Thursday

Whew! Another LONG day at the mission. We are bone-tired, but feel very good about the work being done.

Today the medical team continued exams for residents of the community. Much the same as yesterday, however, today they broke for a mid-afternoon meeting with the community neighbors to offer basic health teaching on sickness prevention, how to make clean water, and some advice on dealing with some of the more common diseases they have been finding this week. The center set up tables and chairs and said that it was their biggest turn-out to date.

VBS went back to the younger children today. The basic plan has been to alternate days: Tues/Thurs are the younger children (ages 3-6) and Wed/Fri are the older (7-10). I think the day took a beating on them (over 460 kids in the program!) - but they came out with smiles and ready for tomorrow.

The mural is finished!!! It must be a record: 3 days of painting on a 25' tall by 31' wide wall. And this on scaffolding made of sticks and scrap wood (literally). We're very proud of how it turned out and can't wait to show pictures. The community residents seem to be very pleased with the new splash of color introduced to their neighborhood.

For several in our group, the afternoon was spent with a series of meetings and sub-projects. Chris met with a couple of the key leaders to discuss medical software possibilities. He and Mike are also brainstorming how to create a simple, low-cost lap-dulcimer instrument that they could teach the kids how to make. Mike spent a good amount of time on the roof repairing broken desks. Dick had lengthy pastor-talk with the Kosovo pastor, Joseph.

After a surprisingly short trip back to the hotel (usually it's about an hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic), we cleaned up and headed out for an Ethiopian dinner. (Unfornutately, Mike and Danielle skipped out because Danielle is not feeling good) Several of the key leaders from the mission also joined us - good times.

Tomorrow we head into our final day at the mission. Hard to believe how fast the week has gone!