Thursday, September 19, 2013

Progress

   We haven't been posting to many pictures or articles on this blog, because the initial tear down is basically completed as far as Nathan was able to. And building the foundations and digging trenches takes quite awhile. The bosses are also working on the small school, Sunday school, meeting place building down below the church mainly for the last couple weeks. Everything is going at a good pace though if you think "Haiti".
  Another huge challenge has been the rain and the mud, even if it doesn't rain for 2 days the truck can't get up the mountain from the river, so it needs 2 and a half really sunny days to be able to haul rocks and sand. Steve and Nate hauled 3 of sand and 1 of rock a couple days ago. So they're able to keep working. It's amazing to how the ladies dig the sand right out of the river bed in no time and seems like very little effort.



A trench they are digging through the floor of the old church building for the
foundation 
The guys with the wheel barrows coming running up a steep
 hill from where you see them someone fills the barrows and of they
cruise down the hill. They can make a sport out of anything almost.

Building foundation walls for the small school/etc house below the church building.


Can you see a big cement plant in this picture, and the cement
truck waiting to load up???!!!! It's all "ARM STRONG" machinery.

Steve coming with a load of sand, it such a small road down to Madam pastor's house that you have to hug the mountain so as not to roll down the mountain.

Turned around and ready to unload. This dump truck used to be an old water truck in Florida for a fire hall, Don Weaver bought it and had a box built on it, but it don't have any hydraulic lift, so it's all shovel on shovel of work. We're glad to be able to use it though for projects.

This is behind the church building where the foundation is starting to go up.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

2nd Weekly Update from Nate...

Greetings to all, again, in the wonderful name of Jesus!

Unfortunately this last week we've had bad internet service, hence the lack of a weekly update on Friday! However, it looks like we're back on track now, so onward with the blog!

Progress has continued this last week, albeit, at a slightly slower pace. We hauled several dump truck loads of rocks (when it wasn't raining), and pulled down a few more walls; and when I say "pulled down", I mean just that...

This used to be the front of the church...

As you can see, I was able to wrap a large strap over sections of wall...

Attach the strap to the Gator, and pull them down!
It saved a lot of time, plus kept the roof below (on the other side) in good shape :)

For those of you who enjoy panoramic shots, here's the whole work area.

More walls coming down.

One of the wonderful things working here is these amazing things called sunsets-
Truly, God is the Master Designer!

Hoping to post some pictures soon of the rock and sand hauling.

Stay tuned!

-Nathan

Friday, September 6, 2013

Weekly update from Nate...

   Greetings to all in Jesus' precious name! He is the giver of life, sustainer of joy, and the completion of our salvation! I count it a privilege to be here, helping out in a small way, trying to be a blessing and glorify my Lord while I'm at it!

   So far (and as you probably have seen already on this blog) the work on the church has been going very well; on Monday we got all the tin off the roof; on Tuesday all the framing came down; on Wednesday the steel trusses and wood purlins were removed; Thursday about 1/3 of the walls were busted out.

   Yesterday evening and this morning we've had a lot of rain, so that's hindered the work today. We also have had trouble with our main work machine- the John Deere Gator. Its reliability record has been less-than-stellar in the past, and it's decided to continue in its sketchy performances during this project too :) A few prayers for reliability would be wonderful :)

   The majority of church people have been working in the riverbed, digging up large rocks for the walls and sifting sand for the concrete mix. Steve has been using Don Weaver's dump truck to haul it all up from the riverbed this last week. The rains (though appreciated) have hindered that process too: the trails have become muddy enough that the machine can't climb up to the church. Such is life in Haiti- do work when you can, and work around circumstances when you can't!

   I've been taking some pictures with my phone as the work progressed this week. Many regrets, as the quality isn't quite up to par with my Nikon D3100, but they'll at least get the idea across...

Tuesday morning, ready to get the framing down!

Removing the framing and trusses.

Hauling the roof framing back to the mission on the Gator.

The morning of Wednesday dawned bright and clear.
Truss removal time!




