David Lebby Blog

Just wrapped up our first intern build. We have 7 interns total 4 guys and 3 girls. We built a double in five days working Monday through Friday and spending a total of 60 hours on site. It was one of the most trying experiences of my life. It seemed that from beginning to end just about everything that could possibly go wrong did. The site was the worst that I have seen in 12 builds. It was narrow and short (so short that the dimensions of the house had to be altered on the fly, a fairly complicated process). It was unlevel due to a concrete slab that made leveling almost impossible. It was so small that all materials had to be moved twice a day and a 500 lb water tank was sitting right in the middle of the site. If you are familiar with a double, you know how monstrous of a task this was to complete with 7 people. The last time Rolling Hills built a double we had 22 on our team and it still ran into Thursday. In a build like this you end up doing almost all of what you are good/efficient at, and a fair amount of everything else. For example of the 20 wall and roof sections, I framed 12 alone. I also wired over half the house. In a now frustrating (but sometime down the road funny) story, I tested the wiring and trouble shot for over an hour before finding out that the power was out in the entire neighborhood.

The complications ended up only costing us time in the long run. The house turned out beautifully. The family had been waiting for 7 years for this house. The colonia that we built in, Juanita Luna, is an awesome place to be right now. I feel it is in the midst of a cultural revival after a few hopeless years. Though we hardly had any time to play, there were kids everywhere, helping clean, holding screws or nails, asking excitedly how to say Spanish words in English. The church we stayed in is also one of my favorites. Pastor Gideon is one of the most exceptional men I have ever met. My Spanish is only progressing slowly, however I can understand everything this man says, its almost eerie. We had several late night talks this week. I fully intend to bring you guys to Juanita Luna on our build and stay with Pastor Gideon.

I know the tone of this update isn’t near as upbeat as my previous ones. But in truth this week was extremely trying both physically and emotionally. Don’t take this as a sign of unhappiness with my situation (there is nowhere else I can imagine myself being) but more complete and total exhaustion.

I leave for Acunia tomorrow. I will meet a team from South Dakota Sunday for my first solo build.

Love you all,

David

Please excuse any grammatical errors haha

I never saw any of these pictures taken haha, I'd probably have been mad if anyone had been taking time to take pictures but they got some pretty good shots. These are in no particular order.