Following is an email I sent around yesterday... Looks like I'm going back to Haiti for a month to help rebuild after hurricane Sandy!
***
Greetings to each one in Jesus' name!
The other day (Saturday) I received a request from the mission in Haiti to come down on a small, 3 man rebuild team to help after hurricane Sandy. The departure time? This Friday (the 2nd of November). After talking with Dad and Ryan about it, the whole thing seemed impossible because of our work load. But on Monday Dad asked bro. Elson if he would be able to help in our work load so that I could go. He very graciously said he would, opening the door for me to go help down in Haiti. So, after some more hurried schedule shifts I purchased my tickets last night. I'll be leaving Thursday night from the Omaha airport.
I know this comes as a surprise to many of you and I'm sorry we didn't have time to tell everyone in person- we were not sure about the whole thing and it was looking like I wouldn't be able to go. It wasn't until last evening that everything was actually confirmed. This is the nature of catastrophes- they come suddenly and unexpectedly. Thus, at times, in order to react to them, our schedules sometimes suddenly change!
Please do pray for the Haitians- report has it that the destruction is far more widespread this time, compared to hurricane Isaac. Not only the roads, but houses, schools, crops and lots of property has been destroyed. And it isn't like that JUST in Haiti, either- Jamaica, Cuba, many smaller islands were all swept over and leveled. Pray the Gospel would have free course in this time of need!
I will be in Haiti a full month before coming back- I will be flying back into Omaha on the 4th of December. If you would like detailed flight info, let me know and you can have my itinerary. For those of you who had access to my Nate in Haiti blog, I'll be firing it back up to keep you all informed.
God bless you, dear ones! Thanks for your prayer support!
In Christ's love and hope,
-Nathan
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
A few things amidst a busy week...
We've been burning a large pile of junk recently.
The pile sits inside a large hole we dug :) It's pretty intense :)
We got to work on Thursday and started work on framing up the garage.
By the end of a long work day it was pretty much closed up- tarpaper on the roof, OSB on the walls.
We've had an invasion of mice in our home recently...
We've waged war with them and have already slain 5 with traps...
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Concrete...
This week has gone by like a whirl wind- lots of work going on, physical and spiritual both! Ryan, Josh and I finally got the cement pad poured for the garage we've been working on. Thankfully it was without any serious casualties- save for Ryan's poor finger, which got caught in the metal grinder as he cut rebar... it cut through his glove and, as he looked at it, blood started to dribble out :) He said his stomach began to do some very interesting gymnastics :) He ripped the glove off and there, staring up at him, was a nice, deep gash, pouring forth blood. He came walking up to the trailer (where I was gathering up some tools) and showed it to me. Yes, it was pretty gruesome. We thought it might need stitches, but he insisted that he didn't have time to get it checked out. The cement truck was supposed to arrive in 5 minutes :) He's too much like Dad :)
So, some paper towels, some electrical tape and he was ready to go! The cement truck arrived in due time and we began the process of pouring the slab.
When we neared the end, it was unfortunately realized that we would be short a slight amount of concrete- thus, we simply "borrowed" from other places and made up the difference all across the board. Having finished the screeting we then waited for it to set up enough to use the "power trowel" (a machine which smooths the concrete automatically, instead of kneeling and finishing it all by hand- which is kinda tiring :)
Ry had an estimate to do, so he left Josh and I to finish.
We waited quite a while and decided to try the power trowel. We picked the beast up and settled it down onto the semi-firm concrete's surface- it looked like a large fan, set on its face, with a 9hp gas engine setting on top and long handles protruding out the back. The thing must've weighted 150-200lbs or something like that. It was a beast.
Josh started it up (he has used one before- I have not, so we thought best to have him run it :P ) and turned the blades on- and promptly turned them off; it began to chew and chop its way down into the concrete, instead of gracefully floating on top!!
We looked at each other. This would not work. The 'crete must be too wet still. It was cold and windy, so it probably didn't dry fast enough. Out with the power trowel- humph! Out it came, with a few grunts and a sucking noise as we lifted it up out of the mess it had made.
