My head's still spinning...

by Paul , Wednesday, August 12, 2026, 12:31 (2 hours, 19 minutes ago) @ RayLee

It's been a wild week and it's only Wednesday. Yesterday we got back into town to pick up my wife's purse and backpack which according to emergency evacuation protocol she'd left behind in her locker at work. Today we got back to town to pick up her motorcycle that's been at the parking lot since the quake. Then I tried to go meet up with the other members of the ministerial alliance board to get more info on what's going on there. "I couldn't get there from here." I had to try several alternate routes before I managed to reach the meetup place. Not finding anything needing my personal attention there I rode back over to our own meeting place to more thoroughly assess the damage there. Sheri came back to meet me there and we walked around the immediate barrio to get a feel for what's going on there. We're in need of some roofing tiles (corrugated cement fiber is the local flavor of choice), a couple of lighting fixtures (8 foot fluorescents got smashed), some tables for the children's room and miscellaneous other items under the rubble. My original intent was to get started today, but after a second look it's not a one man job. We'll see who can come and give a hand and when.

The car's in good hands, it just takes time to trace each sensor and make sure it's connected to the right ECU terminal. I've no idea how long it will take as I've no idea how much the electrical engineer working on it was affected by the quake. So patience being part of the fruit of the spirit I'm trying to be fruity.

We have Venmo, Zelle and PayPal, and the good old PO Box still works, too.

South American Christian Mission
PO Box 1593
Joplin, MO 64802

Make a note "For earthquake relief" or whatever and David Schepper, our forwarding agent, will let me know when it arrives. Anyone wanting the Venmo or Zelle info, contact me directly (AmBraCol AT gmail works a treat) and I'll get that to you.

We've got families sharing apartments with others and doing their best to get folks fed. So funds for such efforts are also greatly appreciated. My wife tells me we have the offer of the use of a vehicle so once I find out where we can purchase necessaries (many of our regular stores are closed due to damage) I'll be able to start on that little chore.

OK. I don't know if this is coherent or not, still processing a lot of info. The lights just went out again so I'll save this to send later.