House is done!

Monday April 6, 2013

Wow, what even happened today? I'm not even sure. I will have to sit here for a few minutes and try to remember what I did today. So stand by......... Ok, got it.

My plan for today was to hopefully work on the house. However, the guy who is cutting our posts said that they wouldn't be ready until the afternoon. This left me to look for something else to do today. But fortunately, work found me no problem.

As soon as Warren found out that we were not going out this morning, he wanted my help with a few things. The first thing he listed was to finish connecting the new electrical wires to his and Jerry's house. But before I did that, he wanted me to transfer a program and files from Missy's computer to his computer. Then, he wanted me to move every bag of rice to a different room and clean up the room that it was in. Our rice room has been in an old classroom and they needed it back. By the time I finished all of that, Sam had already connected the cable with Augustine.


Poor Eric was a sick little puppy today. All through the night last night he was throwing up and making sounds. Today wasn't too much better for him either. He stopped throwing up, however he was sleeping and in bed pretty much the entire day. Thank-goodness I was there to hold his hand, rub his tummy, give him some milk, and sing to him. Yeah, ok no.



All morning, Juan and Emmy have been asking me tomake bread for them. They said that they would mix everything together if I could just divide them and bake them. So right before lunch, David and I sat down together and balled up all the risen dough. David is one boy that ALWAYS loves to help me no matter what it is I'm doing.


After lunch I heated up the furnance, brought over the bread, and started baking it. Armando and Juan Carlos were over there and they were playing a game. It was basically gambling with marbles. Armando would be a certain distance away from the oven and would be throwing sticks aiming for the fire pit on the side. If he missed, he owed Juan Carlos 5 marbles, if he made it, Juan Carlos owed him 5. They were playing nearly the entire time and Armando was loosing pretty bad.


For work program it was macheteing again. Only today, we wern't in the banana fields. We went out front of Familia Feliz and started chopping down the jungle that has been growing between us and the road. Armando was my work buddy. I think we both liked that.


As soon as work time was over, the wood guy showed up and told us that the posts were done and that we could pick them up at any time. So Jerry, Juan, Sam, 2 boys, and I loaded up. Apparently we were exchanging 6 bad posts for 6 new ones. After we picked up the posts, we made a few stops coming back including picking up more oranges yet again.


By the time we got back, it was time for a little rest. Then after a little cool down, it was chow time. But now for me to go to sleep because I have 4 full days of construction ahead of me.

Tuesday April 7, 2013


We are officially on the homestretch. Including today, Eric and I have exactly 1 week left here at Familia Feliz before we travel for a bit, then head home. It is so hard to believe that we have been here almost 9 months! I was telling Missy just the other day that if you were to talk to me 2 months ago, I would have said that I felt like I have been here forever. But now, I feel like the time has flown by.

For my final week, I am going to be quite busy. This week is going to be hardcore house building week. My entire day was spent at the work site. Today we were able to put up all the posts, finish building the tresses, then put up and stabilize all the tresses. Our work group was Jerry, Sam, Augustine, and myself. Other than a few scrapes, there really isn't too much that I can write about.


Last night however, Niquisha and Wanetta brought over a beautiful cake. Wowie, that was by far the prettiest and most delicious cake I have seen in quite some time. It was covered with actual frosting, and tons of fresh fruit. However, we didn't eat it last night. Instead, we wanted to save it for breakfast this morning which was totally fine with me.


The only interesting story that I can think of started the moment that I woke up. We had decided that we were going to leave for the worksite at 7:30. So, I set my alarm and was going to up in plenty of time. However, for some reason I slpet through my alarm. I guess I was just really tired. Sam came over and woke me up around 7:25 and asked if I was almost ready. I popped out and said yes as I started to get dressed.


Coming out of my room about 2 or 3 minutes later, I scarfed down my breakfast and headed over the meet everyone. By the time I got over there, it was about 7:38. Sam was planning on waiting for me, but apparently Jerry told him to just drive away and leave me. He told Sam that maybe I just wasn't interested in helping. So Sam listened and drove off.

As soon as the truck pulled off, I walked up before Jerry even had the moto bike turned on. He likes to take the bike and have it there too. So I figured that I would just hop on back, but Augustine walked up and got on. Then Jerry proceeded to tell me that Sam just left me because I wasn't there.


Jerry then told me that he would take Augustine to the site, drop him off, and come back to get me. Keep in mind, the site is literally a 3-4 minute drive away by bike. So I told Jerry thats fine and I'll just wait in front of Missy's house. Then I sat there, and I sat there and he didn't show up. Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes, then finally after 40 minutes he showed up. I was quite agitated and wasn't too happy. However it turns out that he had to drive further up the road and talk to the lumber guy before he came back and got me. Other than this minor irratation, I had a really good day and learned a little bit about building a house.

