The Jungle

Our work crew "The Jungle"  has been met with a series of challenges and surprises at the beginning of the week.  We were told that we had to fix the foundation of a house and finish a drainage ditch that was "supposed" to already be a foot wide and 18 inches deep.  When we arrived on Monday morning that was not the case.  The drainage trench was barely 3 inches deep.  So most of Monday consisted of finishing that.  Our first set back.  When checking out the foundation problem we realized it was a lot more difficult than we were told.  Fixing a foundation really meant saving this woman's house from collapsing any second without injuring any crew members.  Set back number 2.  Our fearless leader Chris had to work extremely hard to figure out a plan that kept everyone and the house safe, which was not an easy task.  But we knew he could do it and sure enough Tuesday night we had a plan and a little spark of hope that this seemingly impossible job could be done.  Come Wednesday morning we began constructing the structures that would hold (or not) the house.  Once we had enough build we put the first one in and started to jack up the house.  Little by little the house lifted and was being held by hour newly built structures.  It worked!  After what seemed like hours jacking up the house everyone's heart could finally beat at a regular pace knowing we did it.  We could only celebrate for a minute or so because there was a lot of work left to be done and only seven of us.  There had been rumors that we might be getting another crew to help us but it wasn't definite so until then we just had to keep truckin' on.  We took a break for lunch and stopped back at the center for a much needed bathroom break and when we arrived back at our site there was another crew waiting for us.  It was an unbelievable feeling knowing we had more hands to help and that our job could really be completed.  Those two set backs in the beginning weren't even relevant to us now, and that little spark of hope transformed into reality.  The second part of the week will not be easy and we will have to overcome more challenges but we'll get through them whatever it takes just like in the beginning of the week.  That's the thing about ASP and our church family when someone is struggling there are many people who are ready to help out.  That's the true joy of ASP.

-Kira

Note:  The Jungle team consists of Chris A., Melissa B., Kyle B., Andy G., Zach B., Mary H., Kira B.