Happenings

Ever been woken up in the middle of the night because a bat peed on you? If not, well I've got one up on you. A few weeks back, we heard our nightly visitor fly into our bedroom. All of a sudden, I felt a spray of liquid on my legs. I told Amy, "I think that bat just peed on me." She wasn't impressed and immediately went back to sleep. I thought about it for a few minutes and decided there was no alternative but to roll over and go back to sleep as well. What are you going to do at 2:00 in the morning? Just another one of the unique experiences we've had here in the jungle.

I'm in San Jose right now. I met with the builder this morning to purchase such necessary items as toilets, sinks, door knobs, etc... for the house. We are getting closer and should have the roof in place by the end of next week. He tells me that we're only a month away from being done and although they are working fast, I have a hard time believing it. We'll see. We're hoping to be in by Christmas. Also, our water problems may be solved soon. Rather than trying to come up with another $10,000 dollars to drill a deep well to the aquifer, we are going green. We have decided to begin harvesting our rain-water by installing a system of large storage tanks and a filtration system. With Whit's help, I calculated that we can capture enough water from our roof alone to satisfy the majority of our needs for the year. We'll still have to watch it during the dry periods but with our surface well for back-up, we should be in pretty good shape. Just don't plan to visit us in September or October or you may find out what it means to "fetch the water".


Here's a recent picture of the house.

It is amazing to me sometimes how much time and energy you can expend here just trying to live. Some times we spend a good part of our week just taking care of things that enable us to continue with life. Add to that the homeschooling, ministry and construction and life is full.

Speaking of "ministry"... everyone seems to be enjoying Romans. What a great letter. We are well into chapter 2 right now and will continue on next week. Since I am stuck in San Jose right now, Amy, a very brave, talented and flexible woman, is leading house church. She is leading a discussion and prayer evening which should be a great time for everyone. We lost a few people earlier in the year as they made decisions which took them out of fellowship. It was pretty discouraging but as we've been faithful to keep meeting, teaching and caring for each other, the group that remained has gone deeper. Several that were coming previously have even returned. That has been encouraging. A typical "service" looks like this. Most everyone begins showing up between 5 and 6pm. We share a meal each week and many times the guys bring lobster and fish that they have caught right offshore on the local reefs. We start cleaning and cooking and end up eating between 6:30 and 7:00. Then, we fill up our coffee mugs and open the study in prayer and worship. After 5-6 songs, we begin the bible study and end with discussion and prayer. Afterwards, everyone pitches in to clean up and hang out a little more. What I love about this is that it is so all-encompassing. It isn't just showing up for an hour and then rushing off to the next thing...our service lasts for 3-4 hours. People are really connecting and are enjoying spending time together. It makes me think that this must be similar to what it was like in the early church. A cool thing to think about as we work our way through Romans.