Yard Sale Day

All 8 of us arrow early this morning to be at the GAP by 7:00. After waiting for our marching orders and for the rain to subside a little we began to unload the two trucks and trailer and stage the items for the sale. It continued to rain of and on throughout the morning. We covered the furniture with tarps and cardboard so as not to get it too wet.
     About 10AM the FBC crew loaded into Stuart's truck and followed Terry to Elkhorn City air an hour away. When we arrived it was sprinkling a little. Terry showed us what was to be done and then dove back to continue helping with the yard sale. Since it was raining we decided to easy our lunch before starting our work in earnest. We were able to complete the underpinning on one end of the trailer before the rain came back again. Unfortunately, it was a short day of work, but we have a plan of attack for tomorrow.
     Jeff cooked another great supper for us tonight. After supper we had a good discussion about Mission opportunities and development that have stemmed from our readings of ”When Helping Hurts” and other such books. Whether it is with or people in Augusta our with the good folks of Smoke Rise I am always energized by these discussions. They bring encouragement to me that we are on the right track. These discussions also serve to push me onward in my thinking and planning of current and future partnerships.
     The Smoke Rise gang will be heading back home tomorrow. We will head back to the worksite hopefully under sunnier conditions.

Monday- shopping, VBS, work projects

Jake Chiles and Chip working on the bell tower

     My day started out on a comical note this morning. As we were sitting down for breakfast Chip apologized to the group for in his words ”being a diva” yesterday. We all got a good laugh. Thanks, Chip, we needed a good chuckle.
     After breakfast Joy and I reassessed the shopping needs and headed to Faith, SD (our closest town with hardware store and grocery store--45min. away). We went to the hardware store first and bought supplies for several projects. We created a contraption to raise the entrance gate and a new wheel. We bought paint,a ladder, and miscellaneous supplies to repair the bell tower. After the hardware store we went to the grocery store to buy food for the week. This was no short trip and we came back with the van full.
     Meanwhile back at the church, the rest of the crew was busy working on several projects. Mickie and Betsy were pulling weeds around the basketball court. Chip, Chiles, and Jacob were making two basketball goals into one. Each of the goals had a different issue, but pieced together they made a functional goal. Kevin has already declared that he wants his job to be painting. I believe we will make that happen tomorrow.
     When we returned to the church we had lunch together. Jake, Chiles, and I went to work on the gate. It is certainly better than it was now that we fixed the hinge and installed a new wheel. I need one more piece and it will be done. Now, Chip is working on the bell tower with Jake and Chiles. There are two girls from the community in the fellowship hall doing the tray craft we brought for VBS today. No kids came today for VBS. We will be prepared tomorrow in case they do.

     After dinner tonight I had the pleasure of walking with my new buddy, Kevin, as we were searching for one of the horses that had gotten out. We started walking to the graveyard that is behind the church. It is a deceptively long walk. It it's probably a 1/2 mile down the road although it looks like it is just right there. as we were walking to the graveyard, which was the lady place I had seen the horse I noticed a figure walking through the field also toward the graveyard. As soon as I saw the figure I saw three horse standing by the fence. The man, who I later realized was Eric, the next neighbor down the street, walked right up to the horse and slipped a harness around it's neck and brought it around.
     We were all treated to a full double rainbow tonight and some of the longest shadows I have ever seen. In georgia or shadows would hit a tree before they got that long.
     We met pastor Byron Buffalo tonight along with his wife, Toni, and their soon. He let us know of a memorial service of sorts for a volunteer from pennsylvania. Each year they honor his memory when the group from Gettysburg comes over. (Joy and I had seen the monument earlier and wondered what it was.) He started coming to this area when one of Byron's other churches had burned down several years ago. Now, each year when his group comes they have a time of remembrance for him. We were invited, but got too caught up in our dinner and the beautiful rainbow to go. We hear there will be a small festival tomorrow at the Takini school, which is about 12 miles up the road toward Faith. I think we will try to go there tomorrow evening.

Kevin with two community girls doing VBS crafts

Jake assessing the situation from a higher vantage point

Presentation of gifts from Augusta to Pastor Byron Buffalo and his wife, Toni

Andy's grilled chicken on a tiny grill.

