20 Gallons of Paint on the Wall

Since I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath, Tom has been crowned the "Spoons" champion.  He put up a mean fight although Paul was quick to fall...  So much for youth!

Today was a repeat of yesterday.  We had our Shrove Tuesday pancakes for breakfast this morning.  The perfect way to start the day!  Upon arrival at the Health Center, we quickly broke into teams and continued where we left off.  We've worked in 10 rooms and have completed as much as we can in 5 of them including touch-ups, scraping paint spills, and mopping.  The other 5 include the pharmacy store room, the break room for staff, the medical director and administrator support room, and have completed the patio/garden area that spans the entire interior complex.  By the end of the day, Bert remarked that we laid more paint than any previous mission team.  Needless to say, this is a very competitive and focused mission team!

We finished the day early because we ran through all the paint.  After returning to Hope House, some of the team members cut 20 fourteen foot planks into threes which will be used to frame in screen for the windows at the clinic.  We had another excellent Haitian meal of rice and peas, creole chicken, a squash/cheese-type casserole and watermelon for dessert.  Jim remarked that he is not used to getting a meal every night.

Tonight was an especially inspiring devotional lead by Liz with contributions from Tom, as well as Pastor Peter DeMik.  The most unusual and meaningful part of the devotional was marking of the cross with ashes by team members.  In other words, we went around in a circle and marked the cross on the person next to us while saying, "Remember, you are from dust and to dust you shall return."

It's 9:00 and while we are refreshed and restored spiritually, our bodies are tired and it's time for bed.