Today was day two of our construction projects consisting of painting the inside and outside of a house, building shelves for a food pantry and remodeling a kitchen by adding cabinets for a countertop. Our group was split into three smaller groups with the tallest finishing the house painting (our interns Isaac and Miles and a newly added group member from Tennessee, Peyton who was our intern last year). These three projects will be finished tomorrow and a request for additional projects was made for the remainder of the week for our group which has come to be known as those hard-working Catholics.
Even after losing power, we managed to overcome this obstacle and move forward with the food pantry shelving by “borrowing” juice from the neighbor. This was done after observing the local electricians attempt to restore power without success (along with a few sparks!). The meals that we packed last night are now sitting on the new shelves awaiting distribution to the community.
Again this year, it is amazing to see how the group can respond to adversity with patience, perseverance and the Lord’s guidance. It was nice to spend more time working inside out of the sun, still hot, but bearable.
We arrived back on campus for a delicious meal of curry chicken and rice. While enjoying a meal with the other 90+ missionaries, we compared the number of insect bites on our legs from no-see-ums (more prevalent than last year). Fortunately, the cortisone cream has been effective.
We continue to see how Mission of Hope is growing and effectively helping the local communities while spreading the good news of the gospel. The number of volunteers is as high as ever, with 40 more arriving tomorrow.
One of the many blessings this year was the close proximity (a 15-minute bus ride) of our community where our construction projects are located. Our nightly debriefing sessions include discussing the day’s activities, posting our thoughts and photos on the blog along with a little cribbage.
Tim Reis and Tom Schramer (Tim-Tom)
