Day 4- July 7, 2008

Day 4 - Monday

We settled into a weekday routine today: breakfast at 7am, some reflections on our work and the day to come, then we’re on the worksites around 8:30.  Lunch at the Missionary Baptist Church is at 11:30, and we’re back on the worksites through the afternoon.  The evening starts with a shower!  Dinner is usually around 6pm, we debrief the day and then folks settle in for a game, some reading, and some hurry to finish their chores.  Lights out at 10pm - and we’re ready!

Today work continued on the same two sites: flooring and drywall.  A dresser at Izzy and Mary’s house needed to be moved to get to the flooring.  It looks very substantial, so Rod asked Tom to come help move it.  Debbie went along for the ride - and because she knows where the house is!  Tom looked at the dresser, tipped it to its side, Debbie picked up the bottom and they quickly moved it.  The dresser weighed substantially less than Rod thought - boy, was he embarrassed!

Matt’s house saw some substantial progress today.  At the end of the day the drywall had all been screwed in, the tub in the bathroom had been installed, and the first coat of primer paint had been applied to two rooms - including the huge living room/dining room/kitchen.  Finishing the drywall and the putting on the first coat of paint makes a construction site begin to look like a home.

Most of us are tired tonight.  This is hard work for volunteers - especially
in 91º heat with high humidity.  The discussion around the tables is not about movies we’ve seen, or books we’ve read - but about that stubborn floor board and how to remove it, or that one corner that needed extra attention.  How quickly we become experts!  The games after dinner will bring great laughter and once the sun goes down we’ll get a bit of relief from the heat.

The community of the group deepens as we tease each other and talk about what we do and why we’re here.  The experience of being in Pearlington is deeply transformative and we don’t know how deeply for some time to come.  Transformation is a slow process.  It’s already begun.  Thanks be to God.