Day 6 ~
We had storms last night, and when I looked out of my window, I could see the palm trees bending over. The wind was howling, about 2:30 in the morning. The cool breezes felt soooo good after working so hard in the daytime. I was lulled back to sleep pretty quickly, loving the feeling of the wind blowing in on my face. Here in Dominica, we sleep with sheets only, since it's so hot here. I am getting used to the sounds of the fan while trying to sleep. Actually, I believe that we are working so hard that none of us are having problems going to sleep and staying asleep! The cool breeze just feels so good.
In the evenings, it's lovely sitting on the back deck watching the moonrise, especially since it's been a full moon. The moon along with the clouds casts a cool shadow across the Atlantic Ocean. It's just so beautiful here on this island.
Today, the men worked on finishing the roof on the snack shack. It is nearly unbearable for those men, working up on top of that roof in the blazing sun. Don & Mike worked on the concrete steps going from the top level of the playground down to the lower level, where the rock climbing wall will be. I believe that they hauled up 6 or 7 wheelbarrows full of concrete, UP a very steep hill to where the form was for the steps. One of the Dominican workers, Daniel, is a professional concrete mixer. He smooths out the sand, makes a hole in it, adds the other stuff and water and mixes it all up, this whole bit done on the ground. The men on our team were impressed!
The ladies went to continue working on Pastor Ray's house, which was built by another work & witness team. We finished painting the outside of the house a buttercream yellow, and I started painting the trim work white. The other ladies started painting the white on the inside walls, with Beula & Sandra worked in Pastor Ray's bedroom and Frances & Janet worked in the other bedroom. I worked outside, on the trim work, sometimes painting while standing on an old wooden bench, and nearly dumping over into the mud! LOL We women are working very well together. Laura & Jo Ann stayed at the mission house to work on cooking, while Judy & Nancy went to town with Pastor Dan, the missionary.
Sometimes today, while painting, it would start raining, just for 5 or 10 minutes, and then it would go away and the sun would come out and boy, oh boy, would it ever get humid! I don't remember EVER sweating so much in my entire life! THe sweat would drip off of my face, or into my mouth... Yummy salt! Perhaps I'll sweat off the pounds this week, ya think???
Lunch was at the dining hall at the campground. Egg salad sandwiches, or PBJs, chips, cookies & tea. We are really enjoying spending time getting to know the local workers. Let's see, there is Daniel, who is married to Gail, the Sunday School Superintendant at the Bataca Church, and Richie, who is helping us ladies paint, Kervin, our driver, Armstrong, the plaster guy, who is also called "Stretch," Stretch's little brother, Danny, who does the mowing & weeding, and I think there's one more guy, but his name is slipping my mind right now. We are enjoying getting to know them.
***
Last night, while at the church service at Gaullette River church, when the music started, a bat flew from the top rafters and kept dive bombing us. Frances & I got to giggling, and we had to keep ducking to keep from having a bat fly into our heads while singing praises to Jesus! And the two pastors on the front row kept jumping and trying bat the bat down with their hands! It was quite hilarious!
***
Did I already write about the bats??? Probably... I'm just so tired.
***
Tomorrow, there is supposedly a storm coming in from the eastern Caribbean, so we'll see how much work we can get finished.
***
Goodnight Blog...
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Dominica 2010
Dear Blog~ I tried blogging on a Word Document, but was unable to cut & paste it here. So, I'll try to get it posted here once we're home. In the meantime, I'll blog from here on out on this site, now that I have Internet connections.
Day 4
THis was our first day of actual work. We went to the jobsite at 7 AM and had devotionals with the Dominican crew. Then we outlined what jobs we needed to accomplish and we began work. The men began work on constructing the roof on the snack shack building at the OceanView Retreat Center. The women were in 2 groups. One group stayed at the mission house to organize the food & cook, and the other group was at the retreat center and we cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the floor of the dining hall, and we cleaned the men's and women's restrooms. Bugs are EVERYWHERE... And it is HOT. Hot and MUGGY... Unbelievably hot and muggy! The heat from the sun is so intense here, being so close to the Equator.
