Thursday

Thursday is the day we visit the Leprosaurium. Leprosy, also know as Hansen's Disease, still exists in the 21st century, but with modern medicine the progress of the disease can be arrested. Those who live at the Leprosaurium are mostly older people who did not have access to treatment when they were younger. As you can imagine, these patients rarely have visitors. Many years ago, Jack Larson, the founder of Mission Emanuel, made the decision to make a visit part of every short term mission trip. So these wonderful people get visits about 13 times a year. We talk with them, sing with them, and distribute gifts to them. It truly is a highlight of the trip.

In the afternoon, we moved to the Nazaret school to begin laying block for a new set of bathrooms. (Blogger is not allowing me to upload images right now. I'll try later). It was wonderful to get back to doing a job I love to do. Painting is not bad, moving concrete is back breaking, laying block is fun. So I enjoyed my afternoon immensly.

This evening we went to the market to do some shopping, took a tour of Old Towne, and then had a very nice meal at a restaurant located in a 16th century building.

Tomorrow is our last day in the community. We will do some more block laying, and then do our last visiting with our friends who we will not see until next year.