Back to Work

Dear Everybody,

Maybe some of you are thinking that we have dropped off the face of the earth but we are all doing fine.  We've just been busy.

We are coming off the heels of a wonderful youth retreat.  Over 70 teens heard the gospel preached clearly and were reminded that if they are a child of God they are therefore His slave also.

In three short weeks, Ivan and Nikol will be arriving on camp to start their internship with us.  We started the renovation of the caretaker's house (now the guest house) a few months ago and now we are doing our best to get the house ready for their arrival.

Today we tackled the front door.  We salvaged the solid wood door that was on the house and Danny worked on getting it ready for a new coat of paint.  It was a beautiful sunny day to work outside.  Then we started the tedious task of getting the sheetrock off the ceiling in our house.  This sheetrock will be used to cover the walls in the guest house.  Since my last blog, the sawmill came and sawed our logs into 1/2 inch thick boards to use for siding in the guest house and for the ceiling in our house.

Here are a few pictures of the progress next door.

new walkway made from homemade pavers (in progress)

Ceiling in the livingroom, diningroom up.  Missing the battens and a finish coat of varnish.

Danny tiled the bathroom and finished the board and batten walls.

Morgan was his helper that day.

bathroom tile done, just needs the grout cleaned and the fixtures and door put in.

Danny working on the front door today.

sheetrock out and wood up.

this wood ceiling will also have battens and another coat of white paint.

cleaning the grout lines

recycling sheetrock.  

Maddie "helping" sweep with a smile

Today we took down two bays worth of sheetrock and put up the painted sidding.  Then we moved next door to start putting up the sheetrock we got down and up on the walls in one of the bedrooms.  It's tedious work to say the least since they are framed chilean style and therefore the sheetrock needs blocking inserted for it to fit correctly.  Meanwhile I started on cleaning the grout on the tile work in the bathroom.

It was neat to see some progress after so many months of work.  Pray for us as we continue with our other responsibilities too: school for the kids, house chores, preparation for Bible Institute, Sermon preparation for Sundays and many camp administrative responsibilities also.

liz

A Sunny Day

Dear Everybody,

We have had three sunny days in a row!  That is saying something for how far south we live.  Our winter months are mostly wet but when the sun does come out, the green south of Chile is beautiful!  Because it was dry today, the guys decided to tackle the leaks in the main meeting hall roof.  A hall runs between our kitchen building and the large meeting hall.  The roof of the hall has four skylights which were leaking pretty bad.  So after getting a list of materials from Miguel, Danny and the boys went shopping in Villarrica and then worked on replacing the faulty skylights.

main building roof on the left and kitchen roof on the right, hall down the middle in between

Miguel is replacing the old fiberglass skylights with polycarbonate.

When Danny was up on the roof, he also oiled and straightened the weather vane that sits atop the fireplace.  On the hood of the fireplace he saw the dates 1969 and 1970.  We asume that is when the building was started and completed.  There is a nice view from that high up.

I couldn't take the pictures this time so Danny did since he was up there.

lakeside view

weathervane

Can you make out the numbers?

Miguel also fixed the bathroom located by the kitchen and spent a few hours raking.  Raking on camp is a huge job.  Of course, camps looks so much better with the leaves picked up, but we mainly make the extra effort to help the grass grow come spring.

We will be having Andy and Kolette and family over for the weekend so I was busy straightening up the house, getting the guest room ready for visitors.  I spent some time working with Morgan on her school work and reading to Madeline.  After lunch it was the boys' turn to work on school.  Both of them are needing more help in math and spelling.  I'll take spelling over math any day especially when the one deals with fractions!!!!  Oh well, I am thankful I can handle 3rd and 4th grade math still!

When the guys got done outside on the roof, Danny came inside and worked on replacing the silicone seal around our bathtub.  After four years of use, it was pretty nasty.  It looks so nice now.  He also put a coat of paint on the stains on the ceiling.  The bathroom looks really nice now.

Matthias helped Danny take the old silicone off.

and the new stuff goes on...

