2015 – March/April/May Mission Trip – part 4 of 4 (May)
Friday, May 1 – Final blog for this trip. Since I am leaving this coming Monday, most of what is posted here will hopefully be content provided by Lily after I am gone. I will be leaving 5/6 but she will be here in Peru to the 19th.
With that in mind, we had a very active morning doing all the electrical wire pulling on the second floor. Also the front of the building got finished tarrajeo as well.
Afternoon seemed to be a planned short day for the workers as they spent the late afternoon playing soccer across the street and then went home early. It was the beginning of a 3 day holiday weekend so i guess we were blessed to get what we did out of them today. Tomorrow’s my last day with them so hopefully I make the most of it.
Evening we had movie night for what turned out to be about a dozen kids. Just to keep them interested, I played three different full length (hour long) cartoons of whatever that king muscrat or something is that dances to ‘move’ on the Madagascar movie. Apparently Netflix has a new exclusive with that character, and it played well in Spanish and the kids were enthralled and went to gather others. Lily said it was stupid, but all cartoons are, aren’t they?
Saturday, May 2 – Today was a light work day, with a short crew coming and doing some tarrajeo in the corridor and a few places on the third floor. Mainly, while the scaffolding was still here, Abel and a fellow worker helped to construct the raised cross on the front of the mission. It took a bit of chalk line work to get it to the right dimensions that Lily communicated, before the actual work got started on this piece of art. Lily then went to town to bring back 100 bags of cement, more plumbing parts, a single roofing piece of polycarbonite for the roof worker to have for reference, and a few other items.
When she got back, the cross was done and tearing down the scaffolding was well underway. The cross really adds a lot to the look.
Lily brought Nancy and Augusto, our youth leaders, back with her to save them a collectivo ride. While the two of them were out gathering up the children of the neighborhood, I pitched in and helped Abel and two others unload the 100 bags of cement and other items.
We had a great youth event with a craft focused on an early Mothers day card for them to make. We started out with only a half dozen kids but ended up with closer to 18 after a short while.Still later, around 6pm, we had the adult service show up for bible study. I got to spend time with these two young ninas, Pia & Ruby, while the adult bible service was underway. So precious, both of them. Best job in the world, being at the Mission.
Sunday, May 3 – A day off, we won’t even have the youth today since Augusto and Nancy came up a day early to meet with them. Abel came by and we went over a long list of items, many of them minor, that we see need to be completed. The major items include
- Pouring of the 2nd level concrete floor
- Constructing a new staircase externally for access to 2nd floor
- concreting in the front courtyard as well as the north side corridor
Although the list was quite a bit more lengthy, mainly to go over all the little items so nothing gets left undone. Abel left, who we hardly see on Sundays, after we said our goodbyes as I am off to Lima tomorrow and to USA on Monday. We will see each other again though in August. One hard working 29 year old man. We then got a visit from our painter, Victor. He gave us a very good estimate and said he could have it all done in a week. We grabbed at it, but he can’t start until Friday. Lily gets back from Lima on Thursday so that should work, but I am hesitant to imagine he can finish it in a week. It’s such a big project but he said he will have two workers. He did a great job on the first floor a year ago, so we are very happy that this will also get done. So much will be happening after I leave in this last week or two with Lily alone here – coordinating Abel’s completing all his action items, 3rd floor roof framing, wiindows for 2nd and 3rd floor and now paint.
Off to bed, just thinking of all the work that I am leaving for Lily to manage alone is making me tired!Seriously, we have to catch an early bus in the morning. Get to Lima about noon, get to the Miraflores location and then off to find a set of bunkbeds and a locking linen closet. Then we get one day of rest Tuesday before I leave early Wednesday morning for Miami then San Diego. Night all!! Monday, May 4 – departed Mission for Ica bus terminal (Cruz del Sur) about 6:30am and caught a 7:30 bus non-stop for Lima. I took an hour or so nap, especially easy since the first movie (my addiction) was bad on our particular screen (tech difficulties) and the sound track was all spanish. We got to Lima about noon.
