Rock and Sand

A good long day of work today with much accomplished.  I think we are all learning the lesson of giving up control - as we are certainly not in charge at the work sight.  There are several Haitan work crews each handling a different aspect of construction ---- and we are working along side them at their pace, in their manner, as their helpers.  I think this is a challenge for some of us - but today things just seemed to flow. 

Our bench builders continued to build and turned out nearly 30 benches for the students.  Several of us worked on finish coats on the walls (cement).  Many of us took turns sifting the rocks to produce the various grades of sand required for our cement work.  We had torn walls down yesterday and today needed to prepare the area for new columns.  This proved to be a huge challenge as the ground was more solid than granite and our only tools were small hand held hammers and picks. Many of us took turns hammering at the rock and slowly breaking it appart.  As we were working on the final and most challenging part - Bill took a break from the benches and came over to help. I have never seen someone so excited to hammer away at a large solid piece of stone. He was joyous!  At first I kind of chuckled to myself at his excitment - but as I work with him I began to understand the reason for his emotion.  He was just so happy to be working - at a task as menial as hammering a large rock - happy to be working with a team from his church, a church in which he is looking to become more coneccted, happy to be serving the Haitan people in any way possible,  happy to be serving God.  He was determined to finish the task - not, I think, to gain a sense of accomplishment but simply for the pure joy.  It humbled me.  I was reminded of Jesus' words about building your house on rock...and thought how true this was.   I thought - that joy in Bills voice, eyes, and entire demeanor was the kind of joy that could only come from having firm foundation of Jesus Christ. Thank you Bill.

We defeated the rock, sifted load after load of sand, built and varnished benches, and skim coated numerous walls. As we closed our day with a team meeting and devotional - many of the group shared their thoughts as to what they have seen and learned from the Haitan people.  Please go read Galatians 5:22 and you will read about the people we have encountered today.