the money to buy milk) I told her babies need MILK! So we stopped right away and I bought milk for her and had her give the baby the whole 4 oz bottle right then (she tried to save some for later). When we got to town I bought 2 tins of baby formula and gave them to her with strict instructions to only give the baby MILK! I told her when she came back to Tronquera I would give her more.
I asked her sister-in-law about the baby. She said her mother (the baby's grandmother) found out the mother was giving her maizena, which is basically cornstarch thickened sugar water.
The baby died on Sunday. They are burying him today. I went to see the family and take some pictures. These people never get pictures until it is too late. Now the only picture they have of the baby is after he is dead.
As soon as I am able, I will be ordering educational supplies and dvd's to help this problem. Because of lack of funds, babies are often given koolaide in their bottles. I have even seen one with coffee (the mother brought the baby complaining it had anemia, surprise!). Milk is expensive. When you have the choice of buying food for the whole family or milk for one baby, the one suffers so that the others can eat.
This is another reason for the nutrition program combined with health education.
The push to breastfeed is big here in Nicaragua for this reason. And many mother's do breastfeed and their babies do great. But too many of them stop for one reason or another and the baby almost always is sickly and malnourished.
So today is quiet but sad.
Lots of love,
Marilyn

Port Trip

Dear Family,
We've been back home in Tronquera since Sunday afternoon. When we are gone so long, we run our house out of supplies before leaving. We had no rice, flour, or any staples. We also were out of gas for the airplane, and needed other supplies. So soon after settling in, we decided to go to Port and get supplies, and that happened today, Wednesday. We were up at 4:45 AM, and driving by 5:30. We picked up 1/2 a dozen people from the village that wanted to go to Port, including a mother and baby that we took to the hospital. The rains for the last 2 months have made the road worse, and the trip took 4 hours. Hard to imagine that it is only 75 miles. We can drive half way across Montana in 4 hours. Anyway, Port is about the same, but things are slower there. The economy slowdown has finally hit here. Traffic was far less, stores not crowded, very little construction.
We rushed through 3 hours of buying supplies, and $800 went real quick. The 100 gallons of plane gas was a big chunk of that. Marilyn got groceries, and we headed back, trying to make the trip in one day. We have already talked to family and spent time on the Internet while in America, the main things that necessitate spending the night in Port. We left at 1:30 PM, record time to get almost everything done!
Going back home slogging our way through the mud holes we went through heavy rain and a lightening storm. I thought of our cargo: 125 lbs of propane, a 5 foot long 150 lb Oxygen bottle, and 2 drums of gasoline. I figured if lightening did strike us, we would light up the area around for quite a distance.
We got back just after dark at 6 PM, and had a good supper. The kids got to bed on time, and a batch of brownies (thanks Mom!) is cooking with one of our freshly purchased eggs. It is a long day when you go to town once a month, and we rarely get it done in one day.
Tomorrow I am going to try to figure out how to get a couple 300 lb drums of gas out of the truck with a come-a-long.
There has been more rain this last couple months than is normal.
I've been told 4 or 5 people have died in remote villages that needed transport while were were gone to America. We need to find another plane and pilot to come down eventually as a backup. It is good to know you are doing some good, but sorry people have to die for lack of transportation.
God Bless,
Clint and Marilyn

end of trip

Hi guys.
I just wanted to write and let you all know that we arrived safe back in Tronquera. Our house was in fine shape as far as safety, but very dirty with 2 months of dust, dirt and bugs. I am going to be spending quite a few days cleaning it. Since it is so dirty I will go ahead and do a "spring" cleaning. All the cobwebs and dust in all the corners. This time I will have the use of the air compressor and the small vacuum. That will hopefully make it faster.
We have a long list of projects to do so I know that we will stay busy for a long time.
Lots of love,
Marilyn

The first part of our trip back after departing from Managua was fine. We were at full gross weight and full of gas. It took us 1 hour to climb to 9500 feet. The last 1/2 of the 3 hour trip we hit some rain. I went to 11,500 (hit an updraft in a cloud) but still flew IFR in some heavy rain for awhile. I was fortunate to be able to call ahead to Waspam with the ham radio we have there and find the weather there was fine (that is only 13 miles by air from our runway). We came out of broken clouds 10 miles from our runway, and found it nice and clear.
After sitting for 2 months, our plane was in nice shape. It started right up, took off in 90+ degree heat with a full load, and flew us safely all the way over the jungle, across the country. One always wonders when you leave an airplane in a 3rd world country for that much time (2 months) alone, but the airport security did a good job.
Clint

www.wingsovernicaragua.org

update from Nicaragua for family

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July 30, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

I hiked to a new runway, it was quite an trip, the most interesting since I have been here in Nicaragua. You can find the story on our web page at: www.wingsovernicaragua.org/kukalaya.html

That story will be our newsletter for the month. There are also new pictures on Picasa, reached from our home page.

