50 more buckets!

Day 4

“50 more buckets!” was the slogan of the day. No matter how much progress we made it was always 50 more buckets, but we made it! With the energy and perseverance provided by the Lord, great encouragement, and awesome team work, we finished pouring the portion of the roof we were working on. We started mixing concrete at 8:30 am and we finished at 3:30! Victor thought we would be working until 5. We had an assembly line from the area where the cement was being mixed, passing one bucket at a time – out the door – around the corner – and up to the roof; then down the empty buckets would fly to be filled again. It was a very quiet ride back home as everyone was exhausted by the end of the day.

Victor surprised us with a trip to Carrefour (the local Wal-mart) and treated us to ice cream. We could change money if we needed and buy snacks if we wanted. It was time for devotions and singing when we returned. A team from Holland arrived last night as well so we invited them to join us. It was nice to fill the dining hall with praises to our Lord with our voices and the additional male voices that joined us.

The girls had an unexpected and unwelcome guest in the shower – a ginormous tarantula found its way into our shower and surprised Esther when she opened the curtain. There was lots of screaming that followed, and maybe some fascination too. Victor was our hero and came and killed the intruder. We use the shower but are still a little wary of his friends.

Day 5

It was a much quieter work day today. Everyone worked so hard yesterday that they took it a little slower and quieter today. We continued to mix and pour concrete for beams today – people’s muscles are recovering so the pace was slower.

It rained at lunch time again – which meant we had to sweep the water through the drain holes in the walls so we could walk around without slopping through water all afternoon. We still all ended up with wet feet. Cor, Jay and Rebecca spent the day hand-sifting the sand for the plaster mix – they are about a ¼ of the way through the load of sand.

Much love was shared at the school today as Linda handed out heart stickers to the students and teachers. They came out of the classrooms with hearts all over their faces.  We got to watch the students perform a dance today – a traditional Dominican dance, some sort of merengue. One of our songs from devotions last night was Lord of the Dance – dancing is becoming a common theme here.  It is nice that even though we are all tired the joy of the Lord is showing through. The Lord is drawing our team closer together as the days go by. Cristo te ama! Even though communicating with the kids is difficult at times, just being able to say Jesus loves you is a highlight. They smile and understand.

Buenas Noches! We have an early morning tomorrow.

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