One week away from leaving Koutiala

Our days our winding down here in Koutiala. We are leaving for the States the beginning of May for 3 months. We will be spending time in Berne and Springfield for the most part. Some of our time will be trying to raise the remainder of our support for the next two years. We need about $25,000 to finish our first 4 years. Please pray with us for this money.

We opened the first building of the Three building complex this month. This is a picture of the first day opened this wing of the hospital. For the most part, it was a smooth transition from the other Pediatric building. We also opened up for Pediatrics now that the Women's building are now open. Things are moving at break neck speed for here in Africa.

At Bethel, We are trying to convert some of the old buildings that are not used into chicken houses for egg production (this is the second picture). We are hoping to teach some of the pastors and national missionaries to raise chicken for eggs in a larger style of operation so they can eat good, clean, and nutritious eggs. The diet of most of the people here is terrible. They do not get the protein and minerals that they need for good health and eggs would help in this area. It would also allow them to sell these egg for a profit to help give them income to live and survive as a pastor or missionary. Pray with us that we would be able to teach and build what can be used and reproduced here in Mali.

Thanks to everyone that is supporting us in prayer and also financially. We couldn't be out here without you.

Southgate Team and Footers on Third Building

Well, the Southgate Church team has been here and gone with tons a work accomplished. God, in his infinite wisdom, allowed the pipes to start leaking in the original OR (operating room) just a couple of days before the Southgate team got here, so our plans for the team got changed. Since we had a couple of plumbers on the team, we decided that we would take the time necessary to repipe the entire half of the building. This was not the first time that the original piping sprung a leak. The Joe Faust and Jim Yowler did the repipe in just one week. Now we have plumbing in that building that will last a long time since we install pex piping from the States instead of the "made in China" stuff that we get here in Koutiala. After that project, Joe and Jim installed plumbing in the second building. Jon Johnson and Rick Chamento installed four A/C's in just a few days and then Rick helped Anco with the fiber optic network in the first building. The remainder of the crew, Matt, Dan, Brent, and Chris, worked on installing tile in the second building and taught a couple of Malians, Agib and Joseph, how to tile. Now that the team is gone, Agib and Joseph have installed wall tile on three of the bathrooms in the second building. The Southgate team was a huge help to us here and a great encouragement. It was fun having friends from our home church in the state help us here at the hospital.
The footers and columns are going up in the third building now. It is exciting to watch all the Malian guys accomplish all that they do each week. It is moving rapidly. They really enjoy working in the shade of the roof for the third building since we started with the roof structure. We are now officially in hot season and I am sweating buckets just typing this post. The Malians do a lot better at handling the heat than I do!
It is only one month until we come back to the States for three months. Please pray that we will get accomplished what God wants before we leave. We are looking forward to coming home and spending some time with our family and friends. We love you all.