Aching but happy!

I just couldn't wait to share pictures from yesterday. Our congregation was invited to support the construction of a new Kingdom Hall in Casares. It's a small coastal town just over an hour from where we live and has about 42 publishers. Back in February I blogged about our trip to the beach with my mam and dad and how we saw the hall they are currently using. Here's a reminder picture of what that hall looks like.

Twelve of us from our congregation went to support the work yesterday. They don't have Regional Building Committees here like they do in the States and England. They have Kingdom Hall Construction Groups here instead. You can read a bit more about them in an article that was in 2008 February 1st Watchtower pages 21-23. Half of the group was there yesterday at the Casares project, and the other half were finishing off another hall in Nicaragua. Now that Mexico oversees the work in Nicaragua the group never knows where they'll be off to next. One of the sisters in the group said they spent 6 months in Honduras not long ago. 

The construction here is obviously different to the halls in the States. They are generally smaller and a lot simpler. So there is a lot of heavy labor to be done, and that's what we did yesterday. One brother from our group used to be on the construction team so he spent the day welding and doing other skilled jobs. And the rest of us transported sand, or mixed concrete. Charley and I both worked mixing and moving concrete. The building is made of concrete blocks which are hollow inside, they put rebar in, and then you pour in the concrete. You'll see what I mean more or less in the pictures. It was tiring, and I'm aching today, but we had a GREAT time! 

One funny thing that happened to Charley and I in the afternoon was that our arms turned yellow, especially the hairs on our arms. Like bright yellow! At first I couldn't figure out why, but then realized it was some kind of reaction between the concrete and the sunblock that we put on at lunch time. Thankfully it washed off though!!

You also have to take your own food on the projects. The local sisters cook for the construction group members, but the rest of the volunteers provide for themselves. There isn't a catering crew in the group, and it's just too expensive for the local congregation to feed all the volunteers. But it wasn't any problem to take our own lunch. 

Well, here are some pictures from the day.

Panoramic of the site

Reyner, one of our new pioneers, mixing concrete. This was his job all day long.

Miguel helped put concrete in the buckets, and Jael (Reyner's wife), Charley and I carried them to pour them in the walls.

Jael coming back with her empty bucket. The bathrooms are at this end of the hall.

The construction group's container where we got needed supplies from

Abby (who had to watch from the sidelines - no kids on site), her mam Lesbia, and Joseling. They worked hard, I just caught them taking a little break. 

The end closest to me in this picture is where the stage will be

Jennifer, Jocelyn & Socorro. They all worked really hard. You'd think it was cold looking at their clothes. It wasn't! That's just how people protect themselves from the sun down here.

The local sisters washed the construction groups clothes for them too. And that hut back there is the toilet - it was a real, flushable one - I was very impressed!!

A young, local brother came to give free haircuts too!

I thought this was a funny scene - unloading and shoveling sand on one side - hair salon on the other!

This is our congregation's coordinator, Wilber, who used to be on the construction group back in his single days.

And to prove that I worked too, here we are at the end of the day. Charley was clever enough to bring a change of clothes. I had to travel home like that!! And no, that's not a bandage on my arm, it's part of an old sock that I put on to stop the bucket of concrete from rubbing on my arm so much. That patch of my arm is sore today!

So, what most of us would never have chosen to do as a job, what most of us wouldn't do if someone paid us to, we did joyfully yesterday because we were doing it for Jehovah and our brothers. We're looking forward to the 31st when we're assigned to go back and help again. It was a lovely experience, first time we'd been to a construction project down here, but definitely not the last. And it was our first outing with members of our new congregation so that made it special too.

And to finish, here are a few random pictures that I either just realized I had on my little camera, or someone emailed to me because I didn't take any that day.

This is from a dinner our friends invited us to back in April. We had pelibuey that night. 

VIP at the Cinema. The film (Superman) was not that great, but we enjoyed the seats!

That's how I like to sit for a film! And even though it was more expensive for the fancy seats, it was still cheaper than seeing a film in the States.

We've driven past this place a million times near our house, but finally went to eat there.

And while we were there with our friends who stayed with us for the English assembly, these two girls showed up with free bottles of beer and free bottle openers!! We were happy campers that evening!!

Delicious burger and fries at Flayers - I'd recommend going there!

YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pizza night at our place. Blake, (unfortunately Madalyne was sick in bed that evening) Charley, me, Didi, Laura, Caleb, Brenda, Veronica & Adina (her hubby Justin took the picture because he HATES being in them!). It's so nice to spend time with others who are serving down here. We also enjoy being in the same circuit with all these great people.

And we enjoyed eating the pizzas we made!!!!

We're looking forward to a busy, refreshing weekend with assembly cleaning tomorrow morning, circuit pioneer session in the afternoon, and circuit assembly Saturday and Sunday! Yes, it's July, and we're just now FINALLY going to our circuit assembly!!!