Service projects for friends and neighbors

 Our missionary service includes quite a variety of experiences and projects.  Last week, we helped our friends Norm and Karen repaint their porch.  Sister Johnson painted the details on the lattice work and stair railings.



We are not finished after 1 day, and will be going back to finish.  I went to the store and got some sandpaper and a backing pad that could be put on the end of a broomhandle, and sanded down the deck, to get the old paint off and prep the surface for new.



A little out of chronological order, but along the same lines, we helped friends Jim and Rhonda weed their commercial garden.  The growing conditions here on Cape Breton are nearly ideal, warm days and adequate rain, so the grass and weeds overgrew the newly planted beets.  We spent several hours clearing this patch to give the beets a chance.  The rest of the rows are so overgrown that there are hardly any surviving beets left.  And any there are are so small that they get pulled out with the intergrown roots of the grass and weeds.  But the area we cleared should produce some nice beets!



This picture proves that I really do get some work done, alongside Sister Johnson.  Frankly it feels good to put my coveralls on and get my hands dirty once in a while.



If you haven't ever figured out what a pecking order is, Sister Rhonda's chickens exhibit clear evidence of it.  The ones at the bottom of the order get pecked so frequently that their back is raw and devoid of feathers.  So she designed this "saddle" for protection.  It covers the chicken's back and loops around under their wings and is quite effective.  The chickens still get pecked, but they are protected.  Quite clever.



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