Hurry Up and Wait

Teamwork makes the dream work!

Bright and early this morning, when we arrived at the worksite to start the final stage of roofing (shingling) we went over our inventory. Able bodies? Check. Barrels of water? Sure thing. Death ray to enslave the human race? In progress. Shingles? Not so much.  Fourty-five minutes past the expected arrival time, a big diesel truck rolled up with 17 'squares' of shingles (or 57 bundles of 70lb packs of shingles) on 2 pallets. All of the men (and Ashley in disguise, who was quickly discovered and sent back off the roof) created a human conveyor belt to distribute the shingles across the roof. We were blessed in having the pallet of shingles lifted up to us, instead of having to haul them up the ladder. We then got to work capturing the vision of how to shingle the roof and preparing to do so, and then sitting around while we waited for nail guns (and nails). We had great help today in the form  of Ben, a Hattiesburg born 'n raised who also went to Duke (or as we like to put it, didn't go to Carolina). Teams of two or three started shingling all the sides of the roof, and by the end of the day we had gotten about a fourth of the way done. With all day to work tomorrow (and hopefully less delays), we should have a roof ready to spread it wings sometime in the mid-afternoon.

At Mr. Price's house, the team worked on roof supports from the porch.  Due to Hattiesburg 'code', if you repair a house, it doesn't have the same updated requirements as starting from scratch.  Therefore, they are working on this house piece by piece.  First the roof was done, and they have been having to jack it up and support it before setting it back down on the parts of the house that they redo, one piece at a time.  Now that the porch is completed, they are working on putting in permanent supports.

When we got back to the church for lunch, it was discussed between Ginger and Nathan that they might not have many opportunities to play HORSE (a game where players try to mimic each other's shots, and when failing to do so get the next letter in the word horse). So, they had an impromptu game 5. It was during this game that Nathan found out Ginger is made of a mixture water, bleach, and lemon scented disinfectant, because he MOPPED THE FLOOR WITH HER, WINNING WITHOUT A SINGLE LETTER. To be fair, Nathan had gotten a chance to warm up beforehand, and it's rather obvious who worked harder at the worksite that morning and wore herself out before the game. Game 6 is scheduled for tomorrow, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

The kids arrived at their scheduled 2:30 arrival time, and with two days of a fun activities (funtivities!) to cram, they got busy right away. The kitchen with the boys was a great balancing act (with 3 of the 4 present cutting themselves whilst chopping potatoes), and with the girls was just a frantic mess trying to prepare 10 casseroles to be taken home that day.  Sewing went wonderfully as all of the girls finished their projects and the pouches were a perfect size to fit the sewing kit that we gave them. The boys had 3 more bikes to work on, where they fixed flats, oiled chains, and fixed gears.

One of the neat blessings of the week has been the opportunity to lead the kids in small, one-on-one or one-on-two, Bible study groups after the life-skills groups.  Many of the kids have opened up as the week has gone on, and it's great to see how inquisitive they are about life and how God should be apart of it.  Please continue to pray for these kids, that they would be able to build relationships with Christians in their community.  Also, pray for Jack's (the guy who works with these kids) ministry, and that God would continue to bless his (and other members of First Pres) hard work and dedication to the community.

Tomorrow is a full day of work, and the plan is to finish the roof, and put in stairs on Mr. Price's porch.  Please be praying that God will multiply our time, minimize delays, provide a nice breeze, and allow us to finish both projects in a timely matter!

(General Quackington felt that the game was too easy, and hid pretty hard today.  Make sure to step up your game!)