Tad's Life

It's been 10 days without a post. Let's see if I can get back into the habit.

The Lake Murray team left us last Friday, a few back to San Diego (unfortunately one more than planned) and 15 out to Thiès and Diourbel. These last are spending each evening this week in villages, talking to people there about Jesus. We had a wonderful time with them while they were here and the place seems a bit empty and lonely.

I cannot possibly recount all the many adventures and conversations and work progress and all. I have a life to live! But suffice it to say that these have been full days.

This week we are trying to figure out what we forgot to do during the last two weeks. One of those things is making the arrangements for the next team coming on the 31st. They are coming from the Philadelphia area, from the church that Paul and Kate were involved in when they lived there. The team consists of only 12 folks this time, so some aspects of the logistics are easier. Except that right in the middle of their visit, we have to clear them off the property here. The WorldVenture team is having their all-Senegal conference and they’ll need every bed we have. So our folks will get a couple days out of the city, seeing a village and our little game park.

This week we’re also trying to clean up all the loose ends on the various projects we started or planned for. My list from my second walk-around yesterday has grown to over 30 items “left to do.” But so much has progressed. The ITES library and office are ahead of schedule. What looked like this two weeks back looked like this yesterday afternoon.

When I went to inspect this patio, I asked Jean Gomis if he was sure of the level, that we had a slight slope for rain to run off. He reassured me it was fine. Then Mbaye the day guard came up and said, “Boy, it sure looks like it slopes toward the building. We’ll have an awful puddle next time it rains. Lydia came up and said the same thing. Pretty soon everyone was there telling poor Jean and his team that they had really messed up. I asked Hervé to go get the 4 foot level and we’d verify, smiling a bit but having some doubts on the inside. You can’t imagine how many times I’ve stopped by as they worked to make sure we got this patio level and the right height and all. And it really did look wrong from the side. But no, it was perfect. And, yes, Dad. I flipped the level over to double check it! And I also made everyone beg forgiveness from Jean, though he was very gracious about it.