Newsletter, October 14, 2011
Hello to friends of LATI
So sorry it's nearly two months since the last newsletter went out. We've all been busy, and no time to sit down and think about it. But I'll try to remember what's been going on, so that you can enjoy our progress too.
There was quite a bit of preparation leading up to the tiling and block-laying courses held here end of Aug. Our office floor is now nicely tiled. Soon we'll have doors on the office, then we can move in!
The shower/toilet block for the boys is almost completed. Last time I wrote we were getting ready to put the roof on. Well the payment I received for writing the training workbooks for sewing machine maintenance and making a garment were sufficient to pay for the roof. The tiling class did some of the tiling, and our boys have been finishing it off - just a little more plumbing to be completed and they will be in use.
The staff house just down below our house now has flooring joists in place and one wall ready to raise. I can hear the boys tapping away down there as I write.
My new office boy is doing really well - he's thriving on keeping the cash book, his adding skills have improved out of sight, and yesterday he balanced the spreadsheet first go! He is taking more and more responsibilities with furniture orders, hardware supplies, payment of bills, photocopying and so on. Next thing, once we move into the office proper, is to train him to use a computer and print off all the paperwork that goes with a school.
We had a hiccup with the new tractor - the starter motor wouldn't work when it was to be loaded on the ship, so it missed a couple of sailings, but is scheduled to leave Baltimore in USA next Friday. We have quite an accumulation of goods to add with the tractor to a container in Brisbane, including a gift of multiple copies of the very book we are wanting for each student - an amazing answer to prayer. A technical school in Toowoomba was upgrading their textbooks and delivered the old ones to someone who knows about our school - God's Providence to be sure.
The ship that Alastair was working on with his boys is now complete and plying the waters carrying copra. The owner was pleased with the result and has now decided to fit a new shaft from engine to propeller, which Alastair will help him with. I think there may be some pics on the website.
We've had a few loads of earth fill delivered in order to build up a roadway onto the property - it gives the young men something to do in their spare time, getting it levelled out.
One big piece of news is that we now have the generator wired up, and five 3-phase heavy duty machines also wired. All of them were functioning at once one afternoon this week, and this will make a big difference with production of furniture and building materials. The smaller machines have been such a blessing all this time, while waiting to bring the big machines from Aore. Our son Ross was here for a week, so he and Alastair and some boys went across to Aore and loaded the machines onto the Aore barge, and we hired a crane and truck to pick them up from the wharf here and load them into the workshop. Whew! So we are most grateful that Ross has followed some of his father's footsteps at least, and can turn his hand to anything. We were sorry to let him go!
We are keen to build a slipway on a very nice piece of land about 8 or 10 kilometres from here. The land is ideal - plenty of space and a beautiful outlook across the water to three other islands. That may have to wait until we have funds, so in the meantime we want to begin building small fishing boats next year on the campus here. We want to put up a shed to accommodate the boat building, and hopefully some space for drying timber. One has to plan ahead to keep enough materials on hand.
So we press on, glad to see the young men developing. Three students were baptised two weeks ago - a series of Bible studies was publicly aired in the park in town and these young fellows decided to make their commitment to the Lord.
Ross took a few pictures while here and they will possibly appear on our website soon.
We are grateful to the Lord for a work to do and for the provision that He makes for us to do it.
God bless you all,
Alastair and Jill
Newsletter, September 15, 2011
It is all happening. If it’s not the boat it is the bathroom, or tiling the office floor, or installing a skylight. Not to mention a most welcome donation in the form of a bandsaw. Now, for a craftsman like Alastair that is the equivalent of a pay-rise.
From top, L-R: Fitting new legs to repair a chair. Tiling under way in the shower and toilet block. Newly tiled office floor. The newly donated bandsaw. Skylight for maternity ward of Santo's hospital. Skylight in the cavity- a hot job on a sunny day. Finished product - maternity ward 'enlightened'
Newsletter, September 10, 2011
Just a quick update on the boat-building project. The Vadkoro is sitting pretty in the water after drilling the stern post and installing the drive shaft and propellor. The drilling equipment might be basic, but in the right hands it did a brilliant job. Look forward to a progress report in the future.
Newsletter, August 16, 2011
Hello to all,
As of today, we have sufficient funds to pay the freight on the tractor. It has ended up being closer to $10,000 but because it is coming in a container via Brisbane, we are able to add some implements which have been accessed and refurbished by a kind friend, and possibly some lockers so that each student has a safe place for his own things, plus a motor bike donated for use by the ag teacher. So we are very grateful to the Lord for impressing those of you who have given for the tractor freight fund. I will notify the shipper tomorrow and once it leaves the US of A, it should take 35 days to Brisbane and another week or so to get here, depending on coordination of shipping.
