Monday

Well, I will do my best to make this interesting - but we are all BEAT!

Today was our first official work day at the Kosovo school. After breakfast and a devotion led by Jimmy, we arrived at the school around 9:00. Morning tea is a non-negotiable around here, so we had some Chai before starting. This actually put us a bit behind schedule... so tomorrow we're all planning to be up earlier and get there earlier.

The day was successful, but it had it's hiccups. There was a fair amount of misunderstanding regarding the division of the children in the VBS program. This got us off to a staggered start that took some time to recover from. Eventually we got in the groove and made it work - and of course the kids were oblivious and had a blast. Josh and Jimmy handled games on the field and helped with crafts, Linda and Michelle handled singing and helped with the Bible lesson, Megan did the Bible lesson and crafts - hopping on one leg the entire time.

Me? Just call me gopher.

I also helped set a gameplan for the mural extension (they added two floors above our previous mural) as well as painting of some interior stairwells. Gonna bring some color to the place.

By lunch we were already feeling the wear and tear of the day... but after eating it was back to work. We were giving a brief training from the CHE workers regarding community outreach programs which included spiritual evangelism, HIV/AIDS education, and a free water purification technique we could teach people. Then, Linda and Michelle suited up for the "Mobile Medical" team and Josh, Jimmy and I went with a couple of social workers to visit homes.

In her present condition, Megan wasn't able to traverse down into the slums, so she stayed behind at the school. Fairly uneventful for her - except for a mouse that crawled over her. (Is anyone surprised this happened to Megan?)

We were a little late in the afternoon by this point, so both teams only were really able to visit 1 or 2 homes. The group Josh, Jimmy and I were in was headed toward a specific home, but then we were intercepted by 4 women who wanted to know what we were up to. So they invited us in. With the help of a translator, we divided up tasks: Jimmy handled the straightforward evangelism, I did the HIV/AIDS teaching, one of the social workers did the water purification explanation and Josh closed in prayer. It's hard to gauge the overall impact since so much of it was in a foreign language, but the women seemed genuinely interested and were very grateful for our visit.

Michelle and Linda's group entered the slum with their leader asking various people, "Do you have any sick people in your home?" We believe the strategy of the Mobile Medical is to visit people who can't otherwise get medical treatment. The first house they visited was at the invitation of a boy who said he had sick people in his home. However, when they arrived, the residents said they were all fine - so they prayed with them instead. The second home they stopped at was full of several VERY sick people. They did their best with the limited supplies and information they had... but the experience definitely revealed the challenge of a place that has overwhelming health problems with very limited solutions.

After wrapping up at the school, we headed back to the hotel - thoroughly exhausted. All but Megan walked to the restaurant next door for a bite and brought her back some food. The rain has been pouring all night, and her ankle is really hurting - so trudging over there on crutches didn't sound too exciting.

We had a few laughs at dinner - but the group is obviously tired. So we're hitting the sack a bit earlier tonight (and getting up earlier too!)