Hello All!
How are things going? I hope well! We are still doing well here in Concepcion. As you can see we have a rigorous schedule...but it has been a lot of fun! Since we are staying in the country for some reason I feel like there is no need to write as frequently...but I will try to give semi-monthly updates and upload pictures and such. Although..my camera has not been behaving very well unfortunately...the first sign was the smoke coming out of it. I think it may be on its last limb..but nonetheless..I'll use it to the very end!
So the Kingdom Hall Project here has been moving along rapidly! We have less than a week here left! 6 weeks from beginning to end in this project...quite incredible to see the progress first hand. Jenesia and I have had a variety of jobs...learning all sorts of different trades. We helped with the framing and drilling the metal walls/windows together. We put up the Typar and Plastic Siding as well. Insulation...taping the walls...cleanup...roof gutters..(for my dad!) I have slowly but surely been learning the construction terms. Now I can't think of some of the words in English! Plancha...its the woodenplank under the siding. Whats the word?! We have become experts on assembling and taking apart our Scaffolding. It seems we are always using the scaffolding (andamio). I named one of the boys "Mono Chico" (monkeyboy) because he's all over the place on the scaffolding and roof. I always feel bad for the ones working with "the gringa"...more patience is required and lots of gestures. One brother made us a cheat sheet with important construction terms. At times I feel very inadequate..but I remember that Jehovah appreciates the efforts of all the brothers and sisters. Kingdom Hall builds are just such a great atmosphere. Everyone so happy working together for the same cause. I find myself singing frequently and sometimes I don't realize other people can hear me. I figure its in Enlgish and they can't hear...but thats not the case! The whole group calls me "Steffie." Its pretty funny. Not Steph. Not Stephanie..but Steffie. Jenesia has even switched to calling me Steffie. It cracks me up..but I like it! Heres a little big of an embarassing story..Jenesia, Vanessa, and I get to work together a good majority of the time which is fun and comfortable. We can be ourselves. Well...one day the Overseer was working with us and he had walked away to get more materials. In the meantime I was Drilling a screw into the wall and it was not working properly (or maybe it was ME not working properly) so I decided to be a little dramatic knowing the girls were watching. I started hitting the wall and saying "Por favor! Por favor!" ..pretending to cry. I started stomping my feet while pleading with the screw and could hear the girls laughing behind me..which of course gave me more motivation for my performance! Finally after a a minute or so... I turn around and see the Overseer standing behind me with his arms folded. He looks at me seriously as I turn beat red and lower my hands. I look to the girls for comfort, but I'm a little angry at the same time. Why didn't they warn me?! I try to explain myself as he suddenly bursts into laughter as well! Whew. The next day I even got upgraded to a better Powerdrill. yahoo! Oh..and we have the cutest 2 dogs here on the site! One small dog named "Bienvenida"..and a bigger dog that I tried naming "California"...but I call him Oso now. I'm partial to the bigger dog. They are faithfully at the site everyday and very entertaining to have around. I think it boosts everyones moral! I posted some pictures of the both of them. They are too cute!
Remember how I said there is morning worship everyday at 7 with the Daily text and comments? There is a rotation of members of the team that give a 2 minute comment to support the text for the day. Honestly in the beginning.. I was a bit relieved that Jenesia and I were not part of this arrangement..but guess what?! We have the privilige of preparing comments next week! Jenesia on Tuesday and me on Wednesday. Also...every day we have "safety meetings" and each member of the group gives a 5 minute part on a Safety topic. We get to help out with this too! My topic: Protect your hearing. I think I may incorporate some intrepetive dance for them to really get the sense of the information! :)
Ok.. more good news!! We get to continue with the construction group! Oh..a correction of my last blog entry: I think I mentioned there are 6 groups in Chile...its only 4. We are Grupo A. Anyhow..the next city is called Chillan and its 1.5 hour north. Thats where we went for the Special Assembly Day so we know the city and the people a little bit. Its smaller than Concepcion. We are just so excited! This project is 3 MONTHS long. It will take us to July. We had turned in our Applications into Bethel for construction here and actually said we were available until then...so everything has been working out perfectly! We can't wait. The Kingdom Hall builds are great practice for the future and furthering kingdom interests! We are going to be doing so much building in Paradise..but on a grander scale!
It will be sad leaving Concepcion..we have gotten to know a good amount of the brothers and sisters here helping with the project. Last night they had a little party for the construction group. A nice BBQ dinner and dancing. A young boy from the hall even played some Kingdom Melodies on his Violin. Very entertaining.
Okay...think that about wraps it up for now. I'm slowly but surely getting back to emails. Thank you so much for writing! Love to all!
Un abrazo y beso-
Steffie
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