I went to Lima for 2 weeks in February and while I was gone, one of the other families that lives here at Refugio house-sat for me and took care of my kitty. After I returned I happened to be in conversation with that same family and my house came up because I had just bought a new electrical switch to the entire house cause my old one fried. As we discussed my house, they very gently mentioned that I really need to replace the roof, all the cross-beams, and the ceiling. While house-sitting, they had noticed the termite and ant-eaten cross-beams, the water that comes into the house when it rains, and the termite/ant poop in the form of wood "snow" that is everywhere in my house. I don't know if its true, but they told me the termite and ant poop is bad for respiration. I already had plans at the back of my mind as well to completely replace 2 of my outside walls because, as they say here in Spanish, "they are as thin as crackers."

After this conversation, and talking with other missionary families about my house, I started thinking that it may just be best to rebuild since I do plan on staying here long-term and would prefer not having to continually patch the house. I would destroy the house I'm currently in and rebuild larger on the same location. I received a lot of positive feedback from the other missionaries here and the complete go-ahead from Pastor Victor and Ana here at Refugio. Since I also personally had peace about the idea, I presented it to my parents and my church and they have since all been very supportive of the idea! I'm now super excited about the possibility of not having termite and ant poop falling on my bed in the future, but what a task it is to plan a new house!!

I very quickly created a variety of floor plans in MS Excel and started asking around about a trusted General Contractor cause I don't know the first thing about building a house... The Lord has been awesome and has provided me a contractor that I trust completely, but now is the craziness of trying to figure out what exactly I want in the house and what on earth this will probably end up costing. Thankfully my contractor is very patient with me and is actually right now working on talking with his contacts/workers and figuring out prices of things now that we've decided on some basics. But I need ya'll's prayer for all of this! We need numbers as soon as possible so we can officially announce the project and start fund-raising before I come back to the U.S. for furlough in December! Its a big project, but when God is directing, I know He will provide! So please pray with me and my church as we anticipate organizing this and fund-raising for it!!

#peru #missions #Peru #provision #spanish