Girls at School and Training a Young Zednik

Today we split up ... girls and guys. While Dave and Mark got up at 6 and took off for the work site by 7:30 as usual, the girls stayed back in order to go to the high school where Amy Ellenwood teaches. Before going to the school the girls were able to go across the border to Poland for a short sightseeing/shopping trip.


Joyce and Amy spent the afternoon interacting with senior English students at the "gymnasium" ... college prep school. The students asked Cathy and Joyce questions in order to find out about them, told about the Czech school system and described typical Czech students and teachers. The time together was enjoyed by both students and teacher(s).






Dave and Mark had the joy of working with the Ellenwood's son, Noah today. Our first stop was the building supply store to pick up a couple more bags of mortar mix. They've gotten to know us quite well! We needed to build a couple small brick walls, so Noah learned the skills of a "zednik" or bricklayer. Although he's been around some building projects, he told us that he has never layed bricks, or seen anyone lay bricks, up close. But today, that all changed!

Mark taught Noah how to mix a perfect batch of mud, and Dave had him layin' down bricks one after another.


















The day ended with the supporting brick knee walls in place, all the framing in place to support the rafters, and some rafters cut. Working as a three-some including Noah was definitely one of the highlights of our week. It's great to pour into a young man's life! Oh, and Mark and Dave kinda enjoy working together pretty much as well!

















Tomorrow will be our last work day ... so we're hoping to complete as much as we can. We're also going to take a "field trip" to the log home company that the Ellenwoods hope to have build the retreat house and we're looking forward to that as well. Stay tuned for at least one more blog to see how our week ended up!