Roof and Rain

The weeks have gotten away without being able to update ya’ll (a little of the south for you all) about what has been going on down here in the Bayou. We were able to celebrate Easter last weekend with an extra day off. Our short termers left a day early and so with the abundance of Canadians here of staff we took Good Friday off. Here in the States Good Friday is not a stat holiday and so the focus of Easter is mainly on Easter Sunday. We also said good bye to four long-term staff that weekend and so the weekend was full of emotion, with good byes and thoughts of graduation at Bethany and of course reflecting about Christ and His gift for us. They long-termers that left us also left a big hole as they people that I really connected with. So right now we are going through some transition as we keep going with quite a smaller group of people. We are a tad short staffed at the moment. So if any of you want to come down…

This past week we worked on a project that included taking down drywall inside that had been hung wrong and taking out the insulation in the exterior walls. We also shingled a roof old school style, no power nailers. We lay the roof down with the literal swing of the hammer. Our group was a high school group from North Carolina. We were able to finish the roof on Friday so there was a great sense of accomplishment for the kids. It was a blessing that we finished when we did because we had rain that night.

This was the second rain that I have experienced while I have been down here. Some stats for the month of March, normal rainfall is about 7-8 inches and they only received ¼ inch. They are in a drought here and so any rain is greatly appreciated. There is a fire ban in effect here. Along with the coming Hurricane season coming up shortly there is apprehension in the air about the weather. Normally the Gulf waters cool off for winter this year they did not and they are forecasting more hurricanes just as strong as Katrina.

The week started slowly but finished strong and the kids left, challenged and with a sense of accomplishment. However, I still am wondering about what the next months will bring and I am tentatively scheduled to go back to Canada in the beginning of June. I am willing to serve with MDS till August and so there are decisions that need to be made about whether I will go back in June or just stay here. I know my body and how it reacts to extreme heat and humidity and they tell us we have not seen anything yet and also think that we are a little crazy to keep building in the heat of the summer. I need to be a good leader and want to be pushed and grow but I do not want to be stubborn and stupid, which can easily happen. So discernment is needed in decision making in the next week. As we enjoy the scent of Honeysuckle and the blooming of Magnolia’s, God’s promise of faithfulness is still felt.