It's easy to see that it's construction time here in Rio Verde--bags of cement, piles of sand and gravel, and cement blocks are piled in various places in the yard. Adding to the chaos, rainy season is at its height, often dropping an inch or two of rain each afternoon and evening. We are thankful that we have the pick-up truck for bringing up the supplies, and that we've been able to get each load up our muddy hill and driveway! When we first built here almost 8 years ago, we built everything with wood, as we needed to use materials that were locally available. Now, with the road coming right up to the houses, it's nice to be able to replace some of the rotting wood with cement. Over the last few weeks, Kevin and our visiting cousin Daniel have replaced the laundry scrubbing table where we wash our clothes, and are now replacing the water room (for showers and sink) on the other side of the duplex house. It's been quite a bit of work, always more than we estimate at first!
These small projects are preparation for putting a floor in the new church/carport building in March. A small team from our home church is coming March 10-18th in order to help with this project. We'd appreciate your prayers for the project, especially that we'd be able to get supplies up the muddy, slippery hill just below our houses. We'll need a couple of dump truck loads of material for this project, as it's more than our little truck can handle. If we can't get the big truck up to the top of the hill, we'll have to haul the materials up a little at a time. Our pick-up might also appreciate your prayers---not only is she working hard, hauling loads up, but these last few weeks we've been called upon to pull several other trucks up another steep hill behind us, coming up from the Lita River. :-)
As we try to stay sane :-) amidst the chaos of construction, the ministry continues---I started teaching Hebrews to the church in RV this last Sunday. I've enjoyed studying this book in more depth as I prepare the lessons! We've continued with the adult literacy classes on Friday---chaotic days for us because we often have so many more kids than adults students (one mom sometimes arrives with 6 children!) I've also recently made several trips to P. Community to help with a variety of projects there, and find the interaction with the folks there to be a good way to open the door for friendships and further opportunities. We pray the Lord will begin to prepare many hearts for following Him. Pray also for Paulino, along with Guillermo and Teacher Andrew, who are the main leaders there among the 50 or so families that make up this community.
In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy
