Walls and other Blessings.

Last weekend we had to quickly run to Fortaleza for an emergency doctor's visit with Julie which ended in more joy than grief. It was worth leaving the construction site for four days to deal with her cyst which was causing here much pain and to find out that our pregnancy suspicions were correct and the baby is doing well at 8 weeks. We needed to stay for follow-up visits to the doctor and the house work in Croatá continued without us. This is a scary thing if you know anything about construction in the Brazilian interior. But when we arrived there was very little that needed to be changed due to minor measurement errors and the walls of the house had increased greatly. The men made the changes in one day and continued to go up with more walls of brick and mortar. Now we have another reason to get our new house completed and it was good to go to Fortaleza and get some more supplies.

As I have said in past writing, materials are generally more expensive here and labor is generally cheaper than in the US. One exception to this rule is granite and marble. It is in a surplus here and as far as materials go I would consider it "cheap." I had an estimate done on 2 bathroom sink counters, 2 bathroom shower divider walls (2m x 1m), one large kitchen countertop, 12 window sills, and 2 floor thoroughfares. The total ended up being R$2300. In the States this would probably be 5 times this amount. An added blessing to this cost is the recent increased value of the US dollar. The dollar has been falling since the day we stepped foot on Brazilian soil but the past two weeks have taken a turn for the positive. We were receiving 1.50 reais for every US dollar we spent. The dollar closed at 1.88 on Saturday against the Brazilian Real. This is the highest rate that we have seen in over two years. It still has much to recover to reach the 2.43 rate when we arrived here in Brazil, but it is a great blessing none the less. This will positively help offset some of the hyper-inflation that we are experiencing here.

It is just one more proof that the Lord is taking care of us and He can provide even when other things are failing. He is to be praised for all of our recent encouragements: the new house construction, Julie's pregnancy, and the value of the dollar increasing. Please thank Him with us for the blessings He uses to encourage our work here in Brazil. I will end this blog with a list of the blessings that we have to look forward to in this new house:

--It has a ceiling so...

No sand, leaves, or bugs falling into our house.

During the day the house will stay cooler (We don't use an air conditioner.)

Mosquitos cannot enter through roof tiles.

During the rainy season our sheets, furniture, & electronics will not get damp from droplets.

In the future we can build a second floor if we want.

The night sounds are blocked out easier.

It is more secure from theft than only having removable tiles.

--This house is an investment because...

We were paying rent but now we can be paying against what we own and improvements go toward our investment and not someone else's.

Our town is growing fast and will probably grow faster when the new highway is completed

Investing in the US is not "currently" as secure as in Brazil.

We also will have a carport to protect our vehicle from the sun.

--We have a more suitable place for ministry because...

The floor plan was made with areas to meet.

This house will be easier to keep cleaner and better for inviting people over (especially with the kitchen joined with the living room and an extra bathroom)

We are planning for an area to play basketball and have a soccer goal.

I am going to put a sink and toilet in the garage for the kids from kids club to use (They won't dirty the house or find things in the house that they would like to borrow indefinitely.)

--We have a more suitable living situation for our family.

We actually have some storage areas and closets (our current house has none)

Julie and I have our own bathroom/shower.

I will have a carport where I can repair the many things that break (like the car)

The kitchen we currently have is very hot, little, and very ugly.

--Other blessing are...

People see us more dedicated and have already shown more acceptance.

We now have another group of neighbors to get to know and tell about Christ.

We are directly behind the hospital which provides some emergency care if needed.

We have a place to keep the dogs outside when visitors come.

Everything will be new and clean.

I am going to work on getting hot water for the showers.

The Laundry room is separate from the kitchen.

Our front wall with be open so others can see inside instead of totally closed like our current wall/gate.

I am adding many places to hang a hammock for rest and visitors.

Plans for construction

Prayer requests for this construction project:

*Safety for the men working
*A good witness with all the workers

*Money Transfers go well (I remove the money from ATMs a little at a time but often the ATMs are broken or out of cash.)

