This was the first full day of work with some frustrations. Several of the local block layers that we hired did not show up on the job site, so we had quite a few people standing around. There are few skilled block layers in our group, so we are praying we will get a few more to help us tomorrow. We had a major reorganization meeting tonight and hope that tomorrow everyone will be occupied with some task.

The eight Bible workers from Nicaragua are wonderful young men. They are so dedicated and eager to share the Word.

Today, the truss crew started assembling the 70 trusses needed for the church and annex. They made a jig, are precutting all the pieces, and have an assembly line. The truss plates were not sent as specified. Instead, they sent “mending” plates, which are not supposed to be used for truss construction. So, in addition to hammering the “shark teeth” metal plates, they are nailing them with galvanized roofing nails to beef up the holding power. After getting the jig made, they were able to assemble only five trusses today.

The eye clinic got off to a great start. They are using a small medical clinic in town. Dr. Roland Stickle, a retired optometrist from British Columbia, is running the team. They saw about 120 patients today.

The evangelistic meetings were well-attended. Pastor Gordon Houston is getting some help from Pastor Ed and Cheryl Dunn. They are operating the power point, advancing the slides when necessary. Pastor Houston simply focuses on preaching.

I have been performing mini-musical selections nightly. The people love it! We brought a few CDs to give away as incentives. Tomorrow night we will give away several CDs to the folk who bring the most visitors.

At 10 o’clock this evening, we received an urgent call from the head elder, Roger Wood, who has been the church construction supervisor for more than three and a half years. He told us that the small ship with all of the metal roofing was pulling in at the main dock and was scheduled to head back out to sea in two hours. We took all of the youth and eight staff down to the dock and unloaded 10 crates of roofing materials. Each crate weighed at least a ton, so we had to stack them on the dock to be moved in the morning. We unloaded the materials in less than an hour.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

It looks like our reorganization paid off. We accomplished a lot at both sites. The block crew is up to row four today. The truss crew assembled 12 trusses today.

A large group of students from the Adventist high school came to help us move all of the metal roofing materials from the wharf to the church. It took them about two hours, but they were a great help!

The eye clinic had to make a daily schedule for patients as they are swamped, but doing a super job! Many of the young people are assisting in helping with the eye charts, learning how to use the brand new auto-refractor, locating the proper glasses (donated to The Quiet Hour by the Lions Club), fitting and adjusting glasses, as well as doing some initial interviewing of the patients.

There were 150 at the children’s meetings. The church doesn’t know where they will put any more if the attendance grows more. The adult meetings attendance dropped today. I’m not sure how to interpret it. However, we gave away several CDs tonight at the meetings for those who brought visitors.

The weather was a lot cooler today.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Our crews are working hard and accomplishing a lot! It is fun to watch how “organized chaos” turns to a well-oiled machine. Today, we had several new block layers to work with our kids. The house is going up. They finished row eight today. The truss crew will finish constructing the long, 37-foot trusses tomorrow morning and will begin the small, 28-footers tomorrow afternoon. What a great group they have! There are a couple young men from Chetwynd, British Columbia that are work-horses!

Several times a week, a fruit-and-veggie boat (like a long canoe) travels all night to Guanaja and ties up at the main dock. We picked up a bunch of watermelon from one of these farmers and took a watermelon break with the truss crew. Everyone enjoyed the sweet and juicy treat!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

It’s hard to believe that we are over the hump! Things are going quite smoothly. The eight Bible workers from Nicaragua joined us at the pastor’s home today with their work clothes. Now that we need scaffolding to work on the rows of block, we needed a few more block layers. These guys are “jacks of all trades”!

It rained very hard for a couple hours, so we didn’t get as much done as we had hoped. But we are still making progress.

It’s unreal, but 250 kids showed up at the children’s meetings tonight. They had to take down all the chairs and have the kids sit on the floor so they could pack them in! The OKAA group has hit a home run again. They really know how to minister to young children. They have different activities each night, including puppets, mime, skits, games, and crafts!

The adult meetings are going quite well. A 50-year-old man who was involved nine months ago in a car accident while drunk has been attending. The accident left him paralyzed. His family has been praying for him for years. Now, he wants to be baptized, so it will be an interesting challenge getting him in and out of the baptistery – but praise God that He is indeed changing lives!

A young lady, Carly, from Chetwynd, asked after worship tonight to be baptized on Sabbath. We always have a special baptism for our group. She is 15 years old and has never been baptized, and I am grateful that this trip has changed the lives of some in our group.

Blessings!!

Joedy & Judy

Read March 23-26 e-mail