March 23-24

The Following are written by team members.

Kaycee: Question: Is it possible to get blisters from painting? Answer: Yes. It’s only the third day at work and I already never want to see a paint roller again! Today I painted 3 rooms and two outside walls, some with double coats of paint. I have also decided that Scotty and Morgan are not very talkative, which means I have to have one sided conversations, maybe Brazil really is driving people insane.
Josiah: I can finally change my underwear yay.
Kris: I know Josiah’s comment may raise some eyebrows, but yes he really has been changing the underwear on a regular basis. I am just not sure which team member is supplying them for him, Linda offered, but I don’t think he took her up on it. I am really tired tonight and my hands hurt from the pain (paint) roller. The rain has started and we wake up every morning to a shower. Sometimes it really comes down in a torrent. Today was a really good day. I paired up with Carinna today and we painted 5 rooms and the entire front of the 3rd floor. When we get home, please ask Donna about her ant experience and the new song we made up for her. The ants go marching up my pants………..!!!! Well better sign off for now. Keep praying.
Wednesday the 24th
Linda: Another exhausting day of WORK! We have finished the painting in 6 rooms on the top floor. I have been calling it the 3rd floor because the retreat center is a 3 story building but Pierschbacher’s call them ground floor, 1st floor and 2nd floor. I believe there are 11 bedrooms on the 2nd floor and at least 12 on the 1st floor. Some bedrooms on the 1st floor have small ante rooms which will be kitchenettes for guests who want to do their own cooking. The “basement crew” got promoted yesterday to the 2nd floor. Up until then they have been busy cleaning and sanding used wood flooring and now they are laying that flooring in the loft areas above some of the rooms. The floor nailer I tried and failed to sell at every yard sale we had last summer is a great asset in the floor laying!!
Yesterday evening after work and before supper all of us but Kaycee and Carinna piled in the pickup to go with Al to take one of his workers home. I asked Al how this worker had gotten to work that morning and was told he had walked It was a distance of somewhere between 4 and 5 miles most of which was hand laid cobblestone roads with lots of steep ups and downs and many curves. The only thing done by machine in making these roads is hauling the stones to the site!! Along the way on one of these very narrow roads we met a school bus. We had to back some distance to find a place to pull off so it could get past us. Some kids go to school from 7 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. and another group goes from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Because we are so close to the equator it changes from daylight to dark in about 30 minutes; therefore it was dark before we got the worker home. At one point we stopped at the top of a hill where we were able to see the lights of Fortaleza in the distance.
One our way back we stopped at the home of Al’s bricklayer. We were all amazed at how clean the house was. It was not yet painted on the inside so was dark as floors and walls were all dark cement (plaster). They didn’t have lots of stuff but they had a big beautiful entertainment center.
Now, as to why Kaycee and Carinna didn’t go -- they stayed back because they were getting motor bike rides with Antonio!!! He is way cute!!! He is working on his English. Yesterday he came into the room I was working in. I was going to say, “Bom dia’” but before I could say it he said, “Good morning, how are you my friend?” Today he came in where I was working, showed me his cell phone and asked how to say it in English.
Josiah was given the day off to sleep and hopefully get over his sinus troubles. He might get better quicker if he was nicer. When he complained of his teeth hurting this afternoon I offered to let him use my OralGel. He didn’t know what that was and when I tried to explain it he said, “I don’t need denture cream!” As a result he got paint on his clothes even though he didn’t work today!!! Do pray for him, he has been pretty sick.
I think my 10 minutes are up so will let some one else share.

Devan: Hey everyone things are great down here. You should all see my beam swinging and other fun stuff up on the beams. The food is great and we eat a lot of rice. I Love work under Lee because every time I’m doing a job and I feel like it does nothing or has no meaning he assures me it has a meaning. Then I just love the job. The Brazilians are really cool to work with. I love it down here and I think maybe I’ll just stay. Well good bye for now.

Lee: Things are going good. Everyone is a little more tired than when we started, but most still have lots of energy. We are still experimenting with finding the best way to speed up our painting progress. Tomorrow we will try some different paint that doesn’t have any sand in it. If it covers well we may trade in the sand filled paint for regular and spray a lot more of it. All is doing well. We have had real good bible studies in the evening.

Donna: The retreat center is very big, and I am still discovering new rooms! We have started on the next floor and that is exciting. It feels like maybe we are finally making some progress. We are tired, but it is a good tired. We’ve had good talks with Al, Nadine and Alisa. Very inspiring. Last night Al took us for a ride in his truck, we ride in the back like a load of livestock! The mountain roads are something that you just won’t understand until you’ve been on them…..laid with rock and one lane. Anyway, we saw some neat country as we took a worker home. I hear he often walks to work. We saw lots of banana trees, and I understand that is one of the main crops around here. Riding in the back of Al’s pickup is quite the experience, we stand up and hang on! Good views that is for sure. It is fun to learn a little Portuguese and try to communicate with the locals who are here working on the retreat center. After hitting my head on their scaffold, I learned to say “I’m okay” !




Kaycee: Well, I had a very exciting day today! After we had finished work up at the retreat center, I talked to Al and had him ask one of his workers if they would give me a ride on their motorcycle. After a quick shower ( I was covered in paint thanks to Scotty and Morgan) I put on my helmet and climbed on the motorcycle. I got to tour the country for 1 ½ hours! It was great; you really haven’t experienced Brazil until you are on the back of a motorcycle! Antonio ( the guy who took me on the ride) has a very nice motorcycle and in America you would never dream of taking this bike on the roads we went on! It was a very beautiful ride and I am sad that I didn’t take my camera!

Dear Mother, I have met a guy and rode on his motorcycle. Can I bring him home? Love, Carinna