Thursday, October 11, 2007

Building projects began today. Thomas and some of the other men are working on bunk beds, a full size bed, kitchen cabinets, and a table. Because there is only one saw and one extension cord available, Thomas also began whittling a replacement handle for the door of the church. This keeps his hands busy while waiting for the materials and cuts he needs to build his assignment. When Pastor Rudy requested another handle be made for the CR door, Thomas mentored Alexie and Xander in making a duplicate.

WATCH YOUR STEP

After lunch, those not working on building projects walked to the elementary school (carrying the puppets and puppet stage across the walls of the rice terraces.) Annalise headed off with Miriam, one of the cooks, and Alexie decided to follow them. Adriana and Alayna were way up with the rest of the group. Lisa was walking along the rice terraces far behind the rest of the group when her foot slipped. She fell down 4 feet or so into the flooded rice field. Talk about surprised! All of a sudden, she found her feet stuck in at least 6 inches of mud; so stuck that her flip flop broke when she pulled her foot free. No matter her plight, the caribou continued to graze 6 feet away. Roy rushed back to help her climb up the rock wall. She had mud covering her hands and almost to her knees. She contemplated turning around and returning to our home base but decided to continue. So she continued to walk along the terrace walls barefoot carrying her broken shoe. Quite a sight, yet there was no one available to catch it all on film. Surely the locals will be talking and laughing about it for a while. Further on there was a delightful spot with stone steps going down to a shallow pool with water falling from a bamboo pipe. Soon she was cleaned up, her shoe was repaired, and she was on her way.

There were many children gathered around the school, some bare from the waist down. She also noticed children picking lice from each other’s hair. (Lice is very common here.)

It has been quite warm here and showers are not available. But we were ready for some fun and adventure so the girls donned their swimsuits. We are not ready to do as the locals here do - bare it all! We walked back along the rice terraces and up to a beautiful bathing spot complete with a waterfall. We all soaped up. You can quickly rinse shampoo from your hair under the waterfall (especially Thomas). It was quite a party; many from the team accompanied us.

After dinner the discipleship seminar continued with the topic of spiritual warfare. The attendance was larger than the previous night. It is great that we have a team of people to minister so our family was able to have others have the responsibility for the evening.

The video below is an overview of our time in Caneo. It includes some things that haven't been included in the blog entries so far.