Thursday, August 9, 2018

Treehouse !!!





Hi everyone!  As you know, i’m not the best with updates, but everyone who prays, sends a message,
or helps out with donations is close to our hearts.  You are not forgotten!. I’m a little sick today
with a head cold and EVERYONE is gone out of the house (crazy) so i decided to stop putting off the
inevitable and post an update.  


Since the cyclone, I think we went into a survival mode for awhile, especially Chris.  Seemed like one
thing after another for awhile. We had a family member visit which is always extra special for us
(hint hint family members), and the beginning of the building of our new house on the eastern side of
the island.  I’ve been hands off with the building of this house and staying in our current house
homeschooling the 13 year old boy. The tree house has been coming along bit by bit as we have the
funds for each step. We are soooo thankful the New Zealand power upgrade project was a village
before ours when we started looking into electricity hookup.  The timing was perfect! Thank you GOD!
They’ve put in power poles down the driveway to our land, run wiring, put in a transformer and box all
for FREE! We would not be able to afford any power, including solar, if this did not happen. It’s still
not hooked up yet but we are really close.


We are also happy to have Phil and Kylie Beman and kids here with us for almost a year along with
Ian Wells for 3 months.  It’s great to have a group of people working together on a project and to have
support from friends locally. Seriously, we are so thankful for the people who come along side us in
this! You guys mean so much to us!


Chris generally has around 2 to 6 guys helping on our house.  No one gets paid and yet they all have a
heart to help, it makes my heart happy to see.  It’s quite an impressive structure with the floor about 17
ft. in the air. Chris has been planning and re planning for years on how it will be done, constantly
tweaking this and that as things change.. He’s always balancing dangerously on beams with power
tools and then finding energy to skateboard for a bit at night. Soon we’ll build housing for all the boys
who stay here, they’re all in a tent right now, and rooms for the girls.  And once our house is built, we’ll
begin all the other projects for the land development which include ways of being self sustainable
while having free activities and training for the youth. Really our only deterrent is funding for all these
projects, but, we have seen God answer prayers little by little so we keep pursuing these plans!

We really want to see the kids we love here do well, they are amazing kids and they have grown so much; we really want them to experience the fullness of a life committed to Jesus.  They are our greatest blessing here in Tonga and we are privileged that we get to be apart of their lives.
God has been faithful, even though 6 years of being here seems sooo long for me and we don’t know the next time we will see our families.  I see the bigger picture coming together when I stop fighting and struggling with God and allow him to change what needs to be changed. God is good.

“Never forget what Jesus did for you. Never take lightly what it cost Him. And never assume that if it cost Him His very life, that it won't also cost you yours.” 
― Rich Mullins


“So go out and live real good and I promise you'll get beat up real bad. But, in a little while after you're dead, you'll be rotted away anyway. It's not gonna matter if you have a few scars. It will matter if you didn't live.” 
― Rich Mullins












 
A visit from a Tongan/Australian family who SING beautifully



I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky

Alei and Ariel dressed up for cultural night performances





No comments:

Post a Comment