Lahaina, HI – Sept. 21- 25, 2026

The week literally flew by! When weekly volunteers do two-week stints rather than one, Mondays are a whole different story. Each crew knew exactly what to do: pack lunch, eat breakfast, devotions, load trucks, and away they went, knowing exactly where they were going and what jobs they would do.

The Madrigal house projects included more shingling, installing soffits, and hanging drywall. Two crews spent the week there again. There may have been just a few places yet for some messy caulking, but the black caulk that was on sale was gone, so hands were easier to clean!

By week’s end, the shingling was virtually complete. There are still a few details to finish up next week. It is a large home, actually two MDS houses that have been uniquely joined for a multi-generation family, so there were some crazy roof lines, valleys and ridge caps to figure out. The sun was intense all week, and the humidity was high. Kudos to a crew that stuck it out and made great headway toward completion. When roofers needed a break from the sun, they worked on soffits.

Inside, most of the drywall was hung in the back section of the house, and progress was made in the front. It looks so different than when the crew started, with stud walls and views from front to back. It is starting to look like a real house.

The Hashimura house looks so different! The outside and inside walls are all set, braced and blocked, anchored and strapped. Trusses were delivered Thursday, and after some amount of head scratching and remaneuvering, by quitting time on Friday many of them were installed. What a great feeling of accomplishment for that crew!

Really our only challenge this week was of the very first-worldish kind. The minisplit in the dining room/office quit working last Wednesday. After a couple of failed fixes, a new unit was installed and it makes a much more comfortable space for eating, hanging out and work space for the office manager and project director. Our sleeping quarters are all pleasantly cool, for which we were very grateful.

We said goodbye to ten friends Friday evening, then eleven new friends will arrive over the weekend. It’s always hard to see the by-now-familiar people go, but the longtermers look forward to meeting a new group and working with them in the two weeks ahead. Thank you for your prayers for group cohesiveness and for safety on the job sites.