Day 5

We began, of course, with Morning Prayer, Mass and Adoration of the Sacrament. Luckily, being Saturday, the brothers all sleep in... so rising time was the very late hour of 6.15am!!!! Unfortunately, they forgot to ring the bell for us and we ran about 30 seconds late...
We had been told that today would be our first full days work. What we had already discovered is that in the Philippines, the term "full day" does not mean what it means in Australia... it's about two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon....
We began by loading the truck with bags of gravel and bags of cement which we took to the site. While the first group began working, the rest returned for more materials. Work involved digging trenches, fetching buckets of water from a nearby creek and filling bags with sand. After the trench was dug, gravel was spread as a base. That was about the morning's work... but, don't think that it was easy... it was very strenuous labour. All of them worked hard (I was the boss, Penny was my assistant supervisor, and Vanessa was the bag lady... she will explain that when she gets home).
We returned to the MOPs residence with about half an hour before lunch. Amazingly, the boys picked up their dirty clothes and headed over to the wash area to clean them (Mothers be impressed!)
Following lunch, we returned to the work site and began to mix the concrete... three bags of sand, three bags of gravel, and one bag of cement. The kids were phenomenal... team work, sharing duties, pitching in, working up a sweat.
Eventually, most of the girls had to retire from the physical labours. They set themselves up under a tree on a rock and were joined by three children. They began to teach the children some songs with actions. The children grew from three to about thirty over the course of the afternoon and those who were toiling in the sun were accompanied by the sound of song.
Those who were mixing concrete barely flagged until the end. I had to force a couple of the boys to stop and drink water. The most amazing worker was Caitlin, who did not miss one batch of concrete mixing... the brothers and the other kids are still talking about her efforts (its not a competition but Caitlin won).
As tired as they all were (and a bit war wounded), within half an hour of returning to base, most of them were on the soccer field for a highly spirited game of soccer. Our team won 2-0 (Yay!)
After a quick wash, we joined the Novices for evening prayer (they are the ones who gave up their residence for us). This was followed by Rosary at the grotto.
For the evening, the brothers had prepared a bbq. We shared the meal in the courtyard... each of us sitting with about 4 brothers. We shared our stories and learnt more about each other. Another high point.
The brothers had also prepared a games night (photos to come). It was great fun!!! Our cheeks are sore from laughing. Naturally, our team won....
We finished with night prayer, journaling, and sharing.