We will be attending ASI, a Seventh-day Adventist meeting, in Phoenix August 5-8. I will then go to Montana while my wife visits grandparents in Goldendale, WA. We will be in America until September 30 and really look forward to seeing many of you. We are excited to share with churches and individuals how the Lord is leading down here, it is truly amazing. I am sure it will be an encouragement to you. If your church is interested in us sharing, please let us know soon. Most of our time will be spent in Montana where we will be working to pay for the trip.

 

In Christ's service,
Clint and Marilyn Hanley

www.wingsovernicaragua.org

 

 

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Lapan Dentist

Dear Family,
I went to Lapan today and took the dentist from Waspam. He is a real nice man, but only free on Sundays. He works 5 1/2 days a week at the Catholic Clinic. The Catholic Sister in charge gave us permission for him to go with us on Sunday, we pay him $15, which is real good wages here for a day of work. He likes to help people too, which is nice. He is a tall man, quiet. He pulled 36 teeth, but then ran out of anesthesia. We need to buy more in Managua. We got everyone on the list.
The flight to Lapan was OK, scattered rain and I went to 6500 feet to get over rain. I had to deviate about 15 miles to get around the worst area, and was in clouds for part of the trip. We came out of solid clouds into broken clouds 10 miles before Lapan, and the runway was clear. They had heavy rain that morning, and the runway had 1 to 2 inches of standing water on it. It covered the plane in muddy grassy water from the struts all the way back. It isn't very muddy there, not like San Carlos, but there is still a little mud you sink into, and the runway is slick. It is a good thing it is level.
Trucks aren't running there this time of year since the water in the many rivers is too deep to cross. This makes it very hard for the villagers to get out for medical and dental care. They are asking if we could please bring a doctor sometime.
I went and got the dentist set up, everyone was happy to see him. Then I walked back to the plane, a 1/2 hour walk through deep mud. I brought along in the plane my chainsaw and 12- 1x8 boards 3 feet long to create edge markers making the runway more visible. The problem is when I land I loose sight of the edges of the runway, and running off the edge will flip the plane. I sent 2 men off 1/2 hour walk away from the runway to find some pine poles, and put them in the ground sticking up 2 feet using the post hole digger I brought. I nailed the boards on the posts and painted them a bright green. They help a lot, but I need to get a nice bright orange paint. That took me a few hours total. I worked on my school a little, and then it was time to go. I found the dentist done and packed up when I arrived at the house where he was working, and we walked the 1/2 hour back to the plane. Take off was challenging, I used 3/4 of the runway, glad I was light. I confirmed acceptable weather in Tronquera with Marilyn right a way, and headed into the clouds again, standard for this time of the year. I used my home made GPS approach to Tronquera and came out of the clouds and rain at 3,000 feet over Tronquera and then went on to Waspam and dropped the dentist off. I got Waspam manure on top of my Lapan mud, and had to abort one takeoff because of cows running on the runway.
I was able to visit with Willis in America while flying, and it is really nice to be in constant communication with Marilyn via 2-meter. Willis tracks me minute by minute on the Internet with my SPOT tracker.
The people in Lapan are happy, I'm glad we were able to make it today! Between the weather, getting the dentist to show up, having the proper medicine and supplies, and the runway, there are a lot of things that have to work out for something as simple as taking a dentist to a village. It costs quite a bit to make it happen too, but is worth it for how happy it makes the people.
Clint

Fun Trip for Airport Inspection

June 25, 2009
Dear Family,
I just returned from a trip to look at a new runway in Kukalaya. The people there said they worked building the runway for 10 days with the whole village, 700 people (I'm sure everyone didn't work, but even if 1/2 worked, that is a lot of people!). The the women and children worked hard too, completely volunteer. From a fly over last week, I knew it was close to ready. On Wednesday I flew to Lapan, and found a watchman for the plane. The local people said it was a 4 hour walk, but maybe a little longer depending on the rivers. I just had time, if I hurried, to make it back by dark at 6 PM, and planned to sleep in the plane. On the GPS, it is 13 miles. It takes 8 minutes in the plane. I left at 9:30 AM Tuesday walking from Lapan, with a younger man to show me the way. I took my SPOT satellite tracker. Anyone who wanted to check (link on the bottom of the front page of our website) could have seen every 10 minutes in real time where I was walking. The track will be there for 7 days. Since Marilyn doesn't have Internet, she is only able to get the e-mail messages. Before I left, we agreed that I would send a delayed message if I was spending the night. I am sorry for the confusion it caused. I need to change the subject of that e-mail.

