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I thought maybe there might be more people interested in what the process is going to look like for the mission house remodel. We will run out of funds before we finish, but by the end of June, we are hoping to enclose a hallway and the stairway to the second floor...so that the building will now be one building, and not two separate floors. Here below you can see the layout for that first floor, when we can get the tile floor installed first (going with a mosaic of broken tiles of different colors.) The idea is to break up the bathroom and shower areas, and use double bunk beds instead of triples, with the same stairs we already have elsewhere for access.
After we get the enclosures done, we can then use groups or any special donations that come in for this project to keep going on building out the new interior and getting things installed.
Once everything is done on the first floor, then the work would move to the second floor, removing the bedrooms upstairs, expanding the kitchen, the dining area, and then the couch space, leaving a half bathroom as well on the second floor. We are trying to do this like we do everything with groups, using groups and group or special designated funds to do the work. So far, groups help the mission overall and have not been a drain of finances, but rather helping the other areas of ministry. We might have to invest a bit this year since we have employee commitments to meet (at least to keep them employed through June) and thus some material costs to keep going, but hoping that most of the costs can be absorbed by the groups from 2018 and 2019. If you are wondering why with so much of 2018 left why we won't finish, that is because we had to curtail how much we are planning to do and how long we will be able to do it this year because of the huge reduction of groups we are seeing for this year and thus the funds available and help to continue it. The goal is to be done by June 2019, Lord willing. The benefits will be a more welcoming atmosphere, easier to live with for groups, nicer long term housing, more space for supplies, and more space to spread out for bigger groups. Plus, moving the bedrooms down a floor will cut down on the noise from the street, noise from those that stay up late, and to keep the temperature more pleasant for sleeping.
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So how about an update? Here you can see part of the farm in Sampedrana that has been cleared, the hodgepodge triangle-sort-of-shape of cleared, green, polka dot (avocado tree), and coffee. We own further up the mountain, we are just working on getting enough plants grown in our nurseries to then clear more and plant. This will take years to complete, as each acre roughly needs 2,000 plants, and the rough cost from seedling to going into the ground is $1 per plant, and we have well over 10 acres left to plant. As I have written, our main need here other than continuing to develop the property is to improve the road conditions getting there, some widening, some leveling, but mostly improving the road itself for less slipping and sliding. We are going to have to invest at least $3,000 this year on this road to try to get it up to snuff. And one more thing will be building a house on the property and using it for a family to live and be daily caretakers, as well as just a base of operations to do cleaning, pulping, drying, etc.  The farm in Las Botijas was one we took over from another missionary when they left the country. There is one big homestead, and several other pieces of property, several of which have coffee growing on them. We were concerned about getting a proper caretaker for several years, but God had not opened any long term doors until August of 2017, when we moved Rony and his family from Sampedrana, where he had transplanted almost eight years ago to work with Don Escoto on his farm, but was going to lose his job because the farm was being divided and given to his children. There is quite a bit to do here as well in terms of planting more coffee and other improvements on the multiple properties, and that is exciting, but even more exciting is that after a brief time working in Las Botijas, and not having a place to worship, just by worshipping as a family, Rony has turned into a pastor by opening doors to what is already 15 believers and six friends in the community. Seeing how we can help this burgeoning Church will be a bigger priority moving forward.  Oscar with Rony on the farm just East from the farmhouse...planting corn between the coffee will feed his family for several months with corn.  Rony and his family in the Church building that is on the farm property. Finally you can see here below the property in Cantaranas. We have received funds to plant the hill of this property this year with fruit trees, which should provide more long term investment and return for the property such as we already get from the two avocado trees there. The valley Jonathan and the Church are still currently trying to use (you can see they have the greenhouse there) and we will see in the next twelve months about the long term housing on site about maybe developing that even more.  So you can be praying for the workers, and their families, for their safety, for good crops and harvests, and ways in which we can use those harvests more in our local areas, and abroad, to further the work of Christ. Finding buyers abroad especially for the coffee we produce would be a great way not only to help us locally more but have more ties that could help us improve what we produce, but also to reach our goal of being self sustaining and starting to really invest some of what is being done into the other areas of ministry as well. That could be helping hire more clinic staff, planting a new Milk Project, a new Church plant...the options, even limited just to what we are already doing and in areas where we already work, are numerous. May God guide us and direct us through it all!
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