Wednesday: The To-do List is Multiplying

Morning worship

It's hump day, and tomorrow is our last day of construction, but our list of to-do's continues to grow.  Once again, we were able to start the day with worship with the kids from the camp, and from there we set right in to our projects.  The waiting room in the dentist clinic received a last coat of paint and baseboards were installed.  It is beginning to look like a waiting room!  All that's needed are plates for the sockets and a door to be installed.

Mudding and Sanding

The chapel was mudded and sanded some more, and should hopefully be ready to paint tomorrow.  We will finish sanding the spots that were re-mudded in the morning, and then hopefully put on a fresh coat of paint as soon as we can.  Dr. Mike helped install wood framing for a closet, and Nate W., Nate G., and Sarah worked on beginning to install bookshelves.

We also had the privilege of having visitors today!  Nate W's family, Bethany, the kids, Fran (Bethany's mother), and Sarah (Bethany's grandmother), came and ate lunch with us today.  Sarah had made the best pound cake, and they also brought cookies and chips to share!  We all enjoyed getting to see everybody.

Measuring for bookshelves

The list of possible jobs for tomorrow entail sanding and mudding, painting, building a bookcase, building a desk, building a closet, installing more baseboards, mowing, and stump removal.  Please pray that God will multiply our time, and that the most important jobs will become apparent.

This afternoon we finished our 4th lesson on poverty which has been led by a group from Covenant College.  We discussed how important it is to go into a community looking for assets, not needs.  It is more important to empower the community than just donate what they need.  All of the team members have agreed that this has been a very beneficial session to go through and has been one of the favorite things we have done all week.  If you are interested in learning more, feel free to check out the organization's website (http://www.chalmers.org/media/category/whh-small-group-experience).

Contraption to get the baseboard corners to stick

This evening we held our BBC again in the Hispanic neighborhood, and we had 4 children attend.  Three of them are from the same family who is invested in a church in the area.  Please pray for the kids that their knowledge of Christ becomes more than just mental knowledge of the facts and answers to the questions.  Please also pray that we reach more kids in the neighborhood tomorrow.

Tonight, Ashley Ha. and Emily wanted to let you know what they have learned so far this week, and how God has been speaking to them.

Delivering the Bible story

Ashley: "Today I learned the wonderful skill of base boarding, through this, the Lord has taught me to fight my OCD attitude.. haha. After much hard work and meeting new interns, I've noticed that the Lord has placed so many servant leaders in the Hope Building. I see it is very important to connect with fellow workers.  They definitely keep me encouraged, and have kept me energized through the long day. After work was done and we arrived at East Lake, the Lord started working in my heart. I was able to connect with the three kids there, especially the cutest little boy with the biggest smile. We sang Spanish songs together and it was so great to be able to break the communication boundary with just a simple song. Praise the Lord for Music!"

Emily: "Wednesday is the middle of the week, and therefore I wanted to take some time to reflect on the past few days. The past few days I have learned some skills about new types of indoor construction. This was super exciting as I am always wanting to learn about building things! This trip is super different than the past couple trips I have been on, but hey, God is using this special experience to teach each and every one of us something new. I am learning patience with children, supplies, baseboarding (oh goodness...the fun in this job). I am happy to say that while reflecting on this week so far, I am excited that I have learned new skills as well as seen a brand new college I did not know existed!! God has given me opportunities to learn construction, school, future, and even a couple really interesting lectures on poverty and history as well. There are so many things on this trip I did not expect, but I can see that it is a good learning experience. I was one of the last people to decide to go on this trip, but I really felt God pulling at my heart to come along. So far, I am really glad I trusted Him and am having this wonderful experience. :)"

Crafts

Thank you for all your prayers back home!  You are just as important as the team that has gone.  Please pray for joyful attitudes (even though we are lacking on some sleep), and pray that we will be a blessing to those we work with.  We also love reading any comments that you may have!