I walked along a grass savanna for the first couple hours. One place the water was over my mud boots, so took them off and waded across. The mud was a slick black mud that took energy from every step as you slid around in it. There was a skiff of water on top of the mud, but it wasn't bad. We made it to the Kukalaya river after 2 hours of walking. Fortunately there was a person right there with a canoe and we paddled 20 minutes up that river and crossed to the other side. From there it was heavy jungle, and the trail became quite muddy. It was a thick mud that you sank in just over your ankles with each step. It held your foot tight with the suction of the mud and required you to pull hard to release each foot with every step. The jungle was very thick, you couldn't see more than 15 to 20 feet into it. The canopy over us blocked the sun, making it cooler walking. We walked as fast as possible. Once we came to a deeper swamp, and water was up to my chest. We carried our clothes and luggage over our heads and waded barefoot through the mud. On the other side, there was a submerged log we followed, it was about 2 feet deep in the water, very mossy and slick, and quite hard to stay on top. I barely made it over, wondering if I fell off how deep that part of the swamp was. There were mangrove type trees all over with those long roots that go way above the water. They said there are lots of crocodiles too (Cayman). I can't imagine carrying someone in a hammock with a broken leg across that, but they did it last month hauling someone out of Kukalaya.

After an hour, we finally we made it out of the jungle to the savanna again. This time the grass savanna was much wetter, more like marsh savanna. It had standing water that sometimes went over our boots, and your feet sunk into the muddy grass each step. It was the slimy black mud, but didn't hold your foot like the clay mud in the jungle. After another hour of that, we came to the lagoon. It is a big expanse of water, crossable only in a boat. In fact, they had used boats in some of the watery savanna we had just crossed, but the lagoon was deep. Pretty blossoming lily pads grew on the sides of the little water trails. After 30 minutes waiting, some people showed up who owned the boats that were parked there. We rode with them 1/2 hour to the village of Kukalaya. White cranes were fishing beside us as we paddled along, and you could see fish in the warm water. We came out of the grassy channel to the rolling waves of the lagoon. The middle guy took off his rubber boot and bailed the water out as each wave came over the edge a little into the boat. It was nice to get out of the little dug out canoe without having to swim.

The village was thrilled to see me. We gathered a crowd of about 50 people as we walked through the village on our way to see the runway, 1/4 mile on the other side of the village. It is always interesting to walk in a place after only seeing it from the air. It looks different from the ground. The runway is not quite long enough, but still usable. There were a few holes that collected water. I directed them on the proper markers on the edge of the runway, cutting the grass shorter, filling the holes with gravel, and making it longer. Overall, they have done a good job. They have a new government clinic in the process of being built. They have both a doctor and nurse stationed there right now. This runway serves Kukalaya (700 people) and Laya Siksa (Black Water, 1,000 people). They have no roads, only lagoons and rivers to access Puerto Cabezas (Port), a very long dangerous trip in a small boat with a sick person. The village of Kukalaya has one boat a month that goes to Port. Many of the people in the village have never been to Port. After the walk from the nearest road (Lapan) I sure see their motivation for building an airstrip! This time of year trucks can't even get all the way to Lapan.

Unfortunately, there is no radio in Kukalaya for communication. I spoke with the government doctor and the town leaders about this. We are going to try to get the government to put in a radio for the clinic. I am connected with the government hospital network with a radio in my house, so that would work for us. The problem is the government radio network is not very dependable. We don't know if we could access the 62 miles with our 2-meter system because there are some hills between us and that area. We'll have to investigate the different possibilities. There are no generators and no solar panels in the town to power a radio so a whole system would be needed. The government puts in whole systems when they place a radio so we are hoping to get the government to put a radio there.