Our ride was waiting, we got to the Miraflores destination, dropped our bags and headed shopping on some unfinished items for this location. We needed to buy another set of bunk beds and do something for linen storage. This destination will be made available for traveling missionaries to the mission. We got the bunk beds delivered and will have the custom made linen closet (same cabinet man that did the kitchen) delivered Wednesday at noon.
Bunk beds look great. These will raise our bedding headcount from 6 to 8. We might still get a cot or two added, but I think that’s a good number. Hope that this location gets a lot of missionary use!!!I will be on a plane by then, but Lily will be here. She then returns to the Mission early Thursday morning to accomplish a lot of coordination between four different factions (contractor, roof framer, window man and painter. Keep her in your prayers.
Tuesday, May 5 – Good nights sleep. Got the internet turned on at the Miraflores location. Had some power issues this morning that our local handyman came by and resolved (burned out fuses at main box). We had a short time with coffee. Getting luggage sorted out as to what to take back and what to leave. Thinking we may spend the night downtown, closer to the airport, at my brother in laws since we are going to get up so early. Lily will need to return here tomorrow to meet the cabinet man though. So, one more small shopping trip around town for minor kitchen items. I’ll let her do that while I test out the new bunk bed (yawn) and blog.
Wednesday, May 6 – early departure to Lima airport for 6 hour flight to Miami and a 5 hour layover before another 5 hour flight to San Diego … what a long day this will be. Spent 5 hours in Miami airport after a 6 hour flight from Lima. Had a nice reuben lunch at an Irish Pub watching Barcelona beat Munich in soccer, 3 to 0.
Met a family man on his way home to Australia from filming Cricket matches in the West Indies, missing his 5 & 1 year old sons and his Sri Lanken wife. Funny how you meet strangers who are layed over in airports like you are and get to know so much about each other. Pray my witness was well and that his family reunion is blessed .. he has a lot longer flight ahead of me than I do. Before leaving for San Diego, talked to Lily while I was on my boarded plane. She was still resolving a major electrical problem at our Lima location with the electrician. She will be catching a bus tomorrow for the Mission, so hope it is all well.After a 5 hour flight myself, arrived safely home in San Diego met by my daughter at the airport. Good nights sleep.
Thursday, May 7 – Talked to Lily again, caught her at Maestro getting additiional building supplies Apparently stuff still getting resolved in Lima after she left, will talk to her again later.Caught Lily again by phone near end of day, apparently a lot of headaches at both the Mission as well as still getting resolved today with the electrical issue in Lima. Wish I was there to handle either of them. Need to keep my wife in prayer as there is so much that she is handling at the moment. Floor just got poured on the second floor today, a day later than it was supposed to. Roofing contractor is on schedule apparently but she can’t inspect the work at the moment until the floor driess. Window and paint contractors start tomorrow. Working with Lily to figure out how to use dropbox for transferring pictures and videos. May not get them posted for a bit.
Friday, May 8 – A new day. Talked to Lily once about mid-day. She’s still struggling with ‘drop-box’ so may be much later before I get any progress photos added to this final week or two at the Mission, oh well.The electrical problem in Lima was solved this morning … yeah!!!! Going full tilt on the construction at the Mission. The external staircase to the 2nd floor in the rear is getting constructed today. Also the plumbing of the bathrooms is getting done on the 2nd floor. The painting has started today, and the window many is showing up tomorrow. While all of that is going on, the construction of the rafters for the open space roof on the third floor is also well underway. We will not actually get the covering for this part of the project done, but I am elated that a lot of the painting work will get done. Priming and sanding of the whole 2nd and 3rd floor would be a great accomplishment by itself, but Victor (our painter) assured Lily, he will have the entire project done in a week, not just the priming. I do imagine that he will be working well after Lily has to leave but that’s OK as well.
