271 Nichols: Day 1

The day started at 6:30 AM with a safety talk and ended at 5:00 PM, by which time we had gained so many new experiences. By 5, we had done much more hands-on construction than I had ever thought I was capable of. The entire group was split into teams. The team I went with was at a house where we took down damaged siding to be replaced with newer supplies. We used scaffolding to get to different parts of the house, and I was not expecting to conquer my fear of heights when using the scaffolds. We built the scaffolds up layer by layer in order to get to the higher parts of the house, and it was scary yet rewarding to have so much trust and responsibility placed on me. The son who lived in the house came out and started helping us remove siding, and it was awesome to see him get involved. It also helped us gain a better perspective about our work, because we finally saw and interacted with someone who we were helping. At the end of the day while we were cleaning up, the juniors performed their Junior Ring dance that we had learned and performed at our school, Cor Jesu, which was super fun. To say the very least, it was a productive day, and although my arms ache from tearing off stubborn siding, I am so excited to get back out there tomorrow and continue our mission. Ah Sure! and Someday Somewhere