It was 4 PM when we came back from looking at the runway so I only had 2 hours of daylight, not enough time to walk back to Lapan. Thursday morning, I got up and was planning on walking back, but the whole village got together and used their some of their precious hard to obtain gas, their largest boat, and the one engine they own, to take me back a shorter way. I told them it wasn't necessary, but they did it anyway. It was a large dugout canoe that flew along quite quickly, almost tipping over only once when we hit a big submerged log. We crossed the lagoon and went up some picturesque little creeks just like I remember from our time on the river in Guyana. It was raining and I was very glad for the little bit of protection my rain jacket gave me. The boat took just over 1 hour, and cut off 2 1/2 hours of worst walking -- the part with the water up to our chests and the sticky jungle mud. I was completely soaked from the rain, and inside my boots was soaking again too. I was very thankful for moleskin on my feet as my boots had been rubbing the day before. Soaking wet in rubber boots isn't very good for feet walking long distances. With the deep mud, tennis shoes would have been worse since at least the mud didn't go over the boots. It rained all morning the whole rest of the 2 hour walk back to the village of Lapan from the boat.

That was the best my plane has ever looked, sitting out there on that soggy runway on the grass savanna in the drizzling rain! I carefully checked it over, being sure the wet, cold, tired me didn't forgot any details in the drizzling rain. Water splashed all around as I bounced along during take off, and then all became nice and smooth as it broke free of that slick black mud I knew so well. I was very thankful for the airplane heater. I circled under 800 foot ceilings and got my wife on the radio, confirming the weather was OK in Tronquera before I launched into the clouds. It rained all the way home through the clouds, but stopped a few minutes before I landed at home. It was so nice to get warm clothes, hot chocolate, and see my kids and wife.

It is encouraging to see the faces of the people light up as I came into their village. It encourages me to keep up the work when I see people living under such poverty conditions give enough to take me on the river to save 2 1/2 hours of walking. It is a pleasure working for people who are truly grateful for the help we offer.

Next we have to submit paperwork to the government to get the runway approved, then they will send an engineer to inspect the runway, and taking them will be my first landing on that runway.

It was an interesting trip. I am thankful we live where we do. I could have been born in that village.
Clint

*******
Wings Over Nicaragua Mission in Tronquera
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Tronquera, Nicaragua, Central America
www.wingsovernicaragua.org
*******

Nicaragua Newsletter, June 09.

Dear Family and Friends,
Last time we wrote you, were were in Costa Rica for our visa renewal. When we returned, we spent several days in Managua doing paperwork for the airplane. All the meetings with government officials went well. Our airplane has been down here working for over a year now. Our permission renewal comes up the end of August for the airplane and our annual insurance, required to fly in the country, is due the end of July. The villages are very grateful for our medical evacuations. We have had several medical transports this month. We had the main bridge go out between here and our major town, Puerto Cabezas. This has made it necessary to transport more patients from the local hospital in Waspam that use to be able to use the road. It is also economically depressing this whole area as prices of food skyrocket and many standard items such as diesel and gasoline, flour and sugar, become limited or unavailable. We are stocked up for a month on necessities, but after that will have to figure out how to get items here from Puerto Cabezas.
This last month we spent working on our house. Late last year, we received a donation of some money specifically for our house, and we are finally blessed with a water tank that provides us running water, an inside bathroom with a real flushing toilet (after using an outhouse for 3 years), and a shower. We also will soon have a roof over our truck. It also give us a separate bedroom and office, as well as a small separate rooms for Brandel and Bethany.
Since this is now the rainy season, it is raining almost every day, most often in the afternoon. Flying is much slower, due to the weather, but river transport is much easier with a full river for San Carlos, one of the main places we help with medical transportation. Runway construction in Raiti has slowed for the moment due to the rainy season, but will resume as soon as the rain stops in a couple months.
Yesterday I flew over a new village 40 minutes flight South of here (close to the village of Lapan) that has cleared a runway. I need to go by ground and inspect it. I hope to do that within a couple weeks. It is only 7 minutes flight from Lapan, but I am told it will take 4 hours of walking to get there. The name of the place is Kukalaya, and it is in a lagoon area with no road access, even during the dry season.
We are going to go to America for a couple months this fall, August and September. My mom has a painting job that will help pay for our trip home. It will be 1 1/2 years since our last trip home. We look forward to visiting family and will be happy to speak in any churches where we are invited.
Please keep Gary Roberts, a friend of ours who is a mission pilot in Africa in your prayers. They just lost their 4 year old son to Malaria. We worked with Gary in Guyana. We realize this line of work has dangers, but God is more powerful and we pray God brings some good out of such a tragic situation. We treasure each moment we get to spend with each of our family and friends, never knowing how long we may be together.
Our small church is consistently growing. From the regular 1 family we had attending with us, we now have several more people regularly attending each Sabbath. We have also started a Sabbath afternoon Bible study, and that is being quite well attended by many people who aren't in church. We are happy that slowly the seeds of the Gospel are spreading and Holy Spirit is working on our fellow friends here in Nicaragua. We are grateful for your prayers for our little church and weekly Bible study.
Even through this depression of the economy, we are very thankful we are able to continue with our work program and keep the airplane flying. Your support is unwavering, and we know many of you make sacrifices for the continuation of the work down here. We know the Lord will bless you for your efforts and we appreciate your help.

