It’s pretty incredible as I walk the halls of the temple to realize we started this massive project only two weeks ago today. At that time I felt so overwhelmed at training so many and having the job turn out ok with so many hands on the walls.
Today I walked the halls and rooms as we worked on the “mends” that are inherent in any job this size, and was just in awe at the beautiful work that is truly a miracle. To take so many brand new people and bring them together and have the final outcome we have, is beyond my comprehension. So many of them have expressed their great faith to me and the way they know that they were able to do this project was that God was with them. I know this is true! With God NOTHING is impossible…even working with 14-17 Africans each day who speak a very different language (even though you might call it English), all from very different backgrounds, all with very different skill levels and have them all be a part of the project and feel successful. I am grateful beyond words for this incredible opportunity!We are almost finished. We should finish the walls by noon tomorrow. Then we have a giant mess to clean up. I spent most of the day teaching wall mending to Alex and Kaby, two Ghana men who will be responsible for taking care of the walls here. They are both painters by trade when they have work so mending was a little easier for them than some of the others would have been. I know they will do an excellent job in caring for these walls that they now have labored over with so much of their own sweat. The Nigerian crew finished the baptistery area and I will work on mends with them tomorrow. They are feeling confident and very excited to go back to Aba, Nigeria to do these finishes in their own temple. So confident, in fact, that they about gave me a heart attack today.
After finishing the rooms in the baptistery area, which I let them do by themselves, I was pointing out a few lines that needed some fixing and then taught them how to fix them. So, I left figuring they would un-tape and be done. When I returned a little while later, I found they had been over zealous in deciding that their walls weren’t good enough and they had started “mending” areas all throughout the walls! No…no…no…no…no! One concept I’ve had a hard time getting to sink in is that of “less is more”. They “over-do” everything and this was totally the wrong choice! I think this time it might have sunk in since it now took a very long time to fix the walls back to a good condition. I explained that most of the time they should finish and walk away…that their walls are good enough and they will be the only ones who see the problems…or just fix little things. Anyways, eventually it all turned out well…but I wanted to cry for a minute there as I pictured the real possibility of painting out that wall and starting over again. The only good news is it was a relatively small wall in the whole scheme of things. J
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| Oscar and the Cooks |
We looked at the possible option of moving up our trip home (we fly out Saturday night) but unfortunately the only possibility was Tuesday night and that is just a couple days too soon. So we will finish up, help do some cleaning in the temple, organize our tools and product to send to three different locations and of course, do some more shopping. Bernice is taking us to the Makala Market on Thursday so we can buy fabric. We all want to make a quilt from the beautiful fabrics here to remind us of this beautiful place forever! The only good thing about not leaving until Saturday is that we will get to see the temple all put back together, clean and beautiful. Most of the time we leave these jobs looking like a construction zone and never get to see our finished project. This will be a very rewarding last walk through later this week.
Oscar had brought a cake today since it was Amanda’s birthday Saturday and today was Alex’s birthday. So we had a party after lunch complete with singing and “faux champagne” with a toast. Oscar has so little money and yet he is always spending it on others. When I gave him his card today with the cash in it, I told him it was for him to open at home and it was for his family and no one else. I sincerely hope he will use it for their many needs. He is a giant of a man.
With the time difference in our locations now, Camron and I did not have a chance to talk but we texted a bit and he sent the following email from India. I’m so glad he has this opportunity. (He is 5 ½ hours ahead of us…how do you explain that extra half hour? I think I mentioned that before but it’s still a mystery to me.)
Alicyn
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Hi,
How was your Monday? I tried calling but it’s early enough that I’m sure you’re still over at the temple. I hope you were able to get a lot done today. So we drove all day from Chennai to Coimbatore. It was pretty cool to see that much of the country in the first day. I reminds me a lot of driving in Ghana, except the people walking around are Indian instead of black (but the driving is just as crazy). It’s very third world with tons of people. I’ve already eaten Indian food with my fingers from a banana leaf (twice), and I walked up a hill barefoot (because everyone was doing it—sort of a requirement). It was a bit unnerving, since, well, it’s India and I wear shoes in the shower, but what do you do? I took pictures, but they are still on the camera and I’m too tired to transfer. I will soon.
We also saw the Father-in-law’s home and so that was great, in that I can adjust my pages to have the descriptions be accurate. So an adventure filled first day and starting again in the morning. We’ll see the orphanage first thing tomorrow. Taj has everything all planned out, so that’s good. The hotels are super luxury, resort type hotels, and I have a room to myself with a king bed (how do you say, wish you were here in Tamil?). I’m not certain if our times will ever hook up to call, since I’ll have to be at the hotel to get internet, and you will be at the temple, where you can’t get internet, but we’ll see. Well, I’m beat and going to bed. Let me know how your day went. Say hi to everyone. I did get to chat with Danika, since she was on just a short while ago. I’ll forward our chat.
Love
Camron
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