Work day 1

Another beautiful day with God surrounding us everywhere. We started the day at 7:30 with the blessing of the hands. This is something started by CHWC but is a great way to start the week so we've picked it up it's now how we begin the work week. We have the team circle around the gazebo table and pray for our hands to be the hands of the Lord this week. We talk about our hands being used for the hungry, hopeless, poor, homeless, lost or anybody who is in need in order to create a new beginning or to provide them with a need. This prayer time is followed by each team member putting their hands in the sand then having them rinsed and dried by one of us. Finally, the insides of their hands are anointed with oil. It's really just a cool way to start the week and help the teams to realize the importance of what they're doing.

We found out early on that one of the kids was blistered and had sun poisoning from our free day yesterday (fortunately he's okay now) and wouldn't be coming to work with us in the morning. We ate our breakfast and loaded the bus to head to the worksite. This week the team's main project is working on the new community center at Civil Heights. We spent the morning pick-axing, shoveling and handing off buckets that couldn't have been less than 50 pounds... over and over and over and over. It's been a long time since I've seen a team work so hard with no shade and very little wind. We took around 10 water breaks between 10-12 and there wasn't one person who left feeling hydrated. They were having to sit down left and right from the heat. One of the girls came back for lunch and threw up. It didn't take long for them to realize how straining the work would be this week. After lunch about 5 of them (team leaders, Islego staff and team members) set off for the market to search for straw hats for everybody. Betty went with them and knocked the price from $12 a hat to $6 a hat so we all have stylish new straw hats to wear at the worksite!

After lunch, break and hat shopping we headed back to the worksite with lunch for the Jamaicans ready to work. Fortunately (our blessing) it was overcast and looking like it would rain. It thundered all afternoon but having brought music and working harder without the sun made everyone work that much harder! I told them that we believe the relationships formed are a million times more important than the buildings built and if the kids got out of school they should drop the shovels and play with the kids. ALL afternoon they were peeking up out of the trench to see if kids were passing by to bribe them with candy, balloons and games. Big mistake on my part... :-P Our plan was to leave at 4:30 so the kids could stop for groceries but the rain showed up at 4:15 so we left a little early. On the way home there was one of the most beautiful full rainbows I've ever seen in my life. I think that was God's little... "you're welcome"

After a fantastic dinner and much needed shower, I am burnt (fried), tired (exhausted) and so excited to see what tomorrow brings. :)

Food baskets in the morning!

A thought to ponder: I wonder how much more color variation there is here in the color spectrum versus most other places? Is there a statistical answer for that or should I just look at it and be grateful?