Kingdom Hall Construction

In the states, as everyone knows, we have quickbuilds...after the foundation of a kingdom hall is set, in four days it is completely finished. Here, like most ¨developing¨countries, the build is not so quick. In fact, it takes a minimum of 3 months. Which is actually pretty quick, relatively.

About a half an hour away is Las Matas de Farfan(isn´t that a cool name? Say it out loud...Las Matas de Farfan...), and it was a convenient coincidence that they started a Khall construction. Tuesday we got to go help. So it takes at least 3 months to build. Here´s my theory on why:

1) There were only 11 of us working on it. Like everywhere else, the labor is manual, and voluntary, and I think it´s hard for people to get there, get time of work, and all that.

2) Not only were there only 11 of us working, but 7 of us were petite women. To say that this was a disadvantage would be an extreme understatement, because

3) Everything was manual...The buildings here are made entirely of concrete. Which means that the concrete must be mixed. There are no cement trucks. It must be mixed by hand. Our job was to fill buckets with sand, then carry them to the cement mixer, where a brother launches the sand into a, well, a cement mixer, which mixed it, then he throws the bucket through the air, we grab it, and fill it with gravel, lug it back to him, into the cement mixer it goes, and the bucket flys through the air again, fill with sand, take it back, fill with gravel, haul it over...within 2 hours my arms felt like they were going to fall off. Remember that this was all in the middle of blazing heat...and aside from being beat red, i was starving, and lunch was still 2 hours away...

The next morning, needless to say, I was not only dead tired, I could barely move. If it´s possible for your fingernails to hurt, well mine did.

Don´t be discouraged though; this was a really amazing experience. I kept thinking about when the hall is finished, it will be such a wonderful testimony to the entire town, and even while it´s being built it is a wonderful testimony, it´s different than any other construction site in the world!

So I´d like to say this, we all know that in so many places in the world there is a major need for Kingdom halls to be built. Anybody who has worked on a hall build knows what an enjoyable exprience it is. Well I had a very small taste of what international construction would be like. So, anyone who has thought about it, I suggest you pursue that goal! And if you haven´t thought about it, well, Think About It! What have you got to lose? You won´t regret it...and it will no doubt be an unforgettable experience. It was for me, and all I did was haul some dirt around for a few hours. . .