Continued Growth

By: Charles L.

March 2016 – Trip Journal, Part Five

Day 11

On the way to church we stop by the new dormitory, which is about 98% finished, and it looks really good. The highlights of the church service are many. The service begins with the children’s choir praising the Lord, followed by an adult choir, and then total worship of the congregation.  The worship is followed by excellent preaching by Mark, a local pastor who we are considering for the head pastor position.  Mark does an incredible job.  We talk about what we want to accomplish through the church and his eyes light up like a small boy on Christmas!  He has some great ideas and the experience to lead the program in a direction we feel God is leading us.

Children leading worship.

The congregation.

Mark teaching during the service.

I continue to be amazed at the discussion groups in the Sunday school classes for adults! Everything seems to be working the way it’s designed to be and the people love the class discussion. Attendance today is 107. We have a total of 44 in 4 Adult Sunday school classes, 17 young adults. Only 7 people over the age of 35 can speak/understand English.

Anthony with an Adult Sunday School class.

Day 12

We start the day at the school. The superintendents of construction have developed a great way to cover-up the concrete columns. They will plaster the columns with the same mixture that we make the bricks out of and then carve into them so that they look just like bricks. It looks fantastic and is maintenance free!

The completed building with carved plaster.

Greg, the architect, comes by and spends time with Carol working on the next block of classrooms. They are worried about the windows on the backside of the new block being too close to the old block. Carol suggests they raise the windows and make them smaller and Greg thinks it’s a great idea.

We make a quick trip to the ranch and the medical clinic before heading to a teachers’ staff meeting. The teachers bring up a few things that they feel the school really needs. Most of the items mentioned are needed and I express my thanks for their dedication to making our school one of the best in the country in just two short years. Our attendance has grown from 124 to 274, basically overnight, because people are impressed with how well our students speak English.

Next is a ribbon-cutting to officially open the new dormitory. Later, Yvonne and a group from a Stateside private academy arrive and have a blast with the kids!

I finish the evening with Mark, the man applying for the head pastor/intern program leader position at our church. We are praying through this decision to meet everyone’s needs in the best way possible.

Day 13

When I go to breakfast this morning there is a pastor waiting for me. He requests a water well. Sometimes it feels like the needs just never end.

We meet our lawyer, who has accepted being on our NGO Board of Directors, at the school to show him the ranch and the medical clinic.  The team from the Stateside private academy led by Mary Carl is in the same town facilitating an optical and dental clinic. There must’ve been hundreds of people waiting for them! Tom, an American friend traveling with this group, takes the little boy that he sponsors over to talk to Dr. Emma about an intestinal issue. We return and give several tours of the medical clinic and the ranch. We take a truck load of chairs back to the church to replace the ones the school had loaned them and call it a day.