Off to England, AGAIN!!!

In fact, I am already here. I arrived on Wednesday. Sorry for the late notice. We had been so busy that I couldn't get a post up, nor finish the one about Texas. And then, I brought a computer with me that needed a bunch of updating before I could use it. I finally finished all the updates today, so now I am able to complete some posts.

I am here working with 2 other guys to build out a handicap apartment. We will be joined this next week by another guy from my home church.

The work is going great. The 2 guys I am working with had already started on the project and a lot of the demolition had been done. But they also left some for me to do too. One of the guys, Rick, is a bricklayer and has been teaching the skill. He has been on the mission field for the last 30 years, both in Senegal and the Netherlands. He is a very interesting guy and I have enjoyed getting to know him some.

Phil, you already know about, because he is the one who I left to finish the last project that I came out to do In February. He is still here and is managing the project for us.

The project is going very smooth. We have accomplished much in the few days that I have been on the job. By the time I return home we should have what they call "the first fix" completed. From what I understand that to be is: all the brick walls up, ceiling framed, insulated, windows and door installed, electrical rough, plumbing rough, drywall on walls and ceiling and the plastering completed (they plaster a lot here), as well as a few routine maintenance items completed around the campus, which I have already been working on. Wow! Sound like a lot of work? Well, it is. No time to rest around here, we have work to do.

Here are some pictures of the work.

Gary

The front of the apartment.

Reconstruction of the bath wall.

Laying the brick

Old Pillar removed

Old Lintel removed

New Lintels installed

My brick work inside

My brick work outside

Installing the ceiling beams with Rick

Ceiling beams complete

Texas

That's right I have been to Texas and back - Mission, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. Daniel and I went down with Aaron Sutton and Psalm 67 to check out a project for a church. It took us 23 hours driving straight through to get down there and about 21 hours to drive back not including about an 8 hour stop to get some sleep. We were gone for 6 days and was able to meet a lot of the members of this Hispanic church - some of them spoke English but not all. Aaron Sutton translated for those who couldn't speak both languages.

It was a good trip. I had a chance to get to know Aaron, his wife and daughter. Our Pastor and his wife flew down and spent the time with us. They came down to teach a few classes at the church. We are planning another trip late July to start on the work. It will take several trips to complete the work.

We are looking at approximately 250 linear feet of cracks in the drywall to be repaired throughout the building which means that we will have approximately 12,500 square feet of wall area that will need to be painted, not to mention the ceilings. The walls have the orange peel knock down finish and the ceiling have the acoustic finish. What fun!!!

We had an impromptu Bible Study with a family in the church. They came by one evening and wanted to  Study the Bible with us. This family is hungry for the Word of God. They want to know what it says so that they can live according to all that God commands. It is great to see the Holy Spirit working in their lives in this way.

The Mexican culture is very much a woman dominated culture because the men just aren't there to lead, for many reasons. So to see this man hungry is a real work of God in his life. He does not read and neither he nor his wife speak English but their kids, because they go to school in the U.S., speak both languages fluently. It is amazing to see these kids translating from English to Spanish for their parents.




We did take the opportunity to cross the border into Mexico for a few hours. A totally different way of life, such as it is in many parts of the world. We found prices to be so much cheaper.

Daniel also tried some tacos, which he liked. I was surprised that he liked them. They're not like Mom makes.










The Mexicans set up shop wherever they can to sell their goods.

Including using their bicycles.

The kids are very industrious. They will work hard to earn money to help support the family. Here is a boy that shines shoes. Don't they look GREAT!

This girl was selling gum.

I will be posting details of that up coming trip in July in the next couple of weeks. So keep watching!



Gary

I Am Blessed

The Lord has blessed me so incredibly, beyond what I could ever have imagined.  I have an incredible husband, who loves the Lord, me and our children

and our six wonderful kids

Daniel

Elaina

Nicholas

Naomi

Jeremiah

Deanna

and praying that the Lord would give us more to love and raise for His Glory.

Michelle

So where did I end?

Sorry that this has taken so long. It has been a very busy week. I have had to get over jet lag, a cold that I have had for more than 2 weeks now, that I still have some lingering affects from. I have also been busy doing projects around the house that desperately needed to be done. I built Naomi and Deanna a bunk bed, they now have their own beds after 2 years of sleeping together. I am putting 2 windows in our family room to let in some outside light and air. This room is so dark that we have 5-60 watt light bulbs burning all day long to light the room up. We have spent a lot of time together as a family this past week, it has been a great time together.

