Originally scheduled as 5, Darrel Duehring suffered a detached retina the day before leaving and had to have emergency surgery, meaning his wife Catherine also decided to stay home with him.  Nevertheless, the three remaining hardy souls left early on the morning of February 14 and drove all the way to Chicago in the snow.

Joe and Marcia McLaughlin were on their third trip, while Wayne Heisler made his first pilgrimage.  As it turned out, their small number made it possible for them to do a much-needed task--putting a new bed in the big truck--that would have been difficult for a large team since it is almost a necessity to accommodate most teams.  Pastor Bollinger had purchased the treated lumber in October while in Florida for a board meeting and had just picked it up from Food for the Poor a week before the Ascension team arrived.  Dis-assembling the old bed took one day and putting in the new floor took the better part of another, time when the truck was out of commission.  Now we are ready to haul anything--beans, rice, lumber, sand and even people!

Being a master electrical also proved handy for Joe as he checked the wiring in the cottage and made a few much-needed corrections.  Marcia proved a big help in getting the cottage and storage room better organized.

The group also spent visited Food for the Poor and spent time at all our ministries.  The only hitch came in leaving Haiti so late they missed connections in Miami.  Mother Nature again welcomed their return to Wisconsin with a fresh coat of snow over which to drive.  Joe reports, "One day I am basking under the mango tree and the next I am blowing snow off the driveway."  Such is life!