#9 Finishing Together

Our last day of work was completely differernt. We went to a Habitat house that our group had not worked on. It was ready for the roof to be completed. The roof is made of wood planks with a concrete top.

When we got to the new site we met many of the habitat families and the masons we had been working with. To our relief a cement mixer was on the site to mix the concrete. However the labor to fill the mixer, empty the mixer and carry the concrete to the roof was all ours (including our habitat families and habitat local workers). It took a solid 3 hours of work to complete the roof cement pour. A huge cheer was raised by all.

We then went back to Santiago de Anaya. The padre at the local church gave us a tour. The church was built in 1546. After our tour we went to a village celebration of our habitat work. All the families and workers were there. A special meal had been prepared and we all ate together. After the meal we had a presentation of Habitat Certificates to each of us, a hang up sign for each diocese (North Carolina and Southwestern Virginia) and plaques for each diocese made out of local tile. Each of the habitat families had a representative thank us for our work. Our leaders, Bishop Gary of NC and Nan Carmack gave responses. Then we were serenaded in song and sent on our way back to Actopan.

The bus ride was full of tears as we bade farewell to our new extended families.

This evening Bishop Gary and Richard held a Eucharist in the Hotel. For offerings we gave an item that meant something special to us from this week. Many emotional speeches were given by the team members on what the week meant to them. A final dinner at the hotel completed a wonderful last day in the state of Hidalgo.