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Posted December 15
I was able to sleep a little later this morning… not really getting up until 7:40 or so. It is great that I’m getting used to the jungle sounds and farm noises that have been waking me up before dawn since I arrived. I got up hungry and cooked my first real breakfast with three fried eggs, cheese grits, and coffee. I doubted if I would get lunch so it was good to have something significant before starting the day. I had a nice quiet morning and had a chance to take some pictures as the sun rose and read the Word.
Back to my day… I dropped off some things at the computer lab and did all the things that came to me in the middle of the night to reorder the machines and clean up the software. Then I headed over to see Peter. By the time I’d left him today, he had real speakers and was listening to blues! We spent most of our time working in Excel. I created a spreadsheet to track all the employee taxes and we put in formulas to automatically summarize gross annual income and tax based on bracket. He was so pleased. We printed the spreadsheet and it looked like a smaller version of the giant tax forms that he has been keeping by hand for all of the employees. I was able to pull all his needed files off his old machine with the new USB drive and I got lots of great pictures to replace the ones I’ve lost. Praise God for all of this.
Bob and Carolyn came in with most of the remaining equipment for the computer lab and today I tapped Paul, Aaron, and Isaac again to help me with the setup. I had some group of five to ten younger boys at the iron door begging to come in and play games or watch videos the entire day. Paul did a wonderful job and Alex joined us near the end of the day. Around lunch I had a visit from the mechanic and handy man of GSF. His name is Paul also. Paul asked if there was any way I could show him how to “lay down lines” on the computer to draw buildings so that he could show city planning staff and builders what was needed. At first I was excited to show him the Floor Plan software that I brought with me but it wouldn’t work on the new XP machines. I pulled up PowerPoint and tinkered a bit and was able to very quickly generate the same drawings without the meters and feet by using the drawing tools. Paul came in around three o’clock and let me tutor him. He initially looked as though he had never touched a mouse. However, within a few hours he was clapping his hands saying ‘look at this’… he had created a nice 2D side view of the pavilion and was so pleased with himself. He is planning to come back again tomorrow. When I finally let the flood gates opened I had a good mix of boys and girls numbering about 25… note that the computer lab is off by itself and I never told anyone what I was up to down there. Can you imagine if I had made an announcement?
On my way home for the evening the Agape House kids caught me and begged me to come read them stories. I got a quick bite to eat… watched the monkeys playing at the edge of the forest, and headed back down the hill to read to the kids. I took along my family pictures and was amazed that they were still more interested in the pictures of Alyssa (who they all think is a movie star thanks to Uncle Bob’s Sunday morning introduction), Jerry the policeman, Chuck, Anita, Miles, Liam, Ethan, Piper, and Storm… they know each of them by name and have pointed out where they are wearing different clothes. It was funny to see Henry running around naked when I first got to the house… he was fresh out of the shower and I had to talk him into some clothes or I think he would have never considered slowing down to get something on.
Here’s a news flash. My dear friend, Chad, who has been at my side most of the week and made the necklace for Alyssa… he asked if she had received it yet by the way… Chad told me the first day that his sponsor was named Steven and asked me if I knew him. “He lives in America”. I asked where and he said in the “U.S.A.”. I tried to explain that it was a big place. Well, in conversation with Carolyn, I learned that his sponsor is actually Steven Jobes! I do know him! When I told this to Chad he got this big grin on his face. He told me to please tell Steven that he loved him and asked me if I would bring Steven back here to GSF. Chad would go home with me in a heartbeat… he is so hungry for a family. He asked today if I would take him home with me and it is so hard to answer questions like that.
The power went off just as I had read the second book for the second time. I came up and took a long cold shower by candle light, made a cup of tea, stood out looking at the Milky Way and wondering where in universe the moon has gone??? I haven’t seen the moon since I left North America… just Venus and Mars? It is great to have a battery powered laptop to write on. I’ve looked at the pictures from today and I’m about to turn in and watch Star Wars.
Lord, please be with my family tonight. It has been a couple of days since I talked to Alyssa and sent my last emails. May they not be worried or anxious. Take care of my boys and please return me to Greensboro quickly and safely with all the gifts I’ve purchased. Thank you so much for the blessings of each day.
Blessings to you ~ Steadman
Steadman Harrison
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