Josh smoothed out the hole it made and we waited.... and waited.... and waited...
The sun would be going down in about 2 hours and we really didn't want to be doing it in the dark. We tried the power trowel again... unfortunately the same results ensued as before...
Out it came, again. I grabbed the hand trowel and started smoothing a corner. This was more like it- no silly equipment to mess things up- this worked fine for me.
It then dawned upon our tiny brains (and mine a half-brain, at that) that we could just do it by hand. I was more experienced in that method, and really enjoyed it. So, with that settled in our minds, we set to work.
Josh made me some "duck feet" (two 2x6 boards cut at 3 1/2' length, upon which you kneel as you finish the surface) and I got to work. Josh made sure the cement's surface was worked enough and we really went to town.
We finished up in about 45 minutes- maybe not as shiny smooth as the machine would have made it, but it was done- we were very thankful :)
So ended our adventures that day... :)
Today we just kinda did various and sundry things around the house, measured up a roof for an estimate and did some stuff on the computer- and tonight I'm studying for a sermon in the morning.
God bless you all!
-nate
So, some paper towels, some electrical tape and he was ready to go! The cement truck arrived in due time and we began the process of pouring the slab.
When we neared the end, it was unfortunately realized that we would be short a slight amount of concrete- thus, we simply "borrowed" from other places and made up the difference all across the board. Having finished the screeting we then waited for it to set up enough to use the "power trowel" (a machine which smooths the concrete automatically, instead of kneeling and finishing it all by hand- which is kinda tiring :)
Ry had an estimate to do, so he left Josh and I to finish.
We waited quite a while and decided to try the power trowel. We picked the beast up and settled it down onto the semi-firm concrete's surface- it looked like a large fan, set on its face, with a 9hp gas engine setting on top and long handles protruding out the back. The thing must've weighted 150-200lbs or something like that. It was a beast.
Josh started it up (he has used one before- I have not, so we thought best to have him run it :P ) and turned the blades on- and promptly turned them off; it began to chew and chop its way down into the concrete, instead of gracefully floating on top!!
We looked at each other. This would not work. The 'crete must be too wet still. It was cold and windy, so it probably didn't dry fast enough. Out with the power trowel- humph! Out it came, with a few grunts and a sucking noise as we lifted it up out of the mess it had made.
Josh smoothed out the hole it made and we waited.... and waited.... and waited...
The sun would be going down in about 2 hours and we really didn't want to be doing it in the dark. We tried the power trowel again... unfortunately the same results ensued as before...
Out it came, again. I grabbed the hand trowel and started smoothing a corner. This was more like it- no silly equipment to mess things up- this worked fine for me.
It then dawned upon our tiny brains (and mine a half-brain, at that) that we could just do it by hand. I was more experienced in that method, and really enjoyed it. So, with that settled in our minds, we set to work.
Josh made me some "duck feet" (two 2x6 boards cut at 3 1/2' length, upon which you kneel as you finish the surface) and I got to work. Josh made sure the cement's surface was worked enough and we really went to town.
We finished up in about 45 minutes- maybe not as shiny smooth as the machine would have made it, but it was done- we were very thankful :)
So ended our adventures that day... :)
Today we just kinda did various and sundry things around the house, measured up a roof for an estimate and did some stuff on the computer- and tonight I'm studying for a sermon in the morning.
God bless you all!
-nate
Monday, October 15, 2012
Laying block, having fun :)
Today Ry, Josh and myself started laying block on a garage addition we're building. We dug out the foundation and footer the other week, so now we're working on the walls.
Some advertising for our company... not that any of you would need our services... :)
Ryan started the footer digging...
I joined in later on... :)
Digging...
This is called a transit... it beams a lazer around the job, keeping everything on a level line.
After all the real work was done the little guys got to dig around a stump...
