Framing the house in Santa Maria de Jesus

Sleep was difficult last night. The sound of large trucks was deafening especially when they used their engine brakes. It seemed that nearby dogs barked constantly. When a small dog would bark, every other dog would add to the noise. Everyone slept with earplugs which helped some, but I don’t think anyone slept well.

I journaled and read more in Lost Birds after I got up at 4 am Guatemala time. That was 6 am back home and I normally get up at 5 am. Although Guatemala is positioned to be in the Central Time Zone, they do not use Daylight Saving Time making it two hours behind Eastern Time.

Breakfast at CRI was excellent. There were scrambled eggs, pancakes, fresh pineapple, papaya and berries. Although neither of us are coffee drinkers, I tried a cup of Guatemalan coffee which, as coffee goes, was good. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and packed them with a banana, corn chips and a pack of cookies in lunch sacks. We made enough lunches for everyone on our team as well as the bus drivers, Rafael and Carlos, our local building consultants and extras for the family whose house we were building.

Guatemalan "chicken bus"

We boarded the small bus to drive the nearly 90 minutes to the site of the house we were to build. Traffic and congestion was even worse than on Wednesday. Cars were weaving in and out with scooters and motorcycles sliding between the cars and trucks. We also saw “chicken buses” which are wildly decorated and transport people from rural areas to Guatemala City to sell items throughout the city including live chickens.

Our bus made a quick stop at a convenience store for a bathroom break then arrived at Pueblo Santa Maria de la Jesus. We disembarked the bus at a concrete and steel building that is rented as a church operated by CRI in the rural community. We carried the lunches, a cooler and a 5-gallon carboy of water for our consumption during the day. The cobblestone road up to the build site was steep but not terribly long.

When we arrived, there was a 20 X 20 concrete pad with three courses of block where we would construct the house framing. We met the family who would live in the house before we started the build. They were living in a structure made of roughly laid block and woven corn stalks.

Where the family was living when we arrived

Rafael gave us sizes of boards to be cut. The framing lumber was mostly 2 X 2 pine that was rough sawn and not dried at all. Brian and I measured and cut while Mary carried the framing lumber to us. Others assembled the framing from the cut lumber by hand nailing the boards together. Once the frames were up, we started cutting the rough sawn siding boards to size. We were pleased that several volunteers offered to help cut boards to give us a break. It was especially good that Pam wanted to learn to use a circular saw and after a bit of instruction, she became competent quickly. It took a while to get in a rhythm but once we hit a stride we progressed quickly. We took a 20-minute lunch break for the meals that we packed this morning then got back to work. By 3:30 we had most of the exterior walls up and covered with siding as well as one of the interior walls. We would complete the remaining walls and the porch on Friday. We would not be permitted to install the corrugated steel on the roof so Rafael and Carlos will add that on Saturday. The house dedication is scheduled for Monday. We cleaned up and put tools away then walked back to the church where we met with a group from Winterhaven, Florida to learn about CRI’s ministry in that community from Edgar.

Darren with a mother & daughters carrying produce

The drive back to CRI was even worse than this morning. There was lots of traffic including the chicken buses and several ambulances going down the mountain.

After dropping our backpacks at our rooms, we went down for dinner of fried fish, hush puppies, corn on the cob, broccoli, homemade tortillas and rice. We were hungry and everything was very good. I visited with Darren Broyles for a good bit after dinner discussing travel then went up to the sleeping rooms for a shower. I had changed rooms to get a lower bunk because when I read in the top bunk I have no place to put a book and a flashlight. I also disturb others to get up early. There are only three of us in the other room and everyone had a lower bunk.

I was happy to get a shower and clean clothes since I felt like I was covered by sawdust. I did a couple of quick German lessons the went out to the lounge area.

Everyone met in the seating area of our lodging area to debrief from the day and discuss plans for tomorrow as well as the rest of our time here. There was a good bit of discussion regarding items that we should purchase for the family receiving the house as well as things needed by the church in the community. Becky planned to talk to Edgar to find out which items are most needed.

We finished up around 8:30, and many of us visited and other team members. I worked on this journal then turned in to read a couple more chapters in Lost Birds before going to sleep. I hoped to sleep better than Wednesday night.