Day 6 - Wednesday

Day 5 is complete.

I would have gotten to this blog earlier (it's now 1 am) but had 400 pictures to go through today, and did those as I was talking with Shellie. She's a wonderful person, as all of us here know already. If you get the chance, you should get to know her. We'll miss her as she leaves this area for Winnipeg.

At this moment, half the girl mentors are in the fellowship hall giggling away with Shellie. They scooted past us not knowing we were awake, but now they are busted. I guess this is female bonding time, and I've learned a long time ago to stay out of that. : )

Today was a full day. An exciting day. A day of work, a day to dress up, to ride motorcycles, to dance, and to play. Read on and enjoy the happenings of the day.

But, before I begin, a couple of notes for you.

First, thanks to those who have been commenting in the blog. Muchly appreciated. You are welcome for the blog. It's been fun to do, and my gift to you as you let your sons/daughters come here for SERVE. May these memories be kept alive for years to come. Speaking of memories, next week I'll be mailing out the plethora of pictures via CD's. That way if any of you wish to do any presentations in your churches, you'll have LOTS of material.

Soon after will come the video of the stuff I've taken. I hope you enjoy it.

Second, I was told today that Adrianna-Rose never seems to close the van door behind her. Doesn't bother me, but I was told to put that in the blog, so here it is. : )

Third, this is one that I will put in. Seems our wonderful leader Harold was given a cell phone to use for the week, but never turns it on. Harold, TURN ON YOUR CELL PHONE. : )

Oh, we also have another picture of Anneke and her big sister and mom .




Here Janine and Shellie are holding Anneke. They left all their responsibilities of the week behind and enjoyed the necessary baby moment that most women do when babies are born. However, Janine failed me. I made only one SMALL request. Take the camera and get at least 4 pictures (in case some didn't turn out). Now, this must have been just too much for Janine. Maybe I pushed her too hard during the week to be the great photographer that she ended up being. Maybe Shellie just talked too much in the car. Whatever the reason, they FORGOT the camera in the car. Now, Janine was VERY sorry about this (for about 10 seconds), and I think they got a great laugh out of it. The pictures you see are actually ones that Ian took. It's hard to find good help these days you know. : )

Enough of my venting. On to the day. Oh, before I do that, I have 6 girls giggling on the steps of the sanctuary at the moment. I really don't want them to stay, as I use the sanctuary to get sanctuary, and these girls won't leave. They are way too hyper. ARRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

So, instead of getting miffed, let's move on to the day's activities.

Harold, Silene, and Elysha are ready for the day.

The morning blog reading for the day.

Our wonderful kitchen help. They are doing fabulous work.

Here Alex is trying to sweet talk Margaret to giving him more food. Alas, it didn't work. Good try though Alex.

I FINALLY got around to getting the group shot with their T-shirts on.

Today was the final day at our work sites. Boy, that went fast. We returned to Redeemer, but when I came there to take some pictures and video, alas, I found a recurring theme. Break time with snacks. I'm not sure if they worked much today at all : ) .

Well, I guess this proves they did. The cleaned out ALOT of lockers this week. Redeemer was VERY thankful.

Then it was back to CHRI. Here Olivia was making fast work of typing letters. She loved the work so much, she refused to take a break when offered one.

(Whew, the girls have finally left. I THINK they went to bed, but can't be too sure. Hannah and Jackie had this look in their eye that says somethings up.)

Here they are preparing a bathroom for painting. One of two at CHRI. Janine was just catching herself as she lost her balance.

Hannah and Rebecca took care of the other bathroom.

The final place was once again the food bank. However, I didn't make it there in time. Apparently we were such hard workers on Monday and Tuesday that we finished our work for today early. So, it was back to the church and some Olympic fun for that group.

Then came our afternoon activities. Highlights for many of the group. It began with some motorcycle rides offered by Pat and Keith. Thanks for helping us out here. Many of the group took rides and were VERY excited. Some in the group weren't going to go near those motorcycles.

Relaxing on the grass awaiting their turn on the motorcycles.

Here is Shona really enjoying herself.

Now, you need to know that I took video and pictures of everyone as they took their turns on the bikes, but it would take too much time to place them all here, so you'll have to see them via the CD's and eventual video.

Then it was time to get all dolled up for our next phase of the afternoon. We all took showers and the girls then moved into the primping room. However, I don't think Joanna was enjoying this part of the day. That was a forced smile. You still looked nice, just so you know.

Here Amy is getting her hair done.

Alex cleans up pretty good, don't you think?

So too does Olivia. It was fun to watch everyone being fussed over.

Oh, here comes our transportation for the afternoon. We took a trolley from the school to the church, with an tour by the canal and parliament hill. As the trolley arrived, it was pouring out. An isolated thunder storm was stalled over the school. Not a pretty thing. However, God is good, and soon after we stepped on to the trolley and began driving the sun came out again, and we had a wonderful time.

Harold was the true gentleman and escorted everyone to the bus with an umbrella. Here Jovita and Danielle H are protected from the rain.

Geert and Danielle practicing for their upcoming wedding. What a gentleman.

We are now on the trolley. Only Rey and I came along, and I understand that Shellie was ticked that she couldn't come. : )

The mentors enjoying themselves.

Once we arrived back at the church, we took a bit of time to re-adjust our hair, and then a group photo. Don't we look GREAT!!!!

It seems that peer pressure works in strange ways at times. I mentioned that I was going to wear a suit and tie for our fancy dinner, and then Rey (left) and Evert (centre) said that they would too. Here's the end result. Men in Black. I think we look pretty good. Don't you? Do you notice anything different about me? I'll give you 3 guesses. Email to see if you are correct.

We then sat down to a wonderful meal served to us by the loving "Friendly Hands" of our church. We were served our food by waiters (Even Pastor Ken and his wife were serving this meal). The food was delicious.

Here Anne is making sure that everyone is enjoying themselves, and the food. The dessert was very good too. A kind of cherry short cake.

After dinner we spent a bit of time doing some line dancing. It was lots of fun.

This was a sort of square dance. Lots of moves to do. I'd never be able to accomplish this, but several in the group did very well. Annet was VERY good. I understand she's done ballroom dancing before with Evert.

Olivia brought her own cowboy boots along, just for the dance.

Then it was on to worship time. Again, our group was growing.

So too was our audience.

Then Shellie wowed us once again with her gift of telling stories and using object lessons to get her message of "Letting your Light Shine" across to us.

We ended with our theme song.

Off to small groups once again.

Something a bit different next. We took the cards we'd made yesterday and went into our neighboring parking lot to hand them out to people. Here Alex and Shona are handing them out. Not everyone wanted to receive our cards. In fact, when we were standing in front of the Shoppers, someone complained about our being there, and we were asked to move. Another sad testimony of the times of mistrust between people that is hard to overcome.

So, all in all, it was a very busy, but good day. Lots of memories to take home with us. It also brought us to our last full day too. The time sure has gone by quickly. Tomorrow we say good-bye. As I reflect back on the past days together, I am again struck by the gifts and talents of all involved. So many people have helped to make this event happen. So many people have had such fun volunteering. It's been infectious. I'm humbled, honored to be part of this and awestruck at the generosity of sacrifice and of time and giving of talent.

It has been a priviledge getting to know all the mentors and particpants this week. I trust that you who have been reading this blog have gotten a taste ofour experiences through these entries. There will be one or two more coming yet, so stay tuned to see how we spend our morning and say good-bye.

P.S. Shellie wanted me to write a poem about the week's activities. I'm too tired now, but will give it a try in the next entry or two. I'm a poet, but don't yet know it.........