Work in Progress

It is still funny to me that I am in charge of people working on houses. When someone in my group has a question or doesn't know what to do next, they ask me. They are looking to me for instructions. Me? How am I qualified to do this? Do I even know what I am doing enough to tell others what to do? These are questions I ask myself on a daily basis. However, I am learning so much. Each day this week I learned more and more just by evaluating situations and finding the best way to go about it. My feeling of inadequacy is slowly dying away and I am becoming more confident in both my ability and leadership.

This week we sheet rocked a lot of ceiling. The only other time I have worked with sheet rock before this summer was my first mission trip to a Youth Works site in New Orleans. Then, I was merely just an assistant. Needless to say, my first day doing the sheet rock was a lot of contemplation about "What do I tell the kids to do next?" However, we finished the ceiling of a bedroom that had been started, completed a hallway and a bathroom ceiling, insulated all of those areas, and floated/mudded a large majority of what we put up. The pace of interior work is much different than the pace of doing a work. So, all week I felt like we weren't getting anywhere just because there is so much measuring, cutting, seeing if things fit, recutting, drilling, moving ladders, redrilling, repositioning, etc as opposed to a roof where to place and hammer, place and hammer.

My group this week ended up being such a blessing too. The last two nights I got to spend a lot of time off the worksite talking to them and really just investing time with them. One of the coolest parts of this week was homeowner night. Our homeowner who came is not a practicing Christian, but is beginning to show interest more and more into Christianity. Not only did he stay for worship after dinner (which he didn't stay his first week at the homeowner dinner), but he also began opening up about his faith to our team leaders. God really gave a push this week to this witnessing situation. Mr. Gilbert (the homeowner) was planning to take the bus home after, up until the bus didn't even stop at the bus stop. Therefore, the team leaders convinced him to let them take him home, which is when he really began to talk about his faith, or lack of faith. Comes to show, God works in funny ways, even by letting the bus skip the stop.

Also, my group surprised me with a whole bunch of goodies the last night. How neat it was to see the thought they put into the gifts they gave me. They kept joking this week I was a redneck, being from Tennessee. So they gave me a bunch of camp stuff. But, now that I am loving Texas and San Antonio, they also gave me many small Texas related items, as well as Spurs gear. (Go Spurs Go!) Then, the best part, is a plastic toy tool set, complete with plastic screws, nails, hammer, drill that can even be put into reverse, a drill bit and a screw bit, as well as a box to carry it all in. Needless to say, I will bringing that to the worksite with me Monday. Hopefully my group of high schoolers next week find it funny. If not, I will still find it funny.

Overall, a much needed week. I feel much more confident in my ability to do interior work. Even though, I am praising Jesus to be back working on a roof next week, even though the temperatures will be over 100 all next week.
Prayers needed.