Hit the Wall!

Today was a full day of servant tasks primarily building cabinets for the teachers at Village of Hope School and painting the dining room and kitchen (a task unknown to us prior to arriving) at Hope House.  We split into teams with seven folks doing cabinets and five folks doing the painting.  As usual, the teams were fluid and many of us did several different tasks throughout the day.  We started the work day at 9:00 a.m. and finished at 5:30.  The plan is to complete seven cabinet assemblies.  We were able to accomplish building two full cabinets outfitted with shelves and have varnished both along with 3/4 of the shelves.  A few people are building the outer shells of the cabinets, some are making the centers, and others did the bases on which the cabinets sit.  We came up with a creative way to varnish the shelves for the cabinets by hanging them from the clothesline (the Haitians were perplexed by this and probably thinking, "what are these Americans doing?")

The painting crew completed the dining room - tearing it down, painting it a beautiful turquoise, and putting it back together.  As of the end of the day, the painting crew had primed and put the first coat of a bright yellow on the dining room.  We are always amazed at how much endurance and strength God gives us allowing us to get more done than we think we will.  And of course, Dave photographed every moment of the day.  He says he still has room for 7500 more pictures!

Following dinner, we made 125 peanut butter sandwiches for tomorrow's VBS and 250 goodie bags - 125 of which will be shared tomorrow at VBS with the remainder to be used on Monday.  Toro, the dog, really enjoyed cleaning out the peanut butter jars!

Our first stop tomorrow morning will be the Village of Hope School to see the kindergarten opening.  It's always a highlight of our trip.  And based on last year, we have high expectations for VBS tomorrow as well. Enjoy the pictures - more to come tomorrow!