Service Project in Guam

The pictures and service project below were taken off of Brother and Sister Clarke's blog. The are serving a mission in Guam. They did such a great job describing a service project that the missionaries participated in while in Guam that I couldn't resist sharing a part of it on Kevin's blog. It was also great to see pictures of Kevin. Thank you for sharing, Brother and Sister Clarke!




Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Service Project
We have a family in our Branch that is building a home on the family property. This is a weekend project and the missionaries decided to lend a hand. It was interesting locating the property. Guam does not really function on an address system so we had a map drawn showing that you turned right just before the yellow bus stop then turn right on the dirt road and go until the end. It was back in the jungle and was so green! The first thing I noticed when we got there was President Dowdle. In the six months that we have been here this was the first time I had ever seen him in anything but a white shirt and tie.
I also noticed that one of the counselors in the Branch Presidency was helping out too. Brother Henry is from the Marshall islands. He works for the Facilities Management office of the church. He does the maintenance on the Church facilities and here he is on his day off doing more of the same.
The missionaries were clearing the land of trash and rocks. A big part of the homes here is the cement slab out front where most of the living is done. The rocks needed to be removed and the dirt leveled out to pour the cement.
Construction is very simple. This is a typical tin house. It consists of two bedrooms and a main living area. The kitchen will be outside. This keeps the heat out of the house. Many hands make light work and I am sure that they saved the family hours and hours of work.
Tonight we had an opportunity to see some more of these tin houses on the north end of the island. Wayne and I have tried to visit potential Institute students with the Yigo Branch Presidency. Our destination this time was to the Ranches. This is an area that was marketed to be a new development with power, water, etc. but when the people bought there property the improvements were never installed. The roads are dirt which is full of potholes. Since it has been raining they are like little ponds everywhere. Only parts of the Ranches has electricity so there are actually people without lights and power. They also do not have water and so they have to haul in any water they need. I noticed port-a-potties on several properties. A lot of the homes are actually cargo bins like you find on trains. There will be several used for bedrooms, etc. I am impressed that they have been so resourceful. Cargo is shipped over here and the containers are not sent back to the point of origin and so they have found a really good use for them here.