Life Lately

It has been a minute since a blog entry. But we can explain…. I am busy unlike some other people who blog daily!

Here is a recap of the past month in our ministry:

A Full House:

In mid April our house was filled with lots of family and friends. There were lots of noise from my sister, Daphne, her children, my cousin, Jamie, and friends, Vivian, Keith, and Cindy. We only had 13 people sleeping in our house for a week (one night there were several more friends for a slumber party). As soon as this group left then Mrs. Sandra came to stay with us. She made my girls the prettiest memory quilts from Soy’s t-shirts. She also made a Quincañera cake, made treats for the teachers, ran errands in the city, took families to eat, etc. It is Mrs. Sandra’s fault that we had a birthday party for our dog. She promised Audrey that she would make the cake. (Singing Happy Birthday to a dog is probably one of the most ridiculous things I have ever done in my life). When she left then Eddie and Teddie came to inspect the mountain! One time Soy and I were having a very strong conversation. Soy said “You have no idea what Aunt Sue, your mom, and I put up with!” I had to laugh because he was serious but I knew there was a lot of truth in the statement. If everyone would just do it then Turrentine way then we wouldn’t have any problems!

Medical Clinic:

Daphne, Vivian, Dr. Keith, and Cindy spent lots of time at the clinic helping to establish routines, procedures, inventory medicine, etc. Daphne has taken a huge load off of me as I am not a medical person. The University of South Alabama has furnished every medical exam room and a small laboratory. Four of the nursing professors at the University of South Alabama have zoom meetings or group messages with our nurses, Cori and Shadya, to discuss the patients or help as needed. Vivian (RN) will come spend another week only assisting in the clinic.

Dental Clinic:

We have a part-time dentist at the Grace Clinic! We are very excited about this as he has a lot of work ahead of him. Currently, he will only serve our students because the need is so great. You have no idea how happy I am about restorative dental work for our students!

English Academy:

This week we are finishing the first trimester of our English classes. I only offered it to the teachers and workers of Grace Ministries. Ingrid Aju is the director of the English Academy, and she has done an excellent job with the organization and curriculum.

Colegio JET:

Every day more than 200 students receive breakfast, lunch, and a quality education. However, I find myself laughing at all of the extra things the teachers are doing—taking children to get haircuts, filling book bags with food, treating hair, replacing worn out shoes, singing, and dancing. Our students are going to play soccer, basketball, and volleyball with other organizations also! But our teachers help the students walk through some difficult days also. Within the past month, we have stood at the cemetery of a student who buried his mom and a student who buried his brother. Death stings. I am grateful for teachers who understand that the hardest parts are not written in a job description.

Agriculture:

We are partnering with another ministry to grow vegetables on our land. The food will be used to provide for the families in our school. This is a two year partnership with the intention of educating some of our students on agriculture.

Church:

Our church continues to meet every Wednesday and Sunday. A woman’s Bible study meets every Friday, and the youth meet every Saturday. The youth have enjoyed joining with other local churches for devotion and activities.

Teams:

We hosted two teams in April. We are counting down the days until we welcome our first summer team. On May 23rd, we will have a full house on the mountain followed by 11 more teams.

Construction:

We are completing the construction of building five classrooms for the high school technical training! The classrooms are being constructed by our maintenance men! One day we are going to take a break from construction!

Other than teams, medical clinic, dental clinic, church activities, agricultural projects, construction projects, school, and the English Academy, we really haven’t been doing much over the past month!

If you have emailed or sent me text messages, I am so sorry for the late or no responses. I am trying but….