Saturday April 22

A new exciting day. We got rain during the night after the storm fizzled out in the afternoon for the Gautier area. But areas west of us got dumped on about 4 pm. But we got the heaviest rain about 3 am, plus a lot of lightning during the night. We got about .6 inches of rain so many of the huts had a lot of water in them this morning. Thankfully, a couple people got the mops and started getting all the water out. Even our kitchen/pantry had a lot of water. Tonite it is a totally clear night with lots of stars and today was so nice. It was much cooler and lower humidity with a northerly breeze that it was just great.


2 groups came today. About 15 from Monmouth OR got here in the late morning as they flew overnight. It was so great to see Denvy and Gail Saxowsky the team leaders that I met in Dec down here. Denvy gave me the biggest hug when he got here. And some of them went out of one job this afternoon. Denvy and a couple others did go to look at a couple places to assess the situation before working on them. There are some skilled carpenters in this group and I need people who can hang doors, do finishing work, etc so they get these special jobs. They even brought me the OR flag (I had requested) to hang in our dining area. Then a group from MD and DE came later today and they are equipped to do a roof or two this week and I have numerous homes that need a roof. Having several groups here will seem like more jobs are being done. The need is so great but slow going. Some of these people can only make one decision at a time so that slows the process a lot. But the effects of stress, trauma, depression, etc that these people are suffering is overwhelming that they can't make decisions easily.

Friday night at our devotion/sharing time several were talking about places to eat out and I commented I haven't been able to eat out much. One of the guys said "You've been eating out every day here in the dining area and probably haven't done much of cooking either". He had me there. We have some smart people in the village this week. They are a joy but they keep me on my toes.

I wish you all a happy Sunday where you are. We will all be going to Gautier Presby in the morning - about 36 people, I think.

Phyllis