Aaron
Sorkin

What a nice day. For the first time this summer, I think, we had a rain free day during the home repair times. We were able to get a lot of work done, including finishing up two sites from last week (the stairs and porch roofs) and coming really close to finishing up another two (the trim and doors, and the roof.) Work continued a the flooring site in Mullens and a new flooring site was started out in Ravencliff.

The big news of the day was that we had 8 kids at camp! The kids were thrilled with the special art classes and enjoyed playing with all the volunteers who were around.

Dinner tonight was delicious… a baked potato bar complete with all the fixings, corn casserole and salad. As usual all was scrumptious.

Reflection tonight was led by our two youngest PVs in the community. Using a reading from an inspiration book for kids, we were asked to share a time when we were hard on ourselves and whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. PV youth continue to inspire!

To make any kind of progress, we need to imagine a different reality and believe it’s possible.

Taj Sharot

Friday’s begin with a cleaning day for the community, so everyone had their task to do to make the place shine. It is quite an operation to see 30 or so people working together cleaning every corner of The Way, getting it all ready for the next group to come through.

After cleaning was done, the group headed out to sites for the day. A crew headed out to the two roofing projects up near Herndon. The group was able to almost finish up the two sites, just a little left. They also took a run to the dump to get rid of some of the construction materials from the sites from the week.

Another three crews worked in Mullens. The site where we are building the steps and landing is almost finished. The volunteers even put in a bench on the landing for a place to rest. The crew just needs to do a couple of finishing touches. Another site in Mullens was the one were we put in a new ceiling and poured the cement yesterday. Today they painted the ceiling and installed a new front door. Again, just a little left for Monday. At the final site in Mullens the crew was able to finish pulling up the floor so it is now ready to reinforce the support beams and replace the flooring.
Since it was Friday, we also had the camp back at The Way. The kids had some one on one basketball training, as well as arts and crafts, pool and ping pong. The local kids and the PV kids seemed to enjoy each other’s company.
It was taco night on the ranch tonight. Lots of options to make a delicious plate of Mexican food…lentils, re-fried beans, meat and lots of veggies. For dessert…dump cake and a delicious fruit salad.

The closing prayer service focused on the idea of a hurricane and how it related to our volunteer experience. Sometimes there is chaos and storminess surrounding us, but there is always calmness in the eye.

A day without much rain! It felt like the first time in awhile that we were firing on all cylinders, so to speak. We had a very busy day with four home repair sites going on, as well as helping at the Council on Aging and St. Vincent DePaul.

The “big” site of the day was for a man in Mullens. We were trying to figure out a way for him to have a floor in his back room which sits pretty much in the dirt, right up against the mountain. Several wonderful PV minds put their heads together and came up with the idea of putting in a concrete floor after the existing floor was taken up. The challenge of this, however, was mixing and moving the concrete up a steep and long set of steps. The wonderful PV brain trust came up with the idea of mixing up the concrete and filling up buckets for transport. This was also a great way to involve a lot of people, as especially the kids. It was quite an impressive process to watch. Everyone had a job and pitched in and helped. There was also a small crew working in the house finishing up with the ceiling that we started yesterday. In all, 15 PVs worked really hard to get the job done, hence the mention of the “big” site.

We also had a crew trying to finish up two roofing sites that have been on hold for awhile because of the rains. I had to say almost since the were so close to finishing when a storm passed over and it started to rain. The crew was very disappointed not to finish. But there is always tomorrow.

Today we also started up two additional sites in Mullens. One project was building a new set of steps and platform for a woman and the other was helping a man pull up and replace his floor that had water damage. Great progress was made at both sites.

The Council on Aging and St. Vincent DePaul combo went very well as well. They had a lot of residents joining in the activities at Council on Aging and kept busy helping with distribution and clothes sorting at the St. Vincent DePaul Warehouse in Pineville.  A good day was had by all!

Dinner this evening was scrumptious. There was sweet and sour chicken, Brazilian black beans and rice, carrots,mustard greens, salad, and so much more!

Reflection was once again led my some of our younger volunteers, the leaders of the future. We were presented with the idea of service and what our inspiration to do service is. It was a great reminder of why we are all here.

Heroes didn’t leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn’t wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else’s. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.

Jodi Picoult

Another day with a lot accomplished despite wet weather. We were lucky that the rains held off for the most part until early afternoon. The roofing site up in Herndon worked until tarps again and is now ready for the rubber roofing tomorrow. The other outdoor site in Mullens, replacing porch boards and railings was also able to be completed before the rains came. The other off-site home repair site today was helping to replace a ceiling and a door for a man in Mullens. At this site the volunteers were treated to lunch cooked by the home owner.
Back at The Way we had both camp and several projects, perfect for a rainy day. The hard work of the volunteers last Monday to help spread the word seemed to have paid off as there were six kids today. It was great to see the local kids and the PV kids playing together. Lots of great work was done today to help get The Way touched up. The stairway was painted and trimmed and the stage was started being put back together after a leaky roof damaged it over the summer.
The evening meal was a wonderful comfort meal. Macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, biscuits and salad. Who knew all that could taste so good? OK, we all knew that : )
Tonight we were asked to reflect on something that we struggled with that ended up becoming a blessing. Many beautiful and heartfelt stories were shared.

We are back up with the internet…. We closed out Friday with more and more rain…seems to be a trend. Saturday morning all but one of the volunteers headed out back to their homes, but don’t worry because 30 more arrived over the weekend. We had another rainy Sunday, but the group was able to take a hike at  Twin Falls State Park. Sunday was spent doing all the usual beginning of the week activities, re-orientation, commissioning and job-sites. After which for those that wanted to, we headed down to Pineville to watch the Women’s World Cup final.

More to come this evening and today’s activities…

We are experiencing problems connecting to the internet. We will begin posting again once we have a connection.

I alone can not change the world. But I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. – Mother Teresa

Today was another good day. Crews headed out to continue at the two sites that we were at yesterday. The porch roof site wrapped up and great progress was made at the other site. The freshly painted trailer looks beautiful from the road and its inhabitants loved it! The colors barely beige and morning coffee were a hit.

Today was also the first day of us opening up The Way, where we are staying, to the kids in the area. Six kids came for the first day and had a lot of fun playing games and doing crafts. We hope as word gets out the numbers will grow.

Once again the rains held off until we got back to The Way for the evening. As usual, dinner was spectacular. We had chili and cornbread, lots of veggies and fruit. Yum, yum.  You could never say that we don’t eat well.

Reflection time tonight we spent thinking about what a conversation with God might be like and were asking to share a time we felt God’s presence. The sharing of our days is such an important part of the PV experience and is always a nice way to end the day.