We started out the day with a tour of the classrooms in the ‘new’ high school building with our tour leader, Danka, the Assistant Principle. The renovation of these few classrooms is BEAUTIFUL with wide hallways and lots of natural light with bright colors. The students are, well, students with lots of energy and enthusiasm. It was a delight to see the classes ‘in action.'

We also toured the renovated pre-school building and the middle school building. The cafeteria is a buzzing place from 7:30am – 1pm with breakfasts for the pre-schoolers and lunch for the pre-schoolers, primary grades, and middle school. The high-school has their own eating area and there will eventually be a cafeteria in the new building.

Our demolition work continues…. with more walls taken down, and floors taken up. There were a couple of Slovaks tearing down the ceiling to expose the concrete beams. Something about the height of these rooms is a few inches too short for Slovak education standards. The flat ceiling was constructed with something akin to 1/4″ wide bamboo straw that was then plastered over. What a mess this is to demolish. We are all ‘dust balls’ within minutes of our work effort.

Dusán S. got a truck for us to put the wood scraps into, which in two days of demolition is pretty full. The concrete/clayblock/mortar dumpster is full and the linoleum dumpster is also just about full. We are hoping that the dumpsters will be emptied tomorrow. There is a LOT of ceiling and wall debris to get into those dumpsters. Whatever we can do is a huge help to the gargantuos effort that it will take to get these 2 buildings renovating into a high school. We are more than willing and able to make a small dent in this work effort. This small crew is putting their heart, soul, and every bit of energy into the work effort. Demolition is HARD WORK, no doubt about it. We are all toting pails of debris, or swinging sledge hammers or pickaxes or crowbars. Brad, Randi, Rich, Julie, Kristin, Mark, Bob and myself (KJ) can be proud of our work accomplishments in just two days!

Last evening after our dinner together at the Czech Restaurant (delicious meal!) we met a few of the Slovak Youth, at a local coffee/tea house as a Welcome Event for us. What a joy to spent a time with the high schoolers. Barbara S, Marek M, Andrej, Maria, Julia, and others spent an hour with us.

This evening we’ll have dinner on our own at The Pasáž, a restaurant that many Builders Group frequents on their trips. But the most welcome evening event comes tomorrow…when we get an hour at Turčianske Teplice, a nearby Spa with various temperatures of natural mineral water. THAT WILL FEEL SO AWESOME! We’ll follow Spa with a meal hosted by Tomáš and Slavka Gulánová at their home in Mošovice, a nearby village. My BLOG entry for tomorrow could be short as I will be NOT be late for my Spa time.

Please continue to pray for our safety and good health. We’ve had a couple of scrapes and blistered hands, but nothing of significance. Thanks be to GOD!