Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Sand: Not Just at the Beach Anymore!

Before we share some of today’s highlights, some other things should be mentioned about last night’s festivities at Central Methodist Church. Yes, the food was amazing, but as someone put it, the company was even better! After folks from the Central church shared some of their favorite songs and tried to teach us (Jimmy) how to dance, we were asked to do the same. So, thanks to some church camp flashbacks, we quickly came up with a stirring rendition of Leaning On The Everlasting Arms (complete with the leans) before sharing our “dancing” skills with “A-La-La-La-La-La-La-Leh-Lu-Jah.” For those of you who don’t know, this last song includes dazzling moves such as “shake a neighbor’s hand” and “tweak another cheek.” From the smiles on the faces of our audience we weren’t sure if they loved the song, or if it was all lost in translation…If we ever hear that we’ve made the Top 40 here in Brazil, we guess we’ll have our answer…

In other news, today we were quite productive at the worksite, putting in extra time in order to get more accomplished before we head home on Thursday. Remember that sand we’ve been sifting and sifting and sifting?!?!? Well, it’s back. Today we continued the very laborious and dirty task of sanding the interior walls and ceiling. Some walls got coats of primer and paint today, while the others will be tackled tomorrow. Even after our showers this evening, there is sand everywhere! Look for some in a house near you come Friday! We also finished sanding and priming the outside gate and fence before adding two coats of white paint today and have the oil-based paint stains to prove it! How many of you can say that you’ve brought turpentine home from the store in a 2L Coke bottle?

Fewer kids were at the worksite today because school was back in session (yesterday was a holiday). The kids who did visit us were good helpers as always. Some have been sporting some very special clothes thanks to Samuel and Anna Carmack. They were excited to have new things to wear and are proud to show them off to others. Thanks, Samuel and Anna!

Our blog would not be complete today without a special shout out to our very own Penny Hartlaub who had the honor of painting the cross and flame on the front wall of the sanctuary! It looks great and it has been a blessing to see her use her gifts in this way.

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