Randy Wray’s Blog

The house is just about finished.  Hard to believe the progress we have made in such a short time.

There is a shortage of lumber in Mexico (coming from the USA) as all stateside lumber is going to the gulf coast region.  Mexico has yet to see any stateside lumber.

The electrical work has been finished.  The roof decking is finished.  We need two more pieces of laminate for the roof, 4 pieces of sheetrock in the living room and need to finish the sheetrock on the bathroom.  Beyond that the house will be "finished."  The windows and doors will be installed later in the week and the new occupants will paint and stucco when they have the funds.

Anthony was scheduled to fly out Sunday morning from San Diego so Javier and I drove him Saturday night to stay with Arturo in SD.  We enjoyed having Anthony with us.  He debated his travel plans, at one time considering arriving on Sunday, he chose wisely.

On our way back from SD (we didn’t get back to Ensenada until 1AM) we saw a very impressive heat storm with spectacular lightning displays.  Did I mention it’s been hot here?  Hotter than I can remember.  Javier said it was the first heat storm he’d ever seen in Ensenada.  Later that morning around 3AM the thundershower began.  It hardly ever rains here so a big thundershower is quite the event.

We spent the morning with the church family and now everyone is enjoying a peaceful, restful afternoon.  There is a new Costco in Ensenada so we will probably go there tonight for ice-cream.

We will finish the house tