...we serve a faithful God...

Yep, God is faithful to say the least! Enough funds have come in to complete the concrete pour yesterday, and He held off the rains allowing us to do so! All week it has been showing signs of rain, but nothing came down out of the sky... but it has been raining, thundering, and lightening all throughout the day today. I think it's safe to say that God has a hand in this church project!!... and the past couple weeks can only be explained this way!

Thank you all so much who have allowed God to use you to provide part of the foundation...may God bless you abundantly!

The question now is, what's next? Now more bricks are being laid and then the column bases also have to be poured. It would be great if the rain would hold off another week, but these items aren't quite as crucial as the actual concrete pour. After these items are accomplished, then all the trenches can be filled back in with soil. Then the whole site will need to be tamped down... by hand. After a few tampings, loads of broken bricks are brought in and tamped down on top of the soil to provide ground to pour the concrete slab on. This layer of tamped bricks is called the hardcore treatment. In order to complete this, about another $900 is needed. The rain will be a huge aid in this phase since it will allow the soil to settle back down in the trenches and allow dense compaction of the soil then bricks.

If you would like and are able to provide a part of the Malawi BIC Church Center foundation, please don’t hesitate to donate. You can donate online at http://www.bic-church.org/wm/give/partnership/malawi/ and scrolling down to "Maone Church Center." You can also send a check written out to BICWM with “Maone Church Center” in the memo line, and sent to either BICWM, PO Box 390, Grantham, PA 17027 or BICWM, 2700 Bristol Circle, Oakville, ON L6H 6E1.

down to the wire

First of all, a huge THANK YOU goes out to all who have donated to this building project. This project cannot happen without you're support. Thousands of brick have been laid, and there are at least a few courses of brick around the perimeter of the building and almost all of the brick foundation is in place in the deep sections. We used up the few remaining bags of cement to complete the footer for a column and start another, but six and a half column footers remain along with about 20 meters of i

nterior wall footer. Some more resources have just come in, but not enough to complete the concrete footers. We are/were planning on pouring the remaining footers on Friday, but that's only if enough funding comes in. Another $500 will complete the concrete footers and an estimated $2000 will complete the foundation. It's coming down to the wire as rain clouds are starting to hover over the site almost daily. If it rains here, it pours, the trenches will fill up nicely, we won't be able to pour, and the kids will be able to have some fun in the mud! If you are willing and able, please donate to the church of Malawi... the sooner the better, and I know you will be blessed for sharing in the resources the Lord has entrusted you with.

If you would like and are able to provide a part of the Malawi BIC Church Center foundation, please don’t hesitate to donate. You can donate online at http://www.bic-church.org/wm/give/partnership/malawi/ and scrolling down to "Maone Church Center." You can also send a check written out to BICWM with “Maone Church Center” in the memo line, and sent to either BICWM, PO Box 390, Grantham, PA 17027 or BICWM, 2700 Bristol Circle, Oakville, ON L6H 6E1.

bricks...dirt...concrete?

There is a lot of work going on right now... thousands of brick are being laid, and meters of soil are being dug. The plan is to have the brickwork complete next Tuesday/Wednesday, have the digging completed around the same time and then pour the remaining footers next Friday the 19th. Today was very encouraging as the city inspector came to inspect the foundation work. He was very impressed with the quality of the work, especially the mortar strength. Here, most of the builders use quite a bit of sand, not much cement, and no lime...then they use a stronger mix when they point all the joints. Needless to say, the inspector signed off on the foundation and won't need to come until the concrete slab is ready to be poured. With all this momentum, we can very well complete this foundation before the heavy rains come... the one obstacle is resources. We scrapped enough together for this past section, but don't have near enough for this last section. Just over $1000 is all that is needed in order to provide enough materials for the remaining footers... then of course more to complete the brickwork and concrete column bases. These past months have been "building by faith" if you will, and we have no doubt that the Lord will provide in order to complete this last section of the foundation.

Here is a little walk around the building site to give a better perspective on the work being accomplished. I hope this helps.

If you would like and are able to provide a part of the Malawi BIC Church Center foundation, please don’t hesitate to donate. You can donate online at http://www.bic-church.org/wm/give/partnership/malawi/ and scrolling down to "Maone Church Center." You can also send a check written out to BICWM with “Maone Church Center” in the memo line, and sent to either BICWM, PO Box 390, Grantham, PA 17027 or BICWM, 2700 Bristol Circle, Oakville, ON L6H 6E1.

Footers 80% Complete!

That’s right, after yesterdays and today’s combined efforts; those main sections of the footers have been poured! This includes the rest of the building perimeter and the rest of the deep sections (2 meters down). Even this alone was a miracle. This past week we had a hard rain and the trenches were filled with water which had to be bucketed out, and the trench walls started to cave in. Then the concrete mixer’s driving gear is about completely worn, so we tried renting another mixer to find that it wasn’t even working properly. We were also scrounging to find enough money to purchase the materials to complete these footers. But because we serve a God who is all powerful, He brought all these things together at the right time, made the mixer last long enough, just so we could accomplish our goal of completing the pour. God is good! We even had about 35 people come and help with the work. Not only were we able to pour the footers, but we were also able to fill up the other trenches that had the foundation walls already built. The women and children were also a huge help…even had women with children on their backs working! It truly was an honor to see the Malawi BIC church come together and working hard with an excitement of working; and that is tough to find these days.

It seems like the rains are starting to make their way in. If we make a sprint over the next 2 weeks, we can likely complete the entire foundation. We can make this happen if the necessary support becomes available. The estimated breakdown of the remaining work is as follows (with the priority items first):

1. 69cm footer = $300

2. 1.035m footer = $350

3. Column footers = $650

4. Remaining steel for column bases = $800

5. Double brick walls = $1400

6. Triple brick walls = $750

7. Column bases = $270

8. Ant/terminte poison = $700

A little over $5000 will help set the tone for the rest of this project. The work is really starting to build momentum, a momentum that is capable to complete the foundation before the rains come in full steam. This would be a huge step for the church and for the project, first for the people as they would really sense the progress being made and to continue that excitement. Then for the progress of the work it would be perfect because once the foundation is complete, the hardcore treatment is next. The hardcore treatment here is comprised of tamping down the entire site then adding broken brick on top of the soil and tamping those down. It is a huge advantage and aid in completing this work during the rains because the rain actually helps the soil (and then brick) settle into all the spaces to provide a compact and solid base for the slab. Then once the hardcore treatment is complete, the hope is to have enough resources to provide the reinforcing wire mesh and concrete for the slab.

If you would like and are able to provide a part of the Malawi BIC Church Center foundation, please don’t hesitate to donate. You can donate online at http://www.bic-church.org/wm/give/partnership/malawi/ and scrolling down to "Maone Church Center." You can also send a check written out to BICWM with “Maone Church Center” in the memo line, and sent to either BICWM, PO Box 390, Grantham, PA 17027 or BICWM, 2700 Bristol Circle, Oakville, ON L6H 6E1.

Enjoy the music of a couple church members praising the Lord in Chichewa!