Well we got up at 6:30 this morning and ate an excellent breakfast (the food is really good). We then walked about a half mile to our work site. About a quarter mile down the stairs was the house we were building. The girls went down to the house and helped set up the prebuilt walls. The guys were put up at the top to shovel gravel and stone into bags and carry it down to the house. This was exhausting (keep in mind this is 7000 ft. elevation). After this we proceeded to put up the walls. We then ate lunch at the worksite which again was delicious. The kids whose house we were building helped us a lot. We were just working and they joined right in. I didn’t expect that at all. There names were Luis, 10, and Benjamin, 8. They were really cool and hung out with us the rest of the work day. The group then split up and half laid cement in the first house while the other half moved dirt in another house. Laying cement was interesting. This enormously strong, monster of a guy named Christian helped us out. He was also an absolute genius so all of us want to be like him when we grow up. Anyway, we laid the cement and then we had to carry the leftover bags of cement bag up the huge stairs and into the truck. While two of us would greatly struggle to get one bag up the hill, Christian proceeded to take one bag up by himself, while carrying a backpack, tools, and answering his cell phone half way up the hill. He also took another one later. While we were heading back we found a shop showing the highlights of the US game. They actually tied!! We were pretty much overjoyed. It was just a really awesome day. The kids were just absolutely overjoyed with the house. Although it was only maybe 200 square feet they were just absolutely overjoyed that we would do that for them.
Kyle Drake
We woke up this morning and ate a delicious breakfast of banana pancakes. After gathering up our tools and wheelbarrows, we headed a few blocks away to work on a house. We headed down a steep hill, the first of many trips. The guys began to carry down the gravel and sand needed to make concrete. Many grueling trips were required, along with the trips needed to carry down the roofing material and concrete mix. Meanwhile, the girls began to raise the walls of the house, nailing and chain sawing (which was mostly done by Mr. Neill and Bob). We ate a quick lunch and then began to mix concrete and lay the floor for the house. Some members of the group went to another house and dug out dirt to level the floor. We all worked very hard to around 4 o’clock. During this entire time, we were meeting and becoming friends with the children whose house we were building. Luis Miguel was a favorite kid of most of the team. We all picked up many Spanish phrases, the favorite being “gordo”, or fat. Luis caused much laughter as he called most of leaders “gordo” as he patted them on the stomach. All in all, we had fun while accomplishing a lot of work. It was great to see God work through and in us as we worked. The most common refrain was comments on how blessed we are in the States. It was very true, however, and caused much introspection and thanks for what God has given us. It was a great way to start out off the week.
- Adam Barsuhn
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