Maddie was there too!

Soon, I will be sticking some homemade bread in the oven and getting some soup on for supper so I better wrap this blog post up and get to work.  Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministry.

Liz

Back to Normal

Dear Everybody,

Today felt like we could finally get back to somewhat of a routine.

We had a wonderful conference in Santiago at Camp Pirque.  We had set for ourselves some objectives and God graciously allowed usto reach those objectives.  We look forward to working more with the Pirque Camp team and the Peniel Camp team in the near future.

Unfortunately during our time there, Madeline came down with a "complicated" cold.  At least that's what the doctor called it when we took her to the local clinic.  We had three bad nights with her and during the days she pretty much just layed in our arms.  Not much fun, but she is feeling much better now.

A day after getting home we headed to Temuco to welcome, Andy and Kolette Thompson to their new assignement at the Bible Institute.  Danny's brother will be replacing Daryl and Earlynne as they furlough in the States for 4 months.  Andy and Kolette have three kids the same ages as ours so the cousins had sooooo much fun together.

Friday was pretty quiet with just the normal school schedule and getting ready for Sunday messages.  Saturday, we had the visit of a UCB pastor who is helping preach and teach at the Lican UCB church.  He is helping in three other churches in the area so can only come and teach in Lican once a month.  He asked if Danny would be willing to preach on one of the other Sundays and if I could teach a children's Sunday school class.  So the third Sunday of each month Danny will preach and teach before we head up to Liquine for their mid-afternoon service.  We are glad we have the God given Strength and time to serve the Lord in this way.  There are many churches in the area without good teaching!

Yesterday, we worshipped with the church in Liquine.  They are truly a blessing to our family!

Today, Miguel got back and as I wrote earlier it really felt like we were able to go back to a routine.  We did some cleaning in the house.  Danny vacuumed all our beams in the main room.  We also raked all the leaves in the back yard and some on camp also.  I worked with the kids on school and kept Maddie out of trouble.  Sorry no pictures but soon we will start work back up on camp and there will be plenty to write and send pictures about.

Thank you for your prayers for our family.

Liz

Birthday Boy

Dear Everybody,

My baby is 10!  I can hardly believe we have a 10 year old in the house until I take a good look at Micah and realize how BIG he is.  Our little boy is turning into a little man who loves to sit at the lunch table and talk with us instead of running off to play with his siblings.  What can I say, he's growing up...

I decided this year to make Micah a special cake.  If any of you know my sister, Esther, she is the one who makes amazing cakes for her kids' birthdays.  I am NOT that tatented, but I wanted to try.  So I decided to make an Angry Birds cake.  It turned out better than I had hoped and Micah loved it which was the best part.

here's the finished product 

Sunday night we ate his birthday meal even though his birthday was on Monday.  He chose Pad Thai Noodles with shrimp.

We are thankful the Lord gave us Micah 10 years ago.  He is a blessing to our family and I pray that the Lord will use Him greatly for His glory.

On Sunday for Father's Day, I also got this picture of Danny with all four kids.  Happy Father's Day Dan!  We thank God for YOU!

Liz

Big Girl Bed for Madeline

Dear Everybody,

Danny put the last few coats of paint on the bunkbed this morning and this afternoon, he installed it upstairs.  This set up gives the girls much more room to play also.

Matti helped Danny since he was done with his schoolwork

We'll see how the girls sleep tonight in their new beds.

I spent the morning getting the boys through school and then doing wash and cleaning house.  I also got a cake made to take to the Bible Institute for lunch with the students.  Pretty boring stuff but part of life just as much as anything else.

Danny had to study quite a bit for his class tomorrow.  We will be going to Temuco tomorrow for his class and for the missionary prayer meeting with Daryl and Earlynne Thompson.  They are getting ready for their furlough coming up next month.

That's all our news for now.  Miguel kept working on the window frames and is almost done with that project.  We have to wait until next month to be able to afford buying the windows.  He also prepped the wood for the countertops that will go in the guest house kitchen. We want to have it dry before we put the countertop together.

