30.8.07
Construction update and prayer requests
Latest construction efforts have centered around the installation of ceramic tile in the Birthing and Dormitory blocks. Also, it has been a major challenge to plan for plumbing and electrical installation. Right now the biggies are finding out how to construct small boilers for hot-water radiators and floor heat and how to build solar panels. It just plain costs too much to buy these made or to import them. Just ask the Lord to send the right people our way.
It is close to the end of dry season and Amachuma is a desert. We are buying water by the barrel from a tank truck. The well has water but the windmill isn´t quite fixed yet. Two guys are working hard on that today.
It was a blessing to have Gina and Allena visit. From sorting and labeling all the boxes of medical equipment we have, to singing with their beautiful voices for a dying patient in her home ---it was great to have them!!!
Pray for our president here and all the unrest in Bolivia. Specifically pray that a civil war can be avoided.
Many have asked how Mary is doing. PTL she is much better! She is driving again and back to work in Ohio.
Thanks to you who are part of this whole project thru your contributions and prayers. I´ve got to get home to pay my workers. Love, Judy
It is close to the end of dry season and Amachuma is a desert. We are buying water by the barrel from a tank truck. The well has water but the windmill isn´t quite fixed yet. Two guys are working hard on that today.
It was a blessing to have Gina and Allena visit. From sorting and labeling all the boxes of medical equipment we have, to singing with their beautiful voices for a dying patient in her home ---it was great to have them!!!
Pray for our president here and all the unrest in Bolivia. Specifically pray that a civil war can be avoided.
Many have asked how Mary is doing. PTL she is much better! She is driving again and back to work in Ohio.
Thanks to you who are part of this whole project thru your contributions and prayers. I´ve got to get home to pay my workers. Love, Judy
Picture titles
I don´t know how to put titles on the pics yet so I´d best just tell you what they are about. One is my newest grandbaby, two are of a heavy snowfall in Amachuma, one is of Gina Hearst (she and her sister Allena came to visit and help for three weeks) and Chispa having a "heart to heart" while she helps plant a rose garden, and one is Mother´s day which I had the privilege of spending with my daughter Mary in the US.
Dear blog friends,
I´m ashamed to even write after so long. For what it is worth, I have tried many times. Maybe today is the magic try. I have to drive into the city and find an Internet cafe where there is a "system" up and running. It is usually a 3 or 4 hour process and that kind of time is hard to come by these days.
It is winter-time in the Andes and it has been a strange Winter. We have had heavy snows (5O Cm once) and then whole weeks where it has been cold (teens and twentys at night and up to forty in the day) but no wind. Not only is no wind unusual, July was my first month on only the turbine. With a turbine, no wind means no electric!! We have a four-battery storage system (200 amps) and that runs out quickly. As soon as we can find the sulfuric acid (hard to come by because it is an ingredient in the process of making cocaine) to fill them, we will add four more that will bring the amperage up to 1000 or more so we should be able to go longer without wind. It is a wonderful system as long as it keeps whirling! All the construction workers have learned to keep their eyes on the turbine up on the hill. If it is whirling, they can plug the cement-mixer, the ceramic cutters, the drills, etc. into that system. If the blades are still, out comes the generator. Pray for us to use this wonderful gift correctly! Judy
I´m ashamed to even write after so long. For what it is worth, I have tried many times. Maybe today is the magic try. I have to drive into the city and find an Internet cafe where there is a "system" up and running. It is usually a 3 or 4 hour process and that kind of time is hard to come by these days.
It is winter-time in the Andes and it has been a strange Winter. We have had heavy snows (5O Cm once) and then whole weeks where it has been cold (teens and twentys at night and up to forty in the day) but no wind. Not only is no wind unusual, July was my first month on only the turbine. With a turbine, no wind means no electric!! We have a four-battery storage system (200 amps) and that runs out quickly. As soon as we can find the sulfuric acid (hard to come by because it is an ingredient in the process of making cocaine) to fill them, we will add four more that will bring the amperage up to 1000 or more so we should be able to go longer without wind. It is a wonderful system as long as it keeps whirling! All the construction workers have learned to keep their eyes on the turbine up on the hill. If it is whirling, they can plug the cement-mixer, the ceramic cutters, the drills, etc. into that system. If the blades are still, out comes the generator. Pray for us to use this wonderful gift correctly! Judy
13.6.07
Bethel Hospital Update
Hi everyone! So good to get your comments. Wish I had better access to this Blog myself. A couple of updates and prayer requests on the hospital construction. First, the Gatti Turbine is up and running, providing me with electricity. I am learning how to walk into the power house and push the right buttons without being afraid.
