2005
Transition/Search
Schedule
of Services
The
Eagle
Dear Friends,
Today began gently. We let the kids sleep until
they awoke on their own. Breakfast was taken as various people wandered
into the Common Room. I left about 8.00 for the hardware store and got
paint, brushes, etc. and delivered them to Premier. I returned to find
breakfast finished and lunch about to be packed. We were on our way
about 10.30. Arriving at Premier, we were greeted by Hilda Kennedy who
took over introductions; explained the work she is doing at Premier;
answered lots of questions from the kids and chaperones; and then asked
God’s blessing on the work we had come to do…calling especially to mind
that these young people are, in fact, Christ’s hands as they arrive
here to do this work and giving thanks for the families and parishes
that helped guide them to this place.
Painting began in two restrooms…a mens and a
ladies. Interestingly, boys seemed to decide they would do the former
and girls did the latter. The boys painted quickly, enthusiastically,
and not too terribly neatly. In fact, about a half hour after painting
started, one of the chaperones happened to look in the mens room and
discover that the painters had gotten a good bit of paint on the floor,
walked in it, and then tracked it almost everywhere. The young
Michelangelos were quite bemused when this was pointed out to them.
After some clean up and regrouping and pointing out this was not a race
with the girls, work began again far more productively. The girls,
interestingly, painted with exquisite care…hardly spilling a drop.
There are days I am inclined to think that the nature versus nurture
argument may have a clearer resolution than is often realized.
By the end of the day, not only the bathrooms…but
three vestibules…had been well painted. We will return tomorrow to
paint the kitchen and do the trim in the previously painted areas. It
is good that we have been assigned indoor work for these first days,
for it has been raining lightly and the same is predicted for tomorrow.
Amusingly, after having heard about the horrid damage done here by the
floods of 2001and 2002, one of the kids, observing the rain, asked with
some fair measure of concern, if anyone knew exactly when the rainy
season arrived here. The questioner was assured that, in order to
replicate the floods, we would need about 10 additional inches of rain
each day for four more days, and it was pointed out that the weather
forecast called for sun by Wednesday.
Before we left Premier Village, the kids went from
one trailer to another passing out handbills announcing the
availability of free school supplies to those families that might need
them. Once the residents of the Village receive their allocation of
supplies (by Wednesday), our group will begin to take supplies to
residents of the areas surrounding the Village. These comprise some of
the most distressed sections of the County. I suspect it will be
somewhat of an eye-opener to our young charges…as well as a labor of
love and caring.
We returned to the Parish Hall by 5.00pm. Showers
were taken, games played, a video watched, and a wonderful taco dinner
(prepared by Linnea and Laurel and cleared up by Catherine and the
chaperones) was eaten, and now considerable high-jinks seem to be
taking place amidst much laughter. There is a clear sense that the kids
feel at home with each other and what they are undertaking, and it is a
pleasure to be around them…although, as time passes, I am increasingly
astonished at how much noise can be generated by even a modest-sized a
group of teenagers occupying a confined space.
In a while, we will say Evening Prayer and then, I
suspect, more cards will be played (Uno seems a particular favorite)
and another VCR watched.
We hold you in our prayers and trust you hold us in
your.
Faithfully,
Bob
Ashley, Laurel & Margaret
Linnea
Sean
Tucker & John
Catherine
Laurel
Tucker
Tacos