Stay on Schedule and Be Flexible?

By work day three (Sunday, January 3rd), we had settled into a routine that worked well for us. The kitchen crew was up at 5:30am and had breakfast ready at 7:00am. About 20 minutes later I started the morning devotional and by then our faithful driver (Moises) would pull into the courtyard to wait for the construction team. Between 7:45am and 8:00am each morning the team would travel the half hour to Peñitas.


As the crew worked on the church the kitchen staff prepared lunch and if possible even started dinner preparations. Moises would arrive back at the base camp around 11:30am and by noon we were delivering a delicious lunch to our hungry workers. We would stay to eat with the group and take a few pictures before we (the kitchen staff) left again for “home”.

The afternoons found the kitchen staff with a little extra time that was used to walk to the town for grocery shopping, a trip to deliver dirty laundry to the Laundromat, time for me to review the next devotional, or for Cheryl to review her menus and plan her strategy for the upcoming day or two.

The construction crew was scheduled to leave the jobsite at 4:30pm to allow time for them to shower before dinner at 6:00pm. We had the two outdoor portable showers and 1 or 2 church bathrooms that could be used as showers (it depended on how many sick people needed a restroom left open for their urgent, but unpredictable needs).

The evening devotional was done at either 6:30pm or 7:00pm depending on what other activities were planned for the evening. The devotionals were a good way to equally relax and be re-energized as we focused on God’s word. I observed that the couple times a devotional was not done (due to wandering team members or other encroaching activities) that the team did not function in unity as well as they had previously and that both their physical and spiritual energy was subdued. It affirmed my belief that it is imperative for short-term missionaries to daily stay connected to their Power Source to be the most effective workers for the Lord.

A few days into the trip, James suggested we introduce the team to the “mission song” we learned while on other MVI projects. I do not know its title or composer, but it is a simple and catchy tune sung at full volume and finished off with your fisted-hand raised as you loudly proclaim “Hey!”.  After our morning devotional we sang this song with gusto:

Good morning it’s God’s morning

Whether skies are sunny or gray.

Good morning it’s God’s morning

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Hey!

And then off we went, filled with godly joy, to be ambassadors for Christ!

Day Three of construction:

Day Four of Construction:

Window frames were temporarily set in to install the blocks around them accurately

Day Five of Construction:

Day Six of Construction:

Day Seven of Construction--just need the front section done:

Day Eight of Construction:  Installing metal roof