Friday 3/26/2010

Hi everyone, it’s Friday night!!

It’s been a long week. We have been working 8-9 hour days. We have made a lot of progress, both on the painting and the flooring. My team has been working on the flooring in the lofts of the third floor. Julia, Peg, And either Siah or Elliott have been on my team. We cleaned and cut the wood in the basement and then carried it up three flight of stairs and then lifted it into the loft. Here is something that will surprise Dad. We started working in room 201 which has a large window opening that looks clear down to the basement level (4 stories) and I was the only one that was not bothered by working in the rafters over that windows. We have 3 lofts done to the last few boards and have started the last 2 rooms today. I think we will finish this project in the next couple of days, which is a good thing cause we don’t have much more wood than that left. Both Julia and I have sore toes from missing the board when driving boards together. Mine is just a little discolored on the tip but Julia says hers is pointing a little to one side.

Painting has been moving along well and we are seeing that it just might be able to finish that project too. We changed types of paint and are able to spray more of it. Masking tape is in short supply and doesn’t always stick well in this humidity. The crew is tired but moral is high and you have to watch out for wandering paint rollers. I even ended up with roller marks and I’m not even on the paint team.

Tomorrow we are working till 11 then will help with Good News Club. After lunch we are going to go sightseeing but not sure just where yet. Sunday we will go to Fortaleza to the beach and the mall then attend church there.

Peg is the latest on the list of people to take a tour on Antonio’s motorcycle.

Today Donna and Kris did their puppet skit for the Brazilian workers during their break. They clapped and laughed a lot.

Ron

Peggy: Thursday morning started early (5:00 am). Al was gone so I got up to help with breakfast. All of a sudden there was this stomping going on like someone was doing an Irish jig then shhh, you are going to wake them up. When I got to the kitchen Nadine and Alisa were killing a swarm of flying ants that had invaded us during the night. We spent the next 10 min killing them before breakfast could be started. Have enjoyed working on the flooring with Ron’s crew. My title is head gopher which is very appropriate since my name in Portuguese means To Get  Elliot and Julia keep a lively conversation going. Josiah has joined us and I am extremely grateful for that as he has saved me many trips up and down the 64 stair steps from the basement to the third floor. Antonio has been giving motorcycle rides through the countryside so decided to take him up on the offer. Before we left Alisa translated for me my mission, pictures of cavolos (horses) and passaros (birds). I was not disappointed. Pray for the Lord to soften Antonio’s heart so he can know Him personally. Chow

Kaycee: Today was a long day... I masked and unmasked rooms for almost the whole day. I was very very thankful when Lee assigned me to another job at the end of the day! Several interesting things did happen in the workplace today though. While taping off the hallway, minding my own business, a crib, several metal cabinets, and about 10 doors fell down the stairs! It was loud and shook the whole building (Kris actually thought that we were having an earthquake and started to shout something about get in the tub!). Luckily no one was under the stuff and although it was loud no one was injured. Another kind of exciting thing that happened, I got to help clean out the tool room! It was like a really bad yard sale, the kind where most of the stuff you find is just plain junk but there are a few good treasurers! I found a sling shot, goofy sunglasses, and a Clint Eastwood movie in Portuguese! Tomorrow Al says that he has a surprise for us, wonder what that could be…

Lee: Things are going well. We have changed our plan for painting and instead of 5 coats total we are now down to 4 coats and 3 of them can be sprayed. Al got some new paint and we are straining it to keep from clogging up the sprayer. Everyone is working hard or seem to be when I am around anyway??? We went to a bible study at a home in town tonight. It was fun.

Linda: I was in waiting mode for awhile this morning (waiting to be able to do my assigned task -- putting a special finish on the top ledge of the tile ‘baseboard’ ). So, I was busy sweeping the big hallway on the 2nd floor (where the big crash took place later) and then wanting to put the switch and plug in covers back on. There was a large pile of covers on a work bench in the hall but no screws. I took a couple of the covers (minus screws) and went to 3rd floor where to get a cover with a screw in it. I was hoping to find the older gentleman who had caught the bird for Donna the day before. He seemed eager to please us and was gracious with us even after he had to halt his work for the umpthteen time for us to pass underneath his scaffolding. I couldn’t find him so tried to communicate with another guy. A very unsuccessful venture. I told him abridgada (thank you) and went again in search of the older gentleman. I found him coming up the stairs with a bucket of plaster on his shoulder. I motioned for him to follow me and he dutifully obeyed. He understood what I was wanting and went to Kaycee’s bad yard sale area and began searching for screws. Then I noticed that whoever had taken the covers off and put the screws back into their hole, so I had to go tap him on the shoulder and motion for him to follow me again to show him that I had found the screws. I am always excited when I have tried and succeeded in communicating with a local. Thanks for praying for us!!

Donna: It is late and past bedtime, and exhaustion has set in. But a good kind of exhaustion. One highlight of the day was this morning when Kris and I “practiced” our puppet skit conveniently in front of the local workers (only 2 of them are believers). They enjoyed it, clapped and laughed, so we felt it went well. Another highlight was that my little friend Lohana came. We all went to a bible study tonight. She sat next to me holding my hand and hugging the whole time. Then afterwards we went outside and played hide-n-seek in the dark. She is such a sweetie. Last night one of the workers came to me and said something, and I have no idea what it was. He walked away and I turned and told Kris, I don’t know what he said but it sounded like he asked me out to lunch! Much to my horror, he turned around, came back, pointed to his watch, shook his head no and said lunch, meaning it was not time for lunch! Who knows what was really communicated but Kris and I got quite a laugh out of it once I got over the embarrassment. Communicating is quite challenging, but we do our best, and mostly just try to let them know we care. Good night friends and family, 5:30 will come early.