Day 3 - Getting to Work

No more sleeping in, it's time to get to work.  We meet at 7:30am for devotions and plan our day.  We have "Leaders for the Day" that will change to give everyone a chance to be in charge.  Today is Ben and Gabriel's day to call the shots.  Gabriel has been having a tough time so far with a horrible case of poison ivy which has gotten much worse over the past 2 days.  He's been a trooper, though, never complaining or wanting special treatment.  Gabriel is the youngest of our team (18 and just graduated from high school) but you would never know it from his maturity and intelligence.

We divide up in two groups.  Some of the girls start the tedious job of sanding all the metal trim and doors and the rest start to tackle the pool.   The church is planning on having baptisms on Saturday so this is a top priority.   There have been some problems with the pump and the pool had to be drained.  So we get to work cleaning and removing the remaining water from the deep end.  How do you remove water from a pool when the pump is broken?  You haul it out with 5 gallon buckets, of course!   We were able to get all the water out and scrub the tile.  It was actually fun since the boys pitched in and helped in between sliding down from the shallow end to the deep end.  Everyone was soaking wet including me (Liz) who slipped while cleaning tile and took a not-so-graceful dive into the deep end. But the pool looks great, the pump is fixed and the water is slowly filling back up...hopefully in time for Saturday.

We were able to get some landscaping done.  Tree limbs were pruned back (really hacked) with a maschete and the grass was mowed.  Painting progress was slow due to some trouble getting the right paint.  We hung a ceiling fan in the dining room which is a great help with the flies.  The bugs are not nearly as bad as I thought and the flies are annoying but could be much worse.

There is a store here similar to Lowe's or Home Depot called "EPA".  It is not as well stocked but good to have just 30 minutes from the Farm.  Tomorrow we will get our supplies straight and tackle more projects.

Our living conditions are very comfortable.  The staff cooks for us 3 meals a day and the food is great!  Fresh eggs today for breakfast, beef barbeque for lunch, fresh fruit for afternoon snack and meat with peppers and onions for dinner.  We are sticking to bottled water and I don't think anyone has experienced any problems.  So far, so good....

That's all for now as my ride just came after Mark and Kevin went to EPA to stock up.  Hope to post more pictures tomorrow.  Adios from Venezuela!!