The work begins...

It's Monday night--and we worked hard today. Half of us sanded and painted and cleaned all day, and the other half taught some kids how to play basketball. We have two sites, one at Mansion of Light--where we are painting the front gate and fence, and Cinco Esquinas, where we are teaching basketball. I was on the painting crew.
First we had to prepare the surface, so we sanded and coated it with turpentine. We also washed the cement. That took a while, pretty much all morning. I think we had at least eight kids running around the church yard and street before lunch--and they hung out with us all day. For lunch we had fish, which was very good, with mashed potatoes and vegetables. In the afternoon we started painting. By the end of the day we had pretty much done the first coat.
At one time during the afternoon, the pastor of the church took us for a walk around the community that the church was in. Once again, it was eye-opening. Looking at the small, rickety houses makes you feel bad for the people who live in them, but seeing a kid you know living in a small rickety house just changes everything. Still, for people who don't have much, they act as most people do. My Dad noticed that in the church service, during a prayer, the pastor was thanking God for the things they had. It went something like this. "God, thank you for this church, thank you for our friends, thank you for everything." Although "everything" isn't all that much--at least, not much stuff.
-Until tomorrow!
-Steven H.