God is truly good

On Saturday June 30th around 150 people gathered to celebrate the dedication of the missions training center in Oussouye Senegal. It was an exciting time as many town officials, local residents, workers, and church members gathered for the ceremony. Andy Mitchell the Pastor of UCF shared the vision of this endeavor and preached a stirring message. It was a joyous day as we feasted together to recognize this accomplishment. I am looking forward to see what God will do through this place. Below are some of the finish photos...

Finally...

It is finished...

Last phase

God has truly answered prayers as we come closer to the end. We have been painting fast and furiously as the clock is ticking. It is a difficult process to paint masonry and completely different from anything I have painted before. We need to do three coats as well, so it is time consuming. Last week after the tile guy finished he was stuck in town here with nothing to do. We had become friends and he offered to help paint. It was amazing, he was the best worker I have ever seen and helped get so much accomplished. The interior painting is all finished. All the details are coming together now. The plumbing was also completed on Thursday. Andy and the team from the US just arrived on Saturday and are here for the dedication service next Saturday. They are actually staying at the center right now, though there is still no electricity. We will have a very busy last week though there is still so much to do. There is also a lot of site work to be done and dirt and rubble to be moved around. Please continue to pray for the last phase here.

Baptism

Last Sunday and this Sunday a number of people were baptized here in Oussouye. Last week I got to participate and it was really a cool time. The girl pictured here was a regular at my bible study on Thursday nights. We did the dunking in the river near the main road into town. It is something truly to celebrate.

More hurdles...

The closer we get to finishing the more the little things seem to matter. There is less than two weeks until the dedication ceremony and it seemed all the trucks to transport construction materials were broken or occupied. I was trying for week to get a truck to deliver sand and shells to the site. Finally today we had a breakthrough! After much searching, even in different towns, I found a truck to get us the stuff. Now we have all the materials at the site, keep praying for the work! Another twist was the contractor went to Dakar last week to vote and he didnt return. He wanted to stay at his home for an extended period of time, not really concerned about our discussions of a deadline. He came back yesterday finally, so I am hoping he will see it through. He seems a little volitale now as well and we had some kind of argument though I am not sure about what or why. Tomorrow we will start painting...

Broken

The tile guys finished up today and they did an excellent job. I am really happy with the details of everything. The pictures show the kitchen floor and counter and give a feel for what it will look like. It still needs to be cleaned up and painted but it’s almost there. You can see me there working with the tile guys to piece together the mosaic floor pattern. It is really cool how God is truly in the details. One lesson I have been learning over and over again is how nothing goes how I think it should and I am not in control. I shared the saga of getting the tile in Dakar and the transport adventure but I didn’t give the follow up. When the tile guys started we discovered that about half of the tiles were broken in transport! I was pretty disturbed and disappointed to say the least. Then God reminded me he has everything taken care of. So instead of getting all bent out of shape it was time to roll with it. I began to look at how many tiles were whole and go back to the drawing board. I came up with a design and showed the tile guy and we worked together at making the mosaic patterns with the broken tiles. After all is said and done I must say we ended up with a much more beautiful result than if the tiles all came in one piece. Once again I learned a very important lesson.

Almost there

Here is a recent shot from the back of the center. You can see the doors and windows a little better. There has been so much progress it is hard to keep this blog updated. The tile guys are almost finished and I hope to post some of those photos soon. Everything is coming together. I have been getting pretty worn out, the pace has been tough the last couple of weeks but the finish line is in sight. I also wanted to say that the weekly bible study at my house has been really cool. We have been focusing on hearing Gods voice and some cool things have been happening. This past week we talked about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. At the end we prayed and worshipped and the presencence of God was strongly felt and all experienced a touch from God. Some of the people began to speak in tounges as well. All left refreshed and Ishmael just had a huge grin and said how happy he was. So, though I have been consumed with the project God is still very active and moving in other areas. There have also been some cool times of evangelism lately. Please keep me in your prayers. I need Gods strength and I want to finish strong.