The men were working down the hill on the snack shack, and it was below the level where you could feel the ocean breezes. So, for them, the heat & stuffiness was crazy!!!
The ladies then went to Pastor Ray's house. This is a house that was built by a former work & witness team. We needed to prime the outside of the house as well as the inside. For the past 2 days, we've been priming, and have gone thru a complete 5 gallon container. The house is about 400 square feet, and is basically 4 walls with a roof on top. Inside, there are 3 rooms and a outside shower. No kitchen. His kitchen will be in his old house, which is nothing more than a lean-to shack. That way, if the wood burning stove burns down the kitchen, the house doesn't get burned down. Pastor Ray bathes in a river which is down this steep ravine, and he uses an outhouse for his restroom, which is also down the ravine. His house that we are painting is by far and above the nicest house in this part of the village.
We had our lunch break at noon, when one of the drivers came to the house and got us to take us back up to the campground. We ate with the rest of the team & the local workers. The women finished the afternoon early so we could return to the Mission House to shower and get ready for leading the women's bible study & make a craft with them. The men finished at 3:30. They came back to the mission house and got cleaned up & went out to dinner at a BBQ place.
The ladies went to the Bataca Church and I lead a Bible Study on the ability for us to be Godly women, based on Psalm 31. Then we taught them how to make padded picture frames & I took their pictures & printed them out with my Picture Mate Photo Printer. This was a hit! One of the leaders of their women's group took all of our extra supplies, including our glue guns, and will use them. We are so glad about this.
We came home from this dead dog tired! The room we were in, of course, was not air conditioned, and the sweat was just dripping off of me while we were hot gluing photo frames. That took us 2 hours! We all came back to the mission house and nearly promptly went to bed. The men didn't get home until 11 PM.
End of Day 4.
Day 5 - Tuesday
Up bright and early, after a night of howling winds. Got up, put on my painting clothes, washed my face, put my hair in a ponytail, had breakfast, and away we went. The men continued working on the snack shack and we women went to work some more with the Pastor's house. We managed to use up all of the primer paint before noon. Pastor Dan was so surprised we used all of that paint! LOL I told him that the wood was just soaking it up. THis work is hot and difficult. The weather is stiffling... I do believe we are "suffering" for Jesus, or perhaps not. The blessings are outweighing the difficulties. We just continue taking water breaks and we try to find any little bit of a breeze that we can!
Today, we met Pam, who lives in a double shack across the street. She lives there with her husband who is disabled, and her 3 children. She weaves baskets for a living. And she farms. Her shacks are right on the side of the road, and next to them is a "smoke house" kitchen. Then up a little hill is her living room, which is nothing more then benches set out under trees. This is where she weaves her baskets out of reeds. THen you climb the hill more and you get to where she hangs her laundry to dry, and then you go further up the hill to get to her garden, where she plants various vegetables to grow for her family, and to sell for $$. SHe is charming. She is a Christian, and is so excited to know the Lord.
Part of our reason for being here is to do the physical tasks that need to be done to further The Kingdom. The other reasons for us to be here are for developing relationships with the locals. That, for me, is the fun part.
Today, the women were able to partially finish priming the inside of the house, and we applied the first coat of paint on the outside. The color is a buttercream, and the trim will all be white. And, I have as much paint on ME as we put on the house! LOL
Tonight, we had dinner and then went to the Galette River Church for worship. Judy Wickham shared her testimony, and Frances, Jo Ann & I sang our song, which right now I cannot remember the name of... I'm so crazy tired.
Everyone is heading to bed... so I suppose I must too. This getting up early is for the BIRDS!!! Up before 6?? Are you kidding me??? But, I"m doing it... oy... as long as there is a pot of coffee on, I"m happy.
I'm missing my kids and grandkids pretty badly right now. We have another week to be away from home... I can't wait to get back and hug & kiss on them!
Goodnight, Blog. End of Day 5.
Day 4
THis was our first day of actual work. We went to the jobsite at 7 AM and had devotionals with the Dominican crew. Then we outlined what jobs we needed to accomplish and we began work. The men began work on constructing the roof on the snack shack building at the OceanView Retreat Center. The women were in 2 groups. One group stayed at the mission house to organize the food & cook, and the other group was at the retreat center and we cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the floor of the dining hall, and we cleaned the men's and women's restrooms. Bugs are EVERYWHERE... And it is HOT. Hot and MUGGY... Unbelievably hot and muggy! The heat from the sun is so intense here, being so close to the Equator.
