Hello everyone!! I can't believe it's been over two weeks since my last post! As you can probably guess, things have gotten very very busy. This week we are maxed out here in the city, with over 60 volunteers from Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. We also have 100 more Kansans(?) and Canadians on the North Shore! On Monday night I got to cook for ALL of them! Needless to say I'm pretty beat this week.

Last week was also a busy week, but more so because I really connected with the teams (college kids from Illinois, Iowa and New Jersey) and tried to spend as much time with them as much as possible. I already am very much missing them all! While I looooove meeting new people every week, it's hard to have to say goodbye to them a few days later. I'm hoping that I will see them all again sometime soon!

I apologize again to all of you who have called or written, and haven't heard back from me. In addition to being busy with work, I have also had very limited access to a computer this week which is why I've disappeared a little :) And if you called, my phone was probably on vibrate and I never heard it. I will do better this week, I promise!!

I have a LOT more to say about the last two weeks, but that will have to wait until I have a longer period of time to sit down and type out my thoughts. For now I'll ask that you please keep our ministry in your thoughts and prayers, as we have suffered a pretty major setback in the last few days. On Wednesday we received the news that some drywall that had been donated to us (and manufactured in China) is contaminated with sulfur. Unfortunately that particular drywall had already been hung in four different, nearly completed, houses. Our teams had to "regut" these houses, undoing work that teams from all over the country had completed over the last few months.

While it would be easy to get discouraged by this, the Director of the Relief work here in New Orleans has pointed out that, while yes we do have to redo the work that we have already done, this just presents a greater opportunity to create a relationship with the homeowners, and also the people in the surrounding neighborhoods. Speaking of that, I have included a picture today of me and my friend George. George and his friends have been to several of the block parties that we have had since I've been here, and I believe he is one of the many kids who are really benefiting from Touch Global's presence here. Last night we had a whole neighborhood of kids getting piggy back rides from the Canadian team, back and forth across an empty lot. It was a perfect representation of what we are truly trying to accomplish here. As the team leaders remind us on an almost daily basis, it's not about the work that gets done, but the relationships that get built!