Day 2 – The Lord’s Day

And a beautiful day He has given!! The day dawned cool and bright. Most of the team woke up around 8:00, and we all sat down to breakfast around 9. Best of all, Marcella provided COFFEE!!!

Following breakfast, we all broke off for quiet time. Each of the teams is working through a daily devotional, so many of us found shaded spots outside to read or journal for a few minutes.

Worship service started at 11 in the rec room of the dorm building, and we were so excited to see how excited everyone is about God! Kids and adults alike sang and danced with abandon, just to show joy in who the Lord is and what He has done for them…

It’s kind of hard to think about, really, when we so easily forget everything we have and we complain about what we don’t have or what’s going badly for us….and then we spend time with kids who can’t live with their families for a multitude of reasons and with the people who are giving their lives to try to provide for them and build them a home where they can feel secure and loved…..and then to see how thankful they are for the blessings in their lives…yeah, wow. Big thought-stimulator.

After the service, we scrambled to change clothes, douse ourselves with sunscreen, and pile into the vans. On the schedule for the afternoon: a trip to the park with the kids! The staff matched each of us up with two kids, and off we went. we learned a lot today…like you really can fit twenty-five people in a 13-passenger van, for starters! And that it gets hot when that van doesn’t have air conditioning!

But the kids had a blast, riding these funky bicycle-cart-like thing that I failed to take a picture of, and sliding down a giant slide on potato sacks. The smaller kids bounced their lunches away in a bouncy-house and several of them capped the day with a boat ride!

We had about an hour to rest, then our two teams headed out to dinner at Eddy’s, a Mexican burger joint with really rockin’ milkshakes! We ate like crazy and were treated to feats of engineering prowess from our own Brad Bullock, who balanced two forks on the tip of a toothpick stuck in a salt shaker balanced on three knives set on vintage Coke bottles. Hmm, yeah. Should have gotten a photo of that, too.

We are all thankful for the opportunity to sleep in a bit today, as the workweek starts in earnest tomorrow. Beginning on Monday, breakfast is at 7, and we are expected to be covered in sunscreen and ready to work at the construction site by 8:30.

Praise for the team staying healthy…no sunstroke or altitude sickness so far! Pray for our strength and for us all to have servant’s hearts with no complaining or grumbling as the hard work begins, and for protection and strength for us to do what needs to be done…which is very likely to involve wheelbarrows and five-gallon buckets of concrete………