New orleans, day 4

Yesterday it felt like, just as we were getting used to our job, we had to learn a new one. Today we were able to take what we had learned yesterday (specifically: framing the walls of the house) and begin to get used to it once again.
I was struck again by what a delicate balance of technical skill, coaching, vision casting, resource management, and ability to find jobs for people goes on at a short term mission site. Habitat does a great job of that, though we were blessed to have a professional contractor in our group.
I was also struck by how useful experience is. Though I've never been formally trained, I've been on a few work sites, and it helped me to dive in and find work for myself. One mission trip isn't enough: you've got to go on a few in order to get comfortable with the wide variety of jobs you have, and to begin to see past the jobs to the people behind them. 
So my word to everyone who's only been on one mission trip: start praying about your next one!