Memoirs of an Ex-Ex-Pat

Its been about two weeks since I returned from Adak. I was able to address Cornerstone the First Sunday that I was in New Jersey to update you all personally on the progress of the project. If you were not around to see it (and we can discuss your shameful hooky playing habits at another time), or would simply like to see it for yourselves, you can see the pictures here.
Once again, I want to thank you all for letting me be a part of this Advent Conspiracy Project. I have gotten to see, first hand, where you prayer and support is going. And believe me, so much is being accomplished in Uganda as a result of your generosity and obedience to God. When my time there ended, the trusses had been completely assembled and painstakingly put into place. All the materials for the roof had been delivered and were ready to be put up. Construction for the water tower was underway and our water tank had been delivered. A rig was hired under contract to find clean water no matter how long it took them, which means that a steady supply of clean water for the community was well on the way.
Despite Jeff Gunther, the next project manager, not arriving till January, the daily responsibilities of the position are being split between Robert Gracious and Jeremy Mathews. Robert is a Ugandan who has been living in Gulu and recently moved on site to work more closely with the raising of the Medical Center. Jeremy is a Touch The World staff member who has moved out to Uganda with his wife, Jyoti, while Jesse is back in the states to celebrate his new baby. I could not be happier to see Jeremy and Robert take over the project and I have every bit of confidence in their abilities. Either way, they could use your prayers as they continue to further the project.

The Final Push in Adak before my leg of the Journey Ends

It is very exciting up in Adak as two very monumental events are taking place simultaneously. Primarily, the walls have finally reached the point that we can begin positioning the trusses we have been building on the ground in preparation for our roofing which should arrive in a few days. To do so, we have had to resort to Egyptian tactics. After one miserable failure, we angled some logs from the ground up to the ring beam and lay some more along the top of our walls to form a primitive track. with roped tied to each end of the truss and an army of Ugandans, we lifted each up onto the walls and then slid them into their final homes. The first two took us the better part of a day, but upon figuring out our system, we were able to do the next eight or so in about as much time. The Medical Center is certainly taking shape and I, for one, am very excited to have a front row seat. Secondly, despite our best efforts to employ local workers to dig down through the rock level so that we could continue drilling the well by hand, water was simply pouring in to quickly for them to accomplish much work. So, the decision was made to bring in a rig and finish the job mechanically. Within the week, we should have a well dug to full depth and shortly there after, specialists will be able to install our new solar purification system.

I am truly blessed to be able to witness these as I will be leaving Uganda in only one short week and had the timing been any different, I may have missed them both. In short, they have ensured my remaining time at the site will be both incredibly busy and incredibly fruitful. Luckily, the work force should be completely rested and ready for an insane week as Uganda has just celebrated their Independence Day. And for Uganda, that usually entails a day off of work and a rooster slaughter for good measure. And while working on the site alone, it occurred to me that the better part of the world (including us) probably celebrates their independence from England. And Im sure it cant feel to good for the English that every country takes a day off of work to celebrate their absence. So in that light, despite it having nothing to do with the advent Conspiracy Blog, I propose you all hug the next Brit you see. They probably need it.

Moses installing one of our trusses

Sliding the next truss into place

The View from our Front Desk

The arduous journey of every truss from their place of birth to their final place of rest.

Adak is Bursting with Truss Excitement

This week, we are purchasing our massive lumber order for the roof system and we are bursting with excitement as our architect and engineer back home have given us some excellent news regarding the construction of our trusses which means the roof will go up a lot faster and easier than previously expected. I will put pictures up of that as soon as we begin.

When it comes to our well, we are still fighting through the layer of rock twenty feet down. We are holding off on bringing in a rig because if we can get it done by hand, we will have a lot of extra money that we can put towards other aspects of the project, and as there is no immediate rush on getting the well done, there is no harm in trying to get it done the old fashion way first.

And news has reached me that we potentially have another of cornerstone's own coming out to replace me as Project Manager soon. So please pray for for the details of that to be properly ironed out so that the project can continue smoothly once I am back state-side.

Front room with Intake desk on the right

Our Pharmacy counter

We Finally got to drop Miguel in a dark Hole somewhere!

