Proyecto Sixaola

Journal Entry for Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Jared Nissley

This is Jared writing for all of us in Sixaola. Today was the first day of
work projects on houses in the community. The building materials were
delivered yesterday so we had all we needed to begin. We got up (kind of)
early with hopes of a long day of work. Jon planned to go to Sandro and
Patricia's house to give a hand to a contractor hired by the family. Peder
spent the day helping a welder install a new porch railing at Carlos and
Tita's house. (All of the houses in Sixaola are on stilts in order to avoid
the floods. Thus a railing is pretty important for a narrow second story
porch when there are lots of kids around.) The rest of us spent the day at
Paola's house. It's actually more of a shelter than a house as you can see
from some of the pictures. Carlos (whose porch railing was being welded)
and David (who served as interpreter) also helped us. We removed the
patchwork of metal and wood that made up the walls and replaced it with more
permanent and weatherproof masonry sheeting. We also needed to replace a
lot of the house's framework. The day went really well and we were thankful
for no injuries and a cool, cloudy day. But there is still much work to be
done as Paola's roof needs serious repair and we haven't even touched the
final house on the list. With only one more day left for working, we
resolved to bust our tails tomorrow in hopes of finishing all the projects
on the list. Cross your fingers.

This evening, the church had a prayer service filled with mostly women and
children. I sat beside two girls who couldn't stop poking me and playing
with my pockets. That made it extra difficult to figure out what Pastor
Olman was talking about. We were praying for a lot of physical and tangible
needs which makes plenty of sense in the context of Sixaola. Near the end,
Tita gave a testimony of how the Lord has provided for her needs and thanks
for the work done at her home. "I want to thank all the people that donated
materials and funds. I will always cherish this service in my heart and my
prayers," she said. These words provided an awesome sense of encouragement
for all of us as we headed off to bed.