Things I learned last week

Last week there were a total of 106 people working with the mission--50 with another organization but they completed some of our projects in Sparks and Horizon City, 18 staying in Anapra and building 2 houses in Anapra, and 38 in the dorms working under Chris, Kristine, and I. We were all a little nuts by the end of the week, but the progress we made on 2 houses in Horizon City with all those hands was INCREDIBLE. One house that a group framed and sided a couple weeks ago got a new roof, insulation, ALL of its interior drywall, windows, and a door; another on the same street that started with cement block walls and rafters got the roof done, inside walls framed, wiring run, and a bunch of drywall hung too. Like 7 or 8 people came up to us while we were working too, asking how they could apply for our services. It's a blessing because it wasn't that long ago that we were on our hands and knees begging for projects, but it's beginning to feel a little bit like this one time when I went to Rainforest Cafe and as soon as a waiter came out with this massive chocolate thing with sparklers coming out of it for someone's birthday, suddenly it was like 5 more people's birthday too... :) I worked at the cement block one all week....surprisingly NOT on the roof! Since I hardly EVER work inside while there is roofing going on, I learned lots of new things!

1. How to frame a wall with windows in it (well, at least how to frame around pre-existing windows)

2. How to run Romex.

3. How to install switches and outlets.

I am glad that somehow Chris was able to be patient with me even though there were people yelling his name like every 5 seconds! Here's what the rest of the week looked like...

Sorry Marie!!! I knew I had a glove tan but I didn't think it was that bad. People keep commenting on it though and I guess this picture shows it off pretty well... ;)

I got to use the paint cards!!! Not just any paint cards...we collected one of every single Olympic paint card from Lowe's and organized them onto key rings sorted by color. It was the idea of a group member in March and I totally took it over and ran with it. We just left them with the lady overnight and she gave us a list the next morning. Looks like Mrs. Velasquez and her family are going to have a very purple house...

I REALLY wanted to get this board up so we could just frame the wall with 2 x 6's and use it as the bottom plate. That way the pipes would already be built in and there wouldn't be an exposed board on the floor if we just built a normal wall on one side of it.

Grrrrrrr....I got it.

The tools were EVERYWHERE by the end of the week, so I organized them E-MAC style.

Most of the people who worked on the Ruiz home (minus the WI people because they left to drive home on Friday morning) with the family.

Kristine, Chris, and I with the family: Alexandra, Marta, and Rocio Ruiz.

Until next time, blessings!