In Christ's service,
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
www.wingsovernicaragua.org

PS. Please be sure to delete this letter when replying as it is quite large for our very slow Ham radio e-mail system.

******************
Tax deductible Donation information:
Wings Over Nicaragua Mission
185 Harris Rd
Goldendale, WA 98620
We also welcome Visa, MC and Paypal online at www.hanleymissions.org
*******************

If you would like to be removed from this mailing list please send an
email to hanley@softhome.net with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

*******
Wings Over Nicaragua Mission in Tronquera
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Tronquera, Nicaragua, Central America
www.hanleymissions.org
*******

Family Update - June 10

Dear Family,
Monday, June 8, we painted for the whole day on the Tasba Pain church. Willis bought the paint for it when he was here, and 1 1/2 weeks ago we had painted the sealer, so now we did the final color. We had lots of helpers and it went well. The church looks beautiful and the people are thrilled. It is light blue inside, and darker blue outside.
Our monthly trip to Port (Puerto) for supplies was especially important this month because I have the rafters up for the roof over our truck parking place and need to get them covered with zinc. The rain also blows onto our new wall we just put up on that half of our house. Tuesday, the day after we got back from painting, we loaded the truck with empty drums for airplane gasoline and left for Puerto Cabezas. After 2 hours driving we were just over halfway to Port and we came to Sinsin. There is a large suspension bridge there across a major river. The night before a big gravel dump truck fell through the bridge, knocking out a 30 foot center section of lumber and breaking the cables. The guy got out alive, but the truck is on the bottom of the river. This is the only road between our house and Port. It will likely be closed for at least a few weeks, or maybe a few months. Since all the gasoline comes over the road from Port to Waspam, all the gas and diesel will run out within a few days and prices of food will go up. This has happened before when there are strikes and the road closes for a few days, but it has only happened for a few days at a time. Since we needed some supplies in Port that were not available in Waspam, Marilyn took a little dugout canoe across the river and rode a bus from the other side into Port. She planned to get some money and supplies, spend the night, and come back on the bus in the AM. I took the kids, and went directly to Waspam to get gasoline for the airplane and stock up on diesel for the truck. Fortunately we kept a stash of grocery money for emergencies, and I used it to get gas and diesel. There was a run on the only gas station, and they said they would be out soon. I waited in line and filled my tanks. I was just getting ready to settle down on the Internet when the hospital called on our new truck radio that Willis recently installed. They had an emergency. Due to the broken bridge, a very sick person couldn't cross on the little boats and needed transport from Waspam to Port. The doctor said the person would most likely die that night if I couldn't do the transport that afternoon. I didn't want to leave our kids alone for the night, since we have never left them without either parent overnight. I decided it would be worth it. There are some friends in the village for them to stay with for the night. It was a 45 minute drive back home, then I had to organize the kids sleeping, got the plane ready, and flew to Waspam. I haven't flown in almost 2 weeks, so it was nice to fly again. I picked up the sick person and flew to Port. The ambulance took 4 phone calls (beginning 45 minutes before arrival at the airport) and I waited at the airport for 30 minutes with the sick person in the plane before they finally came. This is the best hospital on this side of the country, the Atlantic Coast. For the first time (this is the 4th medical transport into Port) the ambulance actually had a nice stretcher, but they couldn't get it unlocked from its holder in the back of the ambulance. Three guys struggled for another 10 minutes, and then they gave up and just carried the guy from the plane to the stretcher.
Then I called my wife, she was quite surprised. She didn't seem to properly enjoy the nice supper because she was worrying about our kids. (Marilyn says it wasn't much of a date, because there was another missionary there that occupied most of Clint's conversation :)
The next morning we didn't get all we needed done because weather was closing in on us. With no weather reporting information on this side of the country, and nothing in my airplane, this time of year is very hard flying. Thunderstorms are all over, and frequent rain showers move all over during most days. We wove around rain showers and arrived in Tronquera 15 minutes before a 1 hour rain storm passed through. Tomorrow Marilyn will go to Waspam to try to get some of the food we were unable to get in Puerto. We hope to get it all bought before Waspam runs out and prices go up too high.
We're happy our truck was on this side of the bridge and that it didn't break 24 hours later and lock our truck on the other side of the river!
For now we can't get our zinc for our roof, we must wait until we can drive to Port.
This morning we received the very sad news that the 4 year old son of Gary Roberts died of malaria complications. They are burying him beside the runway, where he loved to watch his dad take off and land, just like Brandel. Gary is Marilyn's cousin, and we worked with them in Guyana for a year, where Brandel was born. They are currently based in Chad, Africa. Please keep their family in your prayers.
We uploaded lots of new pictures to Picasa. Some are under new house addition, and some under Brandel and Bethany. Under Brandel and Bethany are some pictures of the bridge.
Clint

