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.