July 30th

We were at the village again today. We immediately got to painting, and the Cornerstone group started their dental clinic back up.

I enjoyed painting today. Some of the boys in one of the houses we worked on, one boy in particular, really wanted to help. His name was Rogers Amera (he was tickled that I knew his last name without him telling me because I recognized his first name and his precious face). He was picking up after us and sweeping the floors and doing whatever he could think of to help. So, I asked him if he wanted to paint. He smiled, and nodded at a rate of about one million nods per second. I loaded a paintbrush for him and showed him what to do. That boy was all over it. He was a painting fool! He was smiling the whole time. His attention only lasted a few minutes, but he enjoyed every bit of it. Then, I let him play with my camera. This got the attention of many of the children. I look forward to seeing the photos that they took. I’m sure they nearly filled my memory card.

When we broke for lunch, Resty found me. She sat with me as we ate lunch, and I shared some of my goodies with her, like fruit snacks and peanut butter crackers. I think she enjoyed the one on one attention. I gave her a letter that I wrote for her to say “Thank you” for the letter she wrote to me.

Then, we went back to painting. We got a lot done today. It started raining very hard, which turned out to be a huge help in the clean up process. I think we cleaned in record time. To give you some framework, there are no hoses or running water at the houses. So clean up means many trips with buckets to the holding tanks and many trips down the hill to dump dirty water. With the rain, we could put buckets under the drip lines and pour dirty water out to be washed away. It was wonderful!!

Then, I went to the main area of the village to hang out and wait for the team to be ready to depart. There were some younger children around playing. When I broke out the camera, the fun began. They were being goofy and posing for the camera. It was a lot of fun. When Resty got out of school, she looked sad and disconnected. I talked to her a little, but she just wasn’t very talkative. She disappeared.

I went to Nelson’s house to drop a note on his bed because I didn’t think that I was going to get to see him since we were leaving fairly early today. But, as it turns out, the dental clinic ran long, and I got to see him afterall. We didn’t get too much talking in because his duty is to round up the children for nightly chapel and prayers, so he was a busy fella. He gave me a note he had written while he was at school.

When I saw Resty later, she gave me two notes, one for me and one for Jason. I thought it was very sweet that she wanted to write a letter to Jason. I put them in my bag to read later. I bid farewell to her, as the team was leaving me behind. I really wanted to talk to her, but it just didn’t work out that way.

We walked home today. It is a feeling that I will probably never get used to to have all of these children treat you like a celebrity. They run up to you with smiles, waving at you. I feel like I am on a parade float. To some extent, it is sad to think that when I go home, as I pass I won’t even get eye contact, let along a warm smile and a wave. So, if you read this and happen to see me on the street, if you smile and wave, I won’t be discouraged

When we got to the hotel, we went swimming with the interpreters. They don’t know how to swim, so it was fun to help them learn. We had two success stories, but the other four really didn’t take to the water. It was a good time.

At dinner, because I got there sooner than the rest of the team, I had time to read the notes I had received today. Resty seems to be a little jealous and concerned about my relationship with Nelson. I will have to talk to her and let her know that it does not make us less of friends. I look forward to our conversation so I can clear that up. This is heavy on my heart and probably will be all night.

Nelson’s letter was very sweet. He says that since he has come to the village, he has never had a sponsor. It was just really sweet, thanking me for being his sponsor.

The team meeting was fun tonight. I like our whole team, but it is interesting how the dynamic changes with the loss of the Oaks team. They are missed and not forgotten.

I didn’t fall again today.

I am pooped. Over and out from Big T! (The team might get the joke… everyone else… sorry!)