week 12, post 1

Yesterday was a busy day:
I preached in the morning at the local Southern Baptist church. I preached from the lectionary text and used a prayer of Thomas Merton in the sermon; an unusual experience for the little church "down da bayou." I trust it went ok -- at least they didn't drag me out and throw me in the bayou! That afternoon I got busy with my host and another friend and we continued work toward raising the house: we went and bought a pallet of concrete (30 bags) and poured six bags of it to make a footing for one of the pilings that will support the house 15 feet in the air when we've finished. only 66 bags to go... That evening, I did counseling with a young couple at the local nondenominational pentecostal church.

I'll post some pictures of the house raising in the weeks to come.

It's been cold and rainy here -- a mixed blessing. No mosquitos or no-see-ums. But it's pretty nippy in the camper at night, and it got pretty wet. Hard driving rains just go right through the seams of the canvas. People worry and ask if I get cold at night. No, I have a decent quality sleeping bag, and when it gets really cold, I cover that with this old quilt my mom made before I was born. Heavy as a stove but wonderfully warm. Only my nose gets cold at night. I'm ok.

We've started building a team here and are working toward something that will last well after I'm gone. Elaine does a lot of casework, helping families do all the paperwork and other tasks related to recovery. Courtney is helping to do research related to launching four community care facilities -- one down each of the four bayous not yet served by such an institution. We will do low-tech medical care, have a christian pre-school, do pastoral counseling and build programs to reduce teen dropout rates from school.

I'm very hopeful.
Peace, Warren