Friday, July 12, 2019
The weather during the past 3 days has been very warm and dry, with variations of cloud cover. The temperatures have been in the low 20’s C ( 70’s F ) in the morning and up to 31 C ( 88 F ) during the afternoon.
Other than taking a group picture after breakfast, the morning started out as usual.
There have been a lot of odds and ends to finish on each of the houses where we worked, however, a lot of the extra time was required to complete the renovations due to the non-standard conditions of the houses. This resulted in a lot of modifications to standard materials, such as doors, a number of which had to be cut down in height or width and in some cases both dimensions, because of the non-standard openings. This makes the work very interesting, but it also results in taking extra time to complete tasks.
Abe, John, Will and I returned to the Radek house before 8 am. Will finished painting most of the doors. I finished installing the bathroom tile, John removed the back door and frame and assisted Abe with installing the door. He also helped Will paint some doors. Abe also built covers for the electrical panels and glued ends on one of the laminate countertops.
In the morning we had been instructed to stop work and return to camp around 2 pm, unless we needed a little more time to finish a job. We started packing up shortly after 2 pm and left the job site by 2:30 pm to return to camp and clean up. The 5 MDS vehicles were washed, vacuumed and inspected, the 5 showers in the shower trailer were cleaned and the floors in the kitchen and dining area were washed.
Ike and I returned to the Radek house at 4 pm and I finished cleaning the house before supper. Eileen had cooked 12 trout that several of the volunteers had caught a few weeks ago, for supper. She had also baked some chicken wings and potatoes and prepared a potato salad.
After supper we shared some details of our day. During the sharing time, Eileen mentioned that several people had thanked her for being here to help rebuild homes in the area after the noticed her MDS shirt. Also, she had received donations of food, such as bags of potatoes, salads, etc.
The people in Grand Forks have been very appreciative and kind, to the point that it is humbling for me.
I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend to rest for next week.
Ralf Hamm 