Life Glimpses

Warm Greetings,

I am so sorry I haven't done well at keeping in touch with you the last while. The internet has not been working for about a week. We are so thankful that it is working again. It has been a very busy two weeks since I last wrote.

Last week I was working on finishing up a few odds and ends in the girls house so that when Albert arrived we could get to work on the Administration building. We are all so excited to have Albert here and I am especially thankful to have another person to work with it has been such a blessing. It has been a good week since he arrived last Saturday. Albert hasn't really had a chance to get us to being here hardly because we have been working very long days. The building is coming along very well. We have lain almost 500 blocks and tied and bent 200 meters of rebar for the concrete ring beam around the top of the walls. The last three days have been tiring because we have been mixing all the concrete by hand. We are starting to look like tomatoes because of all the sun we are getting.

This is how we cut blocks here.

Victor and I tying rebar

Gazani and I bending rebar

Rebar on top of the wall before we poured the concrete.

Albert and Gazani

This is what we are working on.

We are trying to get the left side of the building done and the other side will be done at a later time.

We poured three of these columns

We have another 250 blocks to lay before we can put the roof on. There are seven windows and six doors to be installed, 12" of fill to be brought in before we can pour the floor. We really have our work cut out for us but Lord willing be can have a good amount of it done by the time Albert leaves.

We are entering winter here, we haven't seen any snow yet, nor will we, but it is getting quite cool at night I had to add an extra blanket on my bed. Many people think that Africa is hot all the time but many parts are not. In about a month they will be getting frost on the ground. Those of you in Canada say "Oh what's a little frost." You're right it is not much when you have insulated houses and furnaces, but for people here this is not the case. I like to sleep when it is cold and that part is nice. It is still getting nice and warm during the day but you can really feel a temperature drop when the sun goes down.

We got up early and started work at 6 this morning so that we could be done early so that we could have some time to come into town. This is just about Albert's first time out other than a quick trip into town last Sunday to try to use the internet and found out it wasn't working. We will hopefully be able to show him around a little before he leaves.

I am sorry this is short but I hope to write more next time. I would appreciate your prayers as I am still trying to change my flight. Thanks so much for your prayers and your emails they are very encouraging.

Your Brother in Christ,

Andrew