Construction & Business

    

These past few weeks have been quite busy as progress on the church construction continues, work with the business picks up (the Detail Difference: restoration business) and the orphanage starts to take in more girls.  For those of you who stay up to date on the blog, I will include a part at the end that deals with Juliet (the girl, whose father was murdered two weeks ago).  Enjoy this blog as it will fill you in on the progress being made and the ways you can get involved with the work going on here.  

Construction

Several of you have been very generous in donating time and money to help with the orphanage and church building.  As I have explained in the past, the church is comprised of basically one large room for the sanctuary, three bathrooms, and two small offices (one that is mine, which is really a converted bathroom and the other that serves as office/classroom/youth room/library...etc).  We began building the third floor (the second floor is just a small balcony/mezzanine).  Thanks to several generous people and churches, we have been able to build the third floor and now have finished the fourth floor structure.  The third floor has finished walls and floors and we just poured the columns and beams for the fourth floor.  This is so exciting because we are desperately in need of space.  The fourth floor space will not only be great for classrooms but also we plan on using it for a day care during the day that could generate a small income for the different ministries at the church.

Unfortunately though, with the good news comes bad news.  We are currently in the rainy season and the rain continues to cause damage to the inside of the church.  Everyday I come into my office to find puddles of water on my desk, computer (with a bag over it), floor and pretty much anything uncovered.  The water continues to damage the paint on the walls and stain the carpet we have.  In fact,  Steve Hillis from Milliken carpets has donated a 1000 yards to the church but we cant even put it in until the church is closed in (i.e. have a roof and sealed walls).  

The water is destructive but not the worst.  Already twice this week, we have had thieves break into the church, risking their lives scaling the thirty foot brick facade to climb into the third floor windows.  We have plywood over the windows, but twice, the thieves have broken in and almost made off with tools and anything else of value.  We have at least two people spending the night every night in the church to ward off the thieves, though I think it would be more effective to have 110v running through the bars on the 2 floor windows.  

In any case this has presented us with several urgent needs to prevent further damage or the possibility of being robbed. Our needs to close in and secure the 3rd and 4th floor are (prioritized):   

• Metal roof  $10,000
  
• brick and block to close in 4th floor $8500
• Fence around the church, windows and bars to protect windows $20,000
• Plaster (cement and sand) for inside and out $6,000

For information on donating to help with these needs or those of 

the orphanage, the end of the blog explains what you can do.

(Pastor Daniel and the architech Arturo, mapping out the changes for the new roof, also, the outer concrete beam of the fourth floor is being poured. Second: the almost finished entry way of the third floor thanks to Tom Murphy)

The Business: making sustainability a reality

As many of you know, a year ago, our good friends Brian and Sue Templin came down to Bogota with my parents and trained a few of us to start our own business, The Detail Difference.  The idea was to provide a good job to some hard working people in the church as well as create a business that could financially back the orphanage.  Carlos, Aida and I all worked part time for a year and then finally this September, Carlos to the step of faith to work full time and take on this opportunity as his career.  Carlos has worked the majority of his life with a dairy company loading trucks and working delivery

routes.  Despite his struggling financial situation and long hard hours, he always has a smile on his face and is the first to help someone in the church, fixing anything they might have.  Two months ago he left the security of a steady job, though horrible as it was, to work full time with The Detail Difference.  Carlos and I committed to taking the first half an hour of our day to pray and ask God's direction for the business.  With his family of five's welfare on the line, he is determined to make this business work.  

(Right: our work bikes out in front of the church.  We put all the tools in the box on the black motorcycle)

It is with great relief and thanks to tell you that God has continued to provide us with constant work these past few weeks and this Friday we were called by a 5 star hotel to do $3500 worth of work and began working  Saturday.  It is really hard to explain how great a blessing this is without knowing Carlos, his character and the challenges he has had to put food on the table.  So I ask you to continue to pray for Carlos and I as we work.  If you want more info on the business go to (www.thedetaildifference.com) to see what the business is about.

Expanding the Orphanage

Life has been a little crazy at the orphanage these past few weeks (see the blog entry below), but its amazing at how resilient children are.  Friday night Catherine and I spent the night at the orphanage and woke up early to make breakfast for them.  All the girls were running around in their little pijamas playing and brushing each others' hair.  Jennifer and Natalie ran up to me and gave me a hug, "good morning Uncle Jacob" they said, and then off again to play.  These are the same two girls who witnessed their dad shooting and killing their mom less than a month ago.

Last month's blog shared about Juliet, who's dad had been shot in front of her.  Sadly to say the slow moving government is leaning towards giving custody to one of Juliet's neighbors, who is without a doubt in it for the welfare check she'll get for taking custody of Juliet.  The government would rather give custody to an individual (despite having nothing to offer Juliet) than our orphanage.  This is not set in stone yet, but its been discouraging for all of us especially Ruth Herrera, the director, who has spent days working to bring Juliet back to the orphanage.  Please continue praying for us as we deal with this.

The more time I spend at the orphanage the more I realize how God has perfectly orchestrated the creation of the orphanage and fulfilling the needs of these little girls who have been abandoned and abused.  While our needs to pay rent, groceries and utilities continues to be a reason for worrying, one only has to take a step back see how faithful God has been these past few years to see that this orphanage and these girls will be taken care of.

If you have any ideas or would like to get involved and help out with the orphanage or church construction please email me at (grady.jacob@gmail.com).  The following is information for those of you who are willing to donate to the building or orphanage.

Write checks to, Timberview Christian Fellowship (my home church), and put Bogota orphanage or Bogota construction in the memo line.  Timberview's address is,

15511 N. Howe Road
Mead, WA  99021

 

If you have any questions please email me and I would be glad to help.  Take care and stay in touch.