Doors and Windows

Here you can see the start of the door and window installation. They are all metal, and the red paint is a primer coat. We will have to sand and paint them after they are finished putting them all in. They look pretty good right now, and are very sturdy. Since the funds are close to being finished we had to come up with creative ways to get some things we need using materials we already had. The screen doors you see Tina posing next to are built with the wood planks we used as forms for the concrete roof slab. The metal was left over from the veranda roof, so it sort of matches. I am hoping we can make some desks and other furniture out of the rest of the wood planks. We will see…

Water Proof

The terrace has a coat of tar on it and you can see the contractor, Laurent Gomis, rolling out the water proofing. The rolls of the waterproofing have a surface like a typical asphalt roof shingle. Gomis is heating up the underside of the roll with a torch so it becomes sticky and tar like and then he rolls it out. Each of the layers overlaps each other and it will turn up all the vertical surfaces about a foot. During the rainy season it can pour for days so it is important the roof is water tight.

The Wall

Right now the wall is about two thirds done. Once we complete this, the entire site will be free of wandering farm animals. That is good news because then we can plant some fruit trees, without the wall the goats would eat them. The wall is really only about 5 feet tall so people can easily see what is going on inside and we can still see the other neighbors. We did not want to build this huge compound wall and shut everyone out ; the visual connection is important. We have already started making friends with most of the people that live around us, and hopefully we can invite them all to our dedication feast for the center.

God on our side

Last week I shared with the folks at UCF an urgent prayer request. The mayor came to the site and told us we had to stop building our wall. He said he wanted to put a road through our property and that he was going to take a large strip of our land for that. It was alog the nicest part of the property, the grove, with the fruit trees. Well I think we are in the clear thanks to God and the prayers, it seems this guy does not have the authority to do that. He normally does though, but we went through this whole permit procedure at the beginning. I wrote about that a long time ago, and how getting that document was a miracle in itself. Well it seems to have paid off, the land is officially the church property and we can finish our wall. Cool.

Voyage

Another Dakar trip is behind me. I finally went last week and was there for a few days. The city is just crazy. I am starting to get used to it though and find my way around. It is so chaotic, loud, crowed and dirty. There is a lot of excitement and you have to stay on your toes or you could get hit by a wild taxi or a huge truck. There does not seem to be any road rules anyone follows, and pedestrians do not have the right of way. The transport didn't work out as I thought it would but it did work out. The truck we were waiting for never came through so we just went and found another one. It was not an easy task though and turned out to be pretty expensive. The real challenge was getting all the different materials I bought to one central location for the truck to take. I had to hire a bunch of different guys with chariots to cart them. The chariots are basically big carts with handles and for tires they have a car axle attached. There are armies of these guys that run around the city all day moving stuff, they are basically taking the place of a donkey in the whole donkey cart arrangement. All the materials are finally at the site though. The doors and windows look pretty good and we will start putting them in on Monday. The tile is also here though a bunch of it got broken in transit. That was a bit frustrating. I am getting better at negotiation though, and I think people understand my French pretty well now. Some other items I got there were a fridge and all the paint. So all is ok for now though we are running against the clock now. Some time ago we planned a dedication of the training center, it seemed like enough time to be finished before, but it will be close at this point. It also looks like some of our materials are running out and I am not sure what will happen with that. We need continued prayer for God's provision.

Veranda roof

The roof over the veranda is now complete. You can see the rough hewn timbers that are typical of the traditional construction here. Now most people use the corrugated, galvanised roofing sheets you see here. Many people still build mud houses with thatched roofs though. The veranda is quite comfortable and provides shade from the hot sun for most of the day.

Trench time again

Yes it is another trench. We are almost complete with digging the trench for the surrounding property wall. The wall is over 250 meters long, so as you can see, we will need many bricks. Today the men finished making all of them. Now we have a total of 4500 bricks. The mason has actually started building the wall today too. It’s all coming together.

Today

Here is the most current shot of the building. I am really happy with how the details are turning out. As you can see the windows and door are not here yet. I have still not gone to Dakar. I am hoping the transport situation will work out and I can go this week. Please continue to pray for order in this trip. After that we will really be in the home streatch so I remain excited.

Dakar

This week I am going to Dakar. I cant really say I am looking forward to the trip again, I could really use some prayers. It is pretty taxing, and stressful. I thought I would have been there already, but there has been some difficulty setting up the transport of our stuff. I will have to change some money as well, so lets hope I can get a good exchange rate. I am encouraged by the progress lately. The stair is finished and looks great. The workers are finishing up the parging on some last parts of the building. Today the plumber finally came and installed all the piping, so we can progress with the shower and bathroom. Also there are two guys working on the roof over the veranda; and hopefully they will finish in a few days. I will try to post some pictures soon, but I dont know when or how long I will be in Dakar. The other big news is that today we started digging for the enclosure wall. So there is a lot going on right now. I really searched and got some guys to build the wall for a good price. I am thrilled about this. It seems we had a litte more money come in, and I was able to make it work so we coud build the wall. We will see... it is going to be close. God continues to come through in everything.

