Concrete Assurance

Today's devotional, "Born Again", was inspirational in that we all could connect with the message that Jan Milligan was making about the desire we have from within to be live out our lives for Him. To love and assist those less fortunate, to stand up for the rights of those that are different and to help others by introducing them to scripture for special circumstances. We are all here with special talents that only we possess. It is like Christ is painting a masterpiece and each of us is a shade or color. When we interact appropriately with others the vision is clear and magnificent. It feels good to be here doing what the Lord has placed before us to complete.

Today was a perfect day to pour concrete. Overcast and no wind. The first truck was supposed to be at the job site by 8 am, but it finally arrived about 9 am.
After that the trucks came pretty regularly except for one break in the early afternoon. We worked today as one team and moved from site to site.

When the trucks arrived, everyone was anxious to put on their rubber boots and get in the 'mud' (concrete). Most of the time, the truck could get close enough to drop the concrete at least close to all four corners. On one lot, however, the truck could only get to the front of the slab, so we had to 'pull' the concrete to the back of the form. Very tiring work, but with fourteen guys it makes it much easier because we can take turns.















We started using a new method for finishing the slabs. In the past we have used bull floats, which work fine, but leave some small ridges in the slab. This year we used a screed board (a long board that stretches across the entire width of the slab) to level and smooth the slab. It worked very well and our slabs were the best we have ever poured (at least in our humble opinion).



Another first for this trip was that Rem Bennett actually convinced a couple of the concrete truck drivers to let him drive the truck. Fortunately he didn't run into any walls, cars or power lines!



It is very rewarding to see the smiles on the faces of the future homeowners. For some of them, I think that up until the slab is poured, they are really not sure that they are getting a house. When they see the concrete being poured, they really begin to believe. We had a lot of smiling faces today and when they smile, it makes us smile. It makes all the planning, expense and hard work worthwhile. From our perspective, what we are giving them seems so much less than our standard of living, but from their perspective a home like this is a huge improvement in their standard of living and will have impacts beyond what we can imagine.



We finished about 2 pm and everybody was hot and tired, but very satisfied with the work we had accomplished. Back to the hotel for a hot shower, a little rest and then dinner. We ate at El Papalote and everyone seemed to enjoy another dinner of Mexican cuisine. Allen, the designated 15-passenger van driver, has really taken to the local driving protocols. If we didn't know better we would think he spent all his vacations here.

Tomorrow will be our last day. We will lay the first row of block on each house and that will be the end of our part of the construction process. In just about six weeks, the Senior High youth and advisers will be here to build these homes.