As a reporter, my day usually begins with a newsroom meeting, followed by an assignment. As a member of the Avent Ferry United Methodist Church’s Mission team, my assignment when we arrived on our job site was sanding.

See pictures from Ken's trip!

I figured I’m not going to be able to work out this week, so sanding will keep me in shape. Let me be the first to tell you, after almost eight hours of sanding, I’ll opt for the gym next time.

I was covered in a layer of caked on dust from head to toe, hence the nick name Sand man. However, if you ask Michael, he’d rather call me Mr. Sandblaster. You see, I would get a little over zealous with the sanding. At one point, Michael said, “Ken when the tape or the sheet rock starts to show, you’re sanding too hard”, Oops!

Truthfully, though, none of us would change anything. Jessica and her husband Rob were doing their share of sanding. Ann, Lori, Michael, Diane, Drew and Pastor Taylor were doing the finishing on the dry wall. Benson was working on one of the doorways.

The work keeps us busy but every now and then, we’d come across some words of encouragement that keeps us focused. It would either be a passage of scripture or some words of wisdom written on an unfinished wall or doorway by previous volunteers.

One inscription was, “What a joy it was to work here. God bless you and your house.” Another one was a Bible verse, “Be still and know that I am God”. That’s why at the end of the day, we all felt a deep sense of accomplishment because Ms Cheryl was another day closer to seeing her new house complete.

By the way, I met Ms Cheryl for the first time Tuesday. She was every bit the warm, kind and gracious Lady I was expecting. She sat with us during our lunch break. And as we headed back to work, she said Thank you all. Truth is, we’re the ones grateful for this opportunity to pay our blessings forward. I think Ms Cheryl said it best, “this is a house being built with a lot of Love and Prayer.”