Thursday Evening - Indo Time....

Hi all,

So sorry not to get to this yesterday. We had our second day in a row focused on digging holes, pouring cement, organizing our equipment to be installed and trying to stay hydrated! We did get the holes for the main part of the Playground System finished - 3'' - 4''footings poured in some 25 holes that were dug about 23 - 25" deep - we were blessed to have 4 of Aceh's finest working tirelessly with us!! We hope that we will be able to post some pictures tonight that will give you an idea of what we are up to.... I think Dudley mentioned it is HOT!!!

We celebrated last night by going out to the local Pizza Hut - amazing - the nicest PH that I have ever experienced!!

Today - Thursday - our day started with some GREAT concern. As Dudley and the A Team (Acehanese Helpers) were getting the first posts ready to assemble, I was going thru the boxes of nuts and bolts - each box has ALOT of plastic bags filled with daunting assortments of the steel objects.... and each with a 6 digit # that corresponded to the part of the Playground that was to be assembled - this is all convieniently described in the 70 page Manual that I am happy to put away at the end of the day! Anyway, before we got too far along, it seemed evident that we were missing ALOT of the necesary nuts and bolts. Dudley and Vaughn went back to the Mayor's storage area to look around (they did find some PG parts that had been overlooked by the Officials that transported the equipment to the site - but did not find any more N&B's that we needed. I had organized what we had by the time they returned. We decided to see what we could get assembled and then do an inventory of what was left and see if GameTime could ship them over - we were not happy campers!

As the day progressed, we experienced several learning curves - we got the hang of assembling the parts in a specific order and accomplished much more in the afternoon than we had before lunch - our prayers and hopes were that we would get the superstructure up before finding we did not have the necesary N&Bs to finish at least this part. What we learned was that the Manufacturer plays mind games with first-time Installers (at least that is what we believe tonight). It seems they pack large bags of a wide assortment of N&B's that one does not need all at once. But you get the opportunity to go thru the bag to find the 6 or 8 items you need. The good news in this exercise is that I became much more comfortable with where to find certain N&B's for various Playground Parts. I imagine I will be pretty good at it by the time we are done....

While I played with the small stuff, Dudley worked with the A Team in bolting alot of stuff together! We all worked together in the afternoon when I finally got my act together. The good news is that the superstructure is up - there is much to attach to it in the next few days - and we have alot of N&B's left! Praise God!! Vaughn and I were talking at a break in the afternoon and reflecting on the course of the day. He said that he and Dudley had prayed that if we did not find the N&B's that we needed, that God would multipy what we had. I must admit, that prayer had been on my mind as well! Regardless, we know that God blessed us with another wonderful day!

We hope that we can get some of the pictures posted. They should give you an idea of the past 4 days here in Banda! Our new friends - the A Team - are great guys. They are such hard workers and always smiling and laughing. Today they pretty much wanted to take over the construction. Quick learners and willing to do more than we expect - what a blessing! The last picture is of our first 2 children that came by late in the afternoon. We tried to bribe them to not play on the equipment yet - with a couple Tootsie Roll Pops we brought on the trip. We'll see....

Please keep praying for us - that our relationships with the guys we are with will continue to deepen - that we will remain safe and healthy - and that God will continue to show us where to look for the N&B's. Thanks for your interest in this incredible project!