Finishing Building’s First Phase

It has been five months and finally the church building’s first storey is in its finishing phase.

Twice to thrice a week, Ptr. Andres and a company had to frequently go to the village to work on the construction when fund is available. At times they would have a company of 4 to 6 when heavy tasks are to be accomplished.

Every labor manually done, they had been working on cutting and bending steel bars, and carrying bags of cements, gravel and sand from the unloading point to the church building which is a few meters walk away.

Sealing of windows and doors with cement was also done. Ptr. Andres had layout and embedded electricity wiring hose to all wall outlets as well.

Lately for weeks, they’d been working on the beam ‘steel and wooden form’. Using materials available, half was done.

July 7, 2010 – with the church informed after Sunday service, some of the brethren came on Wednesday for the scheduled cementing of the beam.

At 8 a.m., we had departed from the mission house. We arrived in Balluay at 9 a.m. with some brethren  waiting for us. Some of the women were there too to assist and in charge of cooking.

Work had to start immediately upon arrival. Mixing of cement, gravel, and sand is done by some while others had to seal the holes and gaps of the wooden forms to avoid cement leakage. When everything’s ready, we had to line up in passing buckets of mixed cement to and fro.

At lunch, we had to take shade because of heavy rain. The newly cemented part of the beam had to be covered with sacks though. Work continued after rain stopped.

At the end of the day, with 11 men and 4 women, half of the beam prepared for concreting was successfully accomplished.

After concrete beam is dried up in a few days, the wooden forms will be detached to be used  for the remaining half of the unfinished beam.

We anticipate the concreting of the beam be finished before the end of August to hold the Balluay fellowship’s 2nd anniversary. With it, a tent may be temporarily used to shade the venue.

The Lord has been faithful in providing financially and in using various people to meet the needs of the ongoing construction. To date, an estimate of at least $3,000 was used to what the church building stands now.

After the concreting of the beam and slab is accomplished, the next task would be the floor cement. We are praying for at least $2,000 to finish off the floor cement and to furnish the first storey.

Once the first storey is furnished, Sunday services will be moved to the new building.

Please pray for God’s leading on how you can be a part of this ongoing mission project. May you also include in your prayers continuous travel protection, preserved good health, and guidance of all volunteer workers who often physically labor and sacrificed their work hours for the ongoing construction.

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