 Our busy days continue, both with the house and with the ministry. The morning Bible study with the guys is continuing to bear fruit. We are working through the book of Romans. We read a passage and then discuss it for about 30 minutes.
The guys are starting to really get a handle on the concept of the grace of God, that God's favor is not earned, but is a gift that is freely offered to each one (see Romans 3). Everyone is beginning to be a part of the discussion.
 Plans are moving ahead with the Youth In Action group for a youth outreach event for Sept 17th. Theseyoung people have really taken the lead in creating this event.
We are providing about $700 in funding for the event for 200 kids. We will challenge them to get on the path of discipleship and we will have an 8 week study on the ways of Jesus that they can join as a follow up.
Our youngest son Jason arrived yesterday and will be staying with us for a month, helping us on the house. He was able to work it so that he got amonth of leave from the Army before he has to report to Germany for his two year assignment there.
 He found out Thursday afternoon that he was approved for leave. We got on the internet and found a ticket leaving at 6 am Friday morning from Huntsville, AL and he was here in Bluefields at 3 pm Friday afternoon.
Princess (Jason's dog) recognized him immediately and would not stop licking him. She was so excited to see him. She has stayed right with him the entire time.
We are working on a bunch of smaller projects on the house while we wait for our truck to get repaired. We had the engine rebuilt, then the fuel pump needed to be rebuilt, so our mechanic took it to Managua and then needed more money to get new gaskets. It has been a real hassle. Pray that it will be fixed once and for all.
 Once we get the truck back, we can take the final shipment of sand and stone for the house. It costs about $2000 for a shipment of 20 meters of sand and 10 meters of stone, all costs included. Ralston has secured the material in Rama and it is just waiting to be sent.
This amounts to about $2.66 per rice bag full of sand or stone (equal to two large buckets). It is one of the most expensive parts of building the house because we cannot use the materials from around here. The sand has salt in it and the stone is too soft.
We have laid the tile in the laundry room and finished preparing the back porch for concrete and started to do the stucco on the fence. The guys love the pressure washer and the tile saw. It really does speed things up and improves the quality of the job.
Thank you for your prayers. We really appreciate them. There are definitely challenges and discouragements that arise, but God gives us grace and strength for each need.
Tim and Kim |