The Cornerstone Six have arrived in full have been promptly put to work all over the compound! Most notably, they have continued digging our well so we can bust through the layer of quartz twenty feet below our feet. We have a twenty fut hole at the bottom of which is a few feet of constantly replenishing water and solid rock with a massive tripod and pulley system above it hauling water and earth out of the depths. It truly resembles an archeological dig out of Indiana Jones. Though Im not there to witness it, Miguel should be being lowered into said hole to do his share of the digging as I type.

On the medical center side of things, we are up to about seven feet on all walls and are a few courses of brick away from pouring our ring beams and then getting the roof going giving us at least a loosely defined building. Add some curtains and a doctor and we have got ourselves a medical center!

We had another worker come to the lord and he attended church with the team for the first time this past Sunday and he most certainly got his fill of scripture as we heard THREE consecutive sermons! Buckle up!

As for the rest of the team, Mark has been invaluable as he has been fixing every door on the compound because the list of doors that actually open and close is rapidly decreasing every day. we determined a cornucopia or reasons why...some of which including all the doors are not square (some not even rectangles) and the hanging was atrocious. Steve, Miguel, Mary-Lou, Janelle, and Danielle have been sieving sand like machines (and none of us have yet to agree on the actual pronunciation of that word), digging out the well, and generally recovering from any number of ailments that have struck in force but, to the best of my knowledge should strike the body with a vengeance but then promptly leave it. We shall see. Barring a well shaft cave-in or violent mutation of a virus they should all be safe in NJ within a week!

Anticipation Mounts in Adak

The word has spread in Adak that we will be soon visited by a team from Cornerstone and we are all very excited for our guests to arrive! So please keep these six in your prayers as they fly out on the 22nd and prepare to arrive in Adak on the 25th.
Around Adak, all projects have been making progress. Our diggers have made it down 20 feet and begun pounding through the rock that has halted every other well drilling effort we have made thus far. So with any luck, the people of Adak will soon have access to clean water.
The medical center is flying up, with almost all exterior walls reaching ten bricks high, and half of the interior walls matching that. The biggest concern now is preparing to get adequate lumber to make the trusses for the roof. Apparently it is next to impossible to get lumber over four meters long and we have been dead-ended every time we explore new options. But thanks to a creative architect and a determined engineer, I have no doubt any problems will soon be solved.
I am sorry to say, I am without photographs as I am in town to pick up an order of metal, but I will be certain to well document the site for the next blog. Thank you to everyone who has had us in their prayers. Despite many opportunities for problems, it seems God has kept things running relatively smoothly (which, in my experience, is counter to his personality...reference - The Old Testament)

An Unexpected Visitor

Construction is going very well as we continue to build op the walls of the Health Center. For the past several days, We have had the help of another team lead my Jesse Kroeze's Father, Jack which made a lot of our projects much easier. One of those projects included once again attempting to drill a well on property. Even after the efforts of a professional driller, we were unable to penetrate the rock layer about twenty feet down, so the newest plan is to have local diggers dig down to the rock, break through it, and then use our equipment to drill further. In just about two days, these two guys have dug down around 10 feet! Hopefully we will finally have a clean water source dug within a week or so. My project of late has been adding a ceiling in one of our huts which has proven most complicated as none of the 2x4s are of uniform length or width and all to often resemble the waves of the ocean. So that has been more of an undertaking than it really should have been...but that seems to be the theme of construction work in Africa so I can hardly say Im surprised.

As for the namesake of this post, I was thoroughly surprised to find a Cobra making its way around our huts in the middle of the day. Only after someone almost stepped directly on him, were we able to catch him and deal with him accordingly. Needless to say, we all began carefully taking note of each one of our steps from that day on.

You have to admire our fabulous scaffolding system

These guys are digging MACHINES!

A Fond Farewell

Though it pains me greatly to say it, Jordan will be departing Uganda this weekend and returning to all you lovely folks. So prepare for a mentally exhausted, likely unshaven, man using a ridiculous African accent in desperate need of a cheeseburger and ice cream. Please oblige him. He will be missed.
On the upside, the medical center is coming along beautifully despite the the complications that a week of rain brings to the work site. Last Sunday we prayed for rain, and Im beginning to think either to many of us prayed or we have a direct line to God's to-do list because the rain has been relentless. But in the face of adversity, the walls have been going up at a pretty good pace, and the medical center has really started taking shape. As i have forgotten the camera, I have no pretty pictures for show and tell today, but i will make up for that two fold in the next post. And despite the fact that our doors have not yet opened (or been installed for that matter) we have begun seeing patients from time to time. Mostly minor cuts but with a few burns to keep us on our toes. Thank you all for your support! Its so exciting to see Cornerstone and Touch The World coming together to make such a big difference here and I consider myself lucky to see it come together first hand.

