I surmise that someone is praying for us. It is now the second day of hard work. Things are much more organized and the temperature has dropped from around 90% to around 82%. There are more than 50 workers on the site, not counting the 11 of us. We have made Ryan Bell our foreman. As an engineer, he is the only person in our midst who has worked on what he calls “A Heavy Project”. It is heavy because everything is concrete, steel, sledge hammers, shovels and wheel barrows. Not only so, but there is hardly a task that is not heavy. You’d think that very little would be done using such archaic methods, but we are astounded by how fast everything is moving. Mountains are literally being moved here– mountains of rock and sand and gravel and concrete. The scripture says, “This mountain shall be removed, not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord”, but in this case mountains are being moved by the might and power of muscle and perspiration. It reminds me of the old Tennessee Ernie Ford song,

Some people say a man is made out of mud,
but a poor man’s made out of muscle and blood,
muscle and blood and skin and bone,
a mind that’s weak and back that’s strong.
I was born one morning when the sun didn’t shine,
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine,
I loaded 16 tons of number 9 coal
and the straw boss said “Bless my soul”.

Our team is working and I am sitting here writing to you and all I can say is “Bless their souls”.

All of us just love the women who are carrying water on their heads to feed the concrete mixer. They come one after another, carrying 5 gallons of water from about half a mile away. Pastor Simeon told me that he was so glad that the water was not being brought in by truck, because all of these women desperately need money. They are so grateful to God for the opportunity to earn money because they are all very poor.

I can’t say enough how pleased and proud I am of this team. Perhaps the best team of people I have every worked with.

Please say a prayer for us at the breakfast table. It makes all the difference in the world.

More to come!
Richard