Sunday- The Journey Continues...

     It only counts if you spend the night, right? Now,I can say we've stayed in Minnesota. #campoutattheairport After landing in Minnesota-St. Paul airport we found out there were no Delta discount hotels left in the city. They did make available to us some foam mattresses and overnight kits. I slept on the floor of the TGI Fridays under a table.the rest of the crew camped out just over the wall. In case you are wondering the overnight announcement for the airport tram at MSP is ”the tram is now closed. Please use the moving sidewalk.” every five minutes.

Jacob on his mat

My lovely abode for the evening

After a phone call to Delta we now have 5 on the first flight, I'm on the 2nd, and Betsy and Kevin are on the 3rd.  We are still hoping to get all of us at least in the air by the 11:25 flight. Just this morning two seats opened up and I was able to get Jake and Mickie on the early flight from the last flight.
   (some time passed)      As I was waiting at the gate for the 11:25 flight Betsy took Kevin to ride the tram, mail some postcards, and walk around the for a little while before sitting down to wait. I also found out he got on the moving sidewalk on his own, which he had been reluctant to do when the whole group was walking through the airport. As we got ready to board a group came up at the last minute to board. Betsy read one of their shirts and realized it was christian band, Big Daddy Weave. It was the gate attendants first week on the job and she was totally overwhelmed by the subsequent overbooked flights as a result of the bad weather from Saturday. Since there were eight with BDW and they wouldn't split up that opened up a few more seats. I went on the plane and told Betsy to text me if they weren't going to make it. As I was getting settled I overheard the guy behind me talking to his travel companion. As I listened I thought I recognized the voice. After visiting bebenorman.com my suspicions were confirmed. Bebo is a great guy and a DAWG fan. I didn't realize he was from Columbus, GA.
     Betsy and Kevin were the beneficiaries of BDW not getting on the flight but not before getting a picture with them!  So, all three of us got on the 2nd flight and it was looking promising that we would actually make it to church. As it turned out with the last minute changes on the flights we were short one bag. Chip's bag with Betsy's name on it did not arrive with the rest of us. Since we were going to far away for them to drive it to us it would have taken until Tuesday to get the bag. I didn't trust that even that would happen with as little address information as we had for the church.  We decided to go eat a late lunch and retrieve the bag before heading on to Bridger. Unfortunately, that meant we missed church. We went to the Firehouse Brewing Company at the recommendation of the gas station attendant. And guess who we saw? Bebo Norman! When we finally got to the church and got settled in Kevin and Chip led church for us (sorry, no picture available).
     We had several hours of light left so we assessed the situation of the projects that were requested. We decided on the ones we felt we could accomplish. We plan to start checking things off the list tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a great night sleep and a fresh stay tomorrow. Enjoy these scenic shots of the Cheyenne River Valley, our home for the week.

Wednesday- lexington legends baseball

     It's time for middle of the week relax day! We left the lodge and drove to Booneville. There we met 4 of Paula's youth at the public library. Blue, Roxzann, John, and Johnny seemed a little unsure how to take our group at first. Kyle did a great job leading a brief introduction game. He then ”assigned” a couple of our students to make sure each of or guests felt welcomed and included. No surprise to me those assignments really were not necessary as all of our students worked top include our new friends throughout the day.
    We were hoping to catch the Green Jackets at the Legends game, but that was not the case. We had to settle for the Greensboro Grasshoppers instead. Minor league games are not without their fun fan involvement. Taylor and Anaiya were selected for the frozen t-shirt contest.
     After a brief ”shower” *wink, wink* we decided to go on to the campus of the University of Kentucky. It truly is a beautiful campus and we were given a wonderful ”guided” tour by our own Brian Layman!
     We had the opportunity to catch up on Twitter and Facebook add we waited out a storm in the UK Starbuck's. Apparently, Augusta had gotten hammered a few hours earlier by the same band of showers. Thanks, Forrest and Patrick for the updates of the Colorado River (I mean the Springlakes spillway) and the amphitheater.
     The men all ate supper at #Abuelo's, the mexican food embassy (pretty bold statement, but I think they backed it up). We had great food and great fellowship around the table.

