Day five... Blocks Blocks and more Blocks

Progress IS being made!

The footings are in, and the blocks are being laid to prepare for the pouring of the floor....The floor will hopefully be poured on Monday or Tuesday next week.. then.. the walls! Below is a picture sent of one of this years 'newbies'... great look Al (or this John?)!!! .... Tell me.. are the showers really cold?

If you are viewing the blog and would like to add a comment to encourage the team, please feel free to do so! They too are checking the blog... and would be thrilled to hear from you... our extended team!

The end of Day 4 ...

Another update from St. Vincent... prayers are being answered... and the work has finally found it's "footings" (building related pun sadly intended)....

From Shirley:

"Yesterday, the Lumber and plywood...all 27,000 pounds of it was moved from the shipping container to the storage container....back breaking work, lots of tired men with sore backs and muscles


·         Footings were poured  (hooray!)


At the Camp, I unpacked the food boxes, and bedding boxes and started the huge job of putting everything in order and trying to find a sensible place to stash it. The problem of not much food (before Container clearance) has now become...where to store a 4 week supplies of basic staples for 44 hungry people. Fortunately the kitchen, dining, chapel area (all connected)is pretty spacious.


Nellie and Juanita went grocery shopping yesterday, and it took 4 hours... We enjoyed a delicious supper of potato wedges, tossed salad and 'mission pie'....the usual mix of instant mashed potatoes, onion, mashed corned beef and canned corn. It really was tasty!


The kitchen is very well lit, clean and bright. The frig is pretty small, and very old...not much storage space there, but there is a large, efficient chest freezer, where we store our sandwiches so they can eat safely at the work site.. (No complaints YET of sandwich popsicles. It is warm enough for them to thaw by lunch time...)
I haven't heard about how it is working but the Seniors centre next to the work site is giving us the use of their toilet facilities (hooray again!)...since the building site is a vacant lot.


We have a washing machine installed now at the Camp (one that was donated to the Salvation Army) and the wash loads of dirty work clothes have begun. It is a lot better than doing it by hand in a tiny sink. And I am glad that this is something that I can do.


This afternoon at 4:00 PM there will be the official 'Ground Breaking Ceremony'...and I think that we ladies will attend. Should be interesting as I am sure some government officials will be there, since they donated the land. The newspapers carried news about 17 Canadians coming to build the Children's Home."

Back to Laurie...

Apparently there is a hilarious video of the men trying to cut lumber with a locally purchased hand saw... that only cut backwards ?!? We will HAVE to figure out how to add it to the blog at a future date! Bandwidth limitations may sadly limit this until we are all home.

That's all for tonights update. Hope to share more news and stories soon...

Settling in... and reminders to PRAY !!!

But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.  Acts 12:5 (NLT)

The GOOD news.. the team is coming together and no one is in jail! New friendships are being formed, and old ones renewed.

The BAD news... There were challenges in planning the mission, and most were resolved with lots of prayerful support... That..and a bit of tenacity from our fearless leaders... But in these early days of the mission, a few urgent issues needing prayerful support to make sure we can keep the project on a timeline that will enable completion are:

• THE CONTAINER - Despite all the plans, clearances provided in advance, the container has still not been released as they are insisting on even MORE paperwork. This has resulted in NOT having access to our building materials, tools, food and other supplies desperately needed to keeping on our greatly restricted timeline. Pray for a quick resolution so our time lines slip no further!
• THE BANK - Oddly the bank has been less than supportive with exchanging our money!?! Perhaps they have never met crazy Canadians with dreams of accomplishing projects that would normally take a year. Whatever the reason... their partnership is essential with enabling us to access the currency to purchase local materials and supplies. Pray for a change of attitude and willingness to work together!
• THE WATER SUPPLY - not the greatest of our worries, but due to the challenges above, our water supply didn't make it to camp. Boiling water is an alternative, but is a considerable inconvenience. Pray for the teams health until this is resolved!

