You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Ustedes son la sal de la tierra. Pero si la sal se vuelve insípida, ¿cómo recobrará su sabor? Ya no sirve para nada, sino para que la gente la deseche y la pisotee. Ustedes son la luz del mundo. Una ciudad en lo alto de una colina no puede esconderse. Ni se enciende una lámpara para cubrirla con un cajón. Por el contrario, se pone en la repisa para que alumbre a todos los que están en la casa. Hagan brillar su luz delante de todos, para que ellos puedan ver las buenas obras de ustedes y alaben al Padre que está en el cielo.
Friday February 16th, the team officially checked in for duty - ready for a good week of honest work! Just a short bus ride from our hotel in town, the Caribbean Dream, along a variety of roads up a long hill lies the home for the new church in Bluefields. From the street a narrow path leads us to the site... one would never know this church was there as about 1/4 mile down, the road heads downward... I did mention that this church is being built on a hill... and quite a hill it is! Rigo says the church will get its name from the congregation... it will not be known necessarily as the Conservative Baptist Church of Bluefields. For those of us who worked on the Llanos and Altos de Santa Maria sites just outside of Guatemala City, you might remember that Llanos was called Oasis de Alabanza, or Oasis of Praise... I imagine that the congregation of this community of believers will come up with something appropriate!
We arrived just in time for lunch and we spent a bit of time scoping out the lay of the land. Tucked underneath the racks for rebar, plumbing and lumber were hammocks - this is where the men stayed every night -they along with the women who cooked for us every day! We were humbled by their accommodations while they served us! 
The amount of time and effort it took to prepare meals for our team and other workers which totaled close to 60 at one time is staggering. I will be forever humbled by the gift of service rendered by "las hermanas de lac cocina", led by Claudia Reyes, Rigo's wife! We also want to thank Marta, Marta's mother Yolanda and also Carla... we ate like kings all week and we deeply appreciated it! As soon as we were served breakfast, they diligently cleaned up and began preparations for the lunch. Same thing for dinner for those left at the work site.
Claudia and her sisters in Christ (hermanas en Cristo) also were introduced to a sewing ministry opportunity by a team led by Rusty Turrell. The women found time and space to begin their projects - we brought "kits" for pillows and bags for the women to make... eventually, they will teach pastor's wives to make to sell to support their ministries... awesome stuff!
We quickly found out that Rigo's vision of the church was a grand one. This photo shows Rigo at the beginning of the week praying and pondering over this work site. The building will house Pastor William alongside the sanctuary which is followed by another section that can be multi purpose - classrooms or maybe an area for home industry commerce to support the ministry of the church. Rigo says that the largest church so far in Chinandega only receives $ 50.00 per month - hardly enough to keep the electricity going, let alone a pastor, so any alternative means to create some positive cash flow is going to be encouraged.
In order to make cement and wash dishes, you need water - which comes from a manual well which is about 1/4 mile away from the site. Not sure of the exact amount used, but it was in the 1,000's of gallons... hoisted from earthen wells by the bucket full and transported in either 5 gallon jugs and 2 gallon buckets. You could see any combination of adults and kids and little children fetching water during most of the day... when the call for "¡mas agua!" came, we responded!
The housing conditions around the well we used humbled me tremendously... the space that large family would live in was so far removed from the comfort where I am typing this blog. This was a typical home near the well site... it was hard to tell, but it seemed like at least 4 children lived there... dirt floors and hammocks for beds. I cannot imagine what this must be like in the rainy season - which begins in late April.
Right next to the well was a thatched roof hut that was use to wash laundry - this was better than the conditions far below the work site, where women washed clothes on rocks next to a small water hole fed by a spring. 
A real marvel started to emerge right there in the trenches... the engineering necessary for constructing such a building on such a site. Many thanks to Dave Leahy and Jim Odell (aka "Pinky" and "The Brain") for their experience, insights and abilities to translate Rigo's vision into reality. To the left are the "blueprints" for the building... the rest remained safe and intact in Dave & Jim's minds! The sanctuary will hold 200 people in a stadium seating set up - fully utilizing the natural slope of the land to create a wonderful place to worship God! The Nicarguan believers however showed us that the church is much more than the building, didn't they? That story will remain with us forever!
The many work site tasks... 
Excavating a 12' deep x 13' wide septic system cauldron hole - all by hand in thick red Nicaraguan clay - quite a feat for the first part of the week. 
The process of digging trenches and column footers was another mammoth undertaking - good thing we had many strong folks to handle this as the site got a nickname "Blue Rocks" because of the abundance of boulders just below the surface! When a pick axe handle would break... just a short trot to a nearby tree with a machete would solve the dilemma... however, after going through 4-5 saplings, the new handles were made of steel pipe welded to the pick axe! Not sure if it was a Binford, but it along with youthful muscle proved to be a worthy opponent to the Bluefields terrain!
The building was very large - 125' x 45' with two "super columns, made of 6 rods of 1/2" rebar in the middle that would hold a 55' welded steel truss that will eventually hold the roof of the sanctuary. The truss was totally fabricated on site by hermanos David and Lester... and painted by many but the most famous group was "Equipo Verde"... buen trabjao on that project! 
Rebar had to be formed and tied into columns and supports - aside from the super columns, there were three sizes of these - Mike Najjar, our fearless leader on site finally admitted that there was no end to how many columns and supports we needed - his last request was, "make them until you leave - you will not make too many!"
Laying block was a daily routine for many Nicaraguan brothers... these men worked all day long for meals and the equivalent of $ 10.00 per day... humbling isn't it? Real progress was noted by the amount of new walls going up - new walls meant many loads of cement... the cry for "la mezcla es listo" meant "mas baldes"... meaning more buckets! The only way to efficiently transport cement around the site was to respond to call for "bucket brigade!" and leave what you were doing to assist in this effort... sometimes the distance required to transport the cement used just about everyone on the site... including kids to transport the empties to keep things moving. It was quite a sight to see! There still remains a crew of Nicaraguans that are working towards completion of Pastor William's home so there is a safe, rain-proof dwelling for him... praise God!
One burning questions was floating around the site from the beginning.... "How will we install this truss that hermanos David and Lester are welding? Many theories were discussed during breaks and back at the hotel... but the real answer emerged the last day... down the hill came a crane that saved the day - the best investment we could have made... special thanks for Eric Wilson for being the driving force - as we watched the truss being laid into position, we all realized this was too large a task for our team... thank God no one was hurt in the process!
When the truss was secured, we sat on the hillside and worshipped our Lord and Savior with our brothers and sisters in Christ - Aleleuia! ¡Él Señor es digno de nuestra alabanza!
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