5,500 BRICKS FOR THE LOG CHURCH

 

I am not certain of the current number of orphans that are in the Log Church of Kenya orphanage. In the last list that I had of the names, there are 21 total, but a couple or perhaps a few more have been added since then. The children are split almost evenly between girls and boys.

In one of my blog posts that I wrote when I made a trip to visit the church and orphanage, I spoke of the sleeping room that the girl orphans had. This was (and still is) a small room in the pastor’s family already small house. It is a mud house, made in waddle and daub construction. The girls have a room that is about 10 feet by 12 feet (as near as I could estimate), leaving the pastor’s family of four a private room of only about 10 by 8.

When I asked Joel the greatest need that they had beyond food and clothing for the orphans, he said that the girls needed an adequate sleeping place of their own. As it is now, they have one bunk bed, onto which as many crowd to sleep as will fit, and the rest sleep on a cloth spread over a dirt floor.

Actually, when God unexpectedly supplied some funding for the orphanage, a need that the people considered even greater than a sleeping room became evident at that time. That need was being able to send the orphans to school. That is where the money went. We are very thankful that the children are now in school, at least of the present. When the next payments are due, we will trust the Lord for that time.

But then another gift came to us, and we decided to begin planning a sleeping room for the girls. The cost of a mud building with a tin roof, four windows and a door ended up being about $1600. This would be very adequate for a time, but the fact is that mud houses do not last long. The climate there is not arid, and despite continual maintenance, these types of buildings are not expected to last many years.

Pastor Joel and the other pastors want to build so that the construction will last for many years—“Even after we are dead,” as Joel put it.

So we have decided to begin plans for a brick building. This is the common construction of the area since wood is rather scarce. The estimates that we have received to make a brick building is close to $15,000. It is almost ten times the cost.

It is a work of faith for all of us. I told Joel that I am not actively trying to raise support for the church and orphanage, and that I myself have given all that I can until I butcher my three steers next fall. I also am assuming that part of the money I get for the meat that I sell I will use to again make a trip there.

I have told them that there are no monthly pledges and I am not trying to convince anyone to do this. We must depend only upon the blessings of God, and if we become lazy in our work, certainly the blessing of God will also cease. I believe that they understand all of this.

Nevertheless, with the money that we were given, the men purchased 5,500 bricks. It is the first step. 

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If you have been reading my blog posts, you know that in my sermons in the Log Church (this one in Wisconsin), I have currently been doing a series of studies on the life of Moses and the day-by-day existence of the Israelites in the wilderness.

This study has been very instructive for me as I try to avoid some of the attitudes that the people of that day demonstrated. However, for this next Sunday, I am preparing a message on a life of one of the men of that time who has much to teach us. It is great to have a positive example in the midst of all that negativity.

And at the Log Church of Kisii, Kenya, we seek to move ahead in faith.