Well, the project in England had its ups and downs. When I left we had everything and everyone in place so that the project would be finished. As I said in another post, Phil, a local guy who used to be a builder, was lined up to complete the project. In fact, he had entered the picture sometime around the 2nd week that I was there, so he had been involved in putting the pieces together with me.


As far as the work that was accomplished while I was there, all of the walls had been framed up and insulated. Most of the drywall had been hung and taping of the joints had begun. The electrical rough-in work was complete and all of the bathroom plumbing was done. We had leveled the floor in both the bathroom and kitchen after removing the tile floor. All of the kitchen cabinets were on site just waiting to be installed. All of the colors had been chosen for flooring, countertops, paint, and the wall tile for the kitchen and bathroom.


I have to say that I really enjoyed my time with the folks there. They were so good to me and my family. They fed me a meal most days and provided me with money each week. They sent me home with gifts for Michelle and the kids, as well as a financial gift at the end. Thank you so much to all of you at Springhead Park House for your hospitality and your generosity. We have been so blessed by you all.

Thank you for your prayers for this trip.  They were really appreciated and I would ask you to continue to pray as I consider the next project the Lord has for me.


Gary

I made it home!

I just got in. It has been a very long day and now for bed. It was an uneventful day of traveling. The only problem we had was a delay at the Atlanta airport. First it was delayed by 15 minutes and then they sorted out some problems at the gate. The pilot said that we would have turbulence most of the way to Saint Louis but I thought it was a pretty smooth.

I will post about the project after some sleep.

Gary

To top it all off...

I came down with a really bad cold this week. On Tuesday evening, after dinner, I started to get a sore throat, achiness and heat flashes. I went to bed and woke up Wednesday with a bad sore throat and all my joints hurting. I spent the day dragging just trying to keep going. I took some Ibuprofen before I went to bed that night and sweated all night long. When I woke the next morning I felt GREAT, having a lot of energy, I was able to do my work with ease. I thank God for His healing so that I could continue with all my work that is still ahead of me. I am feeling much better now, still not completely over it.

Thank you all for praying. Please continue to pray, it has certainly been a battle here as well as on the home front.

The work is going well. The electrician is nearly complete with his Rough-in. The Plumber still has not been able to start his work yet, because of the problems we have had the Plumber had to go start another job and has not been able to get back to us. He is to start his work on Monday. The apartment is coming together despite all the set backs that we have had. We have all the walls framed up and have started insulating and hanging the drywall. It is looking like an apartment now. We should be able to hang some kitchen cabinets on Monday.

I have a very busy week. Some friends want to see me on Monday evening, my Brother-in-law is coming up to see me on Tuesday evening, I have a meeting planned with another friend and I still need to do some shopping, as well as do some work on this apartment.  Don't get me wrong, I am very excited about this week with all the busyness seeing everybody and all, especially the fact that I will be seeing my own family on Thursday, that is the day I will be traveling back home. So, I can't forget to pack too!

I have some very exciting news too! My phone rang today and I answered it to hear Elaina tell me that she has repented of her sins and is now trusting Christ save her. I am choking back tears just writing this. Oh that was so good to hear! Thank you, Lord! Michelle hugged her for me but that just isn't the same. I am so looking forward to going back home.

Gary

Set back after set back

This past week has been very challenging. Every day we seemed to encounter something else that set the project back.


To begin with we needed a concrete core drill, so we called to rent the unit but they didn't have it in stock and it took them 3 days to get for us. This meant the plumber had to pull off the job as he couldn't begin his work until we had a core hole drilled.


Finally we were able to core drill the floor today but then the unit got stuck a couple of times and it took a long time to pry it up out of the hole. We also discovered that the original design of the bathroom won't work because the drain pipes were going to hit the top of some water lines. So, we have had to redesign the bathroom so that we can run our drain lines, again more delays.




In answer to prayer the Lord has provided Phil to help with the project.  He arrived last week and has been invaluable to me.  He has been a local builder but he is now working with the Gideons distributing Bibles. He has offered to help us with this project and is willing to continue to do some maintenance around the property.


Then on Friday Phil's dog ran off,  which meant he had to pull off the job to find her.  Thankfully, several hours later she was found, 6 miles away .







