Praise God! Yeabo!

Yeabo! The first of the two pit latrines is almost finished and the second isn't far behind. They will be ready to paint when our team from Louisiana arrives on May 22nd. But the best part was the two plus hour meeting John, Bethuel and I had with the Schools inspector. He approved of the toilets, made a few suggestions and thought John is doing a great job. We then staked out where the next four classroom block will go, praying the funding will come to make this happen next year. We wanted to stake this building out so we can start planting some trees, including fruit trees and we didn't want them to be in the way of future buildings. (Imagine, we're actually planning things! What a concept!) And then we walked down to where the teacher's house is going to be built. In faith, after prayer and discussions with John and Bethuel and using what I know and have learned since being in Swaziland, I told them we will build the foundation to accommodate two teacher's houses, however, I will only build one house. (The plans are for what we would call a duplex and it is typical here to build only one house at a time depending on funds.) Building the foundation for both houses will make it easier for them to build the second house sometime down the road and the house will be better because of the solid foundation. I didn't realize that we will need a septic tank for the house, but the inspector told us the measurements and requirements for piping and we talked about the best plan for longevity. The exchange of ideas is so exciting - almost as exciting as seeing the stake go into the ground of where the corner of the first teacher's house will be. Part of the team coming on May 22nd is going to help dig the foundation.

I ask for prayers of thanksgiving that such good progress is being made and even in our timeline! Second I ask for prayers for safe travels of the team when they leave the States next week to travel to Swaziland and while they are here. They return to the States on May 31st. And third, I ask for prayers that the funding will come to complete this teacher's house this year and then more funds will come to build the four-classroom building next year so that this very poor but beautiful community will have the minimum requirements for a complete primary school for grades one through seven.