First Weekend at Ft. Myers

Saturday afternoon we arrived at the site of the Spanish church where the Mission Helps crew was to lay block the next week. Above, the boys pose with all the blocks, which, the men observed, had all been very neatly laid by willing helpers.

Below, the men (Steve Mease, Dave Weaver, Jonathan, Elon, and others) discuss details about the job with the contractor, a Nazarene man who has a heart for helping.

 Pearl decides the job is a lot bigger than she is!!

 There are 3000 blocks to lay. Steve Mease, rightly nicknamed Stevie Wonder for the speed with which he lays block, nevertheless worries whether the job will get done by Friday evening when the team is to leave to go back home.

 Sunday morning, after breakfast at the Ft. Myers Rescue Mission cafeteria, Elon's family and a few of ours slip up to the door of the apartment that belongs to Phil Ledger and his new wife, 

to serenade them with the acappella, 4-part blessing, "Bless This House."

 Then we find out that our two families have been asked to sing for morning service of the rescue mission! So since there are no children's Sunday School classes, we practiced together during part of Sunday School up in the dorm where some of us stayed.

Elon's family are such a blessing with their singing. That morning we sang "My Faith Has Found a Resting Place." It is such a beautiful hymn of faith, and I couldn't help being thrilled to be part of a second-generation Morley-related choir. The Lord's blessing was on hearts.

Very early Monday morning, the guys gather to have devotions and get started at the work site.

 The crew first thing Monday morning.

The crew wanted the pastor to lay the first block.

 Here he is leveling it.

 And his beaming face! This dear pastor Rigo has worked hard to build his church numerically and spiritually, and now he is seeing it being built in this way.

 That first day was a total miracle. Quite a number of Spanish men showed up as it was a holiday. At first Jonathan's heart sank as he wondered how he could ever keep them all busy. But the Lord gave everyone a will to work, and before long, the work was proceeding like clockwork.

I took this picture about two hours after the work started. This wall already had five layers of block laid.

 Elon and boys had the job of keeping mortar mixed and toted to the block layers, with the help of Spanish guys.

 I was so proud of the boys. Ezra, Jed, Sam, and Jared Weaver were quite a team of four teenagers all helping willingly.

 Stevie Wonder in his corner.

 Lunch time found everyone gratefully finding a cooler spot on a porch of the house on the property, and eating a delicious meal.

 We ladies had lost our way for about half an hour, so we got to lunch late! These are Guatemalan dishes, as most of the Spanish folk there were Guatemalan. These are tortillas stuffed with chicken, pork, or cheese and topped with shredded carrots, cabbage, beets and not sure what else. You could have as much hot salsa as you liked. These were delicious!

 Once after a meal, Elon's family and ours sang the same song we did Sunday, the spirit of which through the young people's simple sincerity, brought tears to eyes.

And again after the block-laying was completed, Elon suggested we sing "Bless This House."

I love that arrangement: "Bless this house, O Lord, we pray...Bless the folk that dwell within, Keep them pure and free from sin. Bless us all that we may be fit O Lord, to dwell with Thee!"

 So now the guys are back to work.

And I need to get ready for supper. I've been uploading photos and blogging in between dusting in the office, taking the children to the park and practicing parallel parking there with Crystal so she can get her driver's license soon, supervising supper, etc.

Alligators and Crocs

In between the projects at Indiantown and Ft. Myers, we visited Gatorama on the way. With Elon's family along, we got a group rate. Just loved this "Croc Island."

 Everybody who wanted was allowed to hold a baby alligator.

 So of course each of the children got their turn.

 Hannah, though, wasn't all that excited.

 Not sure if roses and gators mix well or not! :)

 Carrie gets her turn.

 And our very brave Sam.

 Or was it Crystal who was the brave one?

 Mom may as well get in on the fun, too!

 This monster looks like he's been through a few battles--losing part of a leg and part of a tail

to whatever dared to fight him.

 And yeah, there are more than one Goliath in the world.

 So while the dads go fight the Goliaths, the moms stay home with the pile of kiddo crocs--

and not sure which job leaves more to try to handle!

 Have to admit there are days when we feel a bit like this "fish out of water--"

and other days when you wonder if you've stuck your neck out too far this time...

all depends how you interpret the picture.

