After seeing Ron off at the airport early, we arrived on site at 8:30 and found that Pastor Edmond's crew had already removed the forms from the three middle columns they poured after we left yesterday, and were starting in on the forms for the bridge itself. It was interesting watching their process for doing this, with all used wood and small tree trunks, much as they do in Mexico. After they got the support beams up, they planked it with 3/4 inch plywood and odd pieces of planking, then started in on the rebar. In addition to the standard 1/2 inch rebar, Pastor Edmond insisted on 6 5/8 inch diameter pieces at the most critical places on the bridge, where the truck wheels would pass. We were very happy to see how the rebar from all 9 posts was bent over and tied in to the horizontal bars. At the same time as all of this, a separate crew was dry mixing the concrete in an area right next to the bridge, where the entrance "ramp" will be. They worked for hours bringing all of the gravel and sand over in wheel barrows and mixing it, then adding cement to it ready to pour water on and mix. About 4, before the main crew was even done with the rebar, they started mixing the concrete. Two and sometimes three guys were almost knee deep in this enormous pile of wet concrete mixing it for over 30 minutes until a bucket brigade was formed and they started pouring at about 4:30. From then until we left it was a constant process of mixing, carrying, pouring and leveling. Quite a sight!
They were constantly yelling at and joking with each other, and it took me a while to realize that they were actually having a theological discussion at the top of their voices! One poor guy, who was kind of slow in speech but strong as an ox and constantly working the hardest physical jobs, they had nicknamed the "zombie," and they were constantly calling out to him "zombie do this," or "zombie do that," but he did not seem to mind, and even liked the attention!
We had to say sayonara to our Japanese SDF friends today. We didn't get the fill dirt we jokingly asked for, but their two trips down to clear out the ravine answered a lot of prayers and really sparked the entire week's work. God surely planned this meeting of the Japanese, and the "blancs" from the US and Pastor Edmond and his people, even though we had no inkling of it, just fervent prayers for guidance doing His will. Glory be to Him!
"What does it mean to glorify God?...It means to acknowledge His glory, and to value it above all things, and to make it known." - John Piper
No comments:
Post a Comment