Wednesday April 8, 2013

Early morning. This morning I was up at 6:45 and was out loading up wood into the truck at 7. By the way, starting just this week, the early mornings have been extremely cold! I have been needing to put layers on and actually wear a jacket! Granted, 30-45 minutes later when the sun starts to rise I start burning up again.


Loading and unloading wood is probably the worst part of this building project. Not only is the wood super heavy, but it is very splintery. I am always needing to be caeful about how I handle it, but sometimes there is not much I can do. The good news however is that today we had 3 extra volunteers! Three troublemakers that is. David, Armando, and Jorge were told to work with us for the entire day today as punishment for acting up yesterday. We gave them the job of unloading the truck of these huge long boards. We gave them this job because the boards are too big for them which means it would take them a very long time. Mean you ask? Nah, just makes them work really hard and makes em' think twice before they act up again.


Today we actually got a lot done on the house. The main thing I worked on today was the roofing panels with Sam. We were able to finish the entire roof in the morning. Then in the afternoon, we worked on the floor and 1.5 walls. It's looking more and more likely that we will finish this week!

After work, Warren wanted me to run into town and fill up the truck with diesle. I was actually a little worried about going because the station is not always open (especially when they run out of gas and diesle), and we were pretty close to empty. However, once we got there, there was a big line a people waiting meaning that not only was it open, but they had diesle.




After we filled up came the fun part. Warren also needed me todo something online for him. This meant that we got to go into town and get online! Not only that, but I had some pretty good company too. Eric and Sam were also in the truck with me.

Once we got into town, Sam volunteered to take the truck and drive all over town running all the other errands that I needed to do while Eric and I went to Juliano's and ate dinner. We had to make a hard decision about whether to eat or not because it was not in our budgets. Ok, who am I kidding, it wasn't that hard of a decision. Then of course we had to top off dinner with a little ice cream from Flippers. I think I could just sit there all day long eating.


Thursday April 9, 2013

VERY SUCCESSFUL DAY! We essentially finished the house. We finished all of the construction aspects of the house and it's looking really nice. This of course didn't come without a little sacrifice. We pulled a very hard and very long day today. I feel like I was at the project forever. Then we only had about a 45 minute lunch break before we hit it hard again. The house has actually turned out a lot nicer than I originally thought it would. We even had enough materials to build them a little additional overhang for their kitchen.


This week has been a wreck on my hands and feet. I have gotten cuts and blisters all over both. I even had a very large heavy board dropped on my hand which gave me a blood blister. But finally, I think we are finished. We still have to go back tomorrow though to hammer in a couple more things and make them a little more secure. Fortunately, that shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 hours.


I'd like to just give a quick shout out to Ali Cresswell and her family for donating all the money to build this house. This is a most definite blessing to this family and there couldn't be a family who needs it more. This is what it is all about; not only getting out there and doing the Lords work, but supporting it too! Thanks you guys!

Friday April 10, 2013

DONE DONE DONE! We are done with the house! As I said before, we did not have too much more work to do on the house to finish it up. However, we still succesfully spent 5 hours there this morning. Because we were able to finish a little early, we were able to build a couple of other fun things in their house. With our excess material, and a little extra time, Sam and I built an extension from the house to cover where they cook outside. We were also able to install some shelves inside. This was particularly exciting because for a couple of the shelves, I did the measuring, the chainsawing, the leveling, and installing all by myself. They came out quite well if I don't say so myself!

As a little bonus to this couple and the boy, we brought some mattresses and a bedframe for them as well. They had one old wood bedfram, but nothing more than 2 blankets to put on top. The little boy had actually been sleeping in a wheelbarrel everynight because he had nothing else to sleep in. Now, he has his own big bed with scooby doo bed sheets. He was super excited to get them and just started rolling around on his mattress.


The res of the afternoon I just spent sitting and relaxing until rounda. Our final vespers. It was short and sweet and Eric and I were glad to have hit the final one. At the end, they told Eric and I to start the handshake because it was our last time here doing it.

Saturday April 11, 2013

So much for a day of rest after a long week of building a house. For our last Sabbath here, Eric and I went with our entire family over to San Buena to attend the church on that side of the river. Non of us had ever been there before so it was pretty exciting to visit a new church. Furthermore, Juan convinced me to bring my violin over there and play special music for them.
 


