Simone, Anysa, Karen

Simone Hummel
Sir Winston Churchill

Today we started our purpose. We're out of the city and into the rural country side. I expected an empty lot, but the home is taller/larger with surrounding ricefields and neighbours. There was a warm welcome and the mom took me to the rear of the house where I met the father, grandma, roosters, kitten, their cow, and Ga, the dog :)

Then we got down to business, wheelbarrowing is my new workout, if my arms don't fall off. On the side we're scrubbing dirty rooftops until they shine again. At break there's loads of fresh fruit. The pomelo here actually gets pink when ripe! The best reward of the labour is knowing that all of the litres of sweat will benefit a lovely, hardworking family. I also met two local children while I was working. The girl showed me her fan, so I brought her and her brother to the buildsite, where we exhanged grins and it made all the hard work worth it.

Love you lots Mom and Dad. Thank you for sending love Uncle Robert. Yup that's everyone... just kidding, miss you too boo. Cheers for now! -Sim


Anysa McShane
Governor Simcoe

Hey everyone!

Hope all is well in Niagara! The weather here is beautiful! Very hot though. Today was our first day at the job site! What an amazing day we had! We did lots of hard labour but it was so much fun! I cannot wait until tomorrow! I've found a new calling in brick splitting! I was apparently number one at it! I think I need to change my career path! Dad, you'd be proud. The community is so wonderful, so friendly and grateful that we are here. It is sad to know we only have three more days building. It finally hit me that we are here the moment I saw the family we are building for. The love shown to us here is unbelievable! They are truly changing my life more than I could ever change theirs. Everything's in God's hands!

Love and miss y'all!!

Love,
Anysa McShane
xoxo


Karen Ngo
Westlane

Hi everyone,

Sorry we didn't blog yesterday, but we had an early start the next morning. We began to build today, ache today. But it was my favorite day so far. I started to wheelbarrow and it was strenuous but rewarding. I was glad to do what I could to help. The second half of the day I was bricklaying. Seeing the tiny wall growing really felt like an accomplishment.

Each day I am starting to interact with the Vietnamese people more and more. Yesterday in the supermarket, there were two ladies who were interested in who we are and what we are doing here. I'm glad that I was able to explain and share our goals.

Today, listening to the orientation, I surely felt the sincere words of appreciation, and it touched my heart to hear how important our work is to everyone here. It wasn't a difficult decision for me to spend 10 days on this journey, but it is changing my life significantly. I would definitely like to do another build.

I was talking to the construction workers and family and we had many laughs and smiles. They are very caring people and I began to realise the small joys in life. The scenery, caring people, and of course, a delicious meal after hard work. I've changed, and feel that many things in my life are taken for granted. When things break, I should try to fix them. When things are needed, I should improvise. When living, smile. And always love and care for your family.

In addition, I also realised my Vietnamese is not up to par (3 mistakes and counting), green bananas taste delicious plain, Lauren can't chew noodles, Joelle is a mushroom champ (in her case, everything was a mushroom).

"Karen... make it stop!!!" - Joelle * We finished that plate of food out of thanks and guilt, and I'm glad we did. Even then, there was a sense of accomplishment. Thank you for all the food, it really means alot.

Love,
Karen