Working hard!

Today was a great day! Our tasks were to finish all the projects we had been working on as we were preparing to go do some tourist-y things tomorrow. Praise the Lord, most of the projects were done by lunch! Wow...the Lord is good! :)

Dave and Rebecca worked with a crew of teenagers and adults to pile gravel around the putt-putt course since we didn't have walls yet. As we were working, people kept coming around to help us. It was very awesome. We were done in no time! Then, Jeff, a missionary down here, went and got balls and putters from the rooms. I (Rebecca) made the first shot on the completed course and, of course, missed miserably! However, this opened it up and people continued to play on the course all day until it was dark. What a blessing!

After working on the putt-putt course, Dave said he heard the monkeys that live in the trees around Alcanse. So, Rebecca went and found a banana and sure enough, they were playing on a building/barn right next to the course. Rebecca was so excited to be able to feed them and get a good shot of them. Dave had been able to feed them before (and had named them Marco and Polo) but Rebecca had only seen them from a distance. So, seeing them close was exciting! Yay!

After feeding the monkeys, everyone descended upon the construction guys to help finish the painting. At one point there were about 10 people in one small room with rollers and paintbrushes. It was pretty funny. :) We were able to finish most of the painting by lunch time. Rebecca was also excited to get two loads of clothes washed and hung out to dry during this time. We still have a lot of stinky clothes to bring home but at least one suitcase can be stinky and one clean. :)

After lunch, it was wonderful to visit with some of the other team members without having to rush off for work. Rebecca discovered one of the other team members was a roommate to a former classmate of hers at Anderson and at Toledo Christian. What a small world! Then, David and Rebecca went up and took a nice long nap. It was a great relief to be able to rest while not being sick and not having lots of work to do.

When we emerged from our room we found Alcanse pretty quiet. People split up and went all over, leaving just 5 of us here to eat and play games. A great time was had by all. It is so nice to connect and fellowship. While we are looking forward to being able to leave whenever we want, eat when we want, and do other things that we deem important, it is nice to take life at a slower pace for now. Things will be fast enough when we get back.

So, mostly praises today. Praise the Lord that we were able to finish everything. Praise the Lord for good help. Praise the Lord for good fellowship. And, praise the Lord no one was sick today. Prayer requests for church tomorrow, that the Lord will continue to speak to us. Also, one of our group will be preaching. Pray for traveling mercies as we travel to Recife for some fun. Pray for Rebecca, as she either has lots of bug bites or is broken out...both of which are making her very uncomfortable. Thank you for joining us in this journey and praying with us. God bless and good night!