Day 3 in Birzai

[B-Man]

Today was the day we broke into two teams. Ben, Matt and myself all
went to the Pagalba Centras and working on 2 walls that needed to be
renovated. Back at the church, a second coat was applied to the
community area and sanding like crazy in the stairwell and 2nd floor
landing and 1 church office. In some areas the mud top coat was
applied, but most of the finish work on that will begin tomorrow.
Some members of our group were able to sneek in a shower at the newly
finished dušas at the church. Unfortunately, their housing complex is
experiencing a water shortage problem. Everyone is hopeful it will be
resolved soon. In a reverse circumstance the Pagabla Centras had an
overabundance of water this morning. About 2 inches of standing water
greeted us when we arrived. With pots, buckets and rags we were able
to get it cleaned up in short order. Just in time for the delivery
from the lumber store for our project for the day.
We enjoyed some shopping with the local merchants before the end of
their day (6pm). Then we all sat around the dinner table discussing
our challenges of the day and what to pray for the next day.
Even though a great deal was accomplished today, the pictures don't
show the effort that went into the completion so far. We hope that by
tomorrow, there will be some real progress to photograph.
And to our friends in North Carolina, that we have yet to meet, Betty
and Nancy would love it if you could bring some peanut butter and some
Velveeta. Nobody here knows what they are talking about. If you can
smuggle through customs, we would be happy to reimburse you. :)
That is all for today. Tomorrow will bring more work, friends and
words for my Lithuanian vocabulary. (Armandas is having great fun
teaching me)
Broderick