The men were working down the hill on the snack shack, and it was below the level where you could feel the ocean breezes. So, for them, the heat & stuffiness was crazy!!!
The ladies then went to Pastor Ray's house. This is a house that was built by a former work & witness team. We needed to prime the outside of the house as well as the inside. For the past 2 days, we've been priming, and have gone thru a complete 5 gallon container. The house is about 400 square feet, and is basically 4 walls with a roof on top. Inside, there are 3 rooms and a outside shower. No kitchen. His kitchen will be in his old house, which is nothing more than a lean-to shack. That way, if the wood burning stove burns down the kitchen, the house doesn't get burned down. Pastor Ray bathes in a river which is down this steep ravine, and he uses an outhouse for his restroom, which is also down the ravine. His house that we are painting is by far and above the nicest house in this part of the village.
We had our lunch break at noon, when one of the drivers came to the house and got us to take us back up to the campground. We ate with the rest of the team & the local workers. The women finished the afternoon early so we could return to the Mission House to shower and get ready for leading the women's bible study & make a craft with them. The men finished at 3:30. They came back to the mission house and got cleaned up & went out to dinner at a BBQ place.
The ladies went to the Bataca Church and I lead a Bible Study on the ability for us to be Godly women, based on Psalm 31. Then we taught them how to make padded picture frames & I took their pictures & printed them out with my Picture Mate Photo Printer. This was a hit! One of the leaders of their women's group took all of our extra supplies, including our glue guns, and will use them. We are so glad about this.
We came home from this dead dog tired! The room we were in, of course, was not air conditioned, and the sweat was just dripping off of me while we were hot gluing photo frames. That took us 2 hours! We all came back to the mission house and nearly promptly went to bed. The men didn't get home until 11 PM.
End of Day 4.
Day 5 - Tuesday
Up bright and early, after a night of howling winds. Got up, put on my painting clothes, washed my face, put my hair in a ponytail, had breakfast, and away we went. The men continued working on the snack shack and we women went to work some more with the Pastor's house. We managed to use up all of the primer paint before noon. Pastor Dan was so surprised we used all of that paint! LOL I told him that the wood was just soaking it up. THis work is hot and difficult. The weather is stiffling... I do believe we are "suffering" for Jesus, or perhaps not. The blessings are outweighing the difficulties. We just continue taking water breaks and we try to find any little bit of a breeze that we can!
Today, we met Pam, who lives in a double shack across the street. She lives there with her husband who is disabled, and her 3 children. She weaves baskets for a living. And she farms. Her shacks are right on the side of the road, and next to them is a "smoke house" kitchen. Then up a little hill is her living room, which is nothing more then benches set out under trees. This is where she weaves her baskets out of reeds. THen you climb the hill more and you get to where she hangs her laundry to dry, and then you go further up the hill to get to her garden, where she plants various vegetables to grow for her family, and to sell for $$. SHe is charming. She is a Christian, and is so excited to know the Lord.
Part of our reason for being here is to do the physical tasks that need to be done to further The Kingdom. The other reasons for us to be here are for developing relationships with the locals. That, for me, is the fun part.
Today, the women were able to partially finish priming the inside of the house, and we applied the first coat of paint on the outside. The color is a buttercream, and the trim will all be white. And, I have as much paint on ME as we put on the house! LOL
Tonight, we had dinner and then went to the Galette River Church for worship. Judy Wickham shared her testimony, and Frances, Jo Ann & I sang our song, which right now I cannot remember the name of... I'm so crazy tired.
Everyone is heading to bed... so I suppose I must too. This getting up early is for the BIRDS!!! Up before 6?? Are you kidding me??? But, I"m doing it... oy... as long as there is a pot of coffee on, I"m happy.
I'm missing my kids and grandkids pretty badly right now. We have another week to be away from home... I can't wait to get back and hug & kiss on them!
Goodnight, Blog. End of Day 5.
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