This morning we got up at about 7 am and ate then had a devotional by Larry. Every morning while we were in the village, Larry would give a 20-30 minute devotional. It was a great way to set the team morale in the right direction at the beginning of each day. When Larry was done, Sandy ran us through the way things were gonna work on the job site. There was to be shoes worn at all times, no careless throwing of tools or materials off of the roof without a ground spotter, small cuts/injuries were to be treated immediately to avoid infection, and most importantly, everyone was to drink more water than they could possibly imagine to avoid dehydration.
After the devotional and safety briefing, we headed across the river and began tearing off the tin roof around 9 am. It was probably around 95F with about 75% humidity. After about 10 minutes on the roof, I got dizzy and my legs began to shake. Sandy ordered me off the roof and told me to drink lots of water and “cool down”. About 2 liters of water later, I was feeling better, but not perfect. I didn’t go back on the roof, but instead I helped a missionary work on the water tower. We were replacing some rotted support beams that held up the four blue drums that provided the house with running water. There were tons of termites and rotted wood. Ants crawling all over the structure were the biggest I’ve ever seen. The new lumber we put up there was super dense and heavy. All the lumber came from trees that were cut down in the surrounding jungle, then 2×2, 2×4, and 2×8 pieces of lumber were shaped by a chain saw, then planed with an electrical planer before being used on the house. I�m not sure what kind of wood it was, but it took extra strength and extra hits with a hammer to get a nail to go into it. Water and sap were squirting out of where the nail went into the wood as we pounded away.
Several kids from the village were hanging around the job site when we started throwing off large sheets of rusted metal roofing. They weren’t in any danger, but one of the parents came over and was concerned that they might be injured so she shoed them back across the river and we had no more audience.
Lunch was tacos and merienda (snack) was crackers with cheese or peanut butter and iced tea. It rained during and after lunch, so we digested and waited for a clearing. Several of the guys took a siesta (nap).
Andy (a 21-year-old German missionary), Sam (Sandy’s 17-year-old son), and I have been talking a lot about different cultures and customs. The funniest so far was when Sam was talking about the beginning of the movie Gladiator and how the Romans defeated the Germans. When Sam brought this up, Andy very frankly rebutted, “No, I think that was the French.” Sam and I laughed so hard that it became a running joke with Sam and I to poke fun at Andy. Pretty much anything negative that we talked about from that point on, we teasingly say must have been done by/caused by/said by/made by the French. Andy claims that Germans don’t get along well with the French, and that most Germans view French men as gay. This became a source of much laughter throughout the trip as we would tease Andy about how silly it was to stereotype people in this way. The best razzing came when we found out that Andy was very into cars, especially German-made cars. His favorite is Porsche, so naturally, we used his line, “No, I think Porsche is made by the French.” He was utterly amazed that we would insult the Porsche name by claiming it was French. I think he caught onto our sarcastic tone after about 10 minutes. He’s a good guy to put up with our teasing. He also is very good at picking up English after speaking it for only 4 months.
We finished working about 5:15 pm. We had completed the removal of the metal roof, replaced the framing over the water pump, and built the first bracing around the water tower. Sam and I got our first experience with a Saws All (a tool name that is very difficult for Andy to say with his German accent, it sounds like he’s saying “sars-are”). We both cut small slices off of the bracing on the water tower, but Sam’s line was crooked and mine was worse yet.
One of the missionaries kicked off his shoes after lunch and said, “I hate shoes. I can’t work in them.” It made me very nervous because there were so many nails in the grass. Luckily he didn’t step on any the whole trip, but I did. It stuck in the bottom of my shoe but I felt it before I put all my weight on that foot. If I hadn’t felt it, I would have had to get a tetanus shot for sure. It left a little cut on the bottom of my foot, but I didn’t notice it until two days later. After we got back to the village, I took lots of pictures of the kids. Most of them were reluctant to smile and one boy in yellow clothes would not get into the picture without much persistent coaxing. For dinner we had fish, corn, rice, and salad. We went to bed around 9 pm.
