Monday morning we began to work on our first project. We were pressure washing the roof of a house that we would then seal with paint later in the week. Our group quickly fell into a pattern, and we had the whole roof done by noon. We were all excited and ready to continue working. When we heard they only had two projects lined up for us, we let our host know that we might need another project. At the pace we were going, we planned to be finished with both projects by Wednesday morning. After lunch we went on to the second project. We immediately ran into problems. There wasn’t enough water pressure to run the pressure washer. We threw buckets of water on the roof and scrubbed but barely made a dent in the layer of dirt and tar on the roof. Later that night we found out that the water had been shut off to that part of the island. We realized we would have to wait for the water to come back on before we could do anything at that house. We went back several times until finally the water had come back on Wednesday morning. In the meantime we finished the first project and helped another group with one of their projects. We were able to scrub the roof and paint it in two days.
If things had gone according to our plan, we would have been on to a third project by Wednesday. But they went according to God’s plan and we got to be a part of some huge moments for the family living in the second house. The second family had not had electricity to their home in 8 months. As we were working on Wednesday afternoon, a helicopter with two guys hanging from a long cord flew over the house. They worked on a nearby electric pole for a few minutes and then they flew away. The next afternoon a man was at the house and said they would have their power back in a couple of minutes. About 10 minutes later the house erupted with excited shouts and joyful screams as the power came back on for the first time in 8 months. Then about 5 minutes later, the house further up the mountain got their electricity back and they began to shout with excitement. Our team felt so lucky to get to be a part of that moment. Although at times we were frustrated with the rate at which our work was progressing, we got to experience something wonderful all thanks to God’s timing.