Day 9 | Russell Nuckles

Day 1 complete. The crew worked hard, and our progress was satisfactory. I got to do a little bit of everything around the job site, but by far the most interesting task was mixing the cement under supervision by the Haitian work crew. They’ve got their own way of doing things, and they expect you to adhere strictly to that way. I know about three words in their language, but they were able to express pleasure or disapproval quite clearly nonetheless. Working with them, I have now mixed three of the three largest single piles of cement in my life. I had an interesting conversation with one of our translators today. We came to be talking about how we bear our burdens in life, and he told me of how many Haitians will walk up a mountain carrying rocks or something similar so that they could lay them down at the peak as they arrived to worship. This ritual gave the acts of submission and repentance a much more tangible character. We all pick up burdens in life, but I for one often become possessive over them and keep their weight all to myself even as Christ reaches for them to take them from me. Time does not heal our burdens; it inures us to their weight, creating a separation between us and Christ’s grace. I found this lesson to be one which I was in dire need of.