No blog tomorrow but maybe on Friday.

liz

Plumbing and Painting

Dear Everybody,

Another storm front has moved into our area.  All night we heard the winds howl through the trees and the rain fall in huge drops on our tin roof.  This weather system is supposed to stick around a few days so as far as work goes we are stuck doing inside jobs.

The new porch on the front of the guest house is still standing and we haven't noticed any leaks either so the guys did a good job on it.  Today they focused on getting smaller projects done.  Miguel built a dolley so we can move larger objects around easier.

Do you notice the flooding? A day of dry weather and it will all be gone because of the sandy terrain.

Danny studied for his class in the morning and worked on the workshops he will be giving at our first National Camp Conference in Chile. More on that at a later time.

He had a little helper helping him cut up some veggies for lunch.

After lunch he went out to work.  We plan on moving Madeline to a regular bed soon.  Both girls will share a bunkbed.  There was a set of metal bunkbeds in the guest house that we took apart.  Today I sanded them down and Danny repainted them.  Tomorrow we hope to set the new bunkbed up for the girls.

painting the rails

and the head board and foot board

Then Danny focused on more plumbing.  He got all the cold water plumbing in for the bathroom and the kitchen done today.  What a job!  We are reusing all the copper pipes from the previous set up so it means cleaning the fittings up but it is a savings.  We might have to buy a few more fittings to connect the hot water but overall we came out way ahead reusing the old.

After a warm bowl of soup and homemade buns, we're ready for a quiet evening.  The kids are in their beds reading.  They are pretty tired out after a morning of school and trying to stay busy in the house since it was rainy outside.

Thank you for your prayers as we continue to serve the Lord here in Chile.

Liz

Rollerblading Fun

Dear Everybody,

Friends of ours in the States, Jim and Dee Buizer, gave the kids each a pair of rollerblades.  They have enjoyed using them even on rainy days since the gym has a roof.  Danny has a pair of rollerblades too so it's been fun for them to play together.  For Christmas we got the boys hockey sticks and pucks so they can play street hockey if they want.  Good exercise and lots of fun!

Here is a video of them goofing off for the camera, hopefully you won't get dizzy watching them:


Click here to watch

Liz

Long Time No Blog

Dear Everybody,

Sorry for the lapse in the blogs.  I ended up with a cold and it was hard enough just to get the basic things done in the house, let alone write a blog post.  But, now I'm back with lots to tell.

In my last post, I mentioned Miguel's stove and water tank.  That project took about a week to get all connected and finished.  After many leaks to repair and final touchups it's up and running great.

They also installed a barrel wood stove in the shop.  It's nice to have heat in there to work and also clean up wood scraps.

Then the guys were able to focus their attention back on the guest house.  Miguel has been working on framing up the windows.  Here in Chile, windows are done different also.  We have a young Christian man who attends one of our country churches who owns a window/glass shop here in Lican.  We hope to get the windows put in next month.

Then the guys started on building a covered porch in front of the house.  We get LOTS of rain here in the south and a covered entrance is a wonderful thing to have.  We also want to make it a sort of privacy screen between our house and the guest house.

The first thing we had to do was take out an old sidewalk.  The kids helped with that project.  As the boys tore up the sidewalk, Morgan carried off the rumble.

The guys started to put up the posts, rafters, purloins and then the tin.  Between each sheet of tin, they put a piece of polycarbonate roofing to allow light to come through.  We finished off the work and then stained the wood.  We hope to pour a cement slab so that at the back, we can install the washing machine.

taking the gutter down

first post

as the kids were loading firewood to our front deck they would get wheelbarrow rides back to the woodshed

painting a coat of stain (goes on purple but dries clear)

finished, we just need to pour the slab now

This past weekend, we had the visit of two young men from Santiago, Andres and Jose.  Andres has worked at camp for three years now so is very familiar with Lican.  His brother and wife are the couple that will be living in the guest house and become the first young couple to be trained on camp.  This was the first time for us to get know Jose, a young Christian, who loves the Lord and wanted to serve God at camp.  He is an electrician by trade.  Both guys arrived around 10 AM on Saturday and worked all day until close to 3 AM Sunday morning.  Then they were back at it on Sunday morning until noon, when we had to travel to Llonquen for church.