*******
Wings Over Nicaragua Mission in Tronquera
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Tronquera, Nicaragua, Central America
www.wingsovernicaragua.org
*******

change phone number

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Hi.
As of last week, Nicaragua added a prefix to all the phones. The prefix
for cell phones is 8. So our new cell number is 8842-5605.
Sorry if any of you tried to call and couldn't make it through.
Clint has been in meetings with the Aueronatical civil all day yesterday
and some more today. We are hoping to leave for Tronquera Friday morning.
Marilyn

Nicaragua newletter

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Hi. I am so sorry that so many of you received our letter today in the
wrong format.
I am resending it right now in the correct, pdf format. Thank you for
your patience.
Marilyn

Hanley newsletter

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Hello.
Here is our newsletter with all our latest activities in Nicaragua.
God Bless.
Clint and Marilyn

PS Our web page at www.wingsovernicaragua.org has some new pictures and
updates.

Nicaragua Newsletter - Feb

March 7, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,
This month we have been quite busy and accomplished a lot. The Lord is blessing our work tremendously and allowing us to be a help to the Miskito Indians here in NE Nicaragua.
January was very busy with the airplane's annual, a doctor's visit to Lapan, and Rob's evangelism seminar. We looked forward to a restful February, but it seems we are becoming busier!
I took a local dentist and a student in the IRR program (International Rescue and Relief out of Union College in Lincoln, NE) to Lapan, the poorest village we service. The dentist pulled teeth out of 30 people. Many of them had several teeth extracted. They were all quite happy to have the dentist. We had to turn away a few, but covered almost everyone. We scheduled the date of March 25 to take the dentist back.
We also made a list of 78 people that needed medical attention for the next day. We then returned to Lapan with the IRR medical team. They sent a doctor, nurse practitioner, and a student. It was a full load for my plane. They saw all the people on the list. The village of Lapan had a local nurse but she had been gone for the last 2 months. They were thankful to receive medical care.
I also flew fellow missionary, Mike Halverson, into San Carlos and back out after a few days. He is working on a clinic/church building in the nearby village of Krin Krin. From San Carlos I flew a teen girl who was in labor with her first baby. There were complications.
During this month, I also flew over a village called Raiti (means graveyard in Miskito) and checked it. This is the most remote village in Nicaragua that I have seen. It is a 15 minute flight past San Carlos (55 minutes from here) on the Rio Coco river, but it is 2 full days on the river. The river has many waterfalls and rapids that must be portaged around, impossible for sick people. Since January 1st this year, 7 people have died in Raiti that could have benefited from evacuation and advanced
medical care. The villagers, very excited at seeing Clint fly over their village, immediately started clearing the necessary ground for a new runway. However, without much experience or help, they soon got discouraged. The Baptist mission was doing a project in the area and saw the need. They are helping the villagers with some hand tools, a little rice and beans, and logistical support. An engineer in their visiting group will return to Raiti in April to help them get the correct engineering
for the runway. This area of Nicaragua is more in need of a runway than any place I have ever seen in this country. They are surrounded by deep jungle, and hills.
This month Clint built our long awaited large water tower for our house. It will provide running water along with a bathroom. Marilyn is very thankful for the 1200 gallon tank and Clint was challenged to build the complicated tower according to the engineered plans.
Please keep Bob Norton and his family in our prayers. He is a fellow American Seventh-day Adventist mission pilot working Venezuela. He crashed 3 weeks ago and has not been found. There is always a risk involved in this line of work, and our little family requests your prayers as we do our best to help our fellow people in this world.

Our pray for you this month is that Jesus will be more real to each of you every day.

Our web site has new pictures.

