South Dakota Mission Trip--Day 5

On Tuesday morning we all got up extra early to get ready and get our morning chores done because we had invited the DeLanges over for breakfast. Their trailer was parked behind the house we were staying in so we had the privilege of seeing them alot. Like I've said before, it was such a joy to get to know their family!

After breakfast we all headed over to the church for a work day. I quickly put the girls to work cleaning every square inch of the church that we could. We dusted, cleaned the ceilings, washed the walls, swept and mopped the floors, polished pews, vacuumed, etc. I'm not even sure that the girls noticed we were working, we were having too much fun. Because I was busy working as well, I did not get many pictures of us cleaning the church, but I promise we did!

Here's Crystal and Holly taking a breather after sweeping and mopping the whole downstairs.

See the shiny floor? =)

Cleaning the auditorium

Here's Mr. Wesley...he was my helper and stuck with me most of the morning. I really enjoyed this little man, he was so sweet and cute. That morning I was sad because I missed Lydia and Caleb and having a little buddy was such a big help!

While were in inside, the guys all worked outside with Bro. Jesse, Bro. Matt and my husband. They cut the grass, weed eated, and worked on the porch. The paint on the porch needed to be scraped off so they could repaint it.

I love this picture of Adam and Evan!

Jonathan was working hard scraping the paint off of the porch.

Jonathan and Riley

Brian looks like he's working hard, doesn't he?? =)

Isn't Natalie SO adorable? She had such beautiful blue eyes. She's going to be a heartbreaker, that's for sure! She loved for Hailey to carry her around.

Sarah and her mom, Mrs. Lori.

Mrs. Lori and Riley...and no, Riley is not that tall! Mrs. Lori had scrunched down to make it look that way. =)

Here's all the girls right before lunch with Epaphras. See what they are holding up? That is Epaphras, he is a Burmese arm slug. Don't worry, it's okay if you don't get it...you just had to be there! =0)

Beautiful, just beautiful!!

After a yummy lunch of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, we all headed outside to help the guys. Some of the girls and I pulled weeds in the flower beds and the other girls started painting.

Holly painting the front porch

Riley kept breaking the weed eater and my hubby kept having to fix it. Just kidding! It actually was one of the old kinds that you have to tie the thread around so that's what he's doing.

Crystal sweeping the grass off of the sidewalk

Amazingly enough, they actually got some on the porch! They were so crazy...they kept painting each other. Can you see the paint on their noses? I think they had a little too much fun painting the back porch!

Everybody ended up with at least a little paint on them, but nobody could get Riley. When we were about to get into the van to leave later that afternoon, Adam came running and was shouting, "Mrs. Laine, Mrs. Laine, get the camera! You have to take a picture...we got Riley!!!" So of course I went and there was Riley all covered in paint.....

......Aaaah...sweet satisfaction for the rest of us. =)

Brian preached before Bro. Redman Tuesday night and it was really good. He preaches in the nursing home almost every Friday but this was my first opportunity to hear him. He went over his time though and Bro. Jesse had to stop him. Woops!! We definitely won't let Brian live down his new reputation of being a long-winded preacher!

Isn't that just beautiful? On the way home from church, I asked Steven to stop the van so I could get a picture of the sunset. Can you believe that it was 10:00pm when this was taken? It doesn't get dark there until after 10:30. Of course while Mrs. Amy and I were taking the pictures, my husband drove off with the van and left us on the side of the road. They're crazy!