Fwd: Alabama - Day 6

Today was a day to learn about flexibility as the morning dawned gray and stormy. We knew

that the weather would affect any team that was working outdoors. Today was also scheduled

as a half day of work to give us an opportunity to explore area. So after breakfast we all went our 

separate ways to get as much work done as we could in our abbreviated work time.

The Houses crew went to the site and worked on cleaning up the interior of the house that was

being roofed, putting in part of a new ceiling and priming the ceiling for painting.

Quite a few kids went to the Parish Center to work on various projects which included the ongoing

construction of the playground and moving materials to the old Parish Center.

To avoid the chance of any oncoming storms, the Footer crew stayed behind at the church. This crew

did a big clean up job of all the areas that we have been using. We especially focused on cleaning up

the floors in the common area where we all meet and where the boys sleep. We also cleaned all

the bathrooms and showers.

At mid-day, we all jumped on the bus to head for our afternoon adventure at DeSoto State Park.

DeSoto State Park. DeSoto State Park is a natural area on the mountain with waterfalls, hiking

trails and a resevoir for swimming. Upon arrival, we ate our lunches and then went for a brief

hike to view one of the falls. After that, we ventured to the resevoir for a swim and a view

of another falls. It was nice to have a break from our labors and to have some time to

refresh our souls and bodies.

After our respite at the park, we headed back to the church to get cleaned up for a dinner

that was prepared for us at the Parish Center. Upon arrival there, we were greeted warmly

by Tanya, the Parish Center director. Our meal was prepared of food that the Parish Center

clientele come to the center for. It was a meal consisting of typical foods that are eaten

in the area and it was pretty good. Spread out for us was salad, black-eyed peas cooked

with ham, sauerkraut (made in the cannery) with hot dogs, corn, corn bread, BBQ pork,

hot dogs and various desserts. She started our dinner by talking a bit about the distribution

of wealth in the world and people were dismissed for food according to what style of 

table or chair they were seated in. These represented the wealthiest and poorest

countries. The very few people at the wealthiest tables were dismissed first and so had

the most choice of food. And it went on from there. Tanya closed our evening with a very

touching story of her own about how she came to a career in service to others. Her basic

message was: do what God calls you to do and somehow it will work out, it will be

all right. You may not be the wealthiest person if you make this decision, but you will be happy.

With these closing thoughts in our heads, we headed back to the church for devotions and 

rest for our last full day of work on Upper Sand Montain.

"For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your good and not 

for harm, to give you a future of hope." ~Micah 6:8

--
Deborah Wood

Senior Art Director