Today we went to rebuild a home. Not just any home, but the home of two widows. One widow who is so sick that she couldn't even come to see us because she'd been moved. We didn't really do much compared to the fulfillment it brought them.
At this particular site there were 18 of us. Team Liberators and 12 Nursing students from Singapore including their leader, Ms. Vicki. Some people took on the task of demolition by taking axes and small sheaths and cutting away at the current roof and walls of the house, while some of us stood below and gathered what fell to move to the side.
As each piece was knocked away there were several bugs that came flying with them. First time I've ever had several roaches crawling up my leg and didn't scream like a school girl. I had to stay chill because all the people in the neighboring houses had stopped what they were doing to watch, I didn't want to give them something extra to laugh at. Once demolition was complete about 7 men moved in as the construction team. They are all ridiculously good at climbing all over the place and were able to take down the old framing and put in new framing so that they could later install a new zinc roof. While they were framing out the roof and sides the rest of the 18 were working on getting new walls built. As they continued to work on the walls we went and gathered several sheets of zinc so that they would have enough to build their roof. A mere two hours later zinc roofing was going on! The goal was to beat the rain before it hit so that they would have shelter from the storm.
My favorite part of the whole project was that there was a young girl working the entire time. She would disappear for a while and come back with coconuts, wash them from the well, disappear and go through the process all over again. Finally she had them all laid out on mats and said something to the translator. He told us, "She has nothing to give you to tell you thank you, but she wants you to each enjoy a coconut since she can't give you money." There were 18 coconuts! The only coconuts I saw around were in very tip top of the trees! For those of you that know me, you know that I don't enjoy coconut that much at all, but let me tell about how I feasted on some coconut.
Immediately it brought to mind the widows mite. The Lord doesn't ask you to give the biggest most lavish gift you have or even your very best self. He just asks you to give Him everything you're willing and able to and to love Him well.
The sweetest thing I've heard in a while was the two widows' response to what we'd done. "Before we looked at our roof at night and we could see the sky and stars. We knew that when it rained it would leak and it made us sad. But now we have a zinc roof and when we look up at it we will see our smiling faces because we know we are protected. We will be grateful for a lifetime."
