I shared recently about the start of our construction work on the Children’s Homes director’s house, and I want to share a bit more of that story today. C2M has built many buildings, and it has always been helpful through the years to have American teams come to volunteer on the crew. Very few Haitians ever work with wood—they build almost everything out of concrete and block—so it’s especially valuable to have team members familiar with woodworking. We build with wood because of the earthquakes Haiti has experienced over the years; everything from the frame to the roof is built from wood and finished afterward with concrete floors.

When we arrived at the job site on the second day, the guys digging the holes were about half-way finished. Our hope was that they would finish the holes that day so we could put posts in the holes and have Emil secure them with a cement pour the next day. This meant that our small team would concentrate on building trusses. Trusses are designed to support the roof and supply the overall stability of the building; because they don’t have nail guns in Haiti, this means lots and lots of hammering.

Toward the end of the day, Poyis brought eight of the older boys from the Homes and they helped us hammer a couple of the trusses. I’ve mentioned before how much our kids love to help out, and today was just another example. By the end of the day, we had finished a significant number of trusses and nailed gussets on one side.

By the end of the next day, we got all of the posts up and half of the trusses built. We finished the trusses the day after—twelve in all. We also got all of the beams up, placing the last one as a torrent of rain came down! As the final step, we secured all twelve trusses in place on the beams and got the structure of the roof in place.

It’s always amazing to see what the Lord can do in a short span of time!

Wiley Kennedy serves as Director of International Ministries with Connect 2 Ministries. To learn more about Wiley, visit Who We Are, and to learn how you can make a difference, visit Join an Outreach Program.