Who moved the goal posts?

Everyone seems to have a fantastic success story, so why don't I? The youth have been exceeding everyone's expectations. They completed twice as much painting and bonded with both the Belize kids and with each other. The medical team has seen almost a hundred patients and has had enough time to establish relationships to promote long term health education in addition to short term care.

The Living Waters group returns each day with another challenging opportunity and a call to return this summer to install a water system.

The "results" from the construction team have been mixed. The blocks are up and most of the concrete has been poured. The plumbing and gutters are going up and should be finished by Friday morning.

As for me, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I elected to serve on the carpentry detail to install windows and doors. You need to understand that my idea of a window and what they wanted are two different things. Essentially what they wanted were shutters. That's fine. Once I figured that out I dug right in. Made good progress the first day but then ground to a halt when we didn't have any hinges. Not quite as simple as driving down to the Home Depot. Finally got the hinges Tuesday afternoon and installed them before we called it a day. This morning when it came time to hang the windows we discovered that my one accomplishment on Tuesday had been done wrong so we had to remove them and try again.

So in three days I've constructed a couple of windows and mixed a little concrete. Is this what it's all about? Don't get me wrong; it's been a marvelous experience. I've rejoiced in the accomplishments of others, marveled at the beauty of the country and felt tremendous pain viewing the poverty of the citizens. Somehow it all feels very selfish, however. I've been gaining a lot but it's not clear what I've been giving back.

Will I do it again? That remains to be seen. It is an experience that everyone should have. Perhaps I'm also learning things that will make future trips more fruitful. Or possibly I need to come to terms with my goal oriented mentality.

Stay tuned.

Peace,
Dave