Time for tea

Here is my first solo attempt at making tea. It sounds easy but it is not, actually it is an art form. My friend Semba is teaching me. It involves boiling the tea over a coal fire and then pouring it out a number of times to mix and cool it. I am not sure where the ceremony of this all developed, but I think it has been passed on from Arabic culture. You actually make three pots of tea and each pot gets sweeter as you go because of the vast amounts of sugar used. The tea is strong and sweet and the whole process takes quite some time. It is pretty relaxing and a common social activity. You just sit around and talk and drink tea out of these shot glasses. I like it.

Going up?

The work has been moving slowly. You can see the progress on the stair here. There will be a storage room underneath. Right now we are waiting for the doors and windows to be finished. I may go to Dakar this week if in fact they are finished. I think it will probably be next week though. So we wait, but now I am trying to calculate just how much it will cost to build the enclosure wall. I think we already have enough cement for this, so I am happy about that. I am also trying to line up a tile guy and find out how much electric service will cost. Next week things should be moving fast again, I hope...

What a trip

I recently took a trip to Dakar the capitol city to search for materials. I have not been there since I first arrived on the plane. It is quite far from Oussouye and a bit difficult to get there. I had to travel through the Gambia and take a ten-hour car ride. The trip was not too bad, the roads seem to have improved, though I got searched in the Gambia. I met the contractor near the bus station and we went on a hunt for the best prices. I ended up only staying there for two days. The city is crazy with activity, very crowed loud, and alive with excitement. Bargaining for materials was an interesting experience to say the least. The trip was very worth while, everything is cheaper in Dakar because everything arrives there and then gets shipped to other cities. So the prices for materials get higher the farther away you get from Dakar. I was able to purchase the rest of the materials needed to complete the building. This includes all the plumbing, electrical, tile, and I even got a stove. The biggest item negotiated was the fabrication of the windows and doors. They should be finished in two weeks and at that time, all the items I bought will be shipped together. By going to Dakar for all the finish items we saved hundreds of dollars and at this point that is great news. Arranging the transport for all the items will also be interesting. I have to search for a truck and go back to Dakar in two weeks to set it all up. Please pray for this. The other item we still need is electric service to the building.

Steps

Here you can see the beginning of the stair wall. It will be a concrete switchback stair going to the roof terrace. Also pictured is a current view of the building.

Getting Closer

Things continue to move little by little. There is a small break for the Easter holiday. Now we are getting into more of the details. In the pictures you can see the concrete work being done for the floor slab. All the rooms and the veranda are completed with a rough slab. After, the rooms will get tile and the veranda a finish slab. If you click on the photo and zoom in you can see at the top of the building they have finished with a concrete cap for the top of the wall. I have yet to purchase the windows and doors, because I am still trying to find a good price. This has to get done soon though. The metal roof over the veranda should be underway next week as well as the stair to get to the terrace. I had a bit of stress recently as well. The contractor was trying to pull some shady business with me. He was trying to say I had to pay him more money for him to do work we had already agreed was part of the contract. It got pretty heated and I was fearing the worst, like I might have to find someone else to finish the work. I think it was an attack, but God interveened. I called a meeting with Marcell, Jerome, and the contractor, and asked Marcel to mediate. Things went really well, because I think he does not want to upset Marcell, for fear of losing future work. He agreed to stick to his word and complete all the work discussed. We made a new contract listing all the work to be completed in detail, and also the remaining money to be paid. So I think things are ok for now, I just hope he does not try to pull and more funny stuff. You never know… I had some interesing ministry opportunities lately. I met a man from Ghana who is a pastor and missionary here in Senegal. I shared with him about my Ghana experiences and he invited me to come at preach at a conference he was having in a nearby village. I found out something very strange, there are over 1500 Ghanians living in the village of Elinkin. It is like a mini Ghana there, they are even building three Christian churches in this small village. It was weird because they all speak English, and don’t respond to French or Jolla greetings. Anyway I preached at the conference and it went pretty will, I was happy to have another adventure. I returned to Oussouye for Easter and was invited to preach for the Sunday service here. I had a great time and it was a big day of feasting !

