Day seven brought about some mixed feelings among the team members. It is our last full work day here ans tonight we will need to start packing to go home. We have to leave here by six am so we can get tot the airport. There is another team flying in tomorrow so the bus has to be there to pick them up. Unfortunately for us that means we have to get to the airport much earlier than we planned.
The started with another yoga session lead by Chrys. Jim D was there again and I believe she was joined by Margaret and Sarah but either stayed very long. I would have been there but I was working on a blog. (That´s my story and I am sticking to it!)
The warehouse crew was once again going to the warehouse. Surprise surprise! Josh made the mistake of calling them the Grandma Crew. You can imagine the reception that name got. Joanne, Nicole, Margaret, Angie, and Terri were not happy. He of course was referring to the team that went out to visit the grandma from the dump NOT a reflection of their age. So we changed it to Team G-ma instead.
The planting crew spent the day at the school. While there they saw several of the kids from the orphanage during their break time. Several girls were still wearing the make up and tiaras they got the day before. Jim K. Lori, Steve, Preston, Sarah, Lori, Katelyn, And Chrys made up the planting team today.
Team Mel – Stayed up at the mission house today for a little RnR. Sam and Jessica weren´t quite up to full strength today.
Team Construction – Alicia, Josh, Jim D, Rick, Jay, Ken, Thomas, Alexa went back up to work on the hospital. The Tomexakens (Thom, Alexa, and Ken) were happy to be together once again! The work site at the hospital is constantly changing. You can hardly recognize it from one day to the next. Today was no difference. We spent quite a bit of time today working with the rebar on a load bearing wall at the center of the hospital. We had created a large wooden frame deep inside the base and built a rebar grid system that will eventually be covered with cement. On top of the grid system we attached over forty huge pieces of rebar – some stretching almost 15 feet high. Partway through attaching the bars the whole thing began to shift to the left. The guys working with us thought it would stand on its own but apparently they had miscalculated. After several attempts to upright it. We worked on strengthening the frame work and then add two sets of rebar the whole length of the fram to hold it straight. Next we disconnected and reconnected the rebar lengths to the center braces. We were just about to finish connecting the final pieces when the center braces came apart from the frame and whole thing slammed down to the ground. A look of amazement was on everyone´s face. God certainly was watching that no one was standing where it fell. It was also a good time to break for lunch. When we returned, they had figured out the problem and a couple of guys worked during lunch to set it back up. This time they put five or six diagonal braces through out the system. (Just like Jay had suggested earlier - BTW) We worked until around three.
Team G-ma, the planting crew and most of the construction crew took the rest of the afternoon either at the orphanage for some final play time with the kids or went down to relax by the pool.
After a fantastic dinner by Salvador and crew – they went all out and created a selection of Guatemalan delights complete with several traditional Guatemalan deserts. During dinner, we all got involved in a little game that started at the construction site called The Land of NO. You´ll have to ask a team member how to play! We were treated to Angie´s turn at devotions after dinner. Rather than a traditional style of devotions, she went around the group and spoke to each team member and told how they inspired her during the trip. Everyone was inspired to see how they look from another point of view.
On a side construction note, we walked up to the mission house around 930 and they were still working on concrete and may continue into the night including Giovani (our driver for most of the week) They really want to get things going here with the hospital. I am so proud that we were able to be a help in this project here. Carlos spoke to us the other night and informed us that we were the first group to actually come through with the donation we pledged. Quite an honor I think!
Off to showers and packing for our trip home.
Ken
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