Our week wasn't all bad

While losing almost all our birds and having to repair a damaged roof depressed our spirits this week, some very good things also occurred, and today I will share those.

First of all, that same rain that came the morning we had big holes in our roof also put out the forest fire on the mountainside above the city of Gracias. The bomberos and soldados (firemen and soldiers) had been working hard to extinguish the fire, and the lovely pouring rain helped to finish the job. The rainy day also ushered in a change in the weather, and the temperatures are a bit more moderate now than they were last week - high temperatures are in the 80's, rather than the upper 90's. Ahhhhhhh, nice.

On Monday and Tuesday, Allen and Kirstin took a trip to the big city of San Pedro Sula, and purchased a huge truckload of wood. This lumber, along with some rougher lumber purchased locally, will be framing up and finishing the interior of the roofs on two of the buildings out at our property. The interior of the roof (the ceiling, in other words) will be stained wood boards, like an upside-down wood floor. Above the framing lumber, pieces of metal roofing will be installed, with clay tiles on top of that. We are hopeful that this system will provide a leak-free and also secure roof.

Ceramic tile samples for the floors were also procured in the city, and we will soon order the tile for the team house and bodega bathroom. The main part of the bodega - which will serve as our temporary house while we build our permanent house - will have a cement floor.

Our welder says that the security bars for the windows are almost completed, so those should be installed soon. It will be great to have roofs and some security at the buildings, as we have people staying out there every night now (so that our lumber won't wander off before we have a chance to nail it all down), and sleeping in the vehicles gets old after a while.

We hope to move out onto the property sometime in July. Of course, one thing we know about Honduras is to always expect the unexpected, so we don't hold too tightly to schedules. But we are extremely excited to see the move-in date in sight! Allen and Russell have been working so hard to keep the construction moving, while not neglecting all of the essential ministry work. They deserve a big pat on the back!