Our Building Week July 28-Aug 1

It was a fabulous week and we got SO much done on the church we're building!! We had a group of volunteers from Kansas City, KS and a group from Belmont, MI as well as a young man from WI -- so LOTS of extra hands! The week began by pouring concrete in the educational wing. Some of the men helped with that while others worked at preparing other parts of the floor for concrete. We had purposely left a small section of footings and foundations undone -- the rains have kept us so muddy that the concrete trucks would never be able to get to all the areas of the building. That small section allowed the trucks to get footings and foundations poured from inside the building. Now that everything is backfilled, and we've had a little dry spell, the trucks were able to access the building from the exterior and we could finish that last section of foundation. Some of the folks helped assemble the foam forms. Lots of little odd jobs were done, too, which was great. As the week progressed, the entire floor was poured and walls were assembled.

One Wednesday the first wall went up!! It's always an exciting moment -- up to now all the work has been in the ground and, while incredibly important, isn't visible. That first wall is the obvious sign of progress! We got a second section of wall up on Wednesday too.

B y Friday, most of the walls were up and we look like a building site (not a trailer park!).

We are so thankful for the great help! They were all a blessing and encouragement to us in so many ways! We are also grateful to the Lord for His care -- there were a couple small injuries and a little sunburn and quite a few achy muscles -- but no one was seriously hurt!

The site is quiet today. The volunteers have all left for home. Our guys have worked 11 days in a row with only Sunday off so today they are all getting some much-needed rest and spending time with their families.

It's been a GREAT week!!!