The office girl I was training has decided to continue with her book selling, and as well she teaches English for our boys on two days a week. Since we really need a full time office person, we think we have found the ideal person in Ken. He started his second year of furniture making this year but during mid-year break he seemed more inclined to return to his home on Tanna as he wasn't so keen to do furniture. He had been helping to run a small village store in Tanna and had decided that business was what he was really interested in. So we put the proposition to him to be our office boy and he liked the idea. He's able to hop on a bike and go for supplies from the hardware, check the mail, deliver letters to Customs and so on. Today I had him adding up the cash sheet - he'll need to practice his addition skills, but seems interested in everything I've given him to do so far. When there's not so much to do, he has a project in the workshop. Alastair told him that as soon as we can make the doors to close the office, then we can set up the office in its proper place (downstairs from our little apartment), so he's accepted the challenge of making the front doors for the building. He is also going to design some furniture for the office and maybe even make it - so he may yet become a competent furniture maker without realising it. He'll be able to order supplies with savvy, having been in the workshop already.
The new shower/toilet block is nearly up to the roof - I think the boys were filling the walls with cement today. We'll get a roof on it shortly and then we have a very nice bit of help coming - AusAid has little buckets of money to offer for this and that - some of them are for training people in short courses for tiling, block laying, sewing, etc. We've been asked to be the venue for a two week tiling course and another (at the same time) for block laying. They will donate the materials needed, so that means our toilet/shower block will be nicely tiled free of charge to us. We'll also get to lay a path from the dorm to the classroom, and the blockwork for the retaining wall for it will be provided free, and the trainees who enrol in the course will lay the blocks.
I've been asked to run a sewing course for a couple of weeks. I've just a little more work to do on the workbook for sewing a garment. The first workbook on sewing machines has been received well and I just have to edit it end of this week. So that little project has brought in some much needed cash to help with expenses.
We have missed out on quite a bit of furniture making through lack of timber, but hopefully the nice stack we have will soon be dry enough to start working with. It seems like the big cry here is for furniture and sewing machines. In fact the sewing machines have kept us afloat to some extent.
Our second semester began a week ago with five students. Now there are ten back. Of the fourteen still to come, some have had deaths in the family, others have been waiting to sell copra or to find a ship coming this way. This is how it was last year too - they eventually arrive, even if it's a couple of weeks late.
We've had a pleasant winter so far - except for a morning or two when the temperature was down to a chilly 18 degrees celsius, our usual temps have been around 24 - 30 (min-max).
We have built a spare room upstairs so that this house can double as a transit for any who need somewhere to stay. We've had a number of friends come already. In actual fact, I have two saw horses with the bedroom door laid flat on top of them, for a table/shelf for food. So the visitors get to sleep either on the fold-down lounge/bed or in a single bed that Alastair knocked up in a very short time.
We had visitors last Sabbath - a couple of young families who had been north to help Dr Mark Turnbull with preparing airstrips. The children (five ranging from 4years to 10) were all eager to help get lunch ready and they referred to my 'kitchen' as naturally as if it really was the kitchen - there was food there, even if it was removed from the source of water in the bathroom. They didn't even wonder about washing the tomatoes in the laundry tub. Actually I know why - they had been roughing it up north so enjoyed the luxury of a toilet that flushes - even if it has a sheet hanging at the doorway, and water in the house. We enjoyed their company and stories and they were most appreciative of our humble fare.
Alastair has been working on a ship on the Aore slipway, so he's away during the week but is home for Sabbath and goes again on Sunday - this week it was 10am Sunday. He mostly gets to eat manioc and island cabbage for his lunch, with cucumbers - and while I avoid feeding him all three when I can find other things he enjoys instead, he is grateful to have his meal provided at lunch time, and I sent some banana cake and more date rolls with him to fill out the rest of the day's meals.
If you're feeling disappointed about missing out on helping with the tractor freight, please be joyful instead. There are plenty of other things that would be useful here. Hymnbooks would be great but a bit expensive for some of the boys to afford. Another thing we hope to provide for each student is a $35 book on Woodworking which is very all -inclusive, comprehensive - ideal for them to keep and make use of both in school and when they leave.
I have a word of pity for many of you right here - I understand bananas are expensive and not so very tasty. Today I was given a small carton of ripening bananas - they were so nice that I made a meal of them for lunch and tea - saved me cooking anything. Any who would like to visit out here, you can be pretty sure there will be ripe bananas to eat and as already mentioned we now have space for visitors to sleep.
Oh yes, tonight I felt the first earthquake since moving upstairs - it was just a couple of strong jolts with lesser waves of rattles and rumbles to follow - the house felt pretty sturdy, though I could see the walls moving and could hear the rumble of the movement. It happened about 7.45 pm local time.
Don't forget to check out our website for a few new pics. (Follow this link)
Pray for us - our staff, our students - we are all in need of the grace of Christ that we might do and say and think as we should.
God bless and keep you each and every one.
Alastair and Jill