Alaska Mission Trip - Post 6

Today was the first day of construction on the trip. Our group got involved in several ways. I'm proud to be their pastor.

Scott Dettmer, Forrest Grimmett, Bob Garrett, and Jon Miller spent the day framing the new worship center.Each time I passed by the site, they were all doing something. That wasn't true for all the men standing on the slab, but our guys got busy and stayed busy.

Terry McCallister joined with a few others to build picnic tables for the church. They duplicated a table the church already had. Looked like some specialty work and they did a great job. When I saw Terry working the saw (the main construction site had two designated to run the saws) I knew he was on a special project. They picked the right guy for that kind of work. I've never seen Terry tackle a project and not get it done with quality.

Riley and I partnered with two other pastors and three other boys for a couple of projects since anyone under 18 years of age is not allowed on the construction site due to insurance regulations. Our first task was to clear rocks from the proposed softball field. That started out easy enough but then we unearthed a huge rock. It was large and heavy. We spent an hour getting it out of the ground! That wrapped up the morning then we found another huge rock just after lunch. Our morning experience helped us get this one out of the ground in about 20 minutes. We stopped picking up rocks after that.

Another project the boys could do with our help was dig a trench for an electrical line. The church has a pavilion behind the kitchen and fellowship hall. They want lights and an outlet in it so we dug the trench, laid out the wire, and covered it up. It looked good. The boys learned how to work hard and use some new tools. I hope they are not as sore as I am!

At the end of the day, most of the exterior walls are up, one picnic table is complete and the pieces are cut for three more, the ball field is free of a few hundred rocks, and the electrical line is in place for the pavilion. The team from CRBC was a big part of all that. The entire team from Pulaski Baptist Association did a good job. Fairview Loop Baptist Church was an incredible host, once again.

I'm sitting in the dining room now. Three tables are full of guys playing cards and dominos. Several are just sitting around talking. Some of the guys have already gone to sleep (It's 8:30 here, 11:30 P.M. at home). Another great day awaits us. To God be the glory!