Paul's Projects

We and the poinsettia bush like the cool weather.

Heavy rains caused the creek across the river to rise and wiped out one of the banks supporting the footbridge. The neighbors are using alternate routes to come and go. 

Far side of bridge under construction rests on earth bank.

Flash flooding of the creek took out the earth bank.

On the bright side, so much rain has caused our flowers to bloom and the coffee harvest is putting money in people’s pockets. Paul has been harvesting bananas, plantain, mandarin oranges, and tilapia to share with missionary friends and neighbors.  We had some standing dead trees near the buildings at the Emmanuel Center and Paul and his worker, Luis, took them down. They also cleaned out the fish pond, and repaired and moved the spring fed waterlines to the fish ponds. It was a big job and Paul was glad to send fish home with Luis for his dinner.

The red coffee is ready to pick.

Paul and Luis cleaning the fish pond.

Between all of Paul’s work on the farm and maintaining the grounds and the buildings, he found time to paint the pantry so the oatmeal won’t mold. I (Bridget) was so happy I made him chocolate chip cookies. He also built a bench in the corner of the kitchen to provide more seating around the table. It’s a cozy place to have coffee with visitors or dinner on these stormy nights.  The clothes dryer went out in September and was beyond repair. Paul was able to install a new dryer last weekend.

Paul preparing the pantry for paint.

Being without a dryer for three months has given me a new respect for the housewives in our region who dry laundry on their clotheslines, fences, hedges, or porch rails between rain storms.  Their clothes look perfectly clean and pressed, like they just walked off the rack at a department store, and their children have the whitest school uniform shirts! I don’t think I will ever measure up to their standard of gleaming ceramic floors and starched shirts, but they are so kind they never mention it.

2 - 3 days to dry clothes on the porch...

... or 20 - 30 minutes in the new dryer.

My English classes have finished and students are ready for vacation and anticipating graduation in December.  During our last month of classes, the kindergartners built the tower of Babel (Genesis 11), sang “Old McDonald had a Farm,” and begged to “do it again” when we categorized plastic farm animals and sea animals. 

Building the Tower of Babel.

My 4^th – 6^th grade students learned about Abraham and his complicated family (Genesis 21) and drew their own family tree. We ended each class dividing into groups and playing games. One day the girls played Go Fish while the boys played Jenga and proceeded to build an incredibly creative tower with the Jenga blocks! My older students practiced questions "Who?" "What?" "When?" etc. and ones starting with "do" and "does", along with vocabulary related to the house and its furnishings. Those groups played Banana Grams; my junior high boys were the best at that game.  They also studied Abraham's life and asked me to explain "circumcision" (Genesis 17) and then wondered, like all of us have, "Why do they do that?" 

Paul and I begin our days reading the Bible and thanking the Lord for His mercy and grace to follow Him wherever He leads us.  Abraham is our example, not a perfect man, but one who trusted God Almighty.

Serving Him,

Bridget and Paul