This past week I was in Villavicencio, sleeping in my tent, and helping a dear friend and a great co-worker with his work crew. Martin Sanders, whom we have known since his childhood, is a great friend and co-worker here in Colombia. He had a work crew in last week and I took time to go down to Villavicencio and help him manage the logistics for the work crew. It was an honor and a privilege to do so. This week he has another group coming and and once again I will head back down to Villavo with them. This work crew is helping spruce up the camp and do some building for the new changing rooms and bathrooms by the swimming pool. I have about three days to recover from one and get ready for the next crew to arrive.
The first crew returned to the States last Friday and I stayed behind in Villavo to paint one of the rooms in the new cabin as it nears completion. The workers installed some of the doors and windows and laid the tile floor in one room. They tiled the bathroom on one side as well. So I took advantage in a lull in their work and a break between two work crews to do a little painting. One bedroom and one bathroom now have the primer coat of paint and the first cabin is now beginning to take on the look of a finished product. There are still about two to three more weeks worth of work to do, but it is an exciting step to see doors, windows, floors, and now some paint on the walls. On Saturday I drove to Bogotá to preach at the Suba church and do some of the logistical work to prepare to receive Martin’s next work crew which comes in on Tuesday.
This coming week, I will once again be in Villavo to help Martin with the next work crew. I always had my wife and children to help, so I wanted to give Martin the help that I depended on so much throughout the numerous work crews we had over the years. Also, I simply enjoy this aspect of missionary work as we share the excitement of what God is doing in Colombia with visiting Americans who come from supporting churches. It is a time to share and to rejoice in all that God is doing. It also gives me the opportunity to help with the planning and development of the cabins and other infrastructure that will become important elements to the camp expansion. For example, this last week I got a quote for a larger swimming pool. Our current one is tiny (about 12‘x18’)and was intended for family use only. Thus it is often way too small for the groups we have in and so we must divide the group and take turns using the pool. You can see the size of the pool in the background here.
To make the camp expansion truly useful, we need a much larger swimming pool. We consider a minimum size for a camp use pool to be 18‘x36’ and an even larger pool would be better for the one hundred plus campers we plan on having in the future. The larger pool will cost about $40,000 if we go the liner route and about $60,000 if we construct it of cement and then tile it. We have not yet decided which way to go. The cement/tile construction is much more durable but much more expensive. However, all of this is strictly planning, as we are struggling to complete the first cabin and install electricity and water. We need your help to make this camp expansion a wonderful tool for ministry here in Colombia. Please consider being a part of this exciting ministry by praying for the project, coming down on a work crew, and giving generously to help move the project along. In the process, God will bless many people through you as He blesses you in being a part of this exciting ministry!