The New Mixer Arrives!

Yesterday June 14 we bought our new concrete mixer and now we are getting ready to pour the slab floor. The photo shows the guys who helped unload it and it looks like a good solid unit - made in Italy with a 430 L capacity. Thanks to those who contributed to make this purchase possible. We are looking forward to purchasing a lot of cement since we already have the sand and the stone needed for making the concrete - we just need the cement now. It currently sells for about $17.00 USD for a 50 kg bag. We need about 400 bags to pour the whole floor so if you are interested in "pouring" with us why not log onto the BICWM website and assisting with a few bags of cash (I mean cement.) Thanks for your on going prayer support as we meet this month in Area Council Meetings with all the congregations to work on the kingdom business here in Malawi with the Brethren in Christ and to encourage the Malawian church to give to this project. Recently we received besides a good cash offering of almost $100 USD equivalent, a bag of maize, a bag of cement, a goat, a chicken and some beans. You can donate on line here: http://www.bic-church.org/wm/give/partnership/malawi and scroll down to the Maone Church Center.

Building Together in Faith - June 2011 update

Thanks for checking out the update to the Maone Church Center. Tim Jones as many of you may know is no longer in Malawi - so I am pleased to offer this update at this time. I serve as a Global Volunteer with BICWM in Malawi and my name is Brian Bell.

Area Council Meetings: May and June 2011 allow for time for all congregations to gather in area meetings over a weekend. So far two have taken place with three more to go. Yesterday in the Chickwawa area there was a great response to the challenge to support the project. Over MK 10,000 was raised in cash - with another MK 5,000 pledged. (See the pic above of the money being counted at the front of the church service.) Donations included a bag of cement, of 50 kg bag of maize, a goat, and a chicken. It was pretty amazing to see people offer these things. We have been able to take a power point presentation along powered by a generator to show progress on the project and set some targets for the building. (PS - The cash given yesterday was the equivalent of about $65.00 USD - this is one of the largest offerings I have seen to date received in the BIC church - so you can see why we need help from beyond Malawi.)

Concrete Mixer: A plan has been struck to buy a mixer rather than rent one for the reminder of the project. When the Center is built we can then see the mixer used as a income generation and make work opportunity. It is being purchased within the next week or two - special appreciation to those Canadians who helped make this possible.

Slab Floor Pour: We are targeting to pour the concrete floor between now and the end of July in time for General Conference Meetings starting August 2. When we say pour we mean using wheel barrows, not ready mix trucks. Lots of volunteers will be needed to manage this and there is still about 400 bags of cement to be purchased at about $17.00 USD per bag.

Project Drawing: You will have noticed the drawing we have included abovc which shows the finished building, without the roof, of course. Imagine such a place for this young BIC Church and what it mean to them to come to have their training seminars, special meetings and be the home of a thriving congregation.

Building Together in Faith Giving Campaign: As noted above the church is using this theme to raise support for the project. Once again we are praying for the global BIC family and other interested friends to help make this a reality for the church in Malawi. Please consider a generous donation. The balance of the project will cost only about $125,000 USD which is so reasonable compared to a similar sized building in North America. Wouldn't be great if this budget was met now so that the project could move forward without delay? Thank you for thinking about this and considering what you might be able to contribute to help build together in faith with the Malawian Brethren in Christ Church. We deeply appreciate your assistance at this time.

Concrete Plans

The rains have been a great help to completing the hardcore treatment. The next step is the concrete slab. There are many aspects to this phase. The first is a layer of ant or termite poison over the hardcore treatment, followed by a layer of DPM or damp-proof material. This will prevent the moisture from getting up into the concrete. The concrete slab will be ready to be poured after these items are accomplished. As the concrete is poured, wire mesh will be laid into the slab to provide reinforcement. After the slab is poured then the walls can be built. Just like the foundation, the walls will be brick built with steel-reinforced concrete columns and beams. Since a mixer will be necessary throughout the rest of the project, we are hoping to purchase a concrete mixer. This will be a huge blessing as not only will the mixer be available at all times, but also will end up saving time and money because of the cost to rent a mixer and pay for transport every single time. It is estimated at a mixer will be about $4500, and estimated that another $16,000 is needed to complete the concrete 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.

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.