The Thursday Slump

As I write this, 6:00 a.m. has just arrived in San Diego and our work teams have just arrived at their work sites. Four nights of sleeping six and eight to a room three days of working hard in Mississippi's Spring heat are showing their signs in sleepy eyes. Add to that a night on the town for rich seafood and traditional Cajun food (some folks went to New Orleans for the evening) and you're looking at forty tired United Methodists. Breakfast this morning was quiet and departure for the workday was sluggish.

If you've been on a similar mission trip, you recognize the rhythm of the week - there's almost always a Thursday Slump. Excitement and adrenaline from the adventure and discovery pull everyone through the first half of the week, but then the departure from all that's familiar - food, bed, family & friends, exercise, daily routines - catches up with the group and there is a slow day.

That's today. I'll tell you a story about last night.

Most of us went to a local restaurant called "Ricky's" and we all wore our official lime-green United Methodist Volunteer t-shirts. There were more than twenty-five of us who descended on this already crowded and popular seafood grill, and we got more than a taste of delicious seafood - we also received a generous helping of hospitality.

The main host and all the servers went out of their way to make us comfortable and to serve us quickly. The food is best described with just a few words lifted directly from the menu, words like "Fried Soft Shell Crab", "The CrawKitty" (that's fried catfish smothered with crawfish in a rich sauce), and my favorite, "The Seafood Barge".

Being good Methodists, we held hands around the large table and gave a prayer of thanks. Being typical Methodists, we did so quickly and quietly so as not to make a show of ourselves. Being in the deep South, we were noticed by a man who stopped at our table and said, "I know you're not Baptists - you're too quiet!"

Laughter, eating, and story-telling about the work we are doing followed for an hour.

When we all had our fill, we made a substantial contribution to the local economy and headed for the door, but on the way we were stopped by a woman who was all dressed up and looked as if she had just come from a Sunday morning worship service. She had seen our t-shirts and left her table to say, "I just want to thank ya'll for coming down here and for all you're doing to help us. We appreciate you so much and we hope you'll come agian." Then she returned to her table to finish her dinner. I think she was having "The CrawKitty".