Day 4 | Kalyn Harris

Today was day four, and was very interesting. We were at the same house we were at yesterday. We cleaned the last of the trash, including a blue tarp from under the house, which happened to house a spider the size of my palm. I was raking the tarp out, when that thing crawled to the edge of the house and proceeded to stare at with me with its eight beady little eyes. I froze because I happen to be terrified of spiders and got Mathias, who I found out is also scared of spiders, to come and hit it with his sledge hammer. He missed because it tried to run at him and I got the heck out of dodge. It crawled back under the house and I was very uneasy the rest of the day. After that, we pulled siding off the house and discovered extensive termite and cockroach damage. We had a good day and got a lot done. I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Day 3 | Kalyn Harris

I found out this early this morning from Pastor Bill that today happened to be hump Day! After breakfast, we laced up our shoes and walked outside to a scorching 89 degrees. When we got to the worksite, we found out that we were going to demo a porch for a grandma and her autistic granddaughter. We got it mostly done by lunch when the warning for the heat index rose from 105-109 degrees to 115 degrees. I think I drank 6 bottles of gatorade and water. We finished demoing the porch and cleaned probably 50 coca-cola cans out from under it. We also took the siding off the back of house with a crowbar and hammers. Overall it was a really fun day today.

Day 2 | Kalyn Harris

Today we went back to yesterday’s job site and finished shoveling the last 4 tons of sand. After that, we tried four different methods to construct the flowerbeds. The other youth and I got to dig trenches with hammers to lay the boards in while the adults debated on how to build them. Then, we raked sand and covered that evenly with top soil (it was really manure). After that, we planted flowers and raked mulch over that. Although the work was hard and tiring, it was a really fun day.

Day 1 | Kalyn Harris

These past three days have been a lot of fun. Everyone on my van slept most of the first and second day, but when we were awake there were a lot of laughs. The trip down was fun and interesting to say the least and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Today we worked on a house for a couple whose wife was handicapped. In the morning, we touched up paint, put covers over outlets and light switches, and cleaned up. In the afternoon we spread about 12 tons of sand with 5 shovels, 2 rakes, and 2 wheelbarrows.we all drank lots of water and although the work was hard and hot, I really enjoyed it. I loved the opportunity to serve today and am looking forward to the rest of the week.