*Kyle did not officially put a driving ban on himself, but he did not get behind the wheel today*

Thursday- final work day

     The teams were divided up old-fashioned schoolyard style for three final push. Allen had a crew to finish the Hagnauer corrections before FBC Jasper came in to finish that house. Stu's crew put the fishing touches on his and Allen's railings. I took Michael Carlson, Parker Wingard, Mary Will Showman, and Caroline Dekle to our 4th house for the week to buy materials and begin work to fix the facia boards on one end of the house.
     There was a babysitting crew,a shopping crew, a mission clean up crew, and a neighborhood crew as well. The construction crews all convened on my house for the afternoon. I must say all the students did a great job all week. Thursday's homeowner blessed the crew with Mountain Dews for everyone! It is always a great feeling to know that we were able to accomplish what we set out for ourselves at the beginning of the week. It was a great week that was dry when we needed it to be. Our work was not hindered at all by the weather. As we were loading the tool trailer on the final day (I am on top of the trailer securing the ladders) the bottom absolutely dropped out. By the time we got the trailer hooked up and I got into the van I looked like I had been swimming in my clothes. A good decision was made to take our #Miguel's pizza back to the lodge.

*the pizza was I've-been-on-the-trail-three-days-and-I'm-tired-of-eating-MREs-good*

Haiti Day 8- Home, Sweet Home

   We woke up at our normal time for breakfast.  I thought we were having bean soup at first.  That would have continued the trend of supper foods for breakfast and breakfast foods for dinner.  However, I was mistaken as Dominic pointed out that something smelled like chocolate!  That's right, slightly spicy chocolate soup and bread for breakfast.

   Our departure time moved up from 9:45 to 9:30 and then to 9:00 as the morning progressed.  We actually got away by 9:06.  Pretty good for a  crew of almost 30.  Alex had taken Jeremy an hour earlier in his car so they had arranged for a hotel shuttle van to take some of our crew.  As we made it to the main road in Grand Goave we were flagged down by several motorcyclists to let us know that one of our back tires was flat.  Good thing we were leaving in time to arrive at the airport 3 hours before our flight was to take off.  We pulled onto the main road and then off again a little way up the road to get the tire checked.  In the meantime the little van passed us only to pull over and wait at a real filling station just up the road (see Last Day in the Village  for a reminder of the difference between filling stations and gas stations).  Now, with both vehicles on the road we were comfortably riding toward Port-Au-Prince, never mind the slower speeds causing less moving air and more interesting smells to invade our nostrils.

   Saturday is market day so we had to pass through a couple of markets on our journey.  At some point the little van passed the bus and got on down the road.  As we neared PAP there was some kind of license check.  We had no problem getting through, but we noticed the van on the side of the road with no driver.  I never got the full story on that.  Entering PAP the traffic was very, very thick and we had another market to navigate, which involved a lot of shifting of the gears.  Have I mentioned that this stick-shift bus used to be an automatic?  Well, it did.  And today, not once but twice the gear shift came off!  I have been amazed all week at the ingenuity of the Haitians we have had the privilege of working with.

   All in all we made it to the airport safely, the little van arrived only a few minutes after the bus and we were escorted to the entrance door.  Unfortunately, this was as far as Diddy and Junior could go so we said our good-byes outside the airport and went to check in.  With only minor, typical airport issues we made it to the gate with a couple of hours to kill before boarding.

   A few of us visited the snack bar on the plane side of the security and settled in for the wait.  Eventually, most of the group discovered the duty-free shops and/or the restaurant upstairs.  I was able to get a couple of small gifts for my girls, a small pizza for lunch, and a cold Sprite before boarding the plane.  Our flight to Atlanta afforded the team more time for resting, final conversations, and the first cup of ice in a week.  We landed in Atlanta and breezed through security, customs, and immigration.  We said our good-byes to the Rome folks and Kansas folks and headed to our flight.  Jeff, Milton, and I had a quick snack supper at Chick-Fil-A before boarding to Augusta and thus ending a great week of hard work, good ministry, and great fellowship.  Thank you, Harold and CBF Heartland for letting FBC Augusta tag along!  We look forward to more opportunities of continued ministry.