Guatemala Recap: Day 3 - The Roadblock, Solution, and the Downpour
Frontline Student Ministries Filed Under: Labels: frontline student ministries, Guatemala, mission, work
Routine had already begun to set in as we approached the Alvarez house ready for breakfast. With the kitchen floor completely chipped away, all of the guys prepared to move over to working with the varnish team. Only Brooks, Dale and possibly Chris would stay behind to begin the tile work in the kitchen. The varnish team had themselves progressed rapidly so
that they would be moving to a different building today. Most likely they would take on the cafeteria.
To varnish a building's rafters and support beams, each post must first be cleaned. Therefore the work was somewhat doubled as a team had to go through with a brush and clean years of dust and spiderwebs from posts 25ft off of the ground. With all hands on deck however, things were moving quite nicely.
The team had also removed all of the stoves from the kitchen as well as the sink. The only appliance left somewhat in place was the pizza oven that seemed to weigh 50 tons when we picked it up. Someone came up with the genius plan to tile underneath one side while supporting the legs. Then when the tile was ready, set it down and life the other side to tile the rest. Seemed like a much better option than moving that thing outside! During the morning hours, Dale and his crew tiled most of the cooking area of the kitchen. Moving at this rate, it seemed that we could finish the tile in the kitchen by Friday.
Then lunch came...
Apparently after re-evaluating the floor, the concrete workers assessed that the concrete in the kitchen was too uneven to lay the tile anymore. All the tile would need to be removed and a new concrete floor put down before we could tile. John, Chris, and Kristina went over to break the news to Dale... (personally I love the response! Let's just do it!) Check out the video of the newsbreak!
So now everything had to be re-evaluated. The entire kitchen had to be refloored. This would take more manpower, the kitchen would take more time which would mean less people on other tasks. Wow... and now the big mammoth stove would have to leave the kitchen no doubt.
It took every man we had on site to grab a rope and lift the stove up and out of the kitchen. Tight squeezes, rope burns, and almost crushed toes were the theme of the afternoon but sure enough, our team moved the stove out of the kitchen to make way for the concrete. Immediately the concrete workers began finding level all around the kitchen and concrete began to be poured throughout the kitchen.
By 4pm however, it was evident that a heavy Guatemalan rainstorm was approaching. With thunder shaking the earth, we gathered under the roof of the cafeteria and watched as the storm began to define for us what a hard rain actually looked like! By the end of the rainstorm, the guys were playing soccer with our hosts down on the court and the girls were scattered about including a few nutty ones in the pool.
The day definitely did not go as planned. In fact it was this day that guaranteed that the trip would not go completely as planned. However, the team came together and with Christlike attitudes put their hearts and strength into doing what needed to be done. We will still make our deadline and it will be better than imagined!
Tonight was the initial meeting convened by the "Council of the Yellow Card." We'll give you a whole post on that itself. Just to give you insight on it, Kristina renamed the group "The Dum Dum Council." Lots of fun!
that they would be moving to a different building today. Most likely they would take on the cafeteria.To varnish a building's rafters and support beams, each post must first be cleaned. Therefore the work was somewhat doubled as a team had to go through with a brush and clean years of dust and spiderwebs from posts 25ft off of the ground. With all hands on deck however, things were moving quite nicely.
The team had also removed all of the stoves from the kitchen as well as the sink. The only appliance left somewhat in place was the pizza oven that seemed to weigh 50 tons when we picked it up. Someone came up with the genius plan to tile underneath one side while supporting the legs. Then when the tile was ready, set it down and life the other side to tile the rest. Seemed like a much better option than moving that thing outside! During the morning hours, Dale and his crew tiled most of the cooking area of the kitchen. Moving at this rate, it seemed that we could finish the tile in the kitchen by Friday.Then lunch came...
Apparently after re-evaluating the floor, the concrete workers assessed that the concrete in the kitchen was too uneven to lay the tile anymore. All the tile would need to be removed and a new concrete floor put down before we could tile. John, Chris, and Kristina went over to break the news to Dale... (personally I love the response! Let's just do it!) Check out the video of the newsbreak!
So now everything had to be re-evaluated. The entire kitchen had to be refloored. This would take more manpower, the kitchen would take more time which would mean less people on other tasks. Wow... and now the big mammoth stove would have to leave the kitchen no doubt.
It took every man we had on site to grab a rope and lift the stove up and out of the kitchen. Tight squeezes, rope burns, and almost crushed toes were the theme of the afternoon but sure enough, our team moved the stove out of the kitchen to make way for the concrete. Immediately the concrete workers began finding level all around the kitchen and concrete began to be poured throughout the kitchen.By 4pm however, it was evident that a heavy Guatemalan rainstorm was approaching. With thunder shaking the earth, we gathered under the roof of the cafeteria and watched as the storm began to define for us what a hard rain actually looked like! By the end of the rainstorm, the guys were playing soccer with our hosts down on the court and the girls were scattered about including a few nutty ones in the pool.
The day definitely did not go as planned. In fact it was this day that guaranteed that the trip would not go completely as planned. However, the team came together and with Christlike attitudes put their hearts and strength into doing what needed to be done. We will still make our deadline and it will be better than imagined!
Tonight was the initial meeting convened by the "Council of the Yellow Card." We'll give you a whole post on that itself. Just to give you insight on it, Kristina renamed the group "The Dum Dum Council." Lots of fun!
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