Veranda

Evangelism

I recently had the opportunity to pray and share Jesus with another Muslim friend from Harlem. His name is Semba, he is a cow herder and I met him the first month I arrived here. I have been spending a bit of time with him becoming friends and helping him learn English. Well, we had time to talk at length about Jesus and having a personal relationship with him. He was very excited about this and really wanted prayer. His whole family is Muslim and every time I am at his house his uncle is copying the Koran in Arabic. So please keep Semba in your prayers too. He will have some difficulties to face as he seeks a revelation of Christ. Also I had a really cool time of Evangelism with Gerard in his village of Kahinda on Sunday. We prayed with a number of people to start a personal relationship with God. One student had many interesting questions, and was really happy we took time to share and pray with him. The people have been extremely open.

Interior surfaces

Here is a shot of the interior parging. You can see the work on the ceiling is not too easy. It is real messy and they had to build a intermediate floor surface out of planks so they could reach easily. So far the finished rooms look great.

Update

Here are some more updated photos. You can see the exterior parging is mostly complete. Actually the interior is also close to being finished. Things are moving pretty well right now. Some of the workers have been away but have now returned so I hope to pick up steam and get a lot done this week.

UCF in Senegal

Well the team left today to head up north to Dakar and then fly back to the states. I am sad to see them go, but we had an amazing time of ministry here. It was a whirlwind tour of many villages, more than I can count right now. We saw many people give their lives to Jesus every place we went. God also confirmed his words with miracles and signs. The last leg of the adventure was in Ziguinchor as we ministered to a church in the center of the town. We spent two days walking and praying through the city. We also did some evangelism and then teachings for the church. The focus was the role and work of the Holy Spirit. Last night the presence of God filled the place as we prayed for the Holy Spirit to come and we saw manifestations of His work. People began to prophesy and speak in tongues. One boy shared after of how he was powerfully touched. As the presence of God came on him, he was overwhelmed and unable to move for a while. Others describes the sensation of water being poured on them, and others had visions and words from God. My friend Uffi, the pastor, was very excited and shared how God gave him a powerful word and vision for his church. I am very excited to see what God will do through them. Kristina and I are planning to return soon and do some evangelism with them. Please pray for this little church in Ziguinchor, and the pastor Uffi and his wife Olga.

Smoothing things out

As you can see the parging process is moving along now; note the smooth concrete surface. They will finish with the exterior first and then will move to the interior. Also pictured here is the roof terrace. You can see the low parapet wall. They will pour a reinforced concrete beam on top of it to tie everything together. Next we need to lay the waterproofing membrane on top of the slab. This should happen pretty soon. There is still a bunch of work to do, but the end is in sight. It is possible all will be finished in the next two months. But you never can tell...

A challenge / Friends are here

Work is moving again, this week the parapet wall was finished, which is the low wall surrounding the roof terrace. Soon we will put a topping of concrete on the slab and slope it to drain water. Next is the installation of the waterproofing membrane. Recently we had to renegotiate the contract and scope of work with the contractor. Although we raised the full budget for the project, due to inflation, the weak exchange of the dollar, and a few other factors, I am over budget for the finishing the building. I have been going through the budget and remaining work, and have been coming up with a few ways to cut costs and save some money, to meet the budget. We will still need to pray for Gods provision to build the enclosure wall on the property. We are not too far off, but things have been a challenge lately. On another note the team from Syracuse is here and God has been doing some really great stuff. So far we have prayed through six villages near Oussouye. We also spent two days in Diembering ministering to the church there and many people in the village. We had the opportunity to pray for many sick people and also see many people come to Christ. Some highlights were, one man came for prayer walking with a cane, and after we finished, he got up with a big smile, and walked away leaving his cane behind. Also a number of people who received Jesus took off their charms and amulets, which are used for witchcraft in the Animist religion. So many cool things have happened already and we have a full week of ministry planned. For the next two days we are going to a rural village called Youtou. We have to take a boat to get there, it should be an exciting adventure. Pray for us and that many people would come to personally know Jesus!

