1. Never assume things will be easy.

• Making lists are important, but it’s also important to realize they are malleable.
• Nothing’s over ’til it’s over. When we arrived on Friday, everything was running smoothly, and we thought we would finish early on Saturday. However, near the end of our work day on Friday, we were down two computers, had no internet connection, and discovered that the wrong printer was ordered. On Saturday, unforseen problems arose that we had no control over, such as our workspace acting also as a social room, and church members asking us to look at electronics they had brought from home, such as a camera and MP3 player. Consequently, we did a lot of deep breathing, and never left as early as we had planned.

2. Although it may not be exciting to you, it’s exciting to them.

• Although we would have preferred to work in silence by ourselves, a large number of church members spent the day watching our work. Many of them also enjoyed asking questions and making small talk as we worked. Additionally, our church contacts frequently asked the same questions about the software they had requested and made additional requests for software. Despite these distractions, we tried to view the situation from their perspective and kept happy demeanors throughout the day. In the end, we were delighted by their warmth and appreciation.

3. Get to know your group members!

• Not having worked together in lab previous to our group assignments, our group did not know each other at all. Over several weeks at Prairienet and Meadownet (Jenn’s house) we learned to work well together, work through problems and build on each other’s strengths for the project. Just as important, we learned the working styles of each other–which was especially needed during several stressful moments at New Macedonia. If we had not spent as much time together, the process of installing computers in East. St. Louis would have been much less pleasant, and certainly more stressful.

4. Know when to ask for help…it’s a learning experience!

• As much as we would like to think of ourselves as master computer scientists, we realize that we are far from it. At times we were embarrassed to admit that we had forgot lessons from lecture, but it was worth putting our pride aside to get the lab completed for the people at New Macedonia. Thank you Martin and Paul!