With Ryan's help, of course :)
Ry took this shot of me as I laid block for the first time today- it was really fun, and it turned out not to be very difficult at all! :)
We have had Edward Martin's children at our house for a few days, while he and his wife have a few days off in celebration of their anniversary.
Tonight we had a spontaneous towel fight :)
All the little guys got into it and we had a grand time :)
It lasted for about 10 minutes, before Dad said his famous phrase "Ok boys, that's enough." and it all stopped as fast as it started... :D
Sunday, October 14, 2012
VOM Conference
Yesterday we went to a Voice of the Martyrs conference (aka, VOM) in Des Moines, IA)
It was one amazing conference... I was so challenged by what the speakers had to say about our brothers and sisters in other countries, who are being persecuted for the faith. One of the speakers was from Pakistan and another from Ethiopia. There was also a man from Indiana who has travelled to many different countries, ministering to persecuted Christians.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of the speakers or the conference sessions- the reason being that if we post pictures of certain people on the internet (such as the two from foreign countries, who are actually running from those governments) they might have their safety compromised... So, we honored that :)
Here is the resource room, where all the books, DVD's and other materials were available.
Isaac Miller-
That-there is one handfull of a hamster...
:)
The resource room again.
The church used to be a school, until they remodeled it as a place of worship...
Let's just say the sanctuary was...
Huge.
:)
Thursday, October 11, 2012
A hymn sing and another window job!
On Sunday we had a hymn sing!
Before the hymn sing, we had a wonderful meal...
Edward had grilled some massive pork tenderloins, wrapped with bacon and slow cooked in his large charcoal grill... it was extremely good :)
Later that evening we had the hymn sing.
We sang for about an hour and a half.
Our dearest Gram... :)
On Monday we hit the job hard- 21 windows in this house.
The work trailer- packed with ladders, tools and windows.
Ryan, over lunch time.
Myself, being myself, with Josh being himself in the back seat :)
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Windows, windows, and more windows, with some other stuff...
Yes, the week has fast escaped me, yet again. In the flood of work and business there's not been much time to sit down and contemplate what I'm going to write about next... we've finished with that 21-window job (on Thursday) and spend Friday doing some odd-jobs; you know, little "catch-up" jobs that you wouldn't be able to make profit on, if you only did one at a time. We had 2 such jobs in Atlantic- one was finishing up on painting that facia we replaced a few weeks ago, the other was installing some lattice skirting on a deck. We also combined a trip to the rock quarry in the same run.
So loaded up the tools into the truck, all the materials we needed and headed out. Ryan was staying home to do paperwork, so Josh was with me on this run- little Sam wanted to come too, so after clearing it with Mom, he pulled on his boots and coat and joined the crew :) We trucked on over to Atlantic, deciding to tackle the painting first, then moving smoothly onto the deck and finally hitting the quarry on the way home. We had the dump trailer along for that.
Pulling up to the job site, we climbed out of the truck and grabbed the ladders. While Josh set the two Little-Giants (a kind of ladder that is very versatile) I got the 15' scaffolding out of the trailer and carried it over. We set the whole thing up on one side of the house and were ready to start painting. I walked over to the door and rang the doorbell. The owner had all the paint in her garage, so we needed permission to enter. I waited a little bit and nobody came to the door. I tried to bell again. Nothing. I knocked on the door several time. Still, no answer.
Well, this won't do, I thought. Walking over to the garage door I tried the knob. Josh was commenting on how he thought it was open, when the knob turned and I walked inside. Looking around I called out to make sure no one was there. No reply, so I began to look for the paint. After several minutes of fruitful searching I called Ryan. I asked if the homeowner was supposed to be there and he said he'd call them.
After a few minutes he called me back, saying he couldn't get ahold of them... Well, we chose to leave that job site and go to the next. Onward to the deck!
Piling back into the truck, we roared over to the other job. The only problem was that I had no idea where it was. I was about to call Ry for directions when Josh said he thought he remembered where it was. I was game to just do some "scenic" driving, so we explored around. Josh remembered exactly where it was, and we felt pretty smug, not needing directions from "the boss" :) He were congratulating ourselves as we got the tools out and laid things out.