Yesterday I found out that Merriam (the German girl who has spent a lot of time helping) has an infection in her leg.  She went to the hospital last night and is now on an antibiotic to clear up the infection, but is now unable to help on the project.  She has been a great help to me and I am hoping she will be healthy again soon..

So, yesterday we got a group of people together to pray in the apartment about the set backs and the Lord has been gracious as we have things start to progress in the right direction.   We now have the holes drilled through floor and plan to finish framing the rest of the walls today and hopefully start hanging drywall. The plumber and electrician are scheduled to be back on Wednesday to complete their rough-in.   We have also been able to get the floor leveler down on the floor that we removed the tile from. It looks good now, ready for vinyl flooring to be installed. We are hoping that by Friday we can do some painting.

Please pray with us that the Lord will allow us to accomplish much over the next few days while keeping those on the job safe and that He would bring healing to Merriam's leg.  I would love to see this project completed before I return to the States in just 9 days.

Thanks.

Gary

Make disciples by David Platt

Casual Acceptance or Absolute Surrender?

So What is happening?

The work is progressing here in England. I will give you some information on how far we have gotten in a moment but first let me share a picture of the team of people who has helped me so far.

Two Americans, two Germans and Two British
plus another British lady not pictured here.

When I left the States, I still had no idea what project I would be doing. Upon arrival I was promptly told that I would be doing the original project that we had discussed, the apartment renovation. We were able to finalize the drawing toward the end of the week...

The new kitchen and bathroom, which is all one room right now.

...and quickly started getting proposals for the work, for which a plumber has agreed to do the bathroom work. The electrician, window company, floor layers, hardwood re-finishers and order kitchen cabinets are still needed. This will be done at the beginning of this week. The first material order was made by the end of the week which was delivered Saturday.

So, what physical work was done, you ask? Well, a portion of the brick wall was removed, pulled up the vinyl flooring and started removing the tile floor that was underneath.

Before

German Power

Complete

They are on there good!

There is still one more area of the brick wall that has to open up so that a door can put in between the kitchen and the lounge (looking closely at the photo below you will see the word lounge written over the window in the right hand bottom room)

The new door will go in this wall!

Location of the new door in the wall behind the pipes.

Still a lot of work has to be done but it is progressing. I am pleased with what we have accomplished so far. I am trusting the Lord to bring it all together in the proper time, so that, we can accomplish this project before I have to leave. So far we have seen answers to our prayer. The other 2 plumbers we called couldn't come until Tuesday and Wednesday of this next week. The last one we called was out within the hour and submitted his quote by the end of the business day Friday. He is rearranging his schedule to do the work within the time constraints that we are under.

Keep praying for the project, please!

We still don't have Council approval for this project, but they have told us we can go ahead and start the work - albeit, at our own expense. We have been in contact with the inspector and he knows our situation and is working with us.

We need the other contractors to be of the same mind as the plumber.

We need the kitchen cabinets ordered and delivered quickly.

Thank you all for your continued prayer for us.

Gary

What a journey!

Amsterdam airport

Amsterdam Airport

I have arrived in England but not without a few hiccups. After a little while of sitting at the airport I got a phone call from Delta telling me that the plane has been delayed. I went up to the ticket agent and found out that it was due to some mechanical problems. After a little while longer I received another call saying that the plane had been delayed again and that they were re-booking me on another flight. So, I went to the ticket agent to sort it out. he booked me on a flight and I then changed gates to catch this new flight. The winter storm was fast approaching and by the time I was on the plane the storm was right over us. We taxied away from the gate and had to wait on the tarmac until the plane was de-iced. It took over an hour for this to happen, which subsequently caused me to miss my connecting flight in Atlanta. Delta re-booked me again on a later flight with another lay over in Amsterdam. I went to another ticket agent to see if I could get another direct flight to Manchester. The agent told me that there is only one flight that goes out per day and it wasn't scheduled to go out until the following afternoon, which would have put me into England a whole day later. I decided to keep the flight they re-booked me on and go to Amsterdam, so now I can say that I have been to Holland. If I hadn't taken this flight, it would have messed up my train ride in England also. So I took the 10:50 flight out of Atlanta, had a few hour lay over in Amsterdam and arrived in England safely. Found my way onto the train and made it to my destination.