The mission work of J. Gary and Lori Ellison
Well, tomorrow is the last day the guys are going to work (and hence myself) until after January 1st. The work is progressing nicely. This photo was taken a couple of days ago and all the rafters and purlings are in. The bonding beam around the verandah will be poured tomorrow. I think the married students better get their names on the waiting list…only three apartments available!
It is always such an encouragement when someone writes and says they are coming to Vanuatu for a holiday and would like to help out on campus for a day! Last week the Gregson family from Australia did just that. They came and joyfully did some very dirty cleanup jobs and maintenance at JBI for us. We enjoyed meeting them and cannot thank them enough for their help when they could have been sightseeing or swimming at the beach! Blessings!
On November 5, 2012, Pastor Peter (‘07 JBI Grad) and David started working with me to make something useful out of a small half-finished room attached to a larger unfinished foundation. This building was started before we came to JBI in 2007 and had never been finished. The original purpose of the building had been debated but one thing was certain, it needed to be finished. The topsoil in the foundation area had even been used for a couple of years as a vegetable garden. I found this photo of Jeremy standing among the cabbages planted in the unfinished foundation in 2008!
One difficulty we have seen over and over again with our married JBI students, is a spouse having to come alone to Port Vila to study. This separation is especially hard on the wife and children left on outer islands having to subsist alone while the husband is away for 9 months at a time. But renting a room in the city or bunking in with relatives is rarely an option for our married students. On campus we provide dorms for both single men and women but no married accommodations.
A special offering of $5000 towards married housing earlier this year caused us to look for a solution and focus again on this unfinished building…the only one on campus. So recently a decision was made to finish this building and make 3 studio apartments for married couples before school starts again in 2013.
So the past month has made an amazing difference in transforming an unfinished foundation into three studio apartments!
We have spent the $5000 gift and now need more funds to finish the rest. The next costly item will be the purchasing of metal roofing. Then we will need money for bathroom fixtures, 3 double beds, tables, chairs and closets for each apartment.
This building is a continuation of Project 5619 construction at Joy Bible Institute. If you would like to make a donation towards this project you may do so here. Thank you so much for your continued support of the school!
Vision for Vanuatu 