Contributing Willingness, Not Power

 None of us on this Mission Helps crew this time were skilled laborers except for my husband Jonathan and Forrest Wheeler. 

But we were willing. 

And as I read recently, all that is required is that we contribute "willingness, not power."

The quote was from someone who was talking about forgiveness, 

and the struggle we humans sometimes have to forgive.

We think we have to kind of work up forgiveness, that it is all about us. 

But really, the job is too big for us.

It is not about contributing power, but just being willing. 

It's not about contributing great skills, but just being willing.

    

 The quote went on that willingness is like just getting your canoe out there in the river, and letting the current take you.

Because the power is not in your little canoe but in the current of the river. 

You do have to get your canoe out there, alligators in sight on the little island over there or not.

  

And so, unskilled laborer Fain, unskilled ladies Regina and Sis. Wheeler and myself,

unskilled daughters and sons and cousins and a friend,

we got our little canoes in the river,

our selves in the airplane or in the van for a non-stop drive to FL,

and we contributed not power, but willingness.

And it is amazing what God can do with our human willingness coupled with His power! 

Inside, Kurt, the contractor overseeing the church building, is happy to see Jonathan again.

They go over plans for the platform.

L to R-Fain, Nathaniel, Jonathan, Samuel, Kurt the contractor, Timmy, Paul Hughes (boy in front in blue shirt), Samuel Morley

Getting ready to tote in the needed lumber.

Moving sawhorses

Jonathan gave instructions and let the boys do whatever they could.

The boys took turns using this ram gun to fasten the front part of the platform frame to the concrete.

Bro. Wheeler did a lot of figuring, measuring, and drawing of plans, besides sawing and nailing trim.

After weeks of bitter cold weather this winter here in Colorado and in North Dakota the end of February,

it was refreshing to spend a week where poinsettias and aloe vera plants grow right outside the porch.

There is a little house on the same property as the church, and while I don't think anyone lives there yet, the Spanish folk use it for cooking meals when crews come in to work on the church. 

Some of the ladies' work is done outdoors at the side of the house where they have three sinks in a row lined up, including a long stainless steel one.

That first day there, we ladies discovered that many hundreds of feet of church trim needed to be painted, so we decided that was the job for us. 

We hurried to a nearby goodwill so I could try to buy something I could wear for painting,

since I hadn't brought paint clothes along. 

I loved this scene of chickens by the azalea or some such bushes.

 I was relieved to find exactly one opaque cotton blouse and a long, full light blue and white checked cotton skirt, one of which was half off. They almost matched. (Usually I manage to almost match.)

Anyway, when we got back, it was almost lunch time, and rather than start painting,  Regina and I pitched in to help with dicing potatoes for potato salad for the next meal. There were a lot of potatoes!

It was such a blessing to have Regina along, because she speaks Spanish fluently, and she readily made friends with the ladies and cooks, and insisted that I speak some Spanish, too, and would quickly help me when I floundered. 

We fell right in love with those dear Spanish ladies, most of whom are originally from Guatemala,

and I do believe they mutually enjoyed especially Regina--since they could understand her.

Right in front of the porch, these papayas were growing.

Three meals a day were served on this lovely, long porch, including very generous breakfasts with always orange juice, and often fruit. The first breakfast there, on Friday morning, we were served eggs, bacon, and refried beans with tortillas. Mmm!

The next morning it was cantaloupe and huge red grapes, with different cereals to choose from, toast, and pancakes. We came away stuffed almost every meal!

The boys are trying to capture a lizard.

Lunches were delightful. This one was spinach lasagna with lettuce and veges topping it.

I enjoyed the lightly sweetened, cold beverages they served us, with different flavors, including coconut.

That first day, the boys built this rack to stow freshly painted trim on.

I cleaned up the wood scraps they'd drilled out, and the sawdust.

I helped some with sweeping, cleaning up, painting, and Jonathan asked me to help him supervise boys whenever I knew there was something to be done.

Here Jonathan is startling tall John Dykes with his tall but true tale of his work crew in CO finding hundreds of garter snakes a few days ago under a house as they work on a foundation issue.

John Dykes thinks that is just HORRIFYING!

You can see the rack for trim in the background.

Samuel Morley hosing down their van after traveling miles through ice on their way down to FL.

John Dykes brought three different loads of tile.

They were huge 2 ft. x 2 ft. squares, with just four per package.

The boys would carry just one pack at a time to make sure none broke.

They made huge stacks of this tile in the middle of the sanctuary and in a room off the platform.

A crew of tile layers from a sister Spanish church was supposed to come help lay tile.

While the boys and men are framing the platform and unloading tile, we ladies started in painting.

We wouldn't have felt quite so petrified if it had been trim for our own house.

But for a lovely church?

We'd probably all done a little painting in our lives, but not for anything like a church.
We were a bit petrified about it.

We were just contributing willingness, not power.

Jonathan was too busy to help us, and put Fain in charge. 

"You need to swish the paint brush both directions," Fain advised, who has painted some in his life.
So we swished the brushes both directions!

I was petrified at first, afraid we were going to make a mess of the church trim.

But Regina and the girls bravely started right in. Candace especially was determined to do the job.
She did not want to be bored!

Later Fain did admit that our first few trim boards left a little to be desired, but

we begged the men to come check up on our work to make sure it was okay.

The maestro Jonathan and the great director John Dykes both took a look and they

both okayed it. Whew!

"Don't leave any runs or drips!" was the only worry John Dykes had.

So we would paint from both sides, with a lady checking on both sides, and then two of us would carry the piece of trim to the rack and set it on.

Then one of us would take a paintbrush and look underneath the board for any drips and swipe the drips off.

More later!