Day 7 - Monday - 23 June

I will recover yesterday's stuff when I can. I wanted to put up something for today then let others check their emails.

This morning we spent a couple of hours walking through the market. Then we stopped by the hospital, where we prayed for a little girl that was born at 3AM this morning. She is not more than 7 months toward term. The baby is about 1.5 kg, and looks as small as a kitten. We prayed, as heartfelt as I think we have ever prayed. The baby moved a bit while we were praying, but the mother, Ann Rose, was still as a stone. We then went to the clinic and met the Dutch doctor, Ann Maria. You should have seen the look of delight on her face when Becky started speaking to her in Dutch! She took a moment to look at Pat's rash. It is just some vegetation reaction, evidently.

Bruce seems to be having some bad reaction to the car air conditioning - some of us are coughing because of it. We went to La Bousse, where we started painting originally. We finished up a couple walls there, we painted the church, and we hung two doors. Then we came home. Pat had lost his hat and glasses on the way and did not want to be a bother, so said nothing till our arrival. I think he may be exhausted by the heat - his instructions to Kester while he was trying to hang the door were nearly incomprehensible. I helped Kester finish the doors in the broiling afternoon sun. Then I thought I was going to be sick by the time we finished. I am still exhausted, so going to get a cold shower and rest. Bless Sandi and Becki for fixing cold lemonade for us on arrival, and please - pray for the little girl - she does not even have a name yet. How can a country so beautiful, and a people so beautiful, be so messed up? (We know why, and will tell you on our return.)

After supper, we came back and chatted for a while. Sandi, Pat and I were the last to leave Bruce & Deb's compound. By the time we got to the end of the driveway, we were immersed in a tar bucket! We were clearly not on the road. We had depended on the moonlight on previous nights. I had to stumble back to Bruce's and borrow a flashlight. Bruce said, "Just look up and use the stars," but that does not help much with foot placement amongst the loose rocks and donkey droppings! I do not think I have every seen it so dark.

Later most of the team engaged in a game called Catch Phrase, which generated much hilarity. Becky noticed the doorknob moved when she started to go to the restroom -- if you have seen palmetto bugs, you will have some understanding of how big these roaches are. One of the guys stunned the roach. Then a medium-sized banana spider (about two inches across) was discovered near the computer. Since the roach was still moving slightly, it was decided to feed the spider. The roach was placed about a foot away from the spider, and the spider immediately spread its front legs in preparation for attack. After about ten minutes of inactivity, Dan flicked the roach toward the spider, who leaped into the air and grappled with the roach. Nature took its course from that point until Fred said, "I wonder how it reacts to light." He shined his flashlight on the spider, who snatched up his prey and departed, in a flash, so to speak. Someone has pictures of this encounter, which I will post later.