"Unless the Lord builds the house"

Update since the last blog:

God granted complete healing to Dick Grotberg (Nancy Germo's Father)- he is whole and complete in heaven. His family was able to celebrate his life on October 2nd and his body was buried on their land in North Dakota. 

Carol Freeman came off the ventilator and is recovering "faster than many half her age". She wrote out her testimony about her experience in the ICU under sedation-"thinking multiple times, 'Maybe I have enough strength to take just 2 more breaths. Then when they come back to check on me, I'll be gone". God had other plans and her purpose on earth is not yet over. In her testimony she continued to tell about her choice to follow Christ as a child and has never regretted it and she will continue to tell of why she believes in the exclusivity of Christianity with the rest of her days.

The current home of one of the farm workers. We feel honored to build a new one for him and his family of 7.

After a long pause, house building has begun again for 2 farm workers. We do not fund the entire home but instead have 1/4 of the cost deducted each month from the farm workers salary. This allows them to have "ownership" and have a part to play in the process instead of it purely being given. I have written in the past that there is a huge sense of entitlement in the mentality of people in this area. This is not necessarily their faults, I put the blame on the NGO's (Non Government Organizations) who come here temporarily giving their hand outs, getting pictures of them doing so for the donors, thus completing their "projects ". It might appear to be helpful at first but it is very damaging in the long term because is causes people to not see value in working. Time and again they have seen that  if they wait long enough they will receive their next charitable hand out.

We believe that in the very beginning "The Lord God took the man (Adam) and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Genesis 2:15. Then Adam and Eve sinned against God and as result God said,

"Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you will return. " Genesis 3:17-19

Even before the fall of man it was in God's design for us to work. After man and woman's sin it became a whole lot harder to work because of the birth of thorns and thistles. Unfortunately we truly feel the brunt of this because there are methange plants all over the place. Many a time my hair has gotten stuck on them and tires (even the thick tractor tires) have been punctured by them. One day all these hardships of life will cease. We want to work hard until then.

There are many aspects in building houses in the bush. You need a few basic items. Sand, cement, and stones being the top 3. Fortunately there is an unlimited amount of sand in the dried of riverbed that are all along the road to the farm. Amos and Jason have been organizing for trailer loads full to be brought for these houses each day. All of the sudden the elders of the 3 tribes in this surrounding village called for a meeting. At the beginning of the meeting the elders accused Amos and Jason of favoring one tribe over the other three. The fact is this one tribe has the biggest population in this area, and not only this they are harder working. After much discussion went on it finally came down to the actual reason of what the elders had on their minds. They wanted a house to be built for each one of them. They thought it was "unfair " to see all these younger men getting a house while they, as the "respected older people of the village" just continued to live in their huts. 

Jason was able to explain that these houses weren't being built for just anyone. These were loyal farm workers  who had put in their time. These men were not getting a free house but were getting money deducted every month from their salaries and not only this- they were participating in all the moving parts to have the house completed. When Jason finished talking all the elders backed off except for 1. This particular 1 still was demanding that he get something. This 1 had asked for a loan years ago and promised to pay it off by providing some animals/charcoal/or work at the farm. He has never paid off the loan still to this day. Jason was able to tell the story about the shrewd manager that received mercy from the King only to demand the money from his own debtors. Jason told them that in the end the manager was thrown into prison by the very same King who had earlier forgiven him. Finally this elder conceded. The meeting was over and hopefully a lesson learned. 

While these permanent houses will drastically improve the living conditions of these families, our real hope is that somehow the houses will transform their lives spiritually.  That the families will know that Jesus loves them so much He provided this house for them. But that is only the beginning ! We pray they know that He loves them so much that He died and rose again and has gone ahead to prepare a place for them and that they will follow Him where ever He leads them!

Shoveling off the rock that was collected. 

These bricks made from a mold.

The foundation is strong.

Masons mixing up the cement, stones, and sand.

smoothing it all out.

The second house being built.

The current house in the background. 

Girlies and intern McKenna looking on.

Samara cut her hand earlier thus week. Thankfully she did not need stitches. She just needs to keep it clean. Which in itself is a very difficult thing to do.