Work Hard Wednesday

On the third day....
Welcome Terry and Joe! They arrived in great spirits after a long flight that included a 6 hour lay over in Costa RIca- Pura Vida for them was a nap on the terminal floor! We are all glad they arrived safely. Today was perhaps the biggest day yet of visible progress. We are 80 % complete on the expreior painting. This is no small feat as much of the work has been done on scaffolding. We are also treating the exterior wood with a new coat of varnish and it looks so much better! The second of the three concrete ramp is done and drying- we will get the last done tomorrow. Leading the charge locally has been our own Jess's long lost, older brother Don Pedro. He is the sexton for the church and he must have attended the same sexton school! Regardless, the most visible changes took place in the garden department. Theresa and Edward spear headed the work to clean out the east side plantings yesterday and replant several hibiscus plants as well as relocating all the aloe vera plants to thier own special spot on the corner. We also repositioned the decorative rock on the corner of the property and flanked the main church entrance with plam trees. Tomorrow we will tackle the front garden planting and hopefully get started on the fence. Theresa took a little time out to present Father Marco with icon writing supplies as well as give him a short lesson as he had expressed interest in earlier emails. In addition, Father Marco presented two original paintings to both the Harrisons and the youth team. We were very humbled.
Leaving the church today was a mob scene straight out of a popstar tour video. The local chicos y chicas were hanging all over our kids, It was very funny until they chased our bus down the street running along side. We could all hardly bear to watch! Fortunetly there were no injuries.

We stopped at the convent long enough to clean up and headed over to the market for some shopping. There were lots of stalls open but not too many customers as this of off season. It was fun to haggle and both the adults comae away with an assortment of hats, sweaters, backpacks and other odds and ends for themselves as well as family and friends. After market we headed over the Susan's house. She lives with her husband John, the Dean of the Cathedral, on the grounds of the Cathedral in Lima known as the church of the Good Shephard. It was built in 1949 though the Anglican church in Peru traces its roots back to 1844. Pizza was on the menu and Papa John's delivery came just in time to avoid a Donner meltdown. A quick walk through the alter area of the Cathedral gave of all a view of the inside of this Episcopal outpost. It was a fantastic visit.
We have moved tomorrow's departure back by one hour at the request of the team and sinsce we have been working very hard, it was decided that they deserve a little extra sack time. Once again the team busted out with a great work ethic, genuine appreciation for the local kids and the team's fantastic attitude infected all on the work site.