This week was spent laying bricks to widen the driveway at our first ministry site. Ironically it was at a school. When we first found out about our placement, having 3 educators on our team, we assumed we’d be teaching. Little did we know, when we arrived in San Pedro, Pastor Arnold had other plans. On Tuesday we carried over 360 15 to 20 pound pavers approximately 100 yards and it could not have been more fun! We sang songs, made jokes, and smiled with every heavy brick. Talk about choosing joy!
Wednesday was spent leveling dirt with 2 pick axes, 1 hoe, 1 trowel, and 1 machete… yes, I said machete 😉 Each paver was meticulously placed in the ground. One after another, matched up next to the previous. Uneven, our overseer and expert brick layer Wendell informed us in a combination of hand motions, facial expressions, and broken English that we needed to dig up and relay several bricks in one area and even an entire row in another. Although frustrating at first it made me think of my own life. When I try and do things on my own, I tend to mess things up and the Father has to gently remind me and show me the correct way.
By the third day we had this whole road building thing down to a science. Each person had a role to play. We broke up into several small groups and continued our work. This time we had more difficult tasks of creating a curve in the road for a drainage ditch and constructing a corner. This seemed fairly simple, but believe me, it was no small task. I partnered with several girls from the other team and we took on the corner construction. Finding bricks that would work was like trying to solve a puzzle with all the same pieces, but somehow we managed and it wound up looking pretty good!
Friday we filled in the crevices with a mud/dirt combination, packed it down, and swept up the remaining sand. Upon completion, our teams stood back in amazement of what we had accomplished together. It was a week full of manual labor, sweat, and walking around in questionable soil, but somehow I knew this is exactly where I was supposed to be. Next week will be, you guessed it… more manual labor. But I’m trying not to have any expectations 😉
