Wednesday and Thursday - Thoughts Turning Toward Home

Several of our travelers have offered contributions for the last couple of days. Ryan O wrote this post on Tuesday evening:

Today we ate breakfast. Some of us did work, some of us sat in the medical area. Some of us want our home early. But I don’t think we are going to get that. I think we all can’t wait to get on the airplane. Kirk is starting to get back into the car way. All of us our temperature (anger) is starting to rise. The chaperones are taking it hard. Three of six are taking it slow. Most of us are either sick, bored, or in pain. As we people at this trip are starting to know about each other, some of us are willing to get dirty with dirt to do something, such as Tiff, Ryan, Carly, Marissa, Trisha, Dan, Whitney, Lukas, and others.

The rest of the posts are from Wednesday. We’ll start with one from Dean:

I have learned a lot on this trip. I learned it doesn’t take a lot to make a person happy and to do a good thing. It is even great to give a person a water without them asking, or picking up trash in the camp. I also learned to apply lots of sunscreen all the time. A big lesson I learned myself is to always get a cut checked out before it gets infected and you must go to the hospital. Biut the trip was a great time. I had lots of fun and learned much.

Boe offered this thought:

I have learned that the sun can be deadly. So don’t mess with it. And I do know that gas is a lot more down here, way more.

Ryan O and Joel had this to say:

Some of us are busy playing cards. Some are starting on the fence. Most of the people went to the fences on the other side of the ranch, but the people left behind have to write these blogs. Some of us are trying to get back to full health. Kirk is the best early morning person I think I know. Jacob is in the shade a long with Tiffany, Ryan and Carly. Before some people went to the fence, a handful of people climbed up one of the hills.

Here are a few comments from Lukas:

Monday night was terrible for many and me. I think about eight people got sick. Tuesday morning I heard people say it sounded like the night of the living dead. For the rest of the day I felt so sick I laid around with the other sick people. We talked about many thingks but I can’t remember what we talked about. I think I fell asleep for who knows how long. I didn’t eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I went to bed befor most people. Well that’s all I have to say and no more. See all of you on Saturday.

Here is a reflection from Carly:

First off, I want to say to my family that I’m doing all right. I haven’t been able to call since Saturday night, so you probably haven’t heard too much about how I’m doing. Sunday we went to the beach and yes, Mom, I put on sunscreen, but I don’t think I put on as much as I was supposed to. The whole back of my legs are burnt and it hurts to move. So I literally slept all day Monday and Tuesday. But today I’m sitting up and not feeling as sick as those other days. So hopefully I’ll be all better by the time it’s time to come home!

Anyway, we have learned that God has really blessed us on this trip (as hard as that is to
believe) like if we were going to sleep in a church the whole time we were here then we would be sitting out on this ranch with pretty much nothing all day. So God has blessed us with chairs, shade, and cots. We’ve also realized how thankful we are to have the things we have now because we’ve seen people on the streets who don’t even have a home.

The first few days we all kind of looked around and just saw dirt and brown dry grass until some of us climbed the mountain/hill. We then realized that God’s creation is really beautiful no matter how dull or colorful. We miss you all! Please keep us in your prayers. God bless!

Marissa has this to say about our sunburn epidemic:

Burn baby burn! Our legs are burned, our faces are burned, everything is burnt to a crisp. These last few days have been quite tough. We’ve gone through extreme sunburn, yucky porta-potties and getting sick. Hospital visits have also been a factor here. I think we all have a new sense of hospitality for the thing we have and we will never take Minnesota weather for granted again! Our two days we had off were great, especially SeaWorld. I went on a roller coaster for the very first time, and we all got to eat junk food that we truly needed! On Sunday we spent our day at the ocean. This was a great experience for most of us as some had never been to the ocean before. Even though this was a great day, we all realized the next day was going to hurt because we had all gotten sunburned. The best part about Sunday to me was the fact that my feet were finally clean, compared to being full of dirt! Sunday came and went and the next day was Monday. This was a slow day as many of us were sick and throwing up throughout Sunday night. We aren’t sure what caused this sickness, but we all agreed it was not a fun thing to go through. As our days here at Cornerstone are dwindling down, thoughts of home are starting to set in. We are doing such great things here and we know in the long run our efforts will pay off not only to us, but also all the great people here at Cornerstone.

As we finish off our last days here, we all ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers as some days we truly need them! I hope you all respond to our blog because it’s a great feeling to hear from home. Hopefully our travel home goes smoothly and we can’t wait to see you all!

A man of few words, Brandon had this to say:

Hi, I’m Brandon, and I found out that there is a name brand of bread named Weber’s Enriched Bread. And I am bringing two bags home.

Jenna and Lindsay titled this post “Just Another Work Day!”:

Today, Wed. the 25th is like any other work day. In the morning it was a little chilly. Mostly everyone sleeps outside at night. We had a very good breakfast today! It was different than a regular one. We had pancakes with bacon. After that a couple of us went on a hike up a hill with Pastor Kirk. Once we got back we just sat around until lunch. For lunch we had the usual, sandwiches with fruit and chips. After that half of us went to work on a fence at Chris’s house, then the other half went and picked rocks out of the arena. We are not quite sure what will happen after supper. We usually get ready for bed and do devotions. After today we only have ONE MORE DAY TO WORK!