Day One on the worksites, and it was a HOT one! The high was supposed to be 89, but as of 11:30 in the morning, it was already 89 degrees with a real feel of 102. I am willing to bet that the teens on the roof re-shingling Mr. Mark’s roof thought it was hotter than that!
We woke up the teens between 6:30 and 7, depending on how many times we had to play ‘snooze alarm’ for them, and everyone was in the breakfast line in time to eat at our slotted 7:20 time. Breakfast wasn’t bad (scrambled eggs, cereal, sausage, and a biscuit with gravy) and we were ready to leave for our site by 7:45. We loaded up the vans with our lunch and water coolers and headed off for Mr. Mark’s house.
We arrived at his trailer to find the roof had been framed in and ready for us to shingle. Brady hauled all of the heavy bags of shingles up onto the roof for us, and most of the teens hopped right up onto the roof to get started. (I stayed down and was the ladder holder, gofer, and painter extraordinaire. Not so keen on being on the roof. . .but would have done it if they needed me too. Thank goodness for Christine and Emily!)
As most of the teens worked on both sides of the roof (and were introduced to ‘chalk lines’); Jen, Megan, Caitlin and I started to scrub the shed and get it ready for priming. After we washed it down, we taped it off and primed it for painting tomorrow. It was a large, most of the day job, but it was nice to have something to do.
The lady who lives in the trailer next to Mr. Mark was diagnosed with cancer over a year ago. She was given four months to live at that time, and as of last month, TeamEffort was able to meet with her and restore the roof of her trailer also. She fell last week, and they called hospice in yesterday. This was obviously a very devastating moment for their community and one of the ladies was physically upset as she was talking to Matt. When she went back to her home, he asked Christine to walk over and check on her to see if she wanted to talk. Christine did as she was asked, and the neighbor really appreciated it. (She talked to her for over an hour and even offered to let all of us use her restroom instead of going over to the Laundromat.) It was nice that Christine was able to be Christ-like in her time of need.
We broke for our lunch around 11:45, and ate sandwiches under the trees on a blanket. We had chips, animal crackers, and Bekah even cut up tons of oranges for us. It was nice to sit in the cool for a little bit and get to laugh and cut up. After lunch, we went back onto the roof and worked until 2:30. At that point, we started to clean up so we could get back to camp a little early.
Matt told the leaders that when he found out he was getting our group he was concerned because we only had two boys and the job was roofing. Will (who knows us from the last mission trip we went on) told him that he ‘better hope we are good workers then’. I think Matt was still a little leery. At lunch, he walked up to Christine and told her that we had a really good group, and that he was very impressed. He said that by now he would have to run all over the place re-doing what other groups had done, and he had nothing to re-do with our group. It was a really nice compliment and one we all want to live up too.
After leaving the work-site, we dropped Matt and the teens off at the dorms and ‘took the vans to get gas’. While we really did stop at the gas station, it was a conveinant excuse to go pick up decorations and a birthday cake for Jen. Tomorrow is her big 17th birthday and we wanted to surprise her with a decorated dorm and cake. (As I type this, I am patiently waiting for them to finally fall asleep so I can decorate her door and go to bed! I can’t believe they aren’t exhausted from all of that heat!) While I was waiting in line at wal-mart, a gentleman walked past me and I moved out of his way and said excuse me. He replied, “What?” I said excuse me again, and he said that I wasn’t in his way, but I could keep talking. I was a little taken aback and asked what he meant, and he said. . . .get this. . . .”I like your accent. I could listen to you talk all day.” I busted out laughing (and think I might have hurt his feelings unintentionally) before telling him that I wasn’t the one with the accent down here. The rest of the people do.
We had dinner (it wasn’t as great as breakfast. . .chicken and rice with green beans) and then ran the rest of the teens down to the store so that they could get snacks (read lots of junk food) for later in the evenings. We made it back for club time and then broke off to our personal ‘group spot’. I asked the teens to find us a good place to meet, and they found a deck right near the baseball field. (I am in heaven!) We talked about our day, did Hey Gods, Yeah Gods, Mad-props, and prayed. It was a great ending to our day. The teens went to get ready for bed, and Christine and I went back to the store to get the makings for Skyline Dip so we could have it tomorrow night with the teens. (That’s what they decided to use Mrs. Dunigan’s donation for. . .I think they want to introduce Matt to it. . .should be interesting!)
I think they finally fell asleep, so I am going to log off here and decorate a door. Thanks so much for all of the prayers. We are doing great work, and are happy that we can share our stories with you! Blessings on your day too!
Here is the shed we have been painting.....it is almost done!
John and Matt taking a break from the roof!
Here is Laura and John sitting on the swings in the tree outside the trailer we are working at. I will be honest the swings make me a little nervous and I am kind of expecting that tree branch to fall!
Here is the gang on the roof!
Emily E. and Nina are pointing to the area of the roof that they have been working on.
Olivia and Bekah giving themselves mustaches, to cute!
Emily J. and Brady playing Fire hydrant, dog, car during Chapel time!
Here is Jen's Happy Brithday door!! Happy 17 Jen!!
Here is the Birthday banner we hung for her too!
