Monday, April 14, 2014

Well, today was the day of reckoning!  We were put to work at a church and school in a neighboring town.  Today, we dug footings for two retaining walls, and excavated dirt by hand from an upward sloping hill adjacent to the church. Late in the day, four students tied steel to be put in the footing of the wall.  We learned many things today. Jamaicans can work harder and tolerate the heat a lot better than we can (although Darren Smith gave them a run for their money!  He was nick named “Dynamite” for his ability to dig out large rocks!).  We learned that we can drink a lot more water in a day than we originally thought.  We learned that a personal week’s worth of Gatorade can be consumed by the group in a single day.  And we learned that a cold shower can be one of the most wonderful feelings at the end of the day.

We were led by “Mr. T” and “Mr. Rose” who are awesome workers and made our long hot day a lot of fun as they are both real jokers.  Phyllis is another person assigned to our group.  She shoveled dirt, moved rocks, and hauled buckets of dirt with the rest of us.

We are all showered and fed, and while we feel good about what we accomplished today, we are also very tired.  It will be early to bed tonight.

They are starting to introduce some local delicacies to us.  Tonight, we had breadfruit, which tasted very similar to a potato.  It was very tasty.  We have had some papaya for breakfast as well as some great pineapple.

The “Ladies Department” of the church sells soda and ice cream for a dollar each.  We have been trying to be supportive of their ministry!!!

I think Kara and Jacob E have worship to night.  I’m looking forward to hearing their perspective on the day, the things they are seeing and experiencing.

The entire group was awesome today.  Hard work. Team effort.  Fun spirit!