A layer of gravel was then put down over the top of the compacted ground. Significant help was provided by our Brazilian bobcat driver.
The concrete has arrived, and work on actually installing the sidewalk has been started. Pastor Arno, who is in charge of trying to make sure the seminary facilities is taken care of on a shoestring budget, is the one putting up the safety tape on the edge of the street.
However, it should be pointed out, that those few who have fished toilet paper out of the toilets have never made the mistake of doing so again!
Oh, yeah, and Avie's claims that she had to do the cooking and cleaning: during our stay there she actually pointed out that despite the heavy work, she felt like she was somewhat on a vacation since she as well as everyone else on the team didn't do any cooking or cleaning. All of that was taken care of by Brazilians.
It is the 2nd day of work for our team on the sidewalk in front of the seminary. We have made a lot of progress on this. The weather has continued to hold. Last week, when it looked like it might rain, Frank told Pastor Arno ( the one in charge of maintaining the seminary ) that he was worried. Pastor Arno told him to not worry, and that the weather would be perfect on Monday, and the work would be done. Frank told him that it is a good thing we're operating on his faith as far as that goes, for it would probably be hard to organize other work. So far, so good. An awful lot of the work has been done by a Brazillian and the Bobcat. Upon realizing how much work that machine is saving us, Frank went ahead and had them continue working with that up until the end of today. They were still working with it when we left the seminary at 5:30 this evening. Pastor Arno is worried about trying to pay for this extra machine time, but as I told Frank, we relied on Pastor Arno's faith in terms of the weather, and we will rely on Frank's faith in terms of the finances. A large number of the people of the city have made comments to us about the work that is being done. It is a very busy street, and we are there working right in the middle of the city. Normally, the work teams have nowhere near this amount of direct contact or impact with the citizens. However, this is a very different type of project. This is where people have been walking for years, and wishing that someone would do something about the sidewalk. Now it is finally happening. We have managed to make an impression of one sort or another on everyone >from the lady who empties the public trash cans on the sidewalk there to the mayor's office, who has sent someone over to instruct us on the specifications for the boxes to construct in the street for the trees. This is not to even mention the hundreds of people who walk by the seminary every day, and probably tripped on the uneven sections, and the several hundred seminary students and workers that walk in and out of the main gate. Today it was really interesting, because they also had some sort of pastors convention and training session in the chapel there this morning. A few of them also had something to say about the work we are doing. We have also made quite an impression on the worker who has been driving the Bobcat. We have made so much progress, the concrete trucks will start arriving tomorrow to deliver the stuff. Also arriving tomorrow is a team of a number of other people from a church in Indiana.
Two other things that I should mention: I have been sending a lot of information on the new daughter church that has started in Veneza. Their first service was apparently a reasonable success. They had 43 people there for the first true Sunday evening service, including children. As I mentioned, on Sunday evening, we were at the Central Church. They also have a daughter church, in the area of the city known as Imagawa. They have been up and running for about a year I think, in the same fashion that Veneza is now: rented an ex-warehouse. On Sunday evening, at the very end of the service, the pastor showed the congregation a recently aquired piece of paper, that is apparently a land deed for a chunk of land where they will build a true sanctuary for their daughter church. We received a very encouraging message from Kenda, from the English Camp team, which was read aloud at lunch. She encouraged us all to enjoy it here as much as we can, since the time we have here is so very short, and the people are so wonderful. Kenda, we thank you very much for such an encouraging message.
As Valley View Church already knows, Avie, one of the people on the team here, has sent back to the church a very entertaining description of what we are doing here. It had us all in stitches as she was writing it. I will toss in a copy of it at the end. -Glenn
HEY, PHIL...AVIE HERE. THANK YOU FOR KEEPING US UPDATED. WE ARE HAVING A GREAT TIME BUT DON'T TELL OUR FAMILIES OR THEY WILL THINK WE DON'T MISS THEM. WE DO. BUT GOD IS GOOD AND HE HAS PROVIDED US A GOOD GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT WE FEEL RIGHT AT HOME WITH. IN FACT I KINDA WISH MARGARET WAS MY MOM... LIFE IS INDEED GOOD.......THEY ARE MAKING ME COOK AND CLEAN THE TOILETS BECAUSE I TORE UP THE WRONG SQUARE OF SIDEWALK...THEY SAID TAKE UP ALL THE CRACKED AND BROKEN ONES AND DIDN'T TELL ME IT HAD TO BE ON SEMINARY PROPERTY. THOSE BRAZILIANS CAN BE SO PICKY.....WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE TOILET SITUATION HERE? I'VE HAD TO DIG TP OUT OF THE TOILET SEVERAL TIMES. EEWWWWWWWWW. YOU'D THINK I'D LEARN AFTER THE FIRST TIME......SO FAR ALMOST EVERYONE ON THE VALLEY VIEW TEAM HAS BROKEN SOMETHING AT THE CAMPGROUND. THE HOSTS ARE BEING VERY GRACIOUS. WE'VE HAD TO CASH IN OUR RETURN TICKETS TO PAY FOR WHAT WE'VE DESTROYED SO FAR. SEND MONEY. BYE. LOVE YOU ALL. PRAY FOR ME AS I DEAL WITH MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY FOR TRUTH. AVIE