It’s hump-day, and we are
ready to work. There is much to be done,
and we are going to get right on it. The
morning started the same as the others – breakfast, devotions, and then off to
work. Just like yesterday, we started
the day by mixing concrete for the wall builders, while others went to work on
tying the rebar for the support beams we plan to pour tomorrow.
The day went rather well –
everyone was working busily, and when there were “down times” they found things
to do to help. One of those tasks was
assigned to John Mark and Taylor. They
were asked to pick up rebar and wood around the facility to make working
conditions a little better. After about
an hour or so, John Mark was moved to another task, and Taylor just kept
working. He even decided, on his own, to
pick up and pile the rock together. I
was impressed by his consistent steadiness in the task he was asked to do.
Meanwhile, Meredith was at
one of the childcare centers working with, and playing with the children. I am certain she was having a great time.
As lunch rolled around, we
had a surprise for Charles. Today is his
50th birthday, so we asked everyone – including the 4 guatemalan workers
we have worked with this week to go to the lunch house early – before Charles.
When he came in, I blindfolded him and lead him to the center of the
courtyard. Phil had purchased a Winnie
the Pooh piñata and had tied it up for him to hit. Charles took some swings, but someone (who
will remain nameless) was pulling on a rope and keeping the piñata away from
his attacks. Eventually he took Pooh by
the leg and held on to him as he “beat the candy” out of him! It was fun to watch. After that, we all moved inside for lunch and
some cake and ice cream. It was a great birthday
celebration.
While we were eating, it
started raining. We weren’t sure we were going back to work, and we had much to
do. But shortly after it started, it stopped enough for us to get back to
work. The afternoon was awesome – we got
a lot of work done. But the last hour
was the most fun of all (at least for me). We had prepared the wall that the
team was building for a concrete cap to go on top. We formed it out, and it was time to make and
distribute the concrete. We were moving
buckets of rocks, water and sand to the mixer (since it included rock, we used
the gas powered mixer). We were taking
full buckets of concrete over to the wall to pour inside. We needed more concrete, so we ran around
moving buckets of necessary items to the mixer. It was like a hive of bees –
people taking their positions and getting the work done. It was awesome.
When we finished, we headed
back to the hotel for showers – and boy did we need them. Everyone was dirty. Well, except Meredith and Sam – they were at
the childcare center all day. It was so
bad that when we returned to the van to go out for dinner, it smelled like a
locker room. Yeah, pretty nasty!! We went to downtown Quetzaltenango and walked
around the center square and then went to Pollo Campero for dinner.
We finished the day with a
long LONG game of RAGE. Ten cards down
to one card, and then back to ten cards again.
We finished around 11:30. It has
been a great, but very long day.
Enough for now – it’s
definitely bedtime. More work tomorrow…
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