Suddenly it downed upon us that we had forgotten to get the black sheeting to go behind the lattice. Sigh. Another delay. Josh and Sam stayed at the job, measuring everything out and prepping the sub framing.
I ran over to the hardware store and got the material we needed. On the way back I got some refreshments (as requested by the "crew"); 3 bottles of Gatorade and 3 packs of peanut M&M's. It was a strange snack, but it sounded good :) I wondered what the clerk thought about the strange purchase. Oh well. The boys would enjoy it :)
Coming back we got to work. Josh did a great job with the sub frame so I was able to get the lattice up real quick, right after he stretched the plastic over it. We got it done in good time, even though I was very meticulous while finishing all the cut edges, matching up the corners and taking care to make it tight everywhere.
Boy, the day wasn't going too bad after all. This turned out so nice, we were so proud of ourselves for the quality and speed of our work. Josh and I patted each other on the backs and Sam celebrated by eating some more M&Ms. I snapped a picture of the deck and sent it back to "the boss" to show off our handy work. It wasn't 30 seconds after I sent the picture that Ryan called. Thinking that he was going to congratulate us on the good work, I answered the phone with a cheerful "Hi!"
"Uh, guys..... that's the wrong deck."
....
....
....
I sat there in stunned disbelief-- was he pulling my leg?
"And no, I'm not kidding. That's the wrong deck. It's one we did a while ago, but it's the wrong one!"
"Well..." I didn't know what to say. Poor Josh would feel horrible that he sent us to the wrong deck. The whole day come crashing down into a huge pile of humiliation :) Oh well, nothing we could do now!
"I guess they get a free addition on their job." Ryan said with some consternation.
We headed over to the painting job again, a feeling of utter failure and defeat upon our grieving hearts... ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but we did feel pretty silly!! Arriving back at the painting job, the home owner was still not there. Ryan called her again and was able to have her come back home to get us the paint.
We finished that up in good time. As we drove off I grinned at Josh.
"Well, Ryan said that lady you guys did that deck for enjoys getting 'something for nothing', so we should be good on it. She'll be thrilled we put that lattice on. Ry said it was only about $50 of materials, so it's not a big loss. Just our time, and some pride!!" We laughed and went to find the rock quarry.
There we got 6 tons of 1" rock for another job and swung back around to McDonalds for lunch. For the sake of you dear ones in Haiti, I'll refrain from describing the succulent smells and flavors which wafted into the truck as we received our order and pulled out of the drive-through. I don't describe the juicy, tender chicken sandwich I had, nor the honey mustard chicken nuggets Sam devoured, nor the Angus burger Josh ordered, dripping with cheesy goodness and loaded with pickles, lettuce, onions, sauces, all piled onto a hefty chunk of beef, teeming with wonderful tastes and hunger-satisfying goodness...
Anyhow....
;)
We got home around 2pm and called it a day. Josh did some more work with the trailer and rock, but for the most part we relaxed the rest of the day.
On Saturday I cleaned our work trailer, sorting out the tools from the dust, and each other :) It was a mess. Probably hadn't been cleaned out in months... :) It was fun though.
After lunch, Ryan and I went to Leon Zook's house for a workday. We helped to swap some patio doors out and replaced one of them. It was about 6:30 when we got back home. We were greeted with a wonderful smell- authentic (or as close as possible) Haitian food! More specifically, Haitian rice with bean sauce. It was sooo good :) I hadn't had rice since I got back form Haiti, so I was delighted.
Today's church service was good. Ryan spoke about the glory of Christ and Leon spoke about God giving us windows of opportunity. I was feeling pretty down most of the day- just a lot going on in this half-brain of mine and sometimes it gets me down...
Tonight we're going over to Edward Martin's house for supper and a hymn sing. I trust it'll be a really refreshing time.
God bless you all, dear readers. Thanks for keeping up with things here! Pray for us.