Not sure how much of next week Lily will be done there for. She has a physical flight back to the USA on 5/19 but also needs to get up to Lima much earlier than that for other matters. Most likely she will be doing at least one more round trip between the Mission and Lima before returning to Lima for good and then flying home.
Saturday, May 9 – In communication with Lily who is still at the mission this morning, but still hasn’t mastered the dropbox folder with the frustration of internet up and it not being as reliable as we would like at the mission. We will have to pursue a more permanent internet solution perhaps on our next trip, but for the moment it suffices. Will soon get some progress photos of the staircase, the roof rafters, the new floor, windows and painting. Keep Lily in your prayers as she is in the heart of all of this, as well as still managing remotely through the finalization of the electrical bug that won’t go away in Lima.
Connected with Lily at end of day. Bad but tolerable Skype connection. Apparently they had a great Mothers day celebration with the youth and their mothers, with the cards they made last week. The adult bible study did not happen though, at least Caeser, who usually runs it, did not make it but not sure if there was a small group or not without him. The painting apparently was completed today on the 2nd floor, as far as sanding and priming goes .. I am amazed. We were hoping that the painter got the windows done to be ahead of the window installer, but apparently he got the whole floor sanded and primed, walls and ceiling all in one day and all by himself. Wow. I assume he will be working on 3rd floor on Monday. Lily said he painted the cross out front all white to get her to take a picture of it, before he paints the rest of the front.
Anyway, everything else is progressing as well. Will hopefully get an update on the plumbing on the 2nd floor, the stairway, and more. Apparently, a ton of debris was towed away as well in preparation for the concrete pour in the corridor (north side) and the front courtyard. Lily is resuming her efforts to upload pictures for me to include here.
Sunday, May 10 – No real work going on today at the Mission. Resumes tomorrow. Working with Lily getting photos from her, discussing next steps, her travel plans, etc.
Monday, May 11 – Busy morning at the Mission. Lily just got back from another run to Maestro, 30 bags of cement, 3 gallons of paint 15 bags of primer, 5 shower kits, etc. hopefully the last trip, especially since she leaves for Lima Wednesday afternoon,Lily sent me some quick summary notes: “Metal roof guy finishing the roof, priming it, Window man continues installing the aluminum frames, Abel (contractor) framing the stairs, Walter patching the bathroom cuts and installing the shower heads. Another of Aber’s guy touching up top of columns in front, etc. Short crew today, because I want Abel to finish the stairs and form before he pours concrete, I told him to work from the back of the Mission to the front.”Two more days until Lily leaves the Mission and whatever is not done will be worked out via our neighbor and Abel for final payment. A major list of a lot of minor issues, but for the most part, this has been a very productive trip.
Tuesday, May 12 -Abel poured the new stairs last night until 7PM. Today he is working on the courtyard, preparing it leveling, feeding the cable for low voltage, etc. The metal roof is being painted black. The window guy said that he is bringing the glass today, but Lily is leaving in afternoon for Ica for an appointment at 2PM and a few other meetings afterwards, not returning to Mission till late afternoon/evening. One other unanticipated change going forward, it looks like Victor (our painter) and his wife, may end up replacing Augusto and Nancy as our youth leaders. This was not a planned change. Gonna miss our leaders a great deal. Hope to engage them again when we return.
Lily leavies for Ica, then Lima early in the AM tomorrow. She needs to do a lot of interfacing still and ran out of time to do it.
Wednesday, May 13 – Correction. Lily is in fact on a morning bus to Lima for a personal trip, but is coming right back tomorrow morning. Since her flight home (from Lima) is not until Tuesday, I assume that she will be coming back to Lima no later than Monday for that. So, she is still maximizing her remaining days at the Mission (4 or 5 of them) to be AT the Mission! God bless you and protect you in your travels.
While she is in Lima, I got a facebook message at end of day from Charlie, Abel’s brother, who has been working on this project on last two years (one of my newest Facebook friends). He sent me a few more pics from his phone and I made a few suggestions as to what needs attention (funny to play super sub from California!