A short excerpt from  "Outlive your life" by Max Lucado:

The church still faces her Goliaths. World hunger. Clergy scandal. Stingy Christians. Corrupt officials. Pea-brained and hard hearted dictators. Peter in prison is just the first of a long list of challenges too big for the church.

So our Jerusalem ancestors left us a strategy. When the problem is bigger than we are - we pray! "But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him" (Acts 12:5 NLT).

They didn't picket the prison, petition the government, protest the arrest or prepare for Peter's funeral. They prayed. They prayed as if prayer was their only hope, for indeed it was. They prayed "very earnestly for him." (pg 156-157)

Knowing this, WE WILL have better news and more pictures to post soon! ... just pray :-)

We're Here...Week one begins!

The team of 14 men and 3 (brave) women have arrived safely and problem free! Sorry I forgot to take a picture at the airport, but hopefully they will be able to send a few photos by email and we will using this blog to keep our friends and family updated from the projects start to completion. Beyond the work, we hope there will be a few stories to share along the way... of joys and accomplishments, as well as some of the trials and tirbulations.

On this day of rest, the team had a rare opportunity for a swim within walking distance of our camp 'home'. Of course we know that this opportunity will be one of few the team will see for the next month... so it was appreciated all that more! Surprisingly (?) an ice cream truck also found the team... let's hope they see the potential profit in visiting us regularly :-)

The weather has been varied... so far it looks like there is no snow in the forecast, however they have experienced rain, and with that a bountiful harvest of mosquitos! Let's pray that the rain is cooperative with all the cement work involved with this project.

Tomorrow the work begins! Pray for safety, strength, and patience as we undertake:

• receiving delivery of our container shipped in December and praying that the government may reconsider a surprise tax imposed on its`contents - even after a waiver was received well in advance!
• unpacking and storing the contents of the container
• setting up the kitchen to keep everyone healthy and full of energy
• re-establishing the business contacts set up last fall that we are dependent upon for timely delivery of our materials.
• confirming safe transportation for our daily needs
• finishing clearing of the land and building the footings leading to the laying of the foundation

Finally, thanks to all who support us and our families at home.... you too are remembered daily as equal members of the team.  We know that without your support, this project would not be possible. We hope you follow these updates and share in our accomplishments and challenges.

St.. Vincent Mission - February 2012

This coming February 2012, at the request of the Caribbean Salvation Army Headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, the St. Vincent government and the Salvation Army in St. Vincent, a group of approximately 40 volunteers from The Salvation Army in Canada will travel there to construct a 2400 square foot home for children in Buccament. A local architect, is preparing the plans for the St. Vincent government approval, and we will be purchasing building materials and food for our team in St. Vincent, renting accommodation and transportation as well as hiring some local construction workers to assist us in the building.

This project is entirely funded by the team members, who pay all expenses of the mission. Needless to say, this is a sacrificial offering, and one that involves a lot of hard work, but brings much satisfaction to know that vulnerable children will be given a good home.

19 Days and Counting

Time is flying by and in 19 days our first group of volunteers will be leaving to literally lay the foundations for our project this year.

Check back here as we will attempt to update the site regularly with updates on the project.

Another Year, Another Mission - St. Vincent 2012

Our planned mission destination for 2012 is St. Vincent in the Grenadine island chain. The project will be to build a Children's Home. Due to the size of the project, we anticipate that this will be a 4 week project, with shorter options available for those that cannot commit to the entire 4 week period.

The information meeting will be held Saturday October 22, 2011 at the Salvation Army, North York Temple (25 Centre Ave, North York, ON). Please come to learn about the work we have been asked to do, have any of your questions answered, and meet many of the team members. If you cannot physically attend, we are working out the details so that you can attend via Skype. Please let us know if you are interested in this option.

As we will need to have applications submitted ASAP for planning purposes, if you can't make the meeting, but are interested, please let us know by email and we will send you as much information as possible by reply.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Laurie