Greetings from Constanza! Today we started at 7 AM and arrived at Villa Poppy at 9:15 AM.

  

We were excited to continue working on the project. However, we found out that materials we needed, and expected to arrive on Saturday, still had not been delivered. For the first hour, the management team had to reorganize the budget and materials while the construction team continued to work on the foundations of the playground and benches.

   

Once the management team figured everything out, the flow improved. Despite the scorching heat, we were able to finish all of the foundations, dig and refill a trench to create a sturdy tire structure, continuously mix cement, and build the wooden frames for the benches. Then we poured and filled the bench frames with cement. From 1 PM to almost 5 PM, we were constantly working against the heat and sudden rain to manually mix and maintain the cement with our shovels. We were covered with sweat, cement, mud, and rain by the end. We were supposed to end at 3:30 but left around 5:30 because we had to wait for the play structures to arrive. We wanted to wait because we had to leave early yesterday due to the rain. The rain today wasn’t an issue because our determination helped us persevere. We continually motivated each other and bonded and had a good time while working. Throughout the course of this day, from 9:30 to 5:30 PM, we had a second group of Glimpsers who took care of the vast amount of children in the village so that we could be more efficient as well as keep the kids safe. In the morning the construction area was a bare plot of land with strategic holes, but by the end of the day, we finished our benches, all of our play structures were in place, and our trees were waiting to be planted.

 

Before the change in schedule, we were supposed to come back home and then go to a resort called Alto Cerro for dinner. However, because we decided to stay longer at Villa Poppy, we went directly to Alto Cerro. It was a beautiful hotel on a mountainside facing Constanza. Our PCs treated us to a buffet-style dinner at the hotel restaurant after a long day of work. When we returned, we had twenty minutes of rest before we started our nightly meeting. Some people took that time to shower and others to nap. We had our nightly meeting, and afterwards some people decided to work on our Appreciation letters, and others went straight to bed at 8:30 PM.

Personally, it was a really hard day but we had a lot of fun. We were really satisfied because yesterday we were really nervous about how little progress we made. Today, however, we felt very accomplished with the amount of work that we got done. Everyone’s energy and motivation levels were high today, which helped us as leaders. Some students who weren’t official leaders even took the initiative to help motivate and lead others. We’re excited to finish up our work tomorrow! We’re honored to have led today because everything turned out so well and everyone was so cooperative and inspired.

P.S. Hi mom! Hi dad!

Signing out,

Sarah and Kevin