52 Godly Men : Men of Today Teaching the Men of Tomorrow

Have you ever built a barn before? It’s pretty hard, but fun. That’s what I did with Aleksey Melnikov today.

At about ten, I went to the job site, said hi to Aleksey, and met the workers building the structure. I mainly watched and learned, and kind of acted as a “gofer”.

Around 11:30, we finished the nailing and screwing the basic support posts and braces and started on the trusses. For those of you who don’t know, a truss is kind of like a rafter, only they are much stronger and are pre-assembled at the factory. Also, even though they are strong when standing, they are very flimsy and breakable when laid flat. We raised the trusses on the ends first, then worked our way in.

After we had raised about four, we went to a restaurant and had some lunch. Aleksey took time to share some words of wisdom with me, like “There’s more to life and work than saving and spending money and “If you choose an occupation, you have to take the life that goes along with it.” If you want  a good family, but you become a civil engineer, you’re away from home 6 months out of the year. If you want a neat, planned day, but you are a doctor, your schedule revolves around your patients. That really got me thinking about my future career, and what I want to be when I grow up.

After lunch, we kept raising trusses,  and by 4:30 (when I left), we had raised 18 of them. I was tired and cold, but happy and satisfied at the same time.