Saturday, July 3, 2010

Raising the tower!

Today is our first full Saturday in Mahadaga, marking our first full week here. Unlike at home, Saturday is just another day of the week and work and school happen just like they do during the rest of the weekdays. So our team was up at the usual time for breakfast and made their way to the handicapped center before 8 AM. The education group continued their work with the summer enrichment program and from what I gather, spent the better part of this morning working with a group of blind children. The mobility team is putting their finishing touches on tricycle #1, which only requires a few more welds and some paint before the final product is assembled and ready for use.



Dr. Fish, Dr. Vader, Jon and I (Mike) stayed back here at the mission center today to help Matt complete some work on a communications tower that is going up to help the mission compound communicate with the handicapped center as well as the medical dispensary across the road. Each of the other locations has a similar tower that allows the three to share wireless internet as well as communicate with the main server at the handicapped center. Our work this morning involved reprogramming the router on our tower, which Jon did a great job with, as well as connecting some of the support cables and other accessories required for the system to function. Our work hinged on Matt’s guidance but unfortunately he had to leave us for a good part of the time to address some issues with the water pump at the center. We did as much as we could and waited for Matt to return.

The team came back together for lunch and we ate leftovers from the food we’ve had over the course of the week. It was a great combination of some traditional African food and our American creations! No one left hungry and we were able to get rid of the leftovers before they went bad. The rest of the day was free after lunch, except for a class session. During this session we had great discussion on what missions work should be and how a group or individual should handle the failure of a project or initiative. Dr. Vader asked some very thought provoking questions and lead an excellent discussion. After this time, the team was free for the rest of the day, so we did get part of our Saturday off to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather here. Since our rain yesterday it has been fairly cool and breezy. Though this weather in enjoyable, the missions center is powered by solar panels so we really need the sun to come out nice and strong to produce power for us.

As far as I can tell, most of the team took the afternoon to nap or relax which was very much needed. I personally took a long nap and awoke to find most of the team working with Matt to put the finishing touches on the communication tower and get it ready to be hoisted into its final vertical position. It turns out that most of the group had been helping for a good part of the afternoon to get the tower ready and I felt bad for sleeping during that time.



Once I was awake again I jumped right in to help get the support cables to the right length. After about 20 more minutes of prep the tower was ready to be lifted using the hoist on Matt’s ATV (the Rhino). After placing everyone at strategic (and safe) points to guide wires, Matt began to pull on the tower with the hoist and it slowly began to rise. This was a very special event to be a part of. As the tower slowly rose and eventually reached the vertical position the support wires were tightened and the tower was up.



It felt like this was our 4th of July fireworks a little early.

God has truly blessed us in our first week here in Mahadaga with safety, great experiences and the opportunity to do the work He has for us. We are constantly seeing His hand everywhere around us and appreciate your prayers and support. Some items that you can pray for in the upcoming days include:

1. Safety for Randy and Angela as they are traveling. Randy will be leaving us on Monday to return to Ouagadougou to do further work there and Angela will be traveling from France to Ouagadougou and eventually to Mahadaga over the course of next week.

2. Continued health and safety for the team. Everyone is dong great and is in good spirits and we know that is from God. We pray that as the days and weeks go on this continues and our team stays fun and lively.

3. Continued progress with our projects. Each team has made significant strides in moving forward with their work, overcoming minor delays or obstacles here and there. As we continue to move forward we pray that God would help things to go smoothly and help us to know how to overcome obstacles.

Thank you so much for your prayer and support. Your prayers are being heard and God is blessing us more than we can imagine.

Mike

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