Saturday, August 05, 2006

Day Five

Today started out fairly normal... well as normal is it can go around here. Between the 6:00 am wake-up call and breakfast that seems like it has just been poured from a can ( which in fact it probably is, I’ve seen the kitchen!) let’s just say we envy you the pleasures of home.

A small group was needed to stay at camp to help with camp duties. The rest of us left for todays assignments, which were not exactly what we’d hope for, but Surprisingly sufficient to the point that I can’t complain (Amazing!). We started off with a fairly easy task helping out some very nice people weed and level the yard of their very nice house, which consequently had also been recently built by volunteers after it was leveled by Katrina.

One thing that made us appreciate how much this man had lost was the fact that although he had only received 4,000 dollars from his insurance he spent 60,000 dollars of his own money in order to begin rebuilding his house. This makes the work we do seem all the more worth while, because we know that this is something for which the individuals we are aiding are willing to work themselves.

Finally after working around electrical wires and fabled buried water meters (we never found one!), we managed to clear the yard of unwanted plant life. We had a short detour to Winn-Dixie for some lunch and snacks to take back to the work site. Before leaving, we gathered under a sprawling (about 500 year old) oak tree to take pictures with the owner, who wanted us to send him copies to add to his memory book, which we all signed before parting.

After lunch and pictures, we moved to another work-site, where we proceeded to clean a lot from debris and trash; from bricks to shoes, forks to broken china-plates. We worked until rains came, and we were forced to return to camp. Adrian said the rain was a force to reckon with, while most of us simply enjoyed the reprieve from heat and humidity as we frolicked in the blissful rain.

Back at camp, our “flow team” decided a visit to Dairy Queen was in order. After paying homage to her majesty, and indulging in delectable delicacies, we returned to camp where we enjoyed another post-can dinner. We met with small groups, attended compline, and then volunteered to write this entry.

Hope everyone is well, and lots of love from everyone here at Camp Biloxi.

-- Robert Haycock and Nate Fuentes.

4 comments:

Robert Lee Haycock said...

If we were to walk in the woods and a spring appeared just when we became thirsty, we would call it a miracle. And if on a second walk, if we became thirsty at just that point again, and again the spring appeared, we would remark on the coincidence. But if that spring were there always, we would take it for granted and cease to notice it. Yet is that not more miraculous still?

- Baal Shem Tov

Anonymous said...

Yeah Rob...

Anonymous said...

Hello everyone,
This is great to be able to read your messages! About that breakfast in a can. You know if you were home it would be breakfast out of a corn chip bag...no whining! My utmost respect goes out to all of you for your commitment to better the lives of others. You are loved!

Anonymous said...

Hello All,

As I sit in front of my PC sipping a cup of soup, and reading your blogs, I've yet to wonder what you miss the most from home. Is it the food, family, friends, late nights long mornings...

Don't despair, soon you will have it all within arms reach, for now think of all God's work your are doing and the people you are helping.

Take care and lots of hugs for all.

In God's Peace.