Week 2 Day 3

Hola,

We spent most of today filling in gaps between bricks, trying to figure out the best way to get the mortar to stay, which we did with varying levels of success. I personally got frustrated on more than one occasion when the mortar would not stay, and it appeared that I was dropping more mortar down to the ground than I was getting in between the concrete bricks. As you can see to the left, Fred was always there to critique our work. It was needed, though, because his checks keep us from building a a house that will fall down within a week.

First, however, I should note that I missed part of the morning. I had a slight detour to the hospital this morning, because my body decided it missed having an ear infection. Luckily they were efficient and I got my prescription relatively quickly after the doctor told me (through the lady from From Houses to Homes that translated for me) that I had an ear infection again. The one benefit was that I got to ride on the little vehicles with one seat for the driver and a cushioned bench in the back. It was a comfortable ride considering the roads are bumpy.

Now that you've heard about me, it's back to the group. We had our fair share of fun on the worksite today, especially with the kids. We also found out more ways to entertain ourselves with the baby doll, which mainly involved putting it in the concrete mortar without someone knowing. I would never have guessed that something so simple as a doll would provide that much fun.

When we got back, we had a more serious discussion. Fred read us the Gospel from this past Sunday, which involves robbers sneaking over the fence into the sheep pen, the sheep ignoring those people, and Jesus saying that the only way people can get through the gate is through him. We identified ways that our work connected with the Gospel, including:
-The workers as our sheperds, guiding us through the work we needed to do
-The workers accepted us as the dumb sheep (we don't know much about building a house) and were patient
-That we were ideally trying to do good, honest work and not trying to cut corners
-The little girls followed us out after we left from work, showing the connection we've formed with them

The girls also took the opportunity to teach the little girls various phrases, particularly "What's up, brah." If these girls ever make it to the United States, they're going to know very random phrases that might get a looks from some people.

Dinner was pizza, where we almost finished three larges, falling just shy with 2 1/2 pizza left when we were done. We might've been better off with some smaller pizzas...

Hope everyone reading this is doing well.

Takc care,
Patrick (I lost my name tag on the way to work and then got an ear infection) Lyons