The high today was 106 degrees with a heat index of 137. Steve and I had to work outside all morning. One of the facial boards on the garage was rotten. Today was our day to remove the old one and put up the newly painted one. The problem was not removing the board or lifting the metal roofing sheet; the problem was that the electricity that feeds the garage and part of the outdoor security lights were attached to the board. Steve had to do some rewiring after we got the new facial board in place. The outlets and security lights work but one of the interior lights will not come on. After we finished we were too hot and tired to go to town to buy a new bulb.
Zorash called this morning and wanted to know if we had any extra work she could do; she wanted to make a little extra money. Amama was not here on Thursday so part of the inside work did not get done. Zorash was happy to come and clean the kitchen. After she finished we took the grain that we roasted last week to the grinding mill and made weaning mix for the Child Center. After that we went to town and order the bowls for the seminar. Rita, Timothy Niligrini’s wife and our head cook, said that putting the hot food in individual plastic serving bags was slowing them down. She asked if we would buy plastic bowls for the food. We told her that if we bought bowls the cooks would have to wash the bowls. She said that it would be faster to wash bowls than put food in plastic bags. We decided to give it a try and see how it works out. We order 600 bowls with lids this morning. She said that the people could drink their hot chocolate and eat their porridge out of the same bowls. I would hate to know that I had to wash 600 bowls and lids 3 times a day! We are also afraid that the people will want to take the bowls home with them and we will be buying new bowls every year. The people gather in small groups and eat all over the campus; we might have to hire a young girl to run around and gather up bowls that need to be washed.
This morning we set Nazo to repainting the red band around the cook pots, utensils and buckets that we use for the seminar. The red band makes it easy to identify the things we bring from the mission house. Nazo had red paint everywhere. You have never seen so many drips in your life! It is a good thing that he was not painting anything valuable. We pulled out a plastic container that had the large spoons and stirring sticks and told him to paint the things that needed painting. He decided to paint everything. Who knew you could paint plastic can opener handles and plastic handled paring knives; it was truly amazing to see his work! We hope that it dries!
Please keep us and the work in your prayers.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
