Fun in the Sun - Six Were Done

Breakfast at 7, strolled in for some waffles.  During morning devotion we separated into 3 groups to help 3 different homes.  The ride was 30min long, but 2 busses got lost.  Eventually we made it to the village high up in the mountain.  From one of the work sites you could look over and see the mountains, volcanos, and Lake Atitlan.

Josie's Perspective:
My group had a slow start.  We think the waffles slowed us down.  But eventually we started our day.  Some worked on the Latrine and some on the stove.  Today I got to work on my first stove.
My first job of the day was to operate the machete, and cut the blocks to different sizes.  We had to carry 40 blocks to the location where we worked.  While I was cutting blocks a few people from my group started to mix mud to "glue" the blocks together.  As I chopped the blocks Caroline and Lyndsey would check it and talk with me here and there.
Once we started to build the stove our mason asked us to fill in the cracks with mud.  Through out the day we had to mix more concrete and mud.
We always have a point in our day were we will talk a break and have snacks with the masons and the family.  Shortly after we get back to work. 
Once in a while the kids would walk around and check in.  I talked to one little girl named Jimena.  Her favorite color is purple and she loved to help us and follow us around.  Her older brother played soccer with a few of us.  When you looked up in the trees instead of seeing birds you would see kids hanging out with their friends, swaying in the wind.
The mason I worked with was doing his first stove.  His name was Mario, and he was so determined to do a good job.
When it's time for lunch we walk away from what we're doing and grab a plate of food the caterer got ready for us.  We usually eat with the masons and possibly the families.
Today we had stuffed peppers, pickled radishes, tortillas, and squash.
After lunch we get right back to work.  Pretty soon we will finish and have to clean up.
We wash the tools, bins, and anything else laying around. Jimena was so excited to help us clean.  It was so cool to talk with her and to have her laugh and smile with us.
We have a ceremony for the families to officially give the stove and latrine to them.  We each hold a piece of the stove and hand the piece over to the family.  We say a few words and they place the piece into the stove.
We then say goodbye to the family and head back.

After we work we usually have time to get clean and go shopping, nap, or sleep.
We walked to a pizza place toe dinner.  They had live music and a good atmosphere. 

It was a great day.  It still amazes me that we show up first thing in the morning, build a stove and latrine and those families' lives are changed.  I'm so grateful for this experience and the people I've met.

Andy's Perspective:
Today was probably my favorite day of the entire trip, most likely because of the awesome work experience I had. First of all I want to reference the amazing family that we got to work for today. They were and old couple and they were the sweetest people you could ever meet, and the woman kind of reminded me of my Grandmother. She was always smiling every time I looked over, she made me feel like I was welcome and that she was glad to have me there. Another thing that I thought was cool about her was that it was very easy to tell that she had a very deep relationship with God. I felt this because when she and her husband were asked to say a prayer before we started working they both had this passion in their prayer. I could not really understand what they were all saying but I knew from there hand gestures and because their eyes were closed that they were deep in their prayer. We also do a devotion at the end of the day when we finish building and again I could not understand everything that she said but she melted my heart with her gratitude and graciousness. This is my second year on this trip and I have never met a family more grateful and thankful than theirs.
Another thing that made this day my favorite of the whole trip was just my work experience as a whole, especially because of the people I got to work with. First of all Sandra, who is one of the leaders from Habitat, was awesome because she always has a smile on her face. I would mess up on the measurement of a piece of wood or something like that and we could just giggle about it. She also has the best music playing all the time like Sugar Sugar, and Walking of Sunshine. I also loved to talk and banter with Krista and Kelly. I loved to give crap to Krista because she would just give it right back and we had tons of fun. Kelly and I had fun in a hammering competition where I found out just how sassy and competitive she was which is awesome.
Overall it was an awesome day but I had to cut it down a lot. I am so blessed to be here and I can't wait to wake up in the morning and start a new day.