Nicaragua hurracane Felix relief

During my (Mauricio) birthday (I just turned 40) on Friday September the 7th, I received a phone call asking me if I wanted to go for a while to help with the relief operations in Nicaragua, as a response to the hurracane Felix passing over the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast with winds of up to 270 kilometers per hour.

Although I hold two citizenships (Colombian and Venezuelan), I only have a Colombian passport. That means that I need a Visa to go into almost any country. I received a visa for going to Nicaragua on Monday the 10th, and flew in a commercial plane in the afternoon from San Jose, Costa Rica to Managua, Nicaragua.

As soon as I arrived Nicaragua, I was informed by the inmigration police that I could not going into the country because my passport was going to expire in three weeks. The authorities send me to a hotel with the companion of two officers. One of them was a Chirtian.

After they knew about our job and purpose they delayed the flight back until Tuesday noon, in order to give time to our Nicaraguan contacts to talk on my behalf before the authorities. By 9:00 in the morning they allowed me to enter oficially to the country.

I had the opportunity both Monday night and Tuesday morning, to talk about God with some of the officers.

We had the opportunity to bring water, plastics, food and other supplies to the small town of Puerto Cabezas, located in the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. We flew the supplies from Managua, Nicaragua and from San Pedro Sula, Honduras.



The Nicaraguan authorities are talking about 110 killed people because the hurracane and at least 60 people not found yet. But some small Islands with their population dissapeared as the hurracane Felix passed over. Some Nicaraguan bodies were found floating on the ocean in Honduras (miles away of their town).

The Christian organization who participated in this relief effort were: Missionary Flights International, Operation Blessings, The Samaritan Purse and Mission Aviation Fellowship. The Nicaraguan evangelical churches were involved in this effort through the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance.

This is part of the information about our work there:

1. We had two airplanes doing the job, one DC-3 and one Cessna 206
2. 18 total flights
3. more than 65,000 pounds of cargo flown and around 35 passengers


We were well impressed by the Nicaraguan military hard work. They were taking care of the emergency in a very kind and coordinated way.

I enjoyed translating and helping with the logistics, as well as spending time in the DC-3 cockpit.

I came back home on Saturday the 15th. It is great to be back with my family, and being back doing our work with Learning Technologies.

Please pray for all of the work that Christian organizations, NGO's and governments will have in the next months to rebuild the affected area.

Blessings to you all.