6:00am: I begin to wake up. I hear all of the early riser’s footsteps walk across the wooden floors. I make awkward eye contact with everyone as they walk by and I’m tossing and turning, trying to catch those last moments of rest.
6:30am: Getting out of bed. I peep around the corner to see if anyone is in the bathroom. I grab my clothes and toothbrush & head in there. Next I sit in my bed and brush my hair and do all those getting ready things.
7:00am: Walk down to the kitchen and make my self a warm cup of tea with milk and sugar. People are sitting around the kitchen, painting and reading and chatting.
7:15am: Devotionals start. 45 minutes of reading and having quiet time. I’m currently reading the Bible chronologically!
8:00am: Breakfast- Fried egg & some yogurt, sometimes cereal, sometimes toast, & rarely last night’s leftovers!
8:25am: Morning meeting upstairs. We get our ministry assignments and pray for the day as well as give feedback from yesterday’s ministry.
9ish: All the teams leave for ministry.
9:15am: Team Wildflowers work on “chinking” (insulating) the log classroom that is being built. We chat and hammer and laugh and get mad at the nails that bend.
10am: three or four girls from my team go inside to help our host cook for the day (usually me)
10:05am: kitchen girls start on lunches. We get out the bread and whatever is going on the sandwiches that day. We cut up the cucumbers and tomatoes and put together the lunch. We get to chat and laugh with our host!
10:45am: lunches are done. We grab the furry laundry and put it in the trunk of the car. We grab the sandwiches and drive to drop off lunch for team Avodah and Halal.
11:15am: We drive to the mini mall and drop off the laundry. While we are there we run into the grocery store and grab things for dinner. This is fun because it reminds me of when I was little and I would mindlessly follow my mom around the store, asking “how about this?”, as I tried to help get the things we need.
12:00am: start on dinner! (Half of my team is still building). Dinner looks different every night so I’ll go with our most recent meals: Mac n Cheese! We open the package of bacon and cut it into small bits. We boil water and throw the noodles in when it’s ready.
1:00pm: Lunch! We pause cooking dinner and building the classroom just in time to eat. We grab our sandwiches and fruit of the day. Sometimes we do team time now. If not, then we just relax after we eat.
2:00pm: Back to work! We watch our host make the sauce as we drain the noodles and put them into pans. Then we evenly spread the sauce into the noodles and put it in the oven to get crispy! It’s been amazing being able to serve my squad by cooking for them as well as build an awesome friendship with our host!
3:00pm: dinner is done! If we feel like getting ahead, we will start on tomorrow’s lunch. If not, we just sit around and talk or clean the kitchen up.
4:00pm: Ministry is over. My team comes inside and talks about what we want to do. Some days we go to the mall for a chai latte and WiFi. Other times we watch a movie or take a nap!
5:45pm: My team goes down to the kitchen to serve dinner. We pop it in the oven one more time to heat it up, then call everyone down to eat.
6:00pm: Dinner time!! Everyone eats and then always gets seconds (Mac n Cheese is our favorite).
6:30pm: Free time for the night. Each team does their chores and then we usually have team time now. Our team time always lasts forever because we like to goof off. Then we shower and get ready for bed!
9:30pm: Lights out. Usually no one is in bed by this time and the lights are all on. But one by one all the voices get quieter and all the sleepy eyed racers crawl into their beds and rest for tomorrow!
And that’s just one of the scenarios that my day might look like. Each day is so different but they usually run along this schedule! We leave for Cape Town tomorrow for a few days of rest and fun. Thanks for checking in
Sam
