THE DAY BEFORE...

Harry Ashton, a young brother from England serving in the Hopkins Congregation. He is the first homegrown Ministerial Servant in Hopkins! He is a GREAT brother... everybody LOVES him, and he makes GREAT nachos! Here he and Eric are putting Liquid Nails behind the sink in the bathroom to keep it from wobbling. Can you believe this is the day before the first Sunday meeting?

The finished podium.

Lacy, Carole and Lindsey go to work trying to get any last minute over spray off the floor.

April was trying to decide where to hang the mirror in the bathroom... and I caught her in the act :)

The guys downstairs laid the concrete walkway between the 2 staircases. Can you see the the person in the concrete is barefoot? That's the Belizean way...

A trial run at what we were going to write in the fresh cement... but somehow all the different names just weren't cutting it...

I was asked to write something timeless and classic...

It now reads: Hopkins Congregation 12-31-2011

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

The last three days before the first meeting were INTENSE! It was all about the finishing work...

 Eric's trade came in handy to say the least :)

Stefan, a Norwegian brother who came with his family for 2 months came to our rescue! His experience with carpentry and building homes in Norway came in so handy... it was definitely not a coincidence that he was there right when we needed him! This is him putting together the stage... to help the short brothers with their audience contact :) ha ha ha

So fun to have Will Shin in town during the finishing stages...

Aaron received the year text from the branch... it was official!

This is our wonderful young pioneer sister Azula Perez. She got to work sanding the stage to prep it for staining... Take a look at the floor. In the States that beautiful hard wood floor wood cost a fortune! But here in Belize... it comes standard!

This is Marisha. Recently appointed as a publisher at 14 yrs old...  for the month of December she got more than 14 hours in the ministry, and that doesn't include the time she spent helping on the Kingdom Hall! Here she is working with Cris to build a podium.

Staining the stage.

 

 

 

 

IT'S WHAT IS ON THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS

We had done so much work on the outside of the hall to the property... that it was now time to work on the inside. First things first:caulk EVERY seam!

This metal frame is the start of the partition that soon blocked off the bathroom. The little work station in the back left was where I cut the pipe to size... Yoni trusted me with the pipe cutter! The little boy in the picture is Christian Aibengbae, originally from Dallas. He's 6 yrs old... he's supervising :)

While the girls filled gaps with silicone caulking... Eric and TJ went to work with the spray foam! There was NOTHING getting in here that wasn't welcome!

Yoni, Hopkins' new special pioneer, and our fearless leader on the project.

In the middle is Don Niebrugge (probably butchered the spelling). He was mentioned many times in the 2010 yearbook about Belize. He has over 35 years of experience living in Belize with his wife as a special pioneers... the wisdom oozes out of his pores!