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The days are busy now that the center is open. Troops in and out and playing games, talking on the phone, watching movies, hanging out in the lounge and filming United Through Reading. There is always someone to talk to and needs to be met.
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The game rooms are the biggest hit. There is one that has eight Xboxes in an octagon shape that are all interconnected where they can play each other. Each system can play two players so you can have sixteen at one time in there playing. You can only imagine the laughter or should I say hoopin and hollerin going on in there. The troops run over on their lunch hour and come after their shift and play until we close. The other game room has the Wii games which are much more interactive. You can bowl, or play tennis or Dance, Dance Revolution and many others. They get to going on those and even work up a sweat. There are also Xboxes in that room in the corners and they get to jamming with the guitar hero.
Of course there are always troops on the phones and in the evenings there is a wait to get a phone. We have to limit the calls to thirty minutes and having to tell them to hang up is one of my hardest tasks.
We are able to film the United Through reading all during our open hours and boy is that a hit. I particularly like the fact that since Balad is in such a large Air Base we get many troops that are passing through on their way to other FOB’s. They will not have the opportunity to participate in the UTR program where they are going so it thrills me that we can film while they are there. One young father who got strand in Balad for several days filmed three and we are going to mail them at month intervals. His wife and little baby were staying in Dallas while he is deployed and it was fun to talk about the things we love and miss from the Big D.I mailed last Saturday 84 UTR’s and again today mailed another 81. I am in good shape on mini DVD’s but am beginning to get pretty low on books. We allow them to pick a book for each child so you think about 81 recording that could be as many as 160 or more books we are sending out. I feel great joy when I get them mailed knowing how many of God’s precious children will soon get to see their mom or dad or grandparent on TV. I get to hear story after story of how their children respond. The smaller children just talk away to the TV as though they were there and the older ones are a bit more emotional seeing their loved one. I have one dad at the hospital that every time he gets to read a book he always ends up singing praise and worship songs to his children and I always he him end the tape praying for them. Can you imagine the blessing those children are receiving to hear their father pray for them and what a joy for them to have for the rest of their life. One dad brought his guitar and instead of reading books to his children played and sang songs he had written for them.
I think I am the one that is the most blessed. Hearing their stories, seeing the joy they receive from getting to record these connections of love, putting the children’s pictures on my bulletin board and receiving thank you emails from their families at home makes any effort expended so worthwhile.
I am not sure I have ever told you about the post office. When you go to the post office here you are not allowed to seal your packages. They inspect the contents and then seal them. You would think the postal workers would dread to see me coming with 80+ packages a couple times a week but it is quite the contrary. I have had many of them that work in the post office come over and record books for their children and grandchildren so they have become some of my strongest advocates. They are some of my sweetest friends here.
The troops appreciate so much when we have snacks for them. Having a variety is hard as the PX though good for a PX doesn’t have a lot to pick from. We find they love candy and particularly chocolate so any candy is greatly appreciated. My friend Laurie is working to get us candy here. We are trying to stock up on chocolate now as we only have about two months before it will be too hot to mail chocolate here. We also have peanut butter and jelly out for them on days when we can get bread and they love that. Christmas we were sent two honey baked hams that have been in our freezer and we thawed them this week and boy was that a hit.
I had a thrilled tonight when two young soldiers walked in, obviously brothers, in fact twins. I found out that they were not at the same FOB and were only in Balad to take a class and had not seen each other in a year and a half. They were darling! I pulled out my camera and took a couple pictures and then we emailed them to their mom. It made my day! I can’t wait to hear if she gets them. Well I must close for now. I will try to write more often now that we are settling in to a more regular schedule. I love you all dearly and treasure your support and prayers for this mission. It is my prayer that we will become a place that our battle weary troops can come and find encouragement, support, and a touch of home.
In His Mighty Grip,
Linda
