Guest appearance by none other than the awesome Sophie Clark, aka, my favorite ginger. =) She graciously wrote about what the construction crew worked on since I was with the eye clinic the whole time. Enjoy! (and IDK what's with the font sizes...sorry...haha)
Duuude, I made it onto Keri's blog! Yay! I'm stoked. Ok so she said to tell you guys about construction. I'm not sure there's a whole lot to tell, but whatevs. And just a disclaimer, after the first day of working, they all blend together. Sorry about that, but you get to deal with it So on the first day, we hop in a bus. I didn't think it would be that bad cause I had to ride the bus quite a while to get to school every morning since the 3rd grade. (We won't go any further into that. Buses are not that fun for me, let's just say that -.-) Anyway, the bus ride turns out to be an hour or so. And since it was new territory we were driving through, I actually stayed awake to look around. We were driving from Nuku'alofa to Kalonga and at first it was the city, then we're driving through this jungle kind of area with lots of fields of coconut trees and other plants growing there. When we get to Kalonga, the church is already built. Well that's new. I wasn't expecting that. We took a short little tour and discover that there's actually quite a bit of stuff that needs done still. The interior needed paint, the floor needed to be finished, the baptismal was just a hole in the ground with a podium on top, there was no septic or plumbing, the exterior needed lots of work, and the fence! Ohh the fence. So in Tonga there are pigs and chickens that run around everywhere! As you probably know, pigs are dirty and gross. And these pigs would run around in the mud and muck, then wanted a nice back scratching. So where do they go? The local SDA church of course! They would rub against the walls and they had actually done this enough that the bottom couple feet of the wall was disintegrating and needed re-plastered. That and they were covered with mud, so we needed a fence to keep them out. Anyway, the painting inside was at the top of the priority list because they were going to be re-finishing the floor the next day, so most of us started in on that while the others started digging a hole for the septic tank. This is day one. All us palangi's (aka foreigners - more specifically white foreigners) painted the walls and such, while one of the locals painted the ceiling. He was a beast and a half! He started before us, and took less breaks than us. He had a roller on a super long pole and was just singing away as he painted. Of course, then we took a lunch break. Joedy told us that he had requested sandwiches and fruit. Well that sounds good! I'm down. Yeah then this flatbed truck pulls up with a van right behind it. A bunch of Tongan ladies pile out and cover the flatbed with a tablecloth, then start setting out the food. And they keep setting out food. And keep setting out food. And keep setting out food! There was so much food! I knew for sure I'd be a fatty by the time I went home! The girls at the Beulah SDA College had prepared the food, and I when I was talking with a couple of them, they said they had stayed up until like 1 am cooking, then woken up at 5 again to keep working. Talk about sacrifice! Anyway, we feasted, then felt like napping, but none of that! We went back to work. The painting was mostly done, so I asked what I could do. I can use a shovel and dig for the septic tank or something, I suggested. But no. That didn't happen. What I ended up doing was muuuuuch more enthralling. I got to move rocks! There were a bunch of pieces of coral and rock debris scattered all over the yard. So we grabbed a wheelbarrow and got to work. We'd throw all the little rocks in the wheelbarrow, then once it was full, haul them over to the main pile and dump them. Great times, great times. We finally finally finally got all the rocks out of the yard! Whew. And man it was starting to get hot and sweaty being in the sun. Hopefully my ginger-ness wouldn't get super toasted. I really did NOT want to be that person that gets uber sunburned. Anyway, I went and asked Pastor Joedy what needed done next. Well, lets see... MORE MOVING ROCKS! Yaaaaaay. Apparently there was a small pile of rocks in the way, so they needed to be thrown into the main pile of rocks. So we tackled that next. Annnnd once those rocks were all moved, it was about time to head on back to the compound. We get on the bus, and when we get to the compound I have just enough time to shower, change, and eat, then it's off to VBS! Busy days. Anyway, then it was back to work at the church. Hey what do you know, I moved rocks again! We filled in the area for the main walkway into the church building. It's a good thing I made a big Tongan friend, cause I would fill the wheelbarrow with rocks, then my noodle arms were too small to wheel it anywhere haha So what we did was he would get a break as I filled the wheelbarrow, then I got a break as he wheeled them over and dumped them out. Perfect system if you ask me. Once we got the walkway all filled in, it was time to start on the baptismal. The floors were finished up, so we could walk on them and stuff. However, the baptismal was a giant hole. And of course, it'd be our luck that it was too deep. So we had to fill it partially in. More rock moving! We got that all cemented and looking spiffy, then it was time to get the fence in. We couldn't really do any exterior work until the fence was done because the pigs would damage anything we did. So we laid the cinder blocks for the base of the fence and put rebar in the posts to hold them up nice and straight. We also filled in the cinder block work that had been done on the septic tank. It was a long day of mixing cement, I'll tell you that. I was glad we had a mixer though. I know lots of mission trips aren't that lucky and have to mix it by hand. After that, I went to the eye clinic to try my hand at helping people see, but you've already heard all about that. Then after two days I went back to construction. It was toward the end of the trip, and Pastor Joedy needed some volunteers to wake up super early to go out the construction site and help finish some stuff up. I volunteered, but when I woke up the next morning well before the sun I instantly regretted it. We all hopped in our Tonga taxi. (Which was actually just a truck with a canvas canopy on it. We all sat in the back on some benches that we put in there. I'm not really sure why this replaced the bus, but it was pretty funny watching people jostle around as we went over bumps haha.) When we got to the construction site we all piled out and people walked toward the church. I followed them, about 99% still asleep. It was a little chilly still, so I was wearing my hood still when we got there, and boy is it a good thing I was too! I found out rather shockingly that they had put in the barbed wire for the fence that day! It's a good thing I'm only 5'3, or else I would've had some serious scratches all over my forehead haha. Let's just say I was awake after that.... Anyway, then we finished putting up the fence, covered up the septic tank, and most of all poured cement for a sidewalk. I have to admit, the church was looking reallllll spiffy! The locals painted the outer part of the church (the damage from the pigs had been repaired on a day I was gone) and the doors were put in. As we ate lunch that day, Matani, an elder at the Kalonga church (the place we were at) gave a speech. He told us that when he was a young man he played rugby. Almost everyone in Tonga plays rugby. But he got hit in the throat pretty badly during one of the rugby games, and they had to take him to the hospital to operate immediately. While he was there, the power flickered, then went out for a full 30 minutes. The doctors thought he'd be dead for sure because of the power outage during the operation. By some miracle, he survived, but his vocal cords got all messed up and he has a very gruff and scratchy voice. He tearfully told us that he thought God spared his life so that he would live long enough to see the completion of the Kalonga church (As I said in an earlier post, the Kolonga church hadn't been finished for a number of years. -Keri). On Sabbath we heard the Kalonga choir sing in the church for the first time since it had been completed. Everyone was just so grateful for the work we had come and done. It was so touching to know that the work we were doing there was such a big deal for the locals. I truly was blessed to be able to come on this trip, and even more blessed to be able to share the experience! -Sophie
Thanks bunches, Sophie!!! =)
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