Sorry that these updates are coming a little slower than I had hoped. This weekend I was at Believe with our middle school students... but I'm committed to getting these up... and I will.
Monday came quickly and we got down to work.
And we had no idea how hard the work was about to be. In the first picture, Paige is helping bring in tools and supplies for the day. Monday was the first day that we saw the school, the "Fly" where we would be working, the total poverty that characterizes the area and the cistern that we would begin to work on.
One of the first things that we had to do was take all of the water out of the 5 x 5 x 5 cistern that existed and put it into anything that would hold water. There is no sense in wasting the water. So we filled up drums, water jugs and the tank on the roof. Jackie's job was catching the buckets that Isaias tossed back from the roof... and she was so good, Randy Moss would be jealous.
Several members of the group had the opportunity to feed the children who were going to school at the site where we were working. Here Kathryn is serving them lunch.
Shortly after their eating lunch, we ate lunch.
After lunch, the work really began. That's when the sledgehammers, shovels, pick-axs and buckets came out. We destroyed the roof of the cistern and began the next 3 days of long, hard digging.
The brighter side of Monday for me was that it was my birthday. I turned 32 (and yeah... you probably forgot to send your present... :-) ). That night, we were invited over to the Gabriel's for dinner. While we were there we heard stories from Gabriel, ate some incredible dinner and I was surprised by a birthday cake (which was awesome!!!)But maybe the best part of the whole day was that I got my suitcase for my birthday!!!! 3 days late!!! Shortly after returning from the worksite that afternoon, my suitcase arrived. Opening that was like opening Christmas presents. I was so happy to see it.
All in all... it was an excellent way to spend a birthday!!
Jim
I'm glad you're writing about the trip, even after the fact. It seems like life hit so fast and hard when you returned that we didn't get to hear enough about all that happened on the trip. Looking forward to more pictures and information!
ReplyDeleteSandy