However, wouldn´t you know, even in the dead of Winter we are haveing the best weather I have ever seen in Amachuma. It is calm, sunny, and around 50 degrees all day every day for the past 2 weeks. At night it goes below freezing but it is still calm as can be and God´s star display is absolutely incredible!!! The drawback to all this is that a Wind Turbine can´t run without wind. So, I am back to candles and not even being able to recharge my cell phone. One of these days we will be back to normal and I will miss the perfect weather.
When I paid my ten workers the end of May, they all told me they wanted to stay and have a meeting with me. They wanted to take off two weeks but to be paid for them, to be paid for all holidays, to have me provide them with insurrance and Bolivian social security benifits. In today´s political atmosphere here, I can´t ignore such requests. So, I have spent hours with our lawyer and the Asociacion Bethel Amachuma board here. I´m not sure of the outcome, but we will have to become much more organized and it will cost plenty. The lawyer assures me it is better to "be prepared" ahead of time and not risk problems with labor disputes.
So, let´s pray together for
1. ´The Turbine . We need to arrange the battery bank in such a way that more power will be available.
2. Our labor hassles. We need wisdom to meet the demands of Bolivian labor laws and still be just and bring honor and glory to God in the process. Pray for us to also find the right workers for new finish work that needs to be done now.
3. The 15 to 20 Amachuma girls that come to a Wednesday night Bible Study are coming for an overnight next week. Just remember us!!!
Goodbye for now. Thanks for your prayers and gifts. God bless you. Judy
However, wouldn´t you know, even in the dead of Winter we are haveing the best weather I have ever seen in Amachuma. It is calm, sunny, and around 50 degrees all day every day for the past 2 weeks. At night it goes below freezing but it is still calm as can be and God´s star display is absolutely incredible!!! The drawback to all this is that a Wind Turbine can´t run without wind. So, I am back to candles and not even being able to recharge my cell phone. One of these days we will be back to normal and I will miss the perfect weather.
When I paid my ten workers the end of May, they all told me they wanted to stay and have a meeting with me. They wanted to take off two weeks but to be paid for them, to be paid for all holidays, to have me provide them with insurrance and Bolivian social security benifits. In today´s political atmosphere here, I can´t ignore such requests. So, I have spent hours with our lawyer and the Asociacion Bethel Amachuma board here. I´m not sure of the outcome, but we will have to become much more organized and it will cost plenty. The lawyer assures me it is better to "be prepared" ahead of time and not risk problems with labor disputes.
So, let´s pray together for
1. ´The Turbine . We need to arrange the battery bank in such a way that more power will be available.
2. Our labor hassles. We need wisdom to meet the demands of Bolivian labor laws and still be just and bring honor and glory to God in the process. Pray for us to also find the right workers for new finish work that needs to be done now.
3. The 15 to 20 Amachuma girls that come to a Wednesday night Bible Study are coming for an overnight next week. Just remember us!!!
Goodbye for now. Thanks for your prayers and gifts. God bless you. Judy
11.5.07
HIS battle for us!
Dear friends! I have kept you waiting for evidence that this Blog has life. So much has been happening in real life that I haven't even had internet access to update this.
I had six hectic (as normal!) weeks in the US. After one week back in Amachuma, I had to make an emergercy trip back to the US for an illness in the family. It's so good to see my girls and grandbabies so any opportunity for that is welcomed. Tomorrow I turn 60 and all this traveling will take a while to recover from. When I get back to Amachuma (should be May 16), I'll have to update you on the hospital construction. II Chronicles 20 has been a good scripture to review and has been God's voice to me in this time. I once wrote a hymn based on that Bible incident - lets see if I can remember at least one verse to share with you. (goes with the music of "The Son of God goes forth to War").
When faced with overwhelming odds,
and fearing sure defeat;
We must in our alarm resolve,
God's guidance to entreat.
Refrain: "Oh God, our God, we have no strength!"
our cry for help must be. "We know not what we ought to do.
We lift our eyes to Thee".
Stay in touch! Love, Judy
I had six hectic (as normal!) weeks in the US. After one week back in Amachuma, I had to make an emergercy trip back to the US for an illness in the family. It's so good to see my girls and grandbabies so any opportunity for that is welcomed. Tomorrow I turn 60 and all this traveling will take a while to recover from. When I get back to Amachuma (should be May 16), I'll have to update you on the hospital construction. II Chronicles 20 has been a good scripture to review and has been God's voice to me in this time. I once wrote a hymn based on that Bible incident - lets see if I can remember at least one verse to share with you. (goes with the music of "The Son of God goes forth to War").
When faced with overwhelming odds,
and fearing sure defeat;
We must in our alarm resolve,
God's guidance to entreat.
Refrain: "Oh God, our God, we have no strength!"
our cry for help must be. "We know not what we ought to do.
We lift our eyes to Thee".
Stay in touch! Love, Judy
12.4.07
WELCOME!!! To our BLOG!
This is a brand new way we will try to keep you updated on the latest with the construction of Bethel Hospital (Hospital Bethel in Spanish).
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