Built Up Together

This past month has been busy for the ministry in Makindu as they work on the new center building. Their goal is to get it completed before the prayed-for fall rains arrive. Though the work is tedious and hard, the Lord has blessed this time of laboring together. Here are some snap shots of the progress.


The building is being constructed with volcanic stone cemented with clay soil, since these materials can be obtained cheaply.


The stone is gathered from a quarry 30 miles away and hauled to the building site in a rented trailer, pulled by a tractor.


"Carrying the stone blocks to the masons is done by hand, one block or two at a time," Lawrence says. "We do not have equipment such as wheel barrows." With all the heavy hauling going on, he is thankful that no one has been hurt working on the project so far.


Three-foot trenches have been dug for the perimeter of the building.


In the trenches a hired mason has been laying the foundation...


...arranging the stones as the workers bring them.


What a great blessing to have a wheelbarrow loaned for the work!


Here you can see the foundational walls emerging, as the mason mixes the "mortar" to cement the stones together.


At the end of September the stem wall is up and the corner pillars begun. This 30x60 building will be internally divided into rooms, providing a place for the training classes and other activities to be conducted in.


Brother Lawrence at work on the walls. "We mean to go right on until the crown is won..." he says.


It is a blessing to work together in unity and have so many volunteers pitching in.


Near by a drainage pit is being dug. Using simple hand-picks and shovels is hard work. The finished size will be about 20x8x6 feet, which is about as deep as they can get without tools to brake through rock.


By the end of last week the corner pillars had been erected. The building is located on a small lot (100x100 feet) purchased earlier this year. "The owner has reserved for us other 3 plots of equal size and says they will wait for at least 6 months for us to raise the needed money (equivelent to $4,800.00) for them," Brother Lawrence says. "Our God owns every thing and we trust He will provide, if it pleases Him to have that size of the property for the center."


Two of the brothers that have been daily and consistently working at the site are Benjamin, a young minister, and Alvin, Lawrence's son. "Thank God for the young people who seem so dedicated for the service," Lawrence writes. "This frees me for other duties."


In the building of this simple physical structure there is a striking parrell to how God is working to build His church. We that were once "strangers and foreigners" have the privilege of being "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:19-22) What a wise and able stone mason He is!

If our part seem small or the weight of our responsibility too big, let us remember this is God's building. (1 Cor. 3:9) Praise the Lord, He knows what He is doing! If we rest on the sure foundation of truth, aligned with Christ, our cornerstone, it matters not what place He has chosen to put us. We can rejoice in being a part and let the Lord do the building!