This was such an amazing creature--I think it's an egret. We watched it toss a small fish in the air and promtly swallow it. But then it caught this fish that was too big for it, and so it swam to the shore to drop it on the ground before having its meal. 

Ocean, Indiantown, Star Fruit, and Tree Frogs

These posts are basically in backwards order of how everything happened in Florida, starting with our time with my aunts, then in Hobe Sound, and now this post is about our time in Indiantown, FL. But first one afternoon we visited the ocean shore. 

This is what the boys (and girls) had fun doing after dashing through the breakers a good long while.

 Hannah had fun despite her sling. 

 Crystal and I took turns holding Hannah's hand so she could safely jump over the breakers as they crashed on the shore.

 And this photo reminded me of the poem, "Footprints in the Sand."

"Did you not know that when there was only one set of footprints," the Lord asked,

"I was carrying you."

Have we held His hand recently, or do we need to remember that when we don't seem to feel that strong hand,

He is carrying us?

 This photo is out of order. I had meant to put it in with the ones when we were at my Aunt Rhonwen.

Here she is playing a game with Carrie and Rose while waiting for Jonathan to bring back the motor home.

 At last we arrive at Indiantown, the first Spanish church we worked at. The job was tearing out the very dilapidated restrooms and remodeling them. Here Jonathan is starting to cut out a new doorway, to move the old one to a better location around the corner.

 Elon gotta pretend he is helping Jonathan with the trim work on that new doorway!! 

Elon's sense of humor is a real asset--and occasionally a little corny. 

But then, what do you expect from a little brother???

 Timmy begged to help. So Jonathan let him. It was great to have an opportunity to let the children pitch in.

 Larry Seigel, who had come with Forrest Wheeler, sands the drywall.

 A "before" picture of the boarded-over windows in the ladies' restroom.

 It was a big job getting those boards off, which had been screwed into the concrete, and then cut the metal frames out with angle grinder. Then Jonathan laid in the glass blocks.

 Ezra helps with grooving and cleaning the windows.

 A lunch break. Forrest Wheeler is in center. He has helped on several Mission Helps trips. He is part of Helping Hands organization.

 Carrie makes sure she helps, too! :)

 We ladies kept busy making meals for 15 to 17 people in our motor home, with exactly one skillet, one pot, and one electric skillet.

 As a result of our limitations in cooking, this was all the girls had to offer the boys one time. :) :)

 For all their hard work, the guys really did deserve better! Here Elon is grooving between the glass, or cleaning the window.

 Sam helped, too.

 In the distance, a pillar of smoke ascended from apparently a field of sugar cane being burnt off.

 The little children loved gathering star fruit that had fallen in the storm...

 or picking it from the tree, as the pastor's wife said we could have it.

 Danny loved slicing the star fruit. Anita told us you could eat it skin and all, and we did.

 We ladies helped in whatever way we could. Rose is washing off drywall tools.

 Carrie washes dishes in the travel trailer Elon's family stayed in (much gratitude to Lester Bump).

 Jobs for us ladies included:

doing laundry at the laundromat--or by hand in a 5-gallon bucket, as I did this day, hanging it out on the line behind the parsonage. It was so beautiful there.

 Making sure the little ones took a nap occasionally as it was hard for them to go to sleep on time with all the novelties and extra people stuffed into small places.

Admiring tree frogs our sons proudly showed us,

 and admiring the photography projects Ezra does to bring in a little income (including cards, bookmarks they give away as a small witnessing tool, stickers and postcards.

 being thankful our little ones had other little ones to play with. Very little boredom there!

 ...and cheering our men as they not only remodel the church restrooms but scrub and try to repair a leaky roof...

 because if our boys didn't have moms to be proud of them, and if our men didn't have ladies cheering them on in their less-than-exciting jobs, 

how much joy would there be in life?

  

Danny and his new little friend, Esdras, looking at a favorite book together in our motor home.

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 The pastor and his wife and family

 Valentine's evening we spent in the church with our two families enjoying surprising Pearl on her birthday with these origami flower and butterfly made from paper money, 

and singing song after song about God's love in four-part harmony.