Good news

God did a cool thing a few days ago. I was asked to go to the hospital to pray for a sick baby, so I went with a couple people from the church. The baby had a bad fever, and I put my hand on her head to pray, as we all prayed I could sense God was dong something. After we shared the gospel with the mother and encouraged her to seek Jesus. Before we left I touched the babys head again, and the fever was totally gone! The little girl was healed and left the hospital the next morning. God is so cool. Yesterday I went to Okoot, the village of Damien. We had a great time, and just hanging out with some of his friends. We had an oppoortunity to share the gospel and I was really encouraged. Damien stepped up and shared his new faith with passion. I was amazed at how he just came alive and flowed with the Holy Spirit. We had an opportunity to pray for two of his friends to begin a relationship with God.

At last!

At last, we have progress again! The water company finally came through on Wednesday, and there is now running water at the site. Yesterday was a busy day of work. There were around 20 men working hard to finish the roof slab, and they did it all in about 12 hours. Pictured here you can get an idea of the process. There are no machines to mix or move the concrete; everything is done by hand. The mixing process was difficult, but even more interesting was how they got all that concrete to the roof. There were three teams of men working in sync. The first shoveled the concrete onto a scaffold halfway between the ground and roof. The second team moved the material from the scaffold to the roof. The third group, on the roof, mixed in more water and poured it in place using wheelbarrows. The slab is finished and will need to cure for about 25 days before we can remove the supports. I am happy to see things moving again, next I will need to purchase a material we will lay on the roof to waterproof the roof slab. Hopefully I will be able to access the rest of the money recently provided, the banks here are always an adventure. Within a week the short-term missions team from UCF will be arriving, and I am looking forward to this very much. I think we will have a great time of ministry here. I recently had some really awesome opportunities to share my faith. One was with a popular musician here named Ya-tenga, we prayed together and I was able to give him a bible too. He seems really excited about God right now. Another cool conversation was with Moussa, he asking questions about having a relationship with God and this is the first time he has really expressed such an interest with me. Please pray for these guys and of course continued progress on the project.

Not much happening

Well, it has been a long time since my last post. I was hoping for something more to say, but I am afraid I am stuck in the muck of African burocracy again. The water company assured me they would finish the work 15 days after I payed them. As of now it has been almost a month. I am encouraged by my improvement in French though. I was able to go the the office of the SDE, the water people, and chew them out, and they understood. They were apolegetic and called the director in Dakar, and they assured me materials were coming on Monday, and work would commence on Tuesday. We will see, I am not holding my breath on this one. So, for now, no progress. We wait for water, so we can pour the concrete roof slab. Here is a photo of some women in the church making jam. They have a pretty cool little business making confectures, as they are called here, from all the local fruits. My favorite is the mango. Soon they will be moving the whole business venture to a new building near the center of town. It has been really cool to see all the progress with this endeavor. I did get to preach at a church in Ziguinchor on Sunday and it went pretty well. Many people expressed they were really encouraged by the message, and I had an opportunity to pray for a number of them individually after the service. The church meets in the pastor Uffi's living room and is really too big for the room. They are praying for their own building, and are really the only evangelical church in the downtown area of the city.

Africa time...

Here is a shot from the roof. The wood planks are being supported below by slender trees trunks. Here you can see some men fastening the steel reinforcing together. When they finish, it will be time for the pouring of the concrete slab that will become the roof terrace. Things have been moving so slow lately, with very little progress in two weeks. The reinforcing finally came, which was part of the hold up. The guy I bought it from kept telling me "It will be there tomorrow" and this went on for two weeks. The water company is doing the same thing. They have not put the pipe in yet and it has been two week since I paid them. They keep saying they are waiting for materials. In addition the money machine is not working right now, so I cant access the necessary funds. So this is really typical in Africa, things are normally pretty slow and I am not surprised by too much. While on my way to Ziguinchor yesterday the bus ran out of gas and we just sat there for hours. I was finally able to hop on another bus passing by after paying another fair ($1). Most of the others had to wait it out because they didnt have money for another bus. I needed to get to Ziguinchor to buy shells. (They mix sea shells in with the concrete, they are strong reinforcing and less expensive than gravel). Well as I suspected I arrived too late to get them and stayed overnight. Now they dont have any left so I am waiting for the next shipment. I am not really surprised or upset or anything like that, I just felt like sharing a piece of African life. It is just the norm. I find I have way more patience and my normal mentallity of "I want it now" has finally died! I just get more time to pray or enjoy the company of others. Often there are many opportunities for evangelism while waiting here. Please pray for me I think I will be preaching in Ziguinchor this Sunday.