Thursday, May 14 – Lily returned to the Mission on an early, 630am, bus. She arrived somewhat around noon has not been feeling well. Believes that she got a little food poisoning on a meal she had in Lima. Hopefully she can shake it today. She informs me that the metal roof is done except for the expensive Policarbonate panels which we will not be installing until we return in August. Abel has not poured the concrete in the back or front yet, only the side corridor. She said that she got to the Mission today and he had just finished the stairs and no other work. She called him and he is coming to talk and finish the concrete. Lily had told him to wait until she got there because the front has to be designed so the water does not run off to the side walk to the neighbors. He also said that the conduit tubing that was clogged for running electical for lighting on the 2nd floor is still not cleared.
Friday, May 15 – Lily never connected today. Later on, via facebook message with Victor he stated that she never had any internet at the Mission today. We need a more permanent solution on the internet front. Anyway, he relayed some projector problem that he and her were having, either for entertaining the kids on Friday or preparation for Saturday. I left him with instructions. Will hopefully discuss further tomorrow, and get an update on the building project as well from Lily.
Saturday, May 16 – Well a lot of work has been done and a ton of pictures that Lily is sending me and I will never be able to show them all in this blog. Needless to say, with the paint priming and the new windows, and a new exterior stairway in the rear and new concrete corridor and front courtyard, wow! What a difference a few weeks makes.This place is ready to move!!
After two years of construction, concrete dust, naked walls, naked brick, 20,000 bricks!, so much labor and effort, it is just awe inspiring to start to see the final areas getting a nice concrete pour, or fresh coat of paint, or clean brick and tarrajeo, new windows, and more.
I am just amazed at what a beautiful building this is turning into. We are so ready to utilize more and more of it toward it’s intended purpose. Let’s teach English, the Bible, knitting, women’s ministry, men’s ministry, youth, health, and more. We need staffing, rotation of new people, great programs, and a grand opening one of these near term future trips.
Just a photo walk from the 3rd to the 2nd floor, seeing all the new windows, paint primer, cleaned up mess that was there for two years of building, it is just amazing. And to then see the new exterior stairway as well, and the cleaned up corridor and front courtyard, what a great campus building this is turning into. When we go back in August, we have quite a bit to do, but it is minor compared to what was just accomplished. We need yet to:
- order and install the polycarbonite roofing on the 3rd floor,
- install 7 toilets and 7 sinks on the two upper floors,
- Complete wiring of lighting and 8 outlets on 2nd floor’
- Wire for wall switches on both two upper floors
- put in electrical outlets, switchs and some fixtures on two upper floors
- Install interior doors on two upper floors (6 on 2nd, 3 on 3rd)
and poof, this place is basically then done! Of course furnishing it with bunkbeds, etc. will still be needed.
So, even MORE important than all the construction that has gone on for the last two years is NOW absolutely the ‘operation’ of this site, the staffing, what we do with it, what do we teach, who teaches it, who our partners are, where do we go from here, what the role of the mission is, how far we can outreach, can we teach bilingually and how, what role will the short term and long term missionaries have, etc etc etc.
With that in mind, we had a recent staffing change on the youth side and we are now working toward full partnering with AWANA via our affiliation with El Shaddai Iglesia Communidad.
Staff leader (and mission painter!) Victor and his wife are excited about doing a leadership role with the youth, and the AWANA organization at the mission. They had their first meeting this past Saturday and apparently it went quite well. We are quite hopeful that this will be the beginning of a growing relationship, helping us reach a far greater number of children.
Monday, May 18 – Lily on route to and then in Lima all day.
Tuesday, May 19 – Lily in transit from Lima to San Diego, via Miami. Will see her tonight. Great trip. Returning in August, and would love anyone to join us.
Please consider if you could sponsor a missionary for a short or long trip; suggest us to your church and we will pursue visiting and pitching our mission; visit yourself; send us clothing, spanish tracts, books, children materials directly to Peru; help us with the furnishings, send others to our website. God bless you for your support, prayers and communication. It takes a village!!
