
That’s a wrap!
This article is shared with the permission of Shook Construction! We were so honored to have this company and this team share an amazing time of building buildings, and more importantly, building relationships. Shook is an amazing company with great people and with an incredible passion to make a difference in their world! During their time in Mozambique, they built accommodation units for three teachers at our school. A sincere thank you from SAM Ministries’s board and our entire team of supporters, staff and missionaries along with the good people of Mozambique who you came to serve!
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THE FINAL STRETCH
Hello, Shook family! Although the final leg of our Dayton crew’s journey to return home from Newark, NJ was reminiscent of the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles with the great John Candy and Steve Martin, the entire Mission Trip team did finally make it home to our families late Friday night. While it was fantastic to be reunited with our loved ones, it is safe to say that we will never forget our new friends in Mozambique. |
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REFLECTING ON OUR TIME IN MOZAMBIQUE
Many of you have asked me how the trip was, and my response has been that every hope and expectation I had leading into the trip was exceeded. I absolutely fell in love with the people of Mozambique. Those that we were around were the kindest, happiest, and most generous folks I’ve met. They were quick to flash a smile and wish you “Bom Dia” (Good Morning) or break into a song and dance. The land itself was breathtakingly beautiful, with gorgeous wildflowers, lush forests, and granite mountains jutting up 5,000-feet from an otherwise flat landscape. However, there was also extreme poverty which, despite our best efforts, we were not truly prepared to witness. The hardest part for me was reconciling these two realities: the beauty of the people and the land, and the heartbreak of seeing people who have nothing and must live hand to mouth every single day. I’m proud that our team was able to not only complete the construction of the teacher’s dormitory as originally planned but also finish a room addition to an existing dormitory; this means we built a total of three bedrooms in one week! The best part of the construction was working alongside our Mozambican counterparts who quickly became our friends. These men were extremely skilled craftsmen – Lance Harris told me he would gladly take any one of them on his crew. Their finishing skills with the cementitious parge coating that was applied to the block walls were particularly impressive. This was definitely not a case of first-world workers showing third-world workers how to do it. We shared things with them, they shared with us, and we truly learned from one another and developed into a strong, cohesive team by the end of the week. |
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THANK YOU!
There are so many people who played a part in this trip happening and in its ultimate success. I’d be remiss to not acknowledge them for their involvement, and would like to thank the following on behalf of our entire crew:
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If you have interest in planning and/or participating in a future Shook Mission Trip please emailglobalmission@shookconstruction.com. Indicate your interest in planning, participating, or both. If you are a field employee, please note that you are valued, and your skills are needed. We would love more participation from our field craftspeople on these trips. |