Brick Tossing and Fellowship

Tuesday, June 30th. Full day for the mission team. Woke up for a 7:30 breakfast (well, at least some of us woke up. Some didn't sleep much, still getting used to the time difference. Others were woken up way too early by the sunrise call to prayer from a local mosque that could be heard loud and clear outside the windows of our hotel).

At Humble, Dave Bennett gave us a short tour and showed us the footprint of the brick wall we will be helping to build. Having never built a wall before, I was hoping I would become a skilled mason in no time flat. It turns out masonry wasn't what he had in mind for us today. Instead, he had us form a human chain from the top of a hill where a pile of bricks were laying to a worksite below. So for about three hours, we caught and threw eleven pound bricks (and occasionally dropped them on our toes or got hit in various parts of the body). Drew occasionally forgot he was throwing a brick and would toss it like a football and Kara would for some unexplicable reason add a spin to her brick tossing.

A lunchbreak back at the hotel was most welcome after this tiring work. After lunch, however, is when we got the biggest treat of the day/trip. We were invited to sit in front of all of the children on one of the Humble School porches while the children sang and danced for us and prayed for us. I was so overcome with emotion, I wanted to cry but figured the kids wouldn't understand why I was crying, so tried to cover it up. The feeling you get when you witness this incredible sea of beautiful smiling faces singing is one that cannot be put into words. There is just this tremendous feeling of love that encompasses you.

At the end of the fellowship, Drew presented the children with the 40 balls, jumpropes, frisbees, etc. he had brought from home and the children were so happy. Many thanks to Drew's friends and family and father's coworkers who sent the balls. They were truly appreciated.

Afterwards, we had some time to spend with the children and that was simply an incredible experience. Many of the children approached us wishing to thank those who had welcomed the children's chorus into their homes last year in Ashburn. I have specific names that I will get on here later either tonight or tomorrow since they are in my backpack and I don't have that with me right now.

It's just been an incredible day and I can't recount it all, but suffice it to say, I know now why I came on this incredible mission.