1 week left

So as Adam is taking over the day to day responsibilities my job is becoming less exhaustive allowing me to enjoy life in Adak a bit more than I ever anticipated.
I only have 7 more days left in Adak then I will begin my return home. I'll set out for Kampala and spent the last 4 days there.
Adak's people have really captured my heart. The village itself doesn't have much to offer. Just a few shops selling things they bought in town, a bike repair man that visits twice a week, and the occasional dance party that tries to be a modern disco.
But the people have so much more to give. To see them hold on to Gods promises after nearly 3 decades of war goes beyond heart warming. To see them work hard to rebuild their community brick by brick, to see the houses that have been rebuilt and the land getting farmed again paints a great picture of restoration, which is what God was after all along anyways.
Our life belongs to God and hope is rising as His Glory floods our heart. Through faith based missions Love has torn down the walls so that northern Uganda can turn away from witchcraft and return to God. Praise be to God.

The Much Anticipate TTW Team Arrival!

With the exception of a very stubborn stomach bug that has seemingly just been circulating between the three full time Adak residents, things have been going marvelously. We have begun the pour on the second half of the building and done the lay out for the upper part with hopes of starting the walls within the next few days. And that is remarkably good news as we are stockpiling outrageous amounts of brick piles everywhere you look. We are flirting with about 16000 bricks floating around property right now. And when you factor in how little light there is at night and the fact that we wear sandals everywhere, that adds up to a LOT of stubbed toes.
The TTW GUTS team arrived this last Saturday and in addition to "weeding" out rice field (which to several of out team members meant walking down the line of planted rice and yanking them all up much to the dismay of the Ugandan who generally tends our fields). But that incident aside, they have been remarkably helpful in transporting bricks to where we needed them and even try their hand at the brick making machine 113 bricks and only a few small injuries to show for it! And on a random note, you would be surprised at how horrified one will get when you tell them that the sauce added to the beans that they are currently eating is actually made my crushing the cockroaches that are so plentiful. I have never seen a girls eyes wider with a shaking spoon frozen half in her mouth.

Our welder at his "workstation". Though, to his credit, he is rocketing through window and door frames.

Our little goat and cat recruited for the purpose of hunting and destroying mice though all tests up to date have yielded miserable results.
Our cook hard at work preparing beans and rice...every day.

Life in the Hut Penthouse

Hello everyone, Things are going marvelously here in Adak! We are currently pouring the floor for the medical center which is making this strategically piled dirt look more and more like a substantial building! And while our engineer focuses on that, Jordan and I have been doing a lot of work on the huts. I am very proud to say we have installed complete interior lighting in one of the huts and the best part is that it is entirely solar powered. Thank you sun. We have also become fairly talented at creating bamboo and bark contraptions. So far we have a functional ladder and some very classy clothing racks.
On the agricultural side of things going on here, one of our goats has had a baby and another is within a week of cranking another one out. Not to mention the outrageous amounts of eggs our chickens are shooting out. Its impressive that they can take grubs and seed and turn that into succulent eggs and delicious chicken. Nature is fantastic!
The TTW team will be joining us tomorrow for several days, so we have been eagerly anticipating there company and the goodies that they will bring (solar panels)! So we will put them to work on brick making and whatnot as we are starting on the walls of the clinic tomorrow and will need all the bricks we can get a hold of.
Finally, a kitten was found on property that we named Kwatc (cwotch) which means leopard and we have been slowly training him to combat our rat problem which has thus far been a losing battle. Im hoping that within a few months, Kwatc may be able to turn the tides in our favor. And while on the subject of adorable baby animals, we just got a pup from town that will serve as a guard dog once he gets big and strong. right now he is not quite intimidating enough to put in charge of guarding something. Its a never ending cycle but all entirely in the name of ministry with no ulterior motivation whatsoever...really.