Tangible progress

We have been struggling the last month to get a post out as much has been going on.  Each day has been filled with lots of challenges and victories.  We have had the privilege of having some friends from home come and work with us for a couple months.  They have been a tremendous blessing and have assisted in getting much accomplished here at GBBC.

One project that we have been working on for some time is defining the front entry way to the college.  The goal was to make a circlular style entry way that gives a nice apperiance.

Dirt was hauled in and the large scale  sculpting began.

Once it was mostly defined cement was poured around the perimeter 

We wanted to make is low maintenance so we decided to try to cover it with stone and cement

It was quite a process of searching for stones and placing them one by one.

As usual Gunner needed to be on site to inspect the work and see how he could get dirty!

The completed project has turned out very well!  The guys helping on the project named it Mount Moriah....as you can imagine Moriah was elated and both her and Gunner are loving climbing up it.  Lord willing the next step will be putting a new sign for the college on top and possibly surround the top with the Provincial flags of the country as we have had students from every part of PNG.

The ground work has also progressed as we continue to do site preparation for future buildings.

We have found out that when we run into trees that are too large for us to cut the best way is to dig around it and push it over.

Then the real work begins of cutting and breaking it up

The end result has turned out well!

Another project we highlighted earlier was the new computer lab building we made out of flat pack containers.  These containers have a roof and should be water tight however we get more rain in our part of the world.  The sun can also be very intense so we decided to put a second roof on top.  

Traditionally all the trusses here have been made out of wood, but we decided to try making metal trusses.

After lots of measuring, cutting, and welding we had trusses for the building.

The roofing iron was then placed on the roof and the project is one step closer to being finished!

It is fun it see the tangible progress that is made on these projects, but we must confess lots of what we do here cannot be seen on the surface.  Each week we take part in lots of different ministries from sharing meals, church planting, to Bible studies, to investing in those around us and seeking intentional  conversations with those who have yet to come to an understanding of who Jesus Christ is.  It is hard to not get discouraged when we don’t see the progress we desire or think things aren’t happening in the time frame we hoped.  However, we know that God works ALL things for our good and His glory!  So?  We continue trusting Him and serving Him with our eyes fixed on the eternal, and we are grateful when we get to catch a glimpse of what He is up to!!!