So blessed.

Wow! I guess I say that a lot, but WOW! We've been working like machines. The flooring group has done great work and I'm so very proud of them. They have to set a steel beam with cement, then place metal runners that hod ceramic tile. The runners are welded to the beam. Then they will place wire mesh on the ceramic tile, followed by cement. It's heavy, but should withstand the wet salt air that engulfs is majestic mountain.

The other group is digging. And digging. And digging. Since I possess ZERO skill, I'm on a shovel. The downside to digging here is that all that we dig out has to be carried UP the mountain. The bucket brigade might be worse than shoveling. We've all don't that. The new patio we are making requires a retaining wall. Thankfully, all the boulders we've carried up hill will be lighter when we carry them back down hill.

We've had so many groups of local church folk join us. That's been a blast. One group wanted to give us a concert. It was awesome. After a few numbers they wanted us to sing for them. They about freaked when Bert asked for the pastor's guitar. We rocked...kind of. Ok, not really, but we smiled and meant it and that made us a big hit.

It was Joe's birthday, and they sang for him. Then they gathered around him and prayed a birthday blessing. We were all so jealous and tried to convince them that we each had a birthday this week, so that they'd pray for us. No avail.

Tomorrow we will hopefully get everything ready for cement on both jobs. The group from the church said they'd come back and help us mix on Wednesday. Without Mike Stence, this will be a HUGE blessing. Mike is a Colombian cement machine. It's the hardest work I've ever done.

One crazy thing, today was a holiday, which means the weekend was an extra day. On weekends, people leave the cities in the valley and come up to the mountain to cool off. Last night we had a car that parked right outside the camp and bumped techno music till midnight. We estimate he was pushing 10,000 watts. It was unbearable, but not against the law until midnight. The policia showed up at midnight and he shut it down and drove off.

We've had 3 nights of music like this. One ended at midnight. One ended at 3:30 am and one ended at 5 am! It's been tough. Not much sleep. A lot of work. But we've had quite a bit of fun making new friends, breaking down the communication barriers and sharing in song and scripture together. Today pastor Jose' from Hamandi came and shared about the need in the church for more scripture and prayer. It was an awesome and powerful devotion. We connected, though it was difficult with the language deal. He hugged and kissed my cheek a dozen times before he reluctantly headed for his home. He was tired too, his neighbors partied till 4 am.

I've spent a fortune on international data to bring you this blog. Hopefully there's enough data left for one last post at the end of the week. If not, I'll be home by Sunday morning....I hope. Until then, find a way TO BE A BLESSING.