Work Project Recap
The Brazil team had to be multi-faceted this year. Not only did they have to sing, share the gospel, and preach and teach about Christ, they had to do a pretty challenging work project. Our Center Point Church family raised the money to do the work project to improve the Haven of Hope facilities. While the facilities are already in great shape, there is still much to be done to enhance it and keep it up-to-date. The team worked on the project on Monday through Thursday.
Our project was three-fold. First, there was an art team that worked on a mural for the children’s school entrance. This was spear-headed by Kurt Oetken, April Pilcher, Brian Oldham, and Serah Thomas. They didn’t have a ton of time to design and paint, but they did an incredible job with what they had. Here’s a few shots of the mural and the art team:
New mural at the entrance of Haven of Hope classrooms.
The mural art team: Serah, Kurt, Brian, April.
Second, there was a team that worked on painting and cleaning around the main room of the Haven of Hope dining room/kitchen/foyer. They had to strip rust and old paint and put a new coat on. It was tedious, trying work, but they kept going and sought to honor Christ in every minute of it. Here are some photos of the painting/cleaning team:
Marie getting the door ready for a fresh coat.
Susan, Kelli, and Erin putting on the first coat of paint at the dining room.
Zach Monroe plastering the stairway walls.
Sara and Kasey taking a much needed break after sanding and painting.
Heather, Susan, Serah, and Erin sanded the main door and then revarnished it.
The third tier of work on this missions trip had to do with a bunch of brutes and a ton of cement. The task was simple: fill in the columns on the security wall that surrounds Haven of Hope. The work was quite wearying, but it was worthwhile knowing that it was being done for the protection of these precious children. Just like the painting/cleaning crew, none of the guys complained, even at points of extreme exhaustion.
Brian Oldham jump-starting the cement mixer. Where did he learn how to do that???
The guys filling the columns in the wall.
Jason Orr wheeling sand to the cement mixer.
Chad Wiles tossing a cinder block to Jeremy Armstrong.
Cement team thanking God for a good day's work.
While the work was hard, it was very rewarding. God gave all of us at each project area the strength and energy to go on – in spite of 17 of our team members getting sick while in Brazil. It truly reminded us of one of the Bible verses we memorized:
“Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.” – 1 Corinthians 15:58
Updates on the ministry days is coming soon.
