Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Yes, it is finally me, adding something to the blog! Ray has been doing such a good job of keeping new information added that I haven't taken time (or figured out how) to add anything myself until now. It has been a busy week, but we are taking Sunday as a day of sabbath rest. After seeing the new year in - very quietly - we slept in this morning, rising just in time to go to worship at Christus Victor. What a lively, hopeful, and spirit-filled congregation after all they have been through! The members of the congregation are welcoming and grateful to the volunteers, and the volunteers have so much to learn from these people who are faithful in spite of the difficulties they have experienced. This combination creates an amazing worshipping community! After church, we went to lunch with our gracious hosts, then came back to the house. I will spend the afternoon doing some laundry and reading, while Ray plans to go back to the church for a short time and check in tools that some work crews used today. The weather is warm enough that I hope we will be able to visit the beach before dark. All in all, a quiet day of rest before another busy week begins. Many new volunteers will arrive today and tomorrow, so there will be many crews working in local homes, as well as about twenty volunteers working in the distribution center. We will certainly be busy with our new tasks!