This is still a very foreign concept to me; where there is no set plan for the service and things just happen off the cuff. For example, today we showed up and told them that I had my violin and would be doing special music. No problem. We also told them that we would take care of the sermon. No problem.

After we got off the boat, we started about a 10 minute walk to the church. While walking there, Juan and Emmy asked if Eric or I were going to be giving the sermon. I just laughed and said that it would have to be Eric because he was wearing a tie (even though I was wearing one too). Then Eric laughed and threw his hands up in the air and said sure, why not? I'll give the sermon (totally joking). But as soon as we arrived at the church, Juan went up to the elder and told him that I would do special music and Eric would give the sermon.


Eric didn't know that Juan had did that until just a few minutes before the sermon. When he found out, he was shocked as I would have been too. He explained to Juan that we were all joking around earlier and that he couldn't preach. So instead of forcing Eric to, Juan said that he would preach instead.


The church here in San Buena is extremely nice. They were all very open and very friendly to us. They are a very small congregation with about 25 members. But they have some very cool traditions. For example, at the beginning of the service, they all get up and start singing a song of welcome to each other and to guests. As they sing, they go around to each person in the church to shake their hand. The song (roughly translated) said "It doesn't matter who we are or where we come from. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. So lets come together and shake each others hand." The second verse was the same except it went from a handshake to a hug.

Another cool tradition they have is at the end of the service, after everyone shakes the hand of the preacher, they form a line so that everyone in the congregation can shake the hand of everyone else as well. No one is excluded. This is definitely one of the most personal churches that I have ever been to.


The song I played for church was As The Deer. It is Juan's favorite song and he LOVES to hear me play it on the violin. The church seemed to really like it to. I'm not sure if any of them have ever even heard a violin before because while I was playing, most everyone in the congregtion were entraced. Then after I played there was a pretty big "Amen". It was one of the few times that I have ever played with no piano or other type of music with me.

After church, they asked us if we would be staying until later in the afternoon as they had another service at 3:30. We didn't really have any other plans, so after talking about for awhile, we decided to stay. Unfortunately, from 12-3:30, we had nowhere to go and nothing to do. We had brought lunch over with us so that helped, but after that, we ended up just sitting at the church waiting for the 3:30 service that didn't start until 4:15.


The second service was more directed towards younger people and was done very well. Shortly before they started, they asked if I would do another special music for them so I said yes. They also asked Eric if he would give a short sermon as well. I decided to just play the song "Softly and Tenderly" which again, I think went really well.

The other interesting thing that happened during this service was a game that was played. They passed around a flower through the congregation, and when the music stopped, whoever had the flower needed to go up front for an "activity" to follow. As fate would have it, the music stopped when I had the flower. I had been chosen.


Not having any idea what was to await me up front with all these Bolivians, all I could do was smile and laugh and hope I didn't make a fool of myself (which was inevitable). As it turned out, each one of us was given a Bible verse (in spanish) that we needed to memorize in about 5 minutes. Then, we needed to recite it infront of everyone to the music/beat of a song. Guess who got to go first. That's right, firebeard himself. I struggled a tiny bit, but I think I did pretty good if I don't say so myself.

By the time we left the church, we had been there for 9.5 hours straight. We were in the building for a very very long time. We actually didn't even get back to Familia Feliz until after 7 PM. Even though we didn't get a very resful Sabbath, it was an extremely high Sabbath fo us. Then to top it all off, once we got back, Warren told us to all load up in the truck because he was going to treat all the men at Familia Feliz to a guys night out at Juliano's!!! WOW!


This was a perfect end to a long Sabbath. Warren said that we could get whatever we wanted and as much of it as we wanted. That meant that each of us were able to get an appetizer of heart of palm covered in vinagerrete dressing. SOOOOOO good. After we were done eating, Warren expressed his gratitude towards Eric and I for all the hard work that we have done here at Familia Feliz. He was very genuine in his words and was very kind. 

Fun fact, because of a generous donation by my grandmother, we have been fixed some oil seal for the tires that were in very bad shape. We also have an appointment to fix the brakes on the little truck at the beginning of next week as they are wearing thin. Then the biggest thing is, we have an appointment on Monday to get all the chairs replaced. This may not sound like a big deal, but they are barely bolted to the ground and flob around as we drive. The back seat also has a rusty jagged bar that is jutting out that has hurt several kids including myself. So now, we will have new chairs that arecomfortable and securly bolted to the ground! Thank you so much grandma!

Now for a little bit of sleepy time before I head in to town tomorrow.

You Stay Civilized......Planet Earth!!!!