Phase 1 - The Wall - is only days from being done!! We are definitely celebrating this step. It may not seem like much but it is actually a big deal for us!
Why?
First, because without this security perimeter wall in place, nothing else can happen.
Second, this is not a small job nor an easy job!
It’s a large piece of land, and not only is most of the terrain is very sloped and steep, it's located on the side of a large (dormant!) volcano, which means it is full of small, medium and huge boulders from the volcano.
The wall is massive; 3 feet of concrete block and cement foundation under ground and another 8-10 feet of all that above ground (plus another 2-3 feet of razor wire will be on top of that)!
And keeping all these conditions in mind, all this work is being done by hand!! We thank God for the crew of 10-12 men working 6 long days a week on this! It is difficult, exhausting work and they are doing a great job!
Once they have as much of the wall completed as possible we will move on to the excavation! The goal with this next step is to finish up by the end of April. That leaves May and June to get as much infrastructure work done as possible before the rains begin. Of course, work will still happen during the 6 months of rainy season but it will be much slower and more complicated. This includes some of the not very exciting yet very important items such as drainage pipes, sewage, septic, electric. We are anxious to get these foundational pieces in place so we can move on to the fun stuff…the houses!!! So the good news is that God has provided all we have needed for: Phase 1; the construction of the wall and for the excavation. The big (not bad) news is that we need to raise the funds for Phase 2; Critical Infrastructure. This cost is estimated to be around $160,000. Yeah, we know…that’s a big number. It’s a big project. And believe me, we (along with our architect and consultant) are doing all we can to keep the numbers as low as possible while maintaining the quality and security. So with all of this in mind, we are asking for your help: We need $60K by the end of April to get all the big pipes in!
Once those are in, the rest can be done even in the rains and as funds come in. 1. Please pray with us in this! Not only for provision but also patience and peace as we desire to stay obedient to the Lord in every big and small step of this process. 2. Please pass the word! As we are here in Guatemala it’s not always easy to make known what is going on. We are doing our best to use technology to communicate well but face to face conversations are still , in our opinion, the best form of communication. So any conversations you can have with someone whose heart may be interested in what God is doing here, please do!! 3. Donate HERE if you feel called to be a big part of what God’s doing with this. Thanks for listening, Friends! We are more grateful for your involvement with us in this than you know!
Love,
The Smith Clan
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