Each Wednesday morning the Sowerses and I have a phone call to discuss bloggy type stuff. I’m never sure which Sowers will be on the other end of the line. Will it be Allen, Russell, or Trish? (For the record, I’d be perfectly happy to talk to RJ, but, much to my dismay, that hasn’t happened yet. Fingers crossed that it happens soon.) This was a Trish week. A Trish week is generally a sign that Allen and Russell are up to their eyeballs in something and don’t have time to talk. This Trish week, Allen and Russell are up to their eyeballs in concrete.
Allen and Russell are working with a team from Georgia to pour a massive concrete retaining wall in Mercedes. Trish explained, “Generally, when we say, ‘Mercedes,’ we’re talking about a group of five smaller sponsorship centers. There is one huge church called, ‘Mercedes’. That church was too far for many of the sponsored Mercedes children to walk for regular feedings. Five feeding locations were set up so the kids don’t have to go so far. In this instance, the specific place where they are working is San Juan Mercedes.”
San Juan Mercedes was set up as a meeting place for Bible study, as well as a feeding center for kids in the sponsorship program. That Bible study grew to the point that they are ready to start a full-fledged church in that location. Quite a while ago, someone donated land for a church site. The land has one very notable characteristic: it slopes. And not a gentle little hill kind of slope. It’s the sort of big ol’ steep slope that didn’t make it a prime location to build a church.
After much deliberation, it was proposed that they dig out from the road, flatten an area, and pour pillars, to allow a church to be built at road level. The idea is for the church to be sitting on the pillars and for the space beneath the building to be used for Sunday School classrooms and bathrooms.
However, because of how the property sits, there would be a very real danger of erosion or landslides. Not wanting to see a church slide down the slope, Allen proposed an additional course of action. They needed a retaining wall! A little, mamby-pamby retaining wall would not do. They needed a humongous, heavy-duty retaining wall using vast amounts of concrete. The problem was the cost. Even little, mamby-pamby retaining walls don’t come cheap. Humongous, heavy-duty retaining walls using vast amounts of concrete require a lot of money to build - and the small community of San Juan Mercedes didn't have that much money - so they were continuing to meet for worship in a home that was much too small to fit their growing congregation.
Meanwhile, Kim Hall, who translates many of the letters written by the children in our sponsorship program, noticed that many of the children from San Juan Mercedes were asking their sponsors to pray that the church building project would get going soon.
Next, the First Baptist Church of Kingsland Georgia entered the picture.
The church in Georgia wanted to help. They raised funds and sent down a team to lend some muscle to the project. The team is not alone in their desire to complete the retaining wall. The local pastor was asked if he could find five volunteers to help with the effort. On the first day, ten volunteers showed up to lend a hand. On the busiest day - when they were actually pouring the concrete - forty volunteers from the community came to help! The people of San Juan Mercedes are very excited to see their new church being built on (and beside!) the rock!
- posted by Christi
Allen and Russell are working with a team from Georgia to pour a massive concrete retaining wall in Mercedes. Trish explained, “Generally, when we say, ‘Mercedes,’ we’re talking about a group of five smaller sponsorship centers. There is one huge church called, ‘Mercedes’. That church was too far for many of the sponsored Mercedes children to walk for regular feedings. Five feeding locations were set up so the kids don’t have to go so far. In this instance, the specific place where they are working is San Juan Mercedes.”
San Juan Mercedes was set up as a meeting place for Bible study, as well as a feeding center for kids in the sponsorship program. That Bible study grew to the point that they are ready to start a full-fledged church in that location. Quite a while ago, someone donated land for a church site. The land has one very notable characteristic: it slopes. And not a gentle little hill kind of slope. It’s the sort of big ol’ steep slope that didn’t make it a prime location to build a church.
After much deliberation, it was proposed that they dig out from the road, flatten an area, and pour pillars, to allow a church to be built at road level. The idea is for the church to be sitting on the pillars and for the space beneath the building to be used for Sunday School classrooms and bathrooms.
Next, the First Baptist Church of Kingsland Georgia entered the picture.
- posted by Christi
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