Tuesday Reflection

Our day was rather fulfilling at Margarita’s house, and the things we did as a group i was very proud of. We set out to seal and paint the interior of the house. It didn’t occur to us that our expectations were a little far fetched, but I think we all learned a lesson that even connected back to yesterday. Every person worked to their absolute maximum, but we didn’t finish what we set out to do. The important lesson learned was that sometimes our expectations aren’t met even if you put your all into it. Once I put this together I looked back on the day and really felt like we made a big difference, and that is all we set out to do. – Max Hoffman

Today was our second day at this site, and probably the most fufilling day because of the outcome of our work. For the past two days we had been painting a home which was built for a family that lost everything in hurricane Maria. Although the work we did on the house was very impactful, I was personally moved by a conversation I had with one of our contractors about his experience during Maria. He told me that he was fortunate enough to have lost nothing significant during the hurricane, but he witnessed many atrocities caused by the hurricane. He mentioned that his connection with God was weak prior to the disaster, but when a giant tree landed on his home without harming it whatsoever and instead protected it, he knew its was God looking out for him and his family. Even though the physical work we do is meaningful, stories and experiences like these are what truly give these trips a purpose. – Elsi Miranda