Monday

Today was our first work day and I'm happy to say that my thumbs survived, even though I did use my hammer. I worked on the roof of the church replacing shingles that had been blown off. I wasn't on the roof for 5 minutes, when it started to rain. The wind up there was just shy of a hurricane. I've never worked with shingles before, so my friend Chris was teaching me. Then one of the guys from the area, Frank, came up and helped us and he was much faster than me. We got into a pattern of Frank removing what was left of the shingle, Chris putting on the new one and me following behind sealing them down. Once we moved to this system, it went pretty quick. There wasn't a ladder when we first got there, so Chris and I improvised. I forgot to take a picture of it, so I will Tuesday and put it up. There were a couple of kids that were there with their mom, so I got out the bracelets and cross necklaces that I brought and handed them out. When I tried to give the little girl her necklace, she didn't want to have anything to do with me. After awhile, she warmed up to me and I was able to give her the necklace. I guess when a big, bald, white guy you've never seen before offers to wrap a rope around your neck, you might pull back a bit. Once I got back to my room, I realized that I had worn a hole in the ass of my pants when I was sliding around. Every time you swung your hammer, you slid backwards down the roof, friction and shingles take a toll on fabric. I hope these jeans make it through the week, because I can't afford to buy several new pairs of pants because of the now jean chapps I have created. This evening we went to hear the choir for Rehobeth school, where we are staying. They are coming to Des Moines in April to sing at Hope, so we stopped in to get a sneak peak. This group is the select group, but the entire choir of 60 kids will make the trip. They sounded awesome, so I'm really glad we went to listen. Sorry there are no other pictures, I'll do better tomorrow.