We destroyed a church.
Then we started to rebuild.
The Jesus Celebration Church building was a temporary structure and the wood was beginning to rot. It had been plagued by termites. The cement floor was cracking and the brick around the edges of the foundation was giving away. Pastor Viannye was excited to be contacted because he knew they were going to need as many people as possible to help move things along. So we started working. We hauled away the old wood and helped clean up the area so they could start erecting the new church. The Pastor and the engineer in charge of the project took a few of us to the lumber yard to get the new wood.
Not our typical lumber yard. All the wood was really 20-30ft tree trunks and limbs. Most weren’t straight. All were rough and knotted. But we got what we needed (honestly we weren’t much help but it was fun to see). The next day we got to work. The builders ran the show and we just tried to follow orders. Mostly just responding when they called “Mzungu!” (which means rich/white person) and hoping we knew what they meant. Martin (Mar-teen) was the one running the show. He kept us moving and gave directions. His English was decent enough to get his point across. Luckily I work well with little instructions. He didn’t talk much if he didn’t need to, but neither do I. We were a good, yet quiet, team. By the end of the second day, he knew my name and I was no longer just Mzungu.
By the end of the third day most of the guys could at least yell “James” when they needed me. It was interesting working with them and seeing how the structure came together. It is not as clean cut as it would be at home, but they didn’t have the liberty of builder grade 2x4s. They didn’t have a miter saw and pneumatic nail guns. They had trees, one hand saw, and one and a half hammers. They had a homemade ladder, just one, and it was 10 feet shorter than the top of the structure. But they were dedicated and hard working. By Sunday, it had a tin roof on it and we were able to hold service there.
The new structure would still be a temporary structure. It won’t last more than ten years, but it will suffice until they can raise the funds for their permanent building. The Pastor told us his plans for the main building. One with actual parking, a place to feed people, and a place to house volunteers when they come. Hopefully they won’t have to wait too long.