This truss was concreted in pretty well on the right hand side-
I wasn't able to pull it down with a strap, like I did the rest :)

So, I took time to chip away the concrete...

At long last it came down...

Thursday: breaking down the walls!


The children had a blast, hacking away on the rock wall against the hill.



Ah yes, here it is... "the beast"... 
:)

   This next week we'll hopefully be working on the rest of the walls... and repairing the Gator :)

   Thanks for your support! If anyone is interested in helping out when we commence construction of the new building, check out the contact page on our main website (gospeltohaiti.org) and shoot an email to Darwin. He can get you lined up on a work crew.

God bless!

-Nathan

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Peeks

One of the young men bending re bar for the concrete
posts.

Lot of volunteers helping Pastor Levy's mom shell beans, I guess lots will
be used for the building project.

Ladies cooking and some of the men, tying re bar

The big cheese! (Nate) loading up wood and giving instructions.

Taking the last of the trusses of.

Steve bring a load of sand up from the river bed. 

Monday, September 2, 2013

Removing the tin

Today Nathan and some of the volunteers took of all the sheet metal from the roof. 

Some guys carried the benches up to the school buildings

Now this is a project also in progress. For those of you who remember madam Matthews yard is right beside and down the steep trail to the right of the church building. Well they are building a small building here as well. I will be used for a Sunday school building, a place where the choir can practice and many such things. If we would keep the new church building unlocked, grafiti and the such like would soon make it look bad. They poured the foundation this morning, eventually it will have a roof, and unless we get lots of financial support we will just tarp it for now until we can finish it. I believe pastor Levy is financing most of it.

Loading up all the tin, older men, young men and hamsters, all pitch in!!!!!!!!!

The ladies carrying water from the river. Hard work.

Happy to have arrived.

Nathan Grice, the church rebuilding "BOSS"...... "BEWARE"

Preparation and start of the re-build project.

   The church rebuild has now begun!!! We are excited to share that with you. It will take quite a while to do, but we will keep you updated as much as possible. The old building is quite a bit to small, also the roof leaks quite badly and as a whole the building has seen a lot of damage from hurricanes and also the earth quake. Patching has been the only  way to keep in usuable the last while. 
   The Haitian brothers and sisters, have volunteered to help, so our main work force is our own dear church people. Carrying water from the river half a mile away, digging trenches, cooking food etc etc etc.
   We hired some bosses for the project. Some moved the mountain on the one side as you see on the pictures, some took down the two school office buildings behind the church buildings and some dug trenches and are starting to put in some of the foundation walls and retaining walls.
   The old building will eventually be taken down block by block, salvaging as much as we can for smaller outbuildings etc. 
   The new building will be around 40 feet wide by 70 feet long. A nice size rectangular building with no fancy overhangs etc.
   We will be cramming into the one school building for church, or maybe even have some mountain side services like the good old Bible days when Jesus was here in body!!!

Hammers, sledge hammers, pliers, picks, shovels and a whole lot more stuff. 

The "old faithful" groaned and cried when it heard another project is starting up, so it had to be taken into the shop and Steve is giving it some tender loving care to get it into shape. It will be well used, hauling rebar, cement rods the next few months.

This is behind the church building. For those of you who remember, there were two little office type buildings. They were taken down and here the guys are digging trenches for the foundation walls.

This view shows the basement rooms, where all the cooking is being done for the school. The ladies are making lunch for all the workers.

Glenden dragging a lot of rebar up the mountain.

Some church brothers hard at work. Remember, there are no track hoes to do the digging. It's called "arm strong" force.

The front of the old building. We had a lean to that has been taken of, we could squeeze a lot of people under it.

The mountain slowly being moved, shovel full at a time.

Glenden built a new ratio, also in preparation for all the food needed to be cooked for all
the workers and volunteers. He used 4 1/2" rebar, and we didn't even count the amount
of welding rods. But it'll last quite a few years.

View from up the mountain. You can see the lean to, and the buildings in
the back, also the mountain touches the building. They are digging out
about a 15 foot deep by 70 foot long stretch.