 We are still in rainy season, but we are working around the raindrops. This time of year we just get band after band of rainstorms, some thunderstorms and other times just torrential rain storms.
We have learned to watch the eastern sky because the storms come right off the Atlantic Ocean. When we see it getting dark, we know that we have just a few minutes before the rain comes.
 We have most of the work done wiring the first floor. It is very different because the house is concrete.
All of the electrical lines are run along the beams (the white painted area). We will cover these with false beams and that will add a nice touch as well as being quite functional. The electrical lines for the second floor also run from this beam area upward. We installed clips to route the wires. It makes it easy to make changes.
 We hired a separate crew of men to dig the septic tank. They are about halfway done, even in spite of the rain. We built a little covering for them so that they can continue working. We are trying to be able to move into the house by September 1st, although that is an agressive goal.
The guys are focusing on the front part of the house. This part will have Tim's shop and a small garage on the first floor and a large  meeting/craft room on the second floor.They are pouring the concrete on the first floor.
This area will also have the stairs that lead to the second floor. We were hoping to pour the second floor on Monday, but the rain slowed our progress and it will be later next week before we can do this concrete pour.
We have hired a man to make the rest of our concrete blocks. The price of fuel has made it impossible to buy the blocks from Managua. The blocks only cost 9 cordoba each, but it costs 14 cordobas each to bring them from Managua to Bluefields, not counting the wharf fees. (The exchange rate is 19.3 cordobas to the US dollar if you are trying to figure out the cost).
As we mentioned in our last note, Jason is being stationed to Schweinfurt, Germany - Conn Barracks. He will go there on October 5th and will be there for two years, but will likely be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan if those conflicts continue. Please keep him in your prayers. Jonathan is now living in Clearwater, FL and working from there.
Our next schedule trip to the US is January 14-28th. Our tickets go from Managua to Miami and we really have not decided our itinerary from there.
We will begin our ministry training program on February 1, 2009. We will be sponsoring 3-4 full time ministry interns who will have the responsibility of developing a church program that will reach those who would never normally darken the door of a church.
We will also be restarting our lay leadership training program that we began two years ago. It has been on hold for about two years while we made the transition out of business and out of the USA to our location here in Bluefields, Nicaragua.
Per your requests, we have included a bunch of cute dog pictures in the gallery. Mattie is really growing. She wakes us up faithfully at 5:15 every morning (as soon as the sun starts to come up). Princess is still just as wonderful as ever.
Tim has been speaking in churches the last four Sundays as well as preparing the discipleship group materials and working all day on the house (and some evenings).
Please keep us in your prayers. Check the front page for our most current prayer requests.
God bless you,
Tim and Kim |
