And the walls are up!

Success! The walls are up, as are the rafters! It's always shocking how fast the whole process happens. We arrived this morning to see nothing but a slab of concrete and a pile of wood. Quickly, the cutting, framing and painting crews assembled and got to work! Joining the painting crew were the legions of children from the neighbourhood who were thrilled to help, creating the interesting problem of having too few paintbrushes.

The house we are building in located in a BEAUTIFUL area, full of rolling hills, roosters, goats and dogs. When not drowned out by the sound of the generator, the whole neighbourhood is bustling with life as curious children come running by. These children were by far a highlight for many of the kids on the trip. When in between jobs, spontaneous games of soccer picked up in the dusty streets. When soccer got to be too hot, it was time for twirling the children in the air and picky back rides.
(as an aside, my own highlight was surviving the "old outhouse" which was propped up with an old broom, only to realize the new and sturdy outhouse was being delivered 5 minutes later. Hahaha).

Anyway, everyone is doing fine. We had a great dinner of tacos and chocolate cake, followed by chapel and a great time together as a group. One of my favourite things is going around the horn and hearing everyone's highlight of the day, worst part of the day and their hope for tomorrow. Everyone is excited, only one minor injury to report (a banged finger), and the great questions keep pouring in! Since our arrival, today was probably the hardest in term of the disparity between us and the family. And still, the mother bought us pop for lunch. The kids just sat there in disbelief.

Tomorrow we start roofing and putting up the drywall! Please keep praying for our ongoing safety and GREAT team unity. And pray too that the kids who are asking great questions would continue to be open for the great work God is doing in their lives. What a privilege it is to be here, serving our incredible God with this incredible team.

On that note, some pictures, and then it's bed time!! I should add here that, my goodness - it is HARD picking pictures! Today I took 372! Here's a small selection. :)

Our fearless captain driving up the steepest hill!

It begins. A word of prayer and blessing as we begin.

Ben and Elijah.

Brigitte and Vivian hard at work!

Ross, Theo and Nicole surrender their painting duties to the very eager kids!

Sam and Jamie do some cutting (personal injury lawyers beware: the whole scene was supervised by skilled workers). ;)

This is the bedroom of the family we are working on. I feel bad posting a picture online, partly because I don't think I'd appreciate anyone posting a picture of my own room on the internet. But it serves as a stark reminder of the blessings we have. A whole family of 6 sleeps here.

Work work work!

Quick break for freezes (made from filtered water of course).

SPONTANEOUS SOCCER!

Marcella working hard. She makes me laugh. After hours of painting, she looked at me and said "I guess Im more of a pool person". Hahaha.

Nicole discovering new skills!

OMG BFFS! Haha

This is a picture I took of Ross for his kids back home in West Van. :D

Gladly, no child was harmed or dropped in the taking of this picture. ...this happened on the other side of the hill. ;)

I thought I'd include a few pictures of us actually working, so here are Dylon and Mike putting up the siding, already on day 1!

Martha, the mom, so thrilled to be seeing her new home coming together. Apparently her 5 year old son had been praying for a long time for a house. :)

EXHAUSTED! We meet at the end of the day for a word of encouragement. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE! :D

When we got back to the centre, we had a great surprise! In the middle of the picture, in black, is Francisco, who was our foreman last year!!!