Friday, January 15, 2010

This is our first full day here, and we plan to begin work on the new bathroom at Hopewell Independent Baptist Church (HIPB).

Our day started off with a wonderful breakfast of eggs, bacon, cereal, fresh fruit, and orange juice. There was always coffee available too, but I don't drink that. They took excellent care of us. I probably would have gained weight, if we hadn't been working so hard.

After we finished breakfast, we loaded ourselves and all our tools into the bus and Michael drove us to Hopewell. It was our first look at the church, for everyone except for PK, Steve, Chris, and Ethan, who had been here for the teen trip in 2008. Right now HIBC has no bathroom facilities—if they need them, they have to go next door to Pastor Desmond’s house. Pastor Desmond is a high-energy and passionate man of God. He and his wife, Simone, were in a serious car accident at the end of last May. He has mostly recovered, but Simone still is in a lot of pain most of the time. They have two children, a daughter, Brianna, who is about 8, and a son, Joshua, who is about 7.

The room we will be building the bathroom in is about 10 ft. square, with a cement floor and cinder block walls. Before we got there, a Jamaican man named Audley, turned a window into a door (you can see some of this in the pictures on my Xanga site http://www.xanga.com/kmomgdad). We were trying to figure out how to get the plumbing in the floor, when Charles came up with the brilliant idea to build a wooden floor over the cement and put the plumbing in there, instead of trying to dig up the cement. That idea saved a lot of time and effort!

Ed, George, and Charles had the most knowledge about how to do the work, but they had many willing hands to help them. Several of us started working on digging the septic hole. We initially heard it needed to be about 8 feet deep, and that Pastor Desmond had arranged with some men from his church to dig it. He priced out having it done professionally, but it was too much. However, after we started, someone came by and told him it needed to be 18 feet deep, 8 feet in diameter at the bottom, and about 10 feet in diameter at top, with stone and cement walls. So, anyway, we worked on it, and some men from Desmond’s church did help. We got it (mostly Desmond’s church men got it—kudos especially to Cole) about 6 feet deep by the time we left.

Scott and I did the cutting of planks for the guys to put in as the floor joists, and the plywood for the floor. We also cut the PVC pipe for the plumbing. It was fun to feel like I could contribute even though I’m really not Joe-handyman. I learned a lot, though, by watching and helping. I helped some with the digging, but not very much.

We took some time out to practice the songs we’ll be singing on Sunday: a men’s quintet in the morning service “Heaven’s Joy Awaits”, and a men’s quartet in the evening service “Peace Like a River.” We ate the peanut butter sandwiches and other things we got for our lunches.

When we returned to Fair Haven in the evening, several of us went across the street to the beach for a quick swim before supper. They fed us fantastically again: spaghetti, rolls, salad, and brownies.

During devotion time tonight, Chris and I gave our testimonies, and PK taught us about David and his example of showing God’s kindness to Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9. Christi and I prayed together afterward, and then I headed to bed.