Thursday, July 21, 2011

July 20, 2011 – Wednesday

The heat continues in Missouri--111°. One of my friends from Minnesota called me today, wondering how I was surviving the 100°+ temperatures every day & I reassured her that I’m doing very well—especially since I’m in an air-conditioned office most of the day!!! That is a blessing I don’t take for granted. I pack a clean dry washcloth in my gear everyday so I can mop the perspiration off my face & neck when I need to be out of the office for any length of time.

God is continuing to bless us with wonderful groups of volunteers—some young & some in their 70s & 80s. Today the group from Kentucky was back & they really worked hard. It was sad to bid them farewell, but I’m sure we’ll meet again in heaven!!! We had another group of volunteers—some IT people from Wal-Mart’s corporate office in Bentonville, Arkansas. They were good sports & worked hard, but the heat working in the WH really got to them. Several of them were from India, which delighted my soul!!! Later in the day another group came in to work, but we couldn’t use any more people. Before they left, I put them at the top of our volunteer list for tomorrow.

“Dad” stopped by the office & told Andrew & me about an place in Carthage that sells wonderful ice cream, so Andrew & I checked it out on our way home—I had peach yogurt…yum, yum. What a nice treat on a very hot day!!! At 10 pm tonight, the temperature is still in the upper 80s, with a weather alert for excessive heat through Sabbath.

Before coming back to the motel tonight, we drove through the storm ravaged area of Joplin so I could get a few more photos. I wanted to have my own photo of the cross at the site of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. The church was damaged beyond repair, but the cross still stands tall—a symbol of hope to the entire community of Joplin. I also wanted to capture the image of the vault that is the only remaining evidence that a bank once stood on that site.

Today I spoke to Derri Hanson on the phone & she explained to me how to get around the glitch in the AidMatrix software. The volunteers are still finding goods in the 200’s classification & I won’t be able to start the conversion process until all of those items are sorted & palletized. Tomorrow I’m going to put together a spreadsheet that I can use for entering the conversion quantities.

Isaac called tonight & it was so good to talk to him. Even tho’ I’m having a great time, I still miss Isaac [my son], Kayden [my grandson], & Purrcie Mumbai [my cat]. I also started to do some packing, since we’ll be leaving the motel very early Friday morning to work at the WH until noon when we’ll head back north to Minnesota.

It’s time for some shut-eye so I’ll be able to rise & shine before sunrise!!! Goodnight from Joplin/Carthage. I wish you could be here to experience the joy of meeting & serving the people of Joplin!!!!!!!!!!!!

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