Settling Time.

Well the rains have certainly arrived, and the timing has been perfect. We were able to finish up the brickwork along with the concrete column bases. Once they were finished, the trenches were ready to be filled up. Now filled up, the rains are doing all the heavy work of compacting the soil. Then when the soil is compacted into the trenches, it will get tamped down even further, followed by the hardcore treatment. The hardcore treatment is a couple of layers of bricks tamped down to create a solid surface to pour the concrete slab onto.

Thank you all who have supported thus far, and please ask God if He wants you to continue to support this project. The next step after the hardcore is the concrete slab, which is another estimated $18,000. Again, please consider supporting the BIC Church of Malawi and their church center building, they are very excited to have this headquarter building built.

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.

...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!

Deep section dug.

Well we had one small rainfall so far, but nothing to really accumulate. Also just enough money has come in to pour the concrete footer for the deep section, as well as for the four column bases. As of right now, that deep section is complete dug out and the steel for the column bases are being tied. We are planning on pouring the concrete for that section on Friday (November 5th). The rest of the building perimeter is just about completely dug, but we do not have the resources to complete that section. The rest of the foundation to complete after the perimeter is only about 25 meters of interior walls and 8 more column bases. If the resources become available very soon and if the rains hold off just a few more weeks, then it is very possible to complete the building foundation before the end of the year.

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.

Starting With a Good Foundation

First of all, the Brethren in Christ Church of Malawi would like to send their greetings and gratitude for the funds that have been donated thus far. This church building construction would not be possible without those provisions.

As an update to the previous post, the rough construction of the retaining wall is complete. The construction will finish nearer to the completion of the building where a vertical knee wall will be added along with proper surface water diversion and pointing to the mortar joints. The General conference was a success, and many people saw the need of the building, as the rented tent (that was packed with people) took up one third of the building footprint. There were about 350 in that tent. Numerous people came from all over the country, and a lot of them had to also sleep in the tent. I was told that there were times when they were cold throughout the night, and that they were really looking forward to having a warm place to sleep during the future general conferences.

The next item, and probably one of the most, if not the most, important sections is the foundation. In order for any building to stand for a long time, a strong and solid foundation needs to be built. Therefore in some areas almost 2 meters had to be dug down in order to reach solid ground. About half of the foundation footers have been poured, along with the setting of four column bases. The whole perimeter is almost entirely dug. There is about 10 meters remaining to dig which right now provides access to the interior of the building perimeter to supply building materials. Since the rains will be coming in about a month, the main focus has been the lower foundation wall, which is nearly complete. As of right now, there is enough money to complete the perimeter of the building, but not enough to finish any of the interior walls or column bases. Because of this, priorities have been forced to be shifted. Otherwise the time and energy would be directed to digging and completing the next interior wall that is just as deep as the one being completed now. If the footer for this wall cannot be completed due to cost, the trench cannot be dug because once the rains come the trench walls will collapse. These deeper trenches are very hazardous

because the top layers are comprised of the looser soil relocated from the upper end, so there is a good chance of cave-ins. If money comes in within the next two weeks and we (Tim Jones or Jonathan Lloyd) are notified, this section could be completed. This would be a huge accomplishment and stepping-stone for the church because that would mean there would be a chance that throughout the rainy season work can be completed on the upper sections and possibly bring the foundation up to the slab level. The BIC Church of Malawi is trusting that God will provide a way for the global church to partner with the church here. They are looking forward to the day that they can have services, conferences and meetings in the building.

Again, a huge THANK YOU to those who have donated already, may God bless you abundantly!!

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.