The Paint Quartet

As we were in the midst of having a team of four men here from Virginia to help finish the big dorm, I had this thought, “Hey! Why haven’t I posted more of what teams do down here?!” Aie yie yie. Maybe that’s an obvious thought for a post…. it’s really too bad I’ve just now had it! So! Here it is!

Rodney had to build five concrete posts in the big dorm to make it so the roofs weren’t sagging and then, Mike, a man from our community came and rendered them. While Mike was rendering, they found that part of the ceiling was starting to fall off and it ended up in a gaping hole so that had to be filled in and fixed as well.

One of the columns, built and rendered.

4 foot (or so) hole in the roof.

Then the team arrived! Yay! Four dear friends from our home church in Virginia. It was wonderful to see them piling out of our bus when they arrived! It was Larry’s birthday, so we had a few surprises for him, including cake and a birthday sign. Homemade ice cream had to wait until the next night because it was too late and they were WIPED OUT from being awake by 2 that morning.

Compliments of Hotel Knepp

Jamaican tradition of birthday flouring! (Happy he was still smiling after that and a long day of traveling!)

Linwood tucked in and ready to sleep at Hotel Knepp

After the initial welcome, they all got down to business. After getting a paint sprayer working (it took a while…. I mean, how could it not?! It’s Jamaica!!), they headed down and started painting the ceilings white and the walls yellow. They were fast workers and had the whole first floor done the first day!

Larry painting

Omar running the sprayer

Linwood working the trim

Glen and Darren also worked on some electrical stuff. (Leave it to me to give you those kind of details…. 🙂 )

Glen doing something electrical…

Darren painting… no pictures of him helping with electrical whatever.

After the first two days of working, Linwood lead a football (soccer) camp for the teams in our community. From what I heard, it was a success!

Linwood in the blue and white… and the only whitie 🙂 leading the football (soccer) camp

Maya and Micah took part too… in their own way.

Darren, on the other hand, lead a wrestling session that the younger community boys thoroughly enjoyed.

Throughout the week, occasionally, Micah would head down to ‘help’ out. We started potty training the day the team arrived, so we were at the house for most of the time. Once he got the hang of it, though, I would let him out and about and he was SO happy!

Heading down to ‘help’ Papa and the team in his birthday boots!

I should also mention Clarke. He provided us with homegrown, fresh, roasted, and ground coffee every morning (for those who drink coffee. The others of us drank Eve’s homemade hot chocolate).

Clarke 🙂 A founding father of the deaf church and school in our community.

In the evenings, we enjoyed hanging out, playing with the kids, eating, enjoying catching up and conversation.

Glen ‘doing’ Maya’s hair.

Reading with Darren

On the phones….

On Saturday, Rodney enjoyed having the help of four extra people for butchering chickens. We were glad they’re all good sports! 🙂

From left to right: Rodney, Linwood, Omar, Darren

Showing off his skills…. whatever those may be….

The plan for Saturday afternoon was to head to the beach but it turned out to be a cold (by Jamaican standards), rainy day. So people enjoyed catching up on sleep, finding a lumber yard, and I did housework. Lucky me! 🙂 Later that night we did go to Jack Sprats to have some Jamaican style pizza, conch soup, and festivals.

Um Yum, you like ’em!

There was even a large bonfire and DJ that the kids were able to enjoy a dance party with.

Sunday brought about church and then we headed to the beach. Darren was yearning to try out his snorkeling gear. Even though the sun hid behind the clouds most of the time, I think I can say everyone enjoyed themselves.

Rodney playing with Devor

There was more work to be done Monday, with painting the floors of the dorm and touching up everything else.

Bonding in close quarters

Tuesday brought about a trip to YS Falls which I was told everyone really enjoyed. Micah and I stayed home because he was sick with fever, runny belly (Patois for diarrhea), and no appetite.

Ahhh, ahhh, ahhhhhh… (think Tarzan call). Enjoying the rope swing at YS Falls.

The guys and Maya came home to our friend, Toots, making stewed pork and callalloo. While we were eating though, they were able to experience an ant invasion. At first it started out as a few stomps to kill ants (huge ants), then progressed to Glen stomp dancing to try and kill them all, which then moved to Glen and Darren stomp dancing together in an attempt to quell the hoards that were coming through the door, and the night finally ended with gasoline and fire… trailing the ants to their nest. Maya and Micah were the stomp crew to get any runaways, and Linwood was clean up crew. Needless to say, there weren’t any ants in the house the next day! 🙂

A new version of Stomp…

Runaway Ant Crew

Looking for more ant trails while Glen recovers from a bite. Watch out! They bite hard!

What is it about gas and fire that guys love?!

Good times were had by all. We weren’t looking forward to saying goodbye, but if it meant that they could be here in the first place,  we were happy we had the opportunity!

You can tell the type of group from the ears…

All complete! They did an awesome job, right?!

We are so thankful for this group of men. We are thankful for the sacrifices they and their families made so they could come down and help Rodney out with this massive project. We are thankful for their friendships, their encouragement, their support and love for us! Thank you guys!

Larry, Glen, Linwood, Darren