She talked to me about going on this one week trip. There were about 15 of us who were going to meet with our church's on-site folks who would connect us with Habitat for Humanity. We were going to do hard labor on these homes but I didn't have to do it because of my back (I'd had surgery one and a half years prior). She asked me to manage all the finances for the trip.
I prayed about it. I thought about being out of country for the first time. Leaving my family. I wasn't working. Finding leaders for my small group and children's ministry group to replace me for that week. I decided to stretch myself and go.
Our first job was to pour a cement roof. The D.R. doesn't have wet cement trucks. We had to make our own on the ground. It was grueling. Once it was mixed on the ground it was shoveled up onto a platform then shoveled up into a wheelbarrow then rolled down a two foot wide plank to the rebar where it was tipped and smoothed out. That was repeated until the entire pitched roof was completed.
Our group was the only one to complete three roofs in three days!!
The last work day we had three houses to work on. We rebarred a roof, filled in a foundation and emptied a house that was filled with rocks and dirt.
We were blessed with a day at the beach with our Dominican families. Total fun in the Caribbean.
God affirmed me through so many people. I re-read my journal and I was stunned at the many positive comments people made about my leadership, kindness and openness to talk. I remember at the end of the trip wanting to keep those people in my life forever.
Who'da thought?