At church they gave a short testimony and Andres led in singing some choruses.  Danny preached and I had ten littles kids in my Sunday school class.

Video of singing in UCB Llonquen

 After church, they finished up the work right before catching their bus back to Santiago at 7 PM.  We are thankful for their willingness to come and serve the Lord.

Jose

Andres

Thank you for your prayers as we continue to work.  Tonight we hold a planning meeting on conference call with our team.

Liz

A New Floor, a "New" Stove, and a New Princess

Dear Everybody,

I am at a loss to know how to start this blog.  So much has happened!  Maybe I will just start with what we did today.  The kids were back in school today so we got that done in the morning.  The guys ran to town to buy the rest of the copper pipes and fittings they needed to finish installing the cook stove in Horeb.  In the afternoon, they worked on getting the stove pipe installed and all the water hookups for the water tank done.  unforntutely, they weren't able to get that done so it will get done tomorrow.  Miguel should be moved in over there as soon as they get the stove working.

Here is the stove and the tank in place but not connected yet. 

The boys got 5 wheelbarrows full of firewood for Miguel up to Horeb

time to solder some copper pipes

Miguel worked on getting the stove pipes in

The rain and wind have been constant here in the south of Chile.  We have many many tree limbs down all over camp but other than that no major damage.  We felt a tremor on Thursday when we were in Temuco.  The weather is never dull here!

Friday, Danny and I worked on getting the ceramic floor down in the bathroom in the guest house.  We chose white.  You probably think we're crazy but hear us out...  First, we chose that color because it was on SALE and second because we want it to show dirt.  I know usually, one hears the opposite reason but because of the purpose for the guest house, I want to be able to go in there and see at a glance that it is clean and white looks clean when it's clean.  Make sense, no?  We will be putting white tile on the walls that have the "internit"  (cement board) and in the shower but we will try to see if we can put some color accents too along the way.  We were going to grout today but the damp weather we have been having prevented the tiles to dry so we will have to wait a little bit longer.

we also covered up the hole where the main door was before

Cutting the tiles with the grinder

we enjoyed the warmth of the stove

second to last tile. 

there you have it.  

Friday night, Danny got a bus to Santiago and spent all day Saturday in meetings with the national board for the UCB.  He was replacing our field director who went to the States for other special meetings.  He took another night bus on Saturday night and got home on Sunday morning.  We were planning on going to Conaripe to church but Danny's bus got in a couple hours late so it was too late to make it to the service.

We are glad to have Dad home.  While he was gone, Morgan received the long awaited birthday package from Mamie (my mom).  The Post office lady was on the lookout for a package from France and as soon as I stepped foot inside she was waving the package excitedly over her head.  Funny!
Morgan was soooooo excited to open a brand new handmade princess dress.  My mom is an amazing seamstress!!!   She couldn't believe that Mamie had made it especially for her.  Not only that but she sent all the accessories to go with it (earring, necklace, ring, bracelets and a crown).  The boys had never seen so much pink in their life!

it's not the best picture because of how late and dark it was but it gives you an idea.

of course you have to twirl in a new dress!

This picture makes me laugh!!!!!!!  For any of you who read my blog on Dan's side of the family: Who does this picture remind you of?  I caught them both playing with their hair while Micah was reading to Madeline.  They both do it all the time... I wonder who they take after.... TERRY!

Well, I think that catches you up on our news.  Love you all very much and thank you for your prayers.  Sometimes these menial tasks on camp don't seem to have any spiritual value but we trust the Lord will use what we do for him to allow many boys, girls, young people and families to hear the good news of the gospel here at camp and receive it for salvation.  Thank you for praying with us toward that end.

Liz