If you thought that yesterday was a whirlwind, you should have been at Filer Mennonite Church today. Whew! I feel like a hamster in a blender. Well maybe not quite that drastic, but I did open a lot of boxes, boxes, and more boxes. I think at the very least I've developed a good case of boxcutteritis. But what fun! And what a project! The goodness of my fellow man buoyed me the whole day. The place was buzzing with volunteers, which ran the gamut from the women's group of the church to two sisters aged twelve and thirteen who worked hard and independently for hours. Even the toddlers kept themselves busy for most of the day making forts from the empty boxes, and otherwise keeping themselves busy so their mothers could work unhindered. It basically felt good to work for a noble cause. In this day and age, nobility is hard to come by, so any little touch of goodwill rubs some of the taint of our election process away. Judy and I arrived at the church at 9 A.M. Loey had us string lights, move tables, and adjust shelves. Then we started opening boxes. The process entailed slicing open a box, removing a plethora of packing material, storing that material in a way it could be used later, locating the inventory number of the item on an inventory sheet to find the price, write the price on the little tag provided (Judy's job), and find a temporary storing place for the item. Then repeat. We worked in that fashion until 5:30 P.M. We stopped for a delicious lunch provided by Loey. She was up early, creating a crock pot stew in addition to her normal chores around the farm. Tomorrow, we'll display the goods, which come from all over the world (Ten Thousand Villages). It's clear that Loey wasn't just being gracious when she said she could use our help for the week. Our extra hands are proving useful, which proves the adage "Many hands make light work" and makes us feel good. On another note, the weather is supposed to improve beginning tomorrow. It's been raining hard here for several days, which has kept Andy and Gary out of the fields. They'll have to wait a couple of days to finish their fall cutting and tilling. It's also been quite cool here, but I'm happy to report that our furnace is working perfectly. I guess the bottom line is, even though I can barely type with my box cutter fingers (I've been taking hyperbole lessons from the "Donald"), life is surely good, especially today.
Notice the lights twinkling like stars near the ceiling and under shelves.
Two of these big green frogs, which were made in Africa, watched over us for the whole day.
And the baskets, Oh, my, they're like Zen books. They multiple as soon as you're not looking.
These are just a few of the creative trinkets villagers have made. Just two amazing examples: In Egypt, the recyclers make stunning 5th Avenue like purses and belts from old aluminum can tops. In India, as part of an elephant protection effort, villagers make paper literally from elephant dung! And believe me, it smells better than this year's election.
We workers were not without sustenance: Beef soup, sliced tomatoes, fresh bread, apple butter pumpkin bars, and fresh peppers: red and yellow. Yum!
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