In Christ's love and hope,
-nate
So loaded up the tools into the truck, all the materials we needed and headed out. Ryan was staying home to do paperwork, so Josh was with me on this run- little Sam wanted to come too, so after clearing it with Mom, he pulled on his boots and coat and joined the crew :) We trucked on over to Atlantic, deciding to tackle the painting first, then moving smoothly onto the deck and finally hitting the quarry on the way home. We had the dump trailer along for that.
Pulling up to the job site, we climbed out of the truck and grabbed the ladders. While Josh set the two Little-Giants (a kind of ladder that is very versatile) I got the 15' scaffolding out of the trailer and carried it over. We set the whole thing up on one side of the house and were ready to start painting. I walked over to the door and rang the doorbell. The owner had all the paint in her garage, so we needed permission to enter. I waited a little bit and nobody came to the door. I tried to bell again. Nothing. I knocked on the door several time. Still, no answer.
Well, this won't do, I thought. Walking over to the garage door I tried the knob. Josh was commenting on how he thought it was open, when the knob turned and I walked inside. Looking around I called out to make sure no one was there. No reply, so I began to look for the paint. After several minutes of fruitful searching I called Ryan. I asked if the homeowner was supposed to be there and he said he'd call them.
After a few minutes he called me back, saying he couldn't get ahold of them... Well, we chose to leave that job site and go to the next. Onward to the deck!
Piling back into the truck, we roared over to the other job. The only problem was that I had no idea where it was. I was about to call Ry for directions when Josh said he thought he remembered where it was. I was game to just do some "scenic" driving, so we explored around. Josh remembered exactly where it was, and we felt pretty smug, not needing directions from "the boss" :) He were congratulating ourselves as we got the tools out and laid things out.
Suddenly it downed upon us that we had forgotten to get the black sheeting to go behind the lattice. Sigh. Another delay. Josh and Sam stayed at the job, measuring everything out and prepping the sub framing.
I ran over to the hardware store and got the material we needed. On the way back I got some refreshments (as requested by the "crew"); 3 bottles of Gatorade and 3 packs of peanut M&M's. It was a strange snack, but it sounded good :) I wondered what the clerk thought about the strange purchase. Oh well. The boys would enjoy it :)
Coming back we got to work. Josh did a great job with the sub frame so I was able to get the lattice up real quick, right after he stretched the plastic over it. We got it done in good time, even though I was very meticulous while finishing all the cut edges, matching up the corners and taking care to make it tight everywhere.
Boy, the day wasn't going too bad after all. This turned out so nice, we were so proud of ourselves for the quality and speed of our work. Josh and I patted each other on the backs and Sam celebrated by eating some more M&Ms. I snapped a picture of the deck and sent it back to "the boss" to show off our handy work. It wasn't 30 seconds after I sent the picture that Ryan called. Thinking that he was going to congratulate us on the good work, I answered the phone with a cheerful "Hi!"
"Uh, guys..... that's the wrong deck."
....
....
....
I sat there in stunned disbelief-- was he pulling my leg?
"And no, I'm not kidding. That's the wrong deck. It's one we did a while ago, but it's the wrong one!"
"Well..." I didn't know what to say. Poor Josh would feel horrible that he sent us to the wrong deck. The whole day come crashing down into a huge pile of humiliation :) Oh well, nothing we could do now!
"I guess they get a free addition on their job." Ryan said with some consternation.
We headed over to the painting job again, a feeling of utter failure and defeat upon our grieving hearts... ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but we did feel pretty silly!! Arriving back at the painting job, the home owner was still not there. Ryan called her again and was able to have her come back home to get us the paint.
We finished that up in good time. As we drove off I grinned at Josh.
"Well, Ryan said that lady you guys did that deck for enjoys getting 'something for nothing', so we should be good on it. She'll be thrilled we put that lattice on. Ry said it was only about $50 of materials, so it's not a big loss. Just our time, and some pride!!" We laughed and went to find the rock quarry.