*That the men will do quality & honest work

*That it will be done by Christmas (Our personal desire)

*That the money will hold out- the US $ does not drop and that I find good prices on materials

The land we purchased was already walled off and with a small garage. It was being used to plant corn but it was mostly covered with burrs when I cleaned out the brush. It has homes on both sides and we are building the house in the middle of the property to give us meeting areas in the front and a place for our two dogs in the back. The dogs will be able to walk all the way around the house at night for security.

We believe that this house will be a great help with our ministry here. Its location is not downtown but it is physically located in the middle of the city behind the only hospital. We have already met some of our new neighbors and we are closer to many of the kids that we already work with. We were able to choose the layout of this house to suit our family

and the ministry we are involved in. The structure is concrete reinforced walls so we can even build another level if needed to have a larger area for church services. Our present house doesn’t have a ceiling and the yard is nothing but sand so cleaning is a nightmare and the bugs have free reign. With a ceiling and window screens on the new house we will be able to keep the mosquitos and dust to a minimum.

Another addition to the new house is closet space. Most homes interior is like the one we are renting where they do not have any closet space or storage. Cloths are kept in furniture pieces like dressers and large armoires but most people don’t have anything extra to store. We are currently using Michaela’s room for storage space because we have no extra room, closets, basement, attic, or garage. (She was excited to find out that she will have her own room.) We plan on using the covered outside space for kids club while it lasts. We would like to convert our Kid’s Club into a Sunday school program early next year so we should also have plenty of meeting areas to split it into groups.

The completion date for the house is the end of November but most things here tend to run way behind schedule. I am praying to move in before the New Year for an early Christmas Present but I will not hold my breath. -Todd

Building a House. What! Why? How?

In the US, building a house seems like such a fun thing to do if you have the funds. Building a house here in Brazil was not even on our blueprints a year ago. Material, methods, and terms are very different especially to someone who has only lived here for about 2 ½ years.

But after visiting a good percentage of the homes here in Croatá, we have decided that finding a decent house at a decent price is not at all easy either. You see, there are not any real-estate agencies, classified ads, internet sites, or apartment search magazines even for a town that is the county seat. It is a rare occurrence for there to be a sign on a house available for purchase and if you find the words “For Sale” painted on the front wall, it is likely that it is from years past and never removed. The only way to find a house for sale is word-of-mouth and, although this was very fun, we still could not find anything more than two bedrooms at a reasonable price. In fact, when many people found out that the (assumedly “rich”) Americans were looking for a house they were willing to sell their small houses to us at large prices. As we looked at the amount of money we could get through a loan, we realized that we could build a house for a better price than purchasing a used home and then we could make it how and almost anywhere we want. Also, our current rental house needs some serious upgrading and we didn’t want to put more money into it and lose the investment. Unlike the current U.S. housing situation, real estate here is a very good investment and our small town is growing rapidly so we decided to take the plunge.

The Lord blessed us with a piece of land from the town dentist and one of our new Brazilian friends was able to make a deal for us to keep the price low. Then I drew plans on my computer using Google Sketch-Up for a couple of homes and talked to a bricklayer in town. After much documentation and red tape we started to build two weeks ago on August 29th. One of the most difficult hurdles of this process is trying to find out what is the end cost of the project. With the fluctuating US dollar value and high fees on transferring large sums of money internationally it is hard to know how much money I have to start with because my loan is from the US. After estimating how much I have to spend, I needed to estimate the cost of materials in parts: foundation, walls, roof, and fixtures. Even though my brick layer has a team to do the labor and a place to purchase materials, prices interior are top dollar and it is worth the 9hr round trip to Fortaleza to purchase windows, doors, fixtures, and smaller items for plumbing and electrical. Praise the Lord I have a truck to carry the materials!

Our current feelings on building are much excitement mixed with fear. I visit the site multiple times a day and sometimes spend all day with the workers. (I even have done some of my Bible studies at the existing garage at the property.) So far they have been very trustworthy and they have been doing a good job. Sometimes measurements are not exactly accurate I constantly need to make sure things are going according to the plans. But we feel blessed to have the opportunity to meet more people and build a house that will give us the opportunity to serve the Lord and the community of Croatá better. The project is scheduled to be completed in 3-4 months and we are praying that we can be in the house by Christmas. The Lord is worthy to be praised for His faithfulness to us and we now have a daily reminder of His provision. Thank you for your prayers. --Todd