Sincerely,
Clint and Marilyn Hanley

******************
Tax deductible Donation information:
Wings Over Nicaragua Mission
185 Harris Rd
Goldendale, WA 98620
We also welcome Visa, MC and Paypal online at www.hanleymissions.org
*******************

If you would like to be removed from this mailing list please send an email to hanley@softhome.net with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

pictures

Hi guys,
We just uploaded a whole bunch of pictures including some new ones in
our family folder.
Kat, there are some for your women's ministries school bags in a folder
too.
Marilyn

Nicaragua Newsletter --- Evangelism

February 7, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,
We had an excellent Christmas here in Nicaragua, and trust you all also had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The first week in January, Wings of Hope out of St. Louis, MO, sent down an airplane mechanic, Steve, for our airplane's annual. Each year the airplane needs checked. The mechanic took 4 days and went over every part in great detail from the prop to the tail. There were a few minor things that needed fixed, but nothing major. The engine checked out just fine, and the airframe is holding up to the weather outside as well as can be expected. Wings of Hope also sent down some windsocks, plane parts,
an airplane radio, and a stretcher. We are happy they are partners with us to help reach the Miskito Indians here with our aviation program.
I took the mechanic back to Puerto Cabezas, and 4 days later, flew back to Puerto to pick up Dr Randy Sumner who came to visit us from Georgia. He is a frequent visitor to Costa Rica, but had never been to our side of Nicaragua. We flew him to Lapan, our newest runway, and he and Marilyn did a mobile clinic, where we saw about 50 people. The village of 1850 people has had no nurse or doctor since mid-December when the only nurse left on vacation not to return until the end of January.
Since our last newsletter, I have transported three sick people out of San Carlos, and 2 out of Lapan. The government hospital has lent us a radio to use which puts us in direct communication with the hospital.
On January 22, Marilyn's sister came with her husband and 2 kids to visit. It is the first time anyone from her family has been to this side of Nicaragua. I flew to Managua to pick up their luggage, saving several hundred dollars in transportation costs. Since it was their first time to Nicaragua, they were happy I was able to meet them and guide them around. Customs never checked their luggage, they had an easy trip. The next day I put them on La Costenia, the local airlines, and I flew with one
of their sons back to Tronquera. Marilyn met the rest of them in Puerto Cabezas and brought them home in the truck. We were most thrilled to get items that had been shipped from many people all over America. In the 350 lbs of luggage they brought for us, there were many crucial items to continue our work here - a new laptop computer, radio antenna, inverter, airplane parts, and PA system, just to mention a few things. They also brought evangelism materials for their seminars, roofing screws for our
house and churches, and educational materials for village school kids. It has been a big help to us, and the items will continue benefiting the communities for a long time. We want to especially thank each person who had a part in getting all the items for them to bring down.
In February we plan to take a local dentist to Lapan to pull teeth, there is no dentist there. When we did the mobile clinic, there were several patients noted by the doctor that were in need of a dentist. A portable dental setup that can be flown to remote locations would be advantageous for these communities, but without this, we can still offer extraction, which does give the patients permanent relief from tooth pain.
We just finished our 4 day Share Him seminar that Rob Liss (Marilyn's sister's husband) presented. He had a tremendous turnout. We had over 150 people that we cooked for each day and also sleeping arrangements for everyone. The Moravian church was very kind and lent us their church for the meetings. It is the largest building in the village.
After the meetings, we distributed 5 of 10 bicycles to the mission lay pastors. Willis (in Tennessee) has enthusiastically involved the churches in his area in fundraising for this project, and it was an excellent success. Some of these lay pastors cover 10 churches over a 20 mile area, so a bicycle is a wonderful tool. We had 4 baptisms resulting from the meetings, everyone was quite happy.
Thank you again for your prayers and support. It is because of your help we are able to be in Nicaragua helping the people.

Clint and Marilyn Hanley
www.wingsovernicaragua.org

******************
Tax deductible Donation information:
Wings Over Nicaragua Mission
185 Harris Rd
Goldendale, WA 98620
We also welcome Visa, MC and Paypal online at www.hanleymissions.org
*******************

If you would like to be removed from this mailing list please send an email to hanley@softhome.net with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

*******
Wings Over Nicaragua Mission in Tronquera
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Tronquera, Nicaragua, Central America
www.hanleymissions.org
*******

