catching up :)

the past few days have been pretty busy around here. i havent talked much about what ive done this week...so i'll try to catch up on that. until today, i had been doing small jobs here and there...but no big projects. i really wanted a big project because it was hard trying to find things to do since there are so many people here. you kno you have a lot of volunteers when people start asking for things to do because all the jobs are taken. this can be frustrating, but it is definitely a good thing. that means we are getting a lot done!

so this week we've had around 4 or 5 different groups arriving at all different times. most of the people are elderly or middle-aged. there are two groups from alabama, one from mississippi, and one from indiana. one group came with two different churches and they are all retired men and women. some of the groups contained electricians, plumbers, and other people skilled in construction work. at the beginning of each week, pastor don and jamie make a list of tasks for the group to do for the entire week. the teams this week finished their weekly tasks in just a few days. one group even finished their list the first day! it was awesome!

some of the big projects of the week included starting the foundation for the fellowship hall for the church, the electric work and tiling in the pastor's house, the shutters for the office, putting the finishing touches on the mercy house, building a ramp at an elderly woman's, and moving the materials behind the mercy house. not to mention all the other little jobs being done in between.

last night, another group arrived and they were also from indiana. this was a youth group...so we finally had some younger kids around...they ranged from grades 7th to12th. and i was chosen to work with the group for the next couple of days, which i was excited about. this morning, i met with the group and we started the grueling task of moving materials from one location to another. the materials included things like bricks, sheets of plywood, sheetrock, air-conditioning units, wooden blocks, and much more. today was a very hot day and it was the first day i got really nasty. by lunchtime i was covered in dirt from head to foot and i smelled horrible! lol. but i was content with the work i had done...it was the hardest i'd been able to work all week!

not to mention, the kids were great :) the young girls were neat to work with because they loved to talk and joke around. they bickered with each other about dumb things and they gossiped like normal teenage girls. it was interesting to watch because i had forgotten how girls acted at this age. they made me feel old, which ive never experienced before! they were so sweet tho. the boys were the most helpful when it came to the hard work, which is understandable. they never complained, which was nice. most of my group scattered after lunch because they wanted to go to the beach...but they got a lot of hard work done that morning...plus, i was real tired too. also, i fell at one point today and landed on the palm of my hand so it is swollen and bruised real bad...serious struggle :/

also, big news for the day...i found another kitten. it was younger than the first one i found...just a baby...only about 5 or 6 weeks old. ive claimed it for now, but we'll see what happens to it by the end of my time here. a couple hours after finding my kitty...the rest of the litter was found and claimed real quickly by some ladies from the community. they were the cutest little things. all of them were different colors, but they all had the same big blue eyes. they were precious! :)

a lot of the groups are leaving tomorrow, which is sad because ive made friends with a lot of the older people. they are all so kind and loving. i will definitely miss them. since tonight was the last night for most of them, the kitchen crew had a fish fry. we had fried fish, fried chicken, hush puppies, and jalapeno poppers. it was great :) i had a lot of great laughs with daniela, jamie, and pastor don...then we all went over to his house and looked all the work that had been done this week. it was coming along so fast!

tomorrow is the last day of the week and ive been assigned to work with the youth group again. it should be another good, hard day. looking forward to it!