Building Team Advances The New Fence at Camp & Accomplishes Many Maintenance Tasks.

Thank you folks from West Hampden Baptist Church for eight days of hard work!!  Some invested in getting the team here and some came!  Fourteen in all, seven teenage girls, two men, one couple and three ladies arrived on April 16th. to spend ten days in Chivilcoy working at camp.  While the teen girls and ladies worked on many maintenance projects (pictures to follow later), the men worked on setting 200 lb. concrete steel reinforced posts for the future fence.  Of the 170 posts to be set on the southwest line, 66 were concreted into the ground.

On Tuesday, May 11 a second team arrives from Clinton Baptist Church to continue setting posts.  Lord willing we'll set all 104 that remain.

How about a typical day on the fence line?

Loading 200 lb. fence posts onto the trailer.

Heading out the front gate and up the road to the work site.

Day #1 - trying to get a system.  Praise the Lord for a local friend who came out with his post hole digger and dug the 170 holes as a donation to the camp.  Even though most of the holes needs some kind of adjustment it beats digging them all out by hand.

Posts were set in brick rubble and cement.  Praise the Lord for tools that make progress faster and easier!

Slave driver (left) seen with whip.  Was he about to use it to get one more load of cement rolling?  Two of the eight days involved headlights in order to accomplish the days objective!

Each post was installed with pride and precision.

Before work could even begin, two days were spent cleaning the fence line of brush and black acacia trees with big thorns.  I think one of the men even had an encounter with an ugly spider!

We're deeply grateful for this investment of time, know-how, ingenuity, energy and finance.  Looks great!

Phase I Of The Main Building Over 75% Completed!  How about a virtual tour?!!

Looking from the dining hall at the kitchen entrance and food serving window.

Looking at the kitchen from the dining hall door toward the kitchen's exterior door.

Looking from the kitchen into the dry storage area.

Dry storage area

Exterior kitchen door (right), exterior entrance to dry storage area (left)

Janitor's closet off dining hall.

Multi-use storage area off dining hall.

Above & Below:  one of two cooks quarters (bathroom and bedroom)

Above/below:  service area - access to kitchen, dry storage & cook's quarters.

The front of the main building.  The far right takes in the kitchen, the left some of the dining hall.

Work on main Building Advances

In March work began in earnest to enclose the main building at camp.  The 65 x 115' structure has over 22,000 bricks, over 1,000 feet of bond beam and over 300 feet of columns.  The dining hall will have the capacity to serve 300 people sitting down and the industrial kitchen will be equipped with commercial ovens, stoves and walk-cooler.

Our goal for finishing the building is January of 2011.  As work progresses the goal seems more and more possible!

Many do not realize the terrific amount of detail work involved in masonry, especially when nearly every brick laid must follow the same lines and levels!  Mario, the man above at the bottom left side of the picture.  He owns the company that is doing the masonry.  Pray for his salvation and that of his workers.

Above and below, the divisions of the kitchen end of the building appear.

The above picture shows the kitchen area looking out through the serving window into the dining hall.  Below shows the exterior entrance into the dry storage area.

Join us in praying for God's supply to continue closing in this building, which is our third and largest so far.  By God's grace, and through His provision, we're praying there will be no pause in the work until the building is finished.  


Praise the Lord for building teams coming in April, May and October to donate time and talent toward this project!  

Many Hands Make Light Work

December through February brought some record breaking rains to central Argentina.  Though it has brought growth to our trees we've never before seen, it also keeps our 25 acre lawn reaching for the sun!!  We cannot  adequately express our gratitude for the long hours Martin and Sandra have spent on the riding mower, tractor and bush hog and using the gas powered weed eater.  Debbie and I usually do a lion's share of this work.  Martin and Sandra live on location, and Martin works full time at a nearby restaurant.  Our goal is for them to work as full time director of property maintenance.  Please join us in praying for funds to pay their salary.

 A time of R & R follows an afternoon sanding and staining the entry gates into camp!  

Tables for the Dining Hall Arrive!

In July of last year, while on furlough, we were invited to be the missionaries of the week at a vacation Bible School held at Merrimack Valley Baptist Church in New Hampshire.  During that week around four hundred boys and girls were exposed to the gospel.  We had the privilege of challenging them with missions.  Each day the children brought pennies and participated in a competition to see who could bring the most (boys or girls), with the goal of helping the camp purchase tables for the dining hall.  By the end of the week the children had brought $3,500.00 in offerings!  Recently, after much searching, 38 tables were purchased for the dining hall. The 38 tables will seat a total of 304 people!  The tables are presently wrapped and in storage until the camp is inaugurated.  Thanks boys and girls at Merrimack Valley!

Fall & Winter Advances (below the equator!!)

Teens and adults from Buenos Aires and Chivilcoy churches gathed on Monday, July 27th. for a day of work, fellowship and worship.

Above: teens work hard tieing steel for concrete fence posts presently being built.

Below: others work to spread a fine layer of dross gravel over the coarse graveled parking area at the kitchen end of the main building.

Above: Poplar trees are extracted from our "tree farm" for transplanting.

Below: holes are dug and trees planted on the front fence line. Some trees needed replacing and a second line was formed.

Below: Martin Gorosito prepares a delicious asado for the group!

Above & below: the asado is enjoyed in the warmth of the maintenance building!

Below: a time of fellowship

A Welcome Donation!!

A beautiful willow tree was donated by a couple from the Chivilcoy church. What a blessing to have the old backhoe to avoid heavy lifting!

If this tree makes it through the first couple of summers (with lots of water and ant protection) it will soon be a great source of much needed shade.

Below: The limbs of the tree were planted up back on the "tree farm".

Fence Posts Under Construction

Lord willing around 25oo feet of 8 foot fence will go up on the south and west sides of the property. The west side separates us from the train tracks and the south side from neighbors who have nearly destroyed the old farm fence, cutting it to let their sheep in.

Concrete posts and storm fencing provide for an attractive barrier.

Never Underestimate the Importance of a Juicey Asado!!! Did you know that the average Argentine consumes around 150 lbs. of beef a year compared to Americans who consume around 90? Having a covered grilling area is an important part of a camp operation in Argentina.

The umbrella style grilling area will have 8 square yards of grill, sufficient for 300 people to eat simulteaneously. The grills will be raised under the roof providing a work area out of the elements.

Work on the Main Building Progresses

Though much work is almost unnoticeable, the structure ends are reinforced with additional steel columns and beams to give support for brick walls. All foundations are complete (below) for raising walls.

Below: recently the main entrance was errected on the front of the building, which will provide two sets of double doors for entry into the main room.

Please continue to pray for God's provision for completing the main building! We're excited about what God is doing and anticipate with excitement the advancement of the project at camp. Recently the children of Vacation Bible School at Merrimack Valley Baptist Church of Nashua, New Hampshire gave over $3,500.00 for the purchase of tables for our maine building!!!!

If you would like to be involved in any way in the camp project, please contact me through the GMSA (gmsausa@gmsa.org).