Family Update

Dear Family,
You haven't heard much from me the last week, I haven't had time to write! On Tuesday (Jan 6) I picked up the mechanic from Wings of Hope in Puerto Cabezas, he was right on time, and his luggage even came with him, which is unusual for La Costenia. We had a quick lunch and 40 minutes later were in Tronquera. We had about 1 1/2 hours before dark, I figured he would want to take it a bit easy after such a long trip, but he said "lets get started, we can do a compression test on it right now". We pulled
the cowels off the engine and I got the compressor and generator loaded up and brought them to the plane, and we worked until dark. We started right after our 7 AM breakfast every day for the next 3 days and worked until almost dark. He was very methodical (which is a good quality when your life is hanging in the air over the jungle) and it he did a quite thorough job. It isn't every mechanic that has to get in the plane to get home after his annual is done. He found nothing major on the plane that
would ground it, but a few little things that would have very likely caused trouble in the near future had he not fixed them. He said the plane is holding up just fine in the weather conditions (although hangar would be better), and the engine is doing well.
He finished the log books 1/2 hour before we left on Saturday morning, and I flew him back to Port. He had an hour after check-in before he needed to be at the airport, so we walked around town some, there isn't much to see in Port.
After he left, I spent some time on the Internet, a couple hours, visited some friends, and headed back in the late afternoon. Sabbath morning Brandel had a fever and didn't feel good. By Sunday morning he still had a fever, but no other symptoms, so that worried Marilyn a little. A fever isn't a big deal if it is related to a cold, flu, or something, but with no other symptoms could mean it was Malaria. We had to pick up some lumber for our house floor in Waspam anyway, so we decided to head to
town and get him tested Sunday mid-morning. Five minutes after we had arrived in town and turned on our phone, it rang. It was the Puerto airport Administrator, and he had a friend that was not feeling well and wanted to go to Managua right away. La Costenia is usually booked quite a few days in advance, so he couldn't use them get to Managua. I told him a price, and he called back 5 minutes later and said he wants to go, when can I be there. I told him 1 PM, and we raced around getting Brandel tested,
and also bought 400 lbs of food (less than 1/2 of what we need) for Katherine and Rob's evangelism seminar. Brandel's tests came back negative, and we left to Tronquera. I took the plane to Port, picked up two people, and with a nice tail wind landed in Managua a couple hours before dark. I went to eat with Richard and Carolyn Becton, fellow missionaries who are also pilots and working in Port, but were on their way to America through Managua. The next morning I did a few errands around Managua and
bought a bunch of fresh fruit and vegetables (always a big treat) for Marilyn, and took off by 1 PM. I went to 11,500 feet on my way back, it was 39 degrees F up there, quite cold for the tropics! I was glad my heater worked nicely. It was just over 3 hours due to a headwind, and I landed in Tronquera a couple hours before dark. On my way flying home to Tronquera, Lapan, our newest runway village, called me and said they had an emergency. I was loaded to full and it was too late in the day to go
there, so I told them I would be there first thing in the AM. They usually have a nurse, but all the village nurses take a vacation from mid-December to late January. Since they have no doctor or nurse in the village, it is hard to asses if it is a true emergency, or someone with a toothache wanting a free ride that costs me small fortune in plane gas. I took Marilyn, her first time to Lapan, and we left before sunrise at 5:45 AM Tuesday morning. The sun was just up and wisps of morning fog rising
as we watched the people (hundreds of them) streaming from the town the 20 minute walk across the flat tundra type swamp to the runway. Presently they brought the hurt man, he had a 2 inch thorn in his arm (you never know the exact length), which wouldn't be a big deal, except the next truck wasn't due in for another 7 days to transport him out. Marilyn determined he did have something inside there, but it wasn't a grave emergency, (as we suspected). So she spent 3 hours checking out the villagers
for a list of patients for Dr. Randy could see while he is here. Dr Randy is coming from America to visit this next weekend. She got a good list, and we took off with our two patients (sick one and his wife), 38 lbs of oranges (Lapan is the orange capital of NE Nicaragua, they use them for soccer balls there) and Marilyn. We got the guy off to the hospital, and Marilyn shopped around while I filled the airplane with gasoline, and stocked up with an extra 35 gallons in my gas jugs. It takes around
2 hours to get the plane filled, and we left mid afternoon fully loaded between Marilyn's groceries and the gasoline.
We have local elections coming up here on Jan 18, mayors, judges, and town leaders in this area. People are rallying all over, and there could be a strike if all doesn't go well. Please keep that in your prayers that all remains peaceful and they don't close down any airports. Our airport is never an issue because it is private, but Puerto Cabezas and Waspam can be a problem. Either way we are not in danger here in Tronquera, but we have visitors coming before, during and after the election day,
so that will possibly cause us some extra money and gas to try to get around airport closures.
That is our week, I hope I didn't bore you guys with too much detail.
Clint

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Wings Over Nicaragua Mission in Tronquera
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Tronquera, Nicaragua, Central America
www.hanleymissions.org
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