Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Summary of the first 8 months of 2016

My Church came to visit and work for a week. Thank you Life Church Morris.
This is not the sexiest title but I thought that it was time to review the first 8 months of the year. It has been very busy and we have all been through some tiring weeks but we are grateful for all that God has allowed us to be part of this year. I wanted to give you a brief summary and then let the pictures share the story.

This year we built about 5 houses in Zapote. I cannot recall the exact number and built about 10 stoves.  We replaced much of a home in Magdelena that had water issues and built another house and stove in Escuintla, a new town for us to work in. Just this would have seemed like a busy summer a few years ago but now it is barely a start. We had so many other projects we worked on that I am not sure where to start. I will try to break it down by location.

In Membrillal we had a lot of work at the Church and school. Our biggest task was to finish the walls and the drainage system and then put the trusses up and the roof on. This task was heavy, time consuming and occasionally dangerous. I cannot count how many buckets of concrete and mortar we had to lift over our heads to finish it then we had to raise the trusses. That is the part that might have been dangerous but they are up and the roof is on. We also painted the outside of the school, replaced the netting around the playground with chain link fence, installed the office doors and worked on walls on the second floor.

In Zapote we had just as much to do. We needed to pour concrete in an unfinished part of the playground and install drainage to eliminate standing water and mud. In the process we found that much of the existing drainage needed to be replaced. We also needed to repaint the school,inside and out because the volcanic dust and frequent rains (not to mention dirty little fingers) turn everything black in a short time. We refinished all of the doors and white boards also. Our biggest task was the first floor flooring. Initially it as rough concrete with a skim coat of smooth cement over it. That is a normal process here. For some reason though the skim coat did not bond and it had many cracks so the decision was made to break off the skim coat and to tile. Several teams took hammer to cement to remove it all and to begin tiling the first floor. The rooms and hallway are complete but the cafeteria still needs to be finished.

Along with all of these things, we also hosted a medical clinic in Membrillal and helped a Kid's Alive team with another one for a week in Zapote. We had after school programs and Bible school programs run by a few teams. We had street fairs in San Lucas and Membrillal, and a few other evangelism events and a food distribution to needy families in the schools. Most of all, we have 300 kids in our schools and 600 people in the Churches that hear the proclamation of the Gospel every week because of your ongoing support and work.

It was a long and busy year. I want to thank all of the Churches and groups that came to work with us this year. I hope that you enjoy the pictures



Program for kids in Membrillal

Trying to break up a rock to big to move.
(It eventually got moved)

This was a whole house but now is just a kitchen

Stove being built in the kitchen

The replacement house

Program for older students in Santo Tomas

Street fair in Membrillal
Can't hit me

Street fair in Membrillal


Mixing pegamix for the new tile
Tiling a classroom

Street fair in San Lucas

Sanding new chair rail

Painting around the tilers

Holding the ladder in place

Chris reuniting with Pastor Mario

A house ready to be torn down

The replacement

Before the work started
Replacing the drainage system



Ready to pour 

Poured new pad with drains

Painting outside a classroom.

Kids want in on the action

The finished product

Working on the second floor

Cutting the metal to make trusses

Finishing the gutter system for the Church

Welding Trusses

Getting in place to set the first truss

Truss going up (first attempt)

Got to get higher

Almost got it

Getting there

Success, only 4 more to go

Not for the faint of heart

It took a while but they did it.

Roof going on


Hanging out in Membrillal

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