If you know of any skilled builders who might want to spend some time in July, or in October/November, working on the wonderful Children’s Foundation extension, could you let me know, please? Willing, unskilled hands are vital, too, as long as you’re happy being told what to do! As always with my teams, getting there/living there, cost wise, is down to each individual team member. I’ve never wanted teams that I take anywhere to be a burden on the local, mainly very poor, Christians: the whole ‘ethos’ is to bless them, with things that they are unable to do for themselves, and leave a ‘legacy’ for them that will extend their own ministry capabilities

For the financing of the project, we’re needing to raise around £25,000 for the ‘July phase’ – it’s the ‘critical’ building phase – I can let you know the skills and materials that Thanney has identified are essential for phase 2. It’s an amazing experience doing something like building in another country, where bulding regulations/health and safety aren’t QUITE as stringent as they are in the UK!!!

Of course, as this whole building project for the El Abrigo Children’s Foundation, is a ‘faith’ project – there has been no finance in place for it from its inception last October, we’re needing to raise all the money for every aspect of the building, except for the personal airfares/accommodation costs/expenses for Thanney Pyper, Davy King, and myself, which DOES NOT come out of the money raised FOR the project. All three of us are self employed (if you can count someone who’s lived trusting God for everything for 39 years self-employed!!), so it means that, for example, Thanney as a builder in the UK, will have spent 4 months not earning a penny while in Colombia, and costing him for the advice of a structual engineer, airfares, and the other expenses. It is a huge undertaking, and a massive step of faith, but God is faithful, and where he leads us, he’ll provide for us – though written down, that’s a lot easier to read than it is to live it! Even after 39 years, I can tell you that it isn’t easy….

We DO need £25,000 for phase 2. If you are able to help financially, or know people who might be willing to help, can you let me know, please? Email me at paul@paulbennison.com if you would. It’s less than 12 weeks until we head out to Cali again: and there’s a lot stuff we need to buy here well in advance of going – for instance, power tools here cost about ¼ – ½ of the amount in Colombia, so it’s good stewardship to buy them here. I honestly don’t know how, in a country like Colombia, they survive on their incomes when they need to buy certain types of equipment…  🙁 . So we need to be in a position to start buying what we’ll carry with us in the next few weeks….

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

• If you pay UK income tax, any gift is gift-aidable, and Stewardship have now established a ‘dedicated’ account for El Abrigo. Gift aid is marvellous, of course, as it adds 20%+ to any gift.
• You can give online – www.stewardship.org.uk – account El Abrigo, and numbered 20176270.
• You can send to them by mail (online is obviously quicker, as cheques take 2-3 weeks to clear and process), at 1 Lamb’s Passage, London EC1Y 8AB

The next phase includes everything from windows, wiring, plumbing and a raft of technical building stuff that I don’t understand. At the moment, the next trip will be setting off on June 30, and leaving Cali on 24 July, arriving Heathrow mid afternoon 25 July. Of course, you don’t have to come for the whole 3 weeks: people come and go during that period for as long as they want, or are able to. I WOULD say that, because it’s effectively 24 hours travelling, each way, from the UK, the longer you can stay the better. If you think in terms of, say, one week, you’d actually only have 5 days there, and it’s a mighty long way to go for a week. Factor into that week, too, the possibility of jetlag – it’s a 6 hour time change from the UK to Colombia, and as experts say that jetlag takes a day an hour to ‘unwind’, you might well find that you’re on your way home just as jetlag from the trip outbound ends!

Team spaces ARE limited: there are already a number of people ‘booked’ in for the July, and the October-November trips. So skilled people will be very very welcome: and of course, if you want to , there is EVERY opportunity to be involved with local churches, and to see God do with and through you, the most amazing miracles…. if you want to check that out, ask Thanney Pyper, through Facebook, if that happens… 😉 !!