Foundation pour in Pagoda

Randy and I started the day off by him meeting at my house around 6:15 am. I jumped into his truck and we drove nine miles out to Sarakowa where the cement mixer and some of the others tools where located. A short time later we headed back towards town and after having dropped me off we meet back up again at his house around 7:30. The goal was to get out to Pagoda to clean up the foundation dig, prep the ground, cut the steel and pour concrete.

In his extended cab Toyota pick up truck, we took 6 of us, the tools and the mixer. The drive from Randy’s house to the remote village is about 45 minutes but really is only 23 miles away. Today, it was probably closer to an hour drive due to the mixer on the back end of the truck.

When we arrived I noticed that water basin had been filled with about 500 gallons of water which was nice because we probably used 80% of that on the project. The trenches were inspected by the two master masons and then cleaned up. To save on expenditures we had dug the footers directly into the ground and then used the ground as the form in which to pour our concrete.

I suppose in the US it would be as simple as pre ordering concrete and having a company come out with their rigs to deliver it at a specific hour and a specific quantity. While, I very much wish it was the same here, I have to say that it’s a bit more labor intensive and sometimes interesting! Prêt Koffi, the pastor of this church had arranged for the gravel, sand and of course the water to all be trucked in or in some cases carried in by locals and church members to the job site. Previously, we had taken numerous trips to transport cement and had 90, 110 lbs. bags of cement standing by. The final tally for the cement used was 27 bags, 162-5 gallon buckets of gravel, 18-5 gallon buckets of sand and a ton of water! You can imagine how exhausted we all were at the end of the day!

Nearing 3 pm we had finished the footer. The steel was in and the first row of blocks, which is always the most difficult to lie was down. We cleaned everything down and huddled around the mixer as Prêt Koffi led us in a prayer to thank the Lord for all the work that had been accomplished today.

It was such a blessing to spend time with the men as they worked so fervently and diligently. There was one man in particular. He was about 21 years of age who started working with us when we first arrived and continued till about noon. He’s a member of the church and was very much excited about the church but I noticed he started getting a bit worn down. Of course, he was lifting the 5 gallon buckets of gravel into the cement mixer so that, I though explained his fatigue. However, around 11 am while talking with Randy I discovered that he was pretty sick and not feeling well yet he came out in the heat, sun and did the hardest job on the site. I was so impressed with his attitude and commitment towards the Lords work there in Pagoda. It seems that no matter how learned or how experienced you might be there is always something you can learn from the wonderful people here in Togo! It’s such a blessing to work along side them and humbling at times as well.

Cement and Blocks go hand in hand

The past few days have been spent running back and forth to Pagoda and Kara. It’s only about 23 miles in length but takes about 45 minutes each direction. We’ve found four tons or 80 sacs of cement in Kara and have started transporting it out one ton at a time.
On one particular afternoon one of our guys stood in line at a local Cement vender for 5 hours and was only able to acquire one ton. It’s the dry season and building is in full swing hence cement always seems to be in short supply and the trucks don’t seem to be able to bring it up from Lome quick enough.

The last two days of this week I’ve been able to take the Mason and his apprentice out to Pagoda where they have been fabricating blocks by hand. With one mold, a cement mixer and two assistants the mason was able to produce 350 blocks the first day and the sum of the second brought the total within reach of 500. With 700 more needed to elevate our count to 1,200, our prayer is that by mid weeks end we’ll see all the blocks fabricated for the entire church project. From there we’ll lay out the building and start on the foundation and eventually the floor.

The end of a season and a start of a new

This past Christmas season was a little extra special. Not only was I able to purchase a vehicle but a week later was able to pick up my older sister and her husband who flew in from Mumbai, India for ten days. Christmas truly is a special time to reflect on what Christ has done for us but passing the time in reflection with your family makes it even more extraordinary. They left shortly before the new years and now things are starting to settle back down.

This past week I arranged to start meeting with a second French tutor so that I could not just meet on the weekends but could also work during the week. I’ve been here 26 months and am basically fluent but I still have such a long way to go if I want to be fluent without errors and that is my ultimate goal.

I was also able to head out to Pagoda this week. It’s a village about 45 minutes to the East of Kara. Randy has been working with this church for sometime and her pastor is a recent graduate from the Bible Institute. Pastor Koffi and his family live in Pagoda and their church has been meeting in a rented block building for years now. God has provided the funds through Randy’s ministry and we are starting the preparation stages of construction. This week the blocks were made and the water citrine was constructed to hold water for the overall project. After construction, it will become the out door baptistery.

God has truly been working in this church. The land was a donation and much of the work is donated from the local congregation. It was such a blessing to visit, survey the land and understand the vision for the permanent future church. God really is blessing this work and it’s always fantastic to be part of or near something He’s blessing.