Monday: First Day on the Job

This morning we woke up a little bit before 8. Breakfast was at 8. TeamEffort is catering in our breakfasts and dinners so the food is super good. We had breakfast burritos this morning. We got to the work site a little after 9am. We’ll be working there this entire week. We are doing some yard work, painting, and fixing damaged parts of a woman’s home in an area near the church we are staying at. Today, we spent most of the day painting the outside of her house and prepping the lattice for paint and installation. It got to be around 95 degrees, but felt more like 105 while we were working. I think every single one of us was dripping sweat after probably 20 minutes. But, we kept pushing through and painted her small deck area, did some paint trim work, and primed the lattice so that we can paint it tomorrow. We will probably start with some yard work in the morning as it is cooler then, even though it’s still around 85 degrees, sunny, and humid. The lady we are working for also has a small dog named Bella that we got to pet and play with a little bit during our short water breaks. It’s looking like it’ll be a great week of work with A LOT of sun and heat. I’m excited to see how the house turns out when we are finished. The guys in our group went to the beach in Bonita Springs right after work to jump in the ocean, which felt great, although the water is pretty much as warm as a bathtub. We finished the day off with chapel and a time of reflection with our group.

~ Andrew Grasse

So we started our day by waking up and having breakfast with our entire mission team. We ate big breakfast burritos which tasted superb, along with some pineapple and orange juice. From there we basically went straight to the job site after getting changed into our work clothes and began working. We pulled in and the house from the look of it was not in terrible condition which was good because we didn’t really know what to expect. The main job or task given to our group from Bethel for the week was painting and fixing/ painting lattice. Joey did a great job sanding down the lattice while the girls primed and painted it. Andrew, Daniel, Jackson and I painted the front porch or steps to the house while my dad touched up paint jobs all around the house. We took lunch and drove about ten minutes to a park where we ate our food and had time to talk and laugh with one another. After a long while we headed back to the job site and worked on the same jobs till around 3 o’clock when we started cleaning up. Having two hours till supper yet, the guys decided to go to Bonita beach which is about 20 minutes from the church we are staying at. The girls just hung out at the church. We got to the ocean and swam for about 20-30 minutes before returning to church to shower up before dinner. Dinner was baked ziti with meat balls and salad which tasted very splendid. We then finished our day with chapel and a small celebration for Andrew’s 18th birthday.

~ Caleb Hendrikse

Getting ready for breakfast

Making lunches

Making the use of the few minutes we had before departure for the job site

Grabbing some tools for the week

My favorite pic of the day.  We put tons of sunscreen on.

Just after 9:00 AM and already on the warm side

Painting 

Joey did a lot of sanding to prep the lattice for painting

The lattice painting team

Our painters for this morning

Repairs are still needed, but improvements are being made

Lunch time at a nearby park

This all has to go!

Front view of the residence

Squeezed in a quick trip to the gulf before supper

Still a little toasty as we approached 6:30 this evening

Ready for worship

Caleb shares about our group today

Joey won in Rock Paper Scissors agains everyone else!

Not an amazing pic, but we had to sing to the birthday boy (Andrew) and then have some Oreo ice-cream cake along with a little cheese cake

We wrapped up the night with a few games and then headed off to bed. We are all wiped!  Looking forward to seeing what we'll be able to accomplish tomorrow!