Big trench

It may be hard to see the details, but this is the trench for the water line. The clearing for the new road to the high school was extremely key for us in many ways. As you can see it made it possible to extend the main pipe and get water to the site. Although it is still pretty far, over 200 meters, and it is quite costly, it is truly a blessing. I am happy to say, if all goes well, we should have running water at the site next week. Another great thing was today the men from Senelec, the electric company, came and started putting up poles to extend electricity down the new road! This is so awesome, and timely, we will be able to get a line for electricity very soon and quite inexpensively. I am continually amazed at how things are just coming together. When I arrived in October, it was a remote and isolated piece of land. I had no idea when or how utilities would get to us. I was prepared that these things may not even be possible for now. How cool. There has not been much work on the building lately though. We have been waiting for a delivery of steel reinforcing bars. Not much can happen until we get them. The next step will be to make a grid work of reinforcing for the roof slab. Hopefully the timing should be just right getting the water too, because we will need lots of it to mix all the concrete. As far as other stuff goes...I was sick, really for the first time since I have been here. I think I ate something unclean! Perhaps some nasty bacteria? I made frequent trips to the bathroom and rested for two days. It cleared up pretty good, I feel much better. Please continue to pray for my health. On Sunday morning I was asked to preach at church, Joe had to go to a funeral. I was still unsure if I was stable in the bowels to hold out through the service. I was picturing a gurgling eruption while preaching! Well...there were no problems. God healed me up, and gave me a cool message too. His presence was there powerfully and He touched many people. The Holy Spirit touched one woman, noticeably as she fell to the ground and wept. God is very cool! I was also prompted to pray for all the sick people. Evangelism was really fun too. I went with Gerard again, and he has some friends that had some questions. Their questions led us right into an explanation of the gospel, and they both wanted to begin a personal relationship with Jesus. They also asked for prayer to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and as we put our hand on them and prayed God touched them and they described a heat sensation, and connection with His Spirit. Gerard is so excited about evangelism now; he said it has rekindled a passion deep within him. I am enjoying this adventure with God.

Roof slab preparation

As I was explaining in the last email, here is the wood form work for the roof. It is basically wood planks supported in place with wood props. The cement will be poured on top and the forms removed when it has set. The underside of the slab will be the ceiling of the rooms. This will give us higher ceilings making the rooms cooler. It will also eliminate the need to construct a plaster ceiling, which was part of the previous plan. The change to make a roof terrace has improved the functionality of the building dramatically. On a different note, I got to travel again to preach in the coastal village Diembering. [In my last posts I spelled it wrong and called it Jemboran] It was another really cool experience. The people there are very nice and extremly receptive to the work of God. God gave me a specific message for them as a church and also for the pastor. It related to the story in the book of Judges about Gideon. As a bonus, after church I got to go to the beach and swim for the first time since I have been here. This is something I have really been wanting to do. It was a perfect day, and the waves were awesome. I had the beach entirely to myself as well since the only time the Africans go to the beach is when it is unbearably hot in July and August.

Everyone Poops

Pictured here is the septic. It took a few days to dig the hole, and another few days to build the walls. There are three compartments to it, and the walls are parged smooth with cement. The excess water will flow out into a sepatate compartment and drain off as it fills up. According to the contractor the waste should not have to be emptied for 10-15 years!

A terrace

Progress continues, but after much consideration, I made a small design change. Instead if the large sloping metal roof, the building will have a flat roof that will be a large roof terrace. There will still be a small metal roof over the veranda. I was thinking of this for some time after enjoying the terrace on Marcels house. The other main factor involved in this change was the option for future expansion. I didnt want to be limited. With this modification we can easily add a second floor and double the floor area with very little cost. So soon you will see what I am talking about, as I keep updated photos coming. I am very excited about this, and I pray we can keep moving forward.

Happy New Year

Things have been pretty slow here over the holidays. All the workers took off between Christmas and New Years Day, and a few extra days added on. I did enjoy the rest and went to a few feasts as well. The guys in Harlem invited me to a muslim feast called Tabaski. We just went from house to house and ate a lot of mutton. Which is like sheep or lamb or something. It was really good. Pictured here is the work of the electrician. If you can see the fine details, note how he broke open the wall to place orange tubing, which is the conduit for the wires. You can also see his patch job. In finishing stages all the walls will get covered with a layer of cement parging, leaving a smooth paintable surface. Work is moving again today, the masons have buit scaffolding and the walls are getting higher. I will try to get some updated photos posted soon.