There we got 6 tons of 1" rock for another job and swung back around to McDonalds for lunch. For the sake of you dear ones in Haiti, I'll refrain from describing the succulent smells and flavors which wafted into the truck as we received our order and pulled out of the drive-through. I don't describe the juicy, tender chicken sandwich I had, nor the honey mustard chicken nuggets Sam devoured, nor the Angus burger Josh ordered, dripping with cheesy goodness and loaded with pickles, lettuce, onions, sauces, all piled onto a hefty chunk of beef, teeming with wonderful tastes and hunger-satisfying goodness...
Anyhow....
;)
We got home around 2pm and called it a day. Josh did some more work with the trailer and rock, but for the most part we relaxed the rest of the day.
On Saturday I cleaned our work trailer, sorting out the tools from the dust, and each other :) It was a mess. Probably hadn't been cleaned out in months... :) It was fun though.
After lunch, Ryan and I went to Leon Zook's house for a workday. We helped to swap some patio doors out and replaced one of them. It was about 6:30 when we got back home. We were greeted with a wonderful smell- authentic (or as close as possible) Haitian food! More specifically, Haitian rice with bean sauce. It was sooo good :) I hadn't had rice since I got back form Haiti, so I was delighted.
Today's church service was good. Ryan spoke about the glory of Christ and Leon spoke about God giving us windows of opportunity. I was feeling pretty down most of the day- just a lot going on in this half-brain of mine and sometimes it gets me down...
Tonight we're going over to Edward Martin's house for supper and a hymn sing. I trust it'll be a really refreshing time.
God bless you all, dear readers. Thanks for keeping up with things here! Pray for us.
In Christ's love and hope,
-nate
Driving down the interstate, on our way to a job :)
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Camping!!
This week our family (along with Ryan, Aunt Carol and Edward Martin's family) went camping. We stayed Monday and Tuesday nights and had a grand time :) Ryan and I had to work during the day, but that didn't keep us from having fun in the mornings and evenings :)
The boys and I actually started camping Sunday night.
We set up the campsite and enjoyed a nice evening- just us GUYS :D
Warning: Hamsters inside.
:)
Unfortunately I lost my camera in the shuffle on Monday and didn't find it until today :P
So, these pictures are from this morning, when I went fishing with the boys early in the morning.
The moon, rising over the trees and creek...
One of the two small fish I caught :)
As the sun came up, the scenery was revealed... and it was that wonderfully picturesque fall-type that really grabs you're thoughts and gets you appreciating God's creative majesty.
The boys built a little fire (you can see it better in the previous picture).
That was nice, because it was still extremely cold;
especially for this previously-tropical-climate-blooded person :P
Josh, handling his fishing poll while trying to get mine set up too...
I had set it down to go take pictures, so he wanted to us it in addition to his :)
One of the boys (Joel) caught a big catfish.
The mist was pretty neat looking :)
Back at the camp site, Aunt Carol was making pancakes for breakfast!
Everyone was huddled around the fire, trying to keep warm.
It was 37 degrees when I got up at 4:30am...
Edward was busy making sausages at his campsite.
Edward's little girl Ruth Anna looked very comfy, cuddled up in warm blankets and a coat :)
Almost done :)
My cousin Brie and brother Sam were wrapped up too, but they were trying to avoid the campfire smoke! :)
Mom and Marian Martin...
And everyone's favorite newlyweds :D
Joel and his "cat"
:)
Josh, fillet-ing the catfish... yum yum :)
Today we worked on those 21 windows again... on the way back the weather was beautiful.
Filling some leaky tires :D
At church tonight we had a nice time of prayer and worship. It was a real encouragement to me...
Tomorrow I'm going to a specialist to have my throat checked out- there's an unusual lump there (no, it's not my voice box, as my cousin Ben suggested :) and we wanted to get it checked out. It kinda puts everything into perspective for me, and is helping teach me how to lean on the Lord even more... He's so good to us...
God bless...
-nate
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