Monday, September 17, 2007

Today with still no power we were roughing it. After sending the children off to school, we ate breakfast and got ready to go to the airport to see Maureen off. Instead of walking, we decided to hang out with one of Roland’s friends and wait for the mission truck to pass by and we would just hop on. Finally after waiting about an hour they showed up and we headed to the airport. While we were there, the truck that we came in (which was not a mission truck by the way) was asked by the police to move from where it was parked. While the driver was moving he hit two mopeds and we had to call another driver. While we waited at the airport we relaxed with some Sprites and chatted about Maureen’s upcoming trip and what was getting ready to take place within the mission. When her plain finally touched down we were surprised to see Mike and Teresa Grant getting off that flight. They were as excited to see Maureen as she was to see them. After all the hellos and small talk and goodbyes, Mike, Teresa, their interpreter, Roland, and I all got in the truck and headed for St. Louis. The only negative aspect of that airport run was that Mike and Teresa’s luggage did not come on the same flight as they did. They were ok thought because they have stuff in their house at the mission. The ride back to the mission was a good time to get to chat with Mike and Teresa about what they will be doing and what I was doing and all the get to know you chat. When we got to the mission I took some time to catch up on some internet business and chatted with Diana, while I waited for Melissa to boss me around. At 3 Melissa, Erin, Sarmone (sp?), and I took a metal bed frame and a mattress to a house about 1 mile from the mission. There is a little boy there named Sonel (sp?) who fell out of a Mango tree in June and broke his back and is paralyzed from the waist down. Up until we took him this bed, he had been lying on the ground and had some really bad looking soars on his hips and back from being on the ground. Erin, Maureen, and Melissa have been going there daily to treat his soars and doing some PT with him. The mission also gave him a wheelchair so he can get around and keep the bloods flowing and what not. His dad has been shown how to tend his wounds and is doing a really good job at helping them to get better. Sonel is such a fun little boy it is a shame that he is restrict for life now. Once we got back to the mission I just hung out for a little bit chatting with Jose, Jody, Larry, and Diana. Roland and I are going to be spending a few days in St. Louis this week and I asked Jose to leave me a list of things to do while he was gone if he needed to. Although, I think Melissa is going to fill my time up pretty good with things that Maureen left for her to get done. At about 530 Wisley showed up in the flatbed to talk to Larry about something and drop off some supplies for the mission, so we did not have to take a tap tap back to the Orphanage. We left at about 6 and headed back to what we thought was going to be a power filled home but found out that it was not. On the way back we had a little frog related incident, in that a little frog landed on the hood of the truck and Wisley just about jumped out of his skin. I have never seen a grown man afraid of a tiny frog like that. It was quite hilarious, and Roland did not let him forget about it even through breakfast this morning. So via candlelight and a bucket of water I did some dishes and took a shower, then ate dinner and spent some time with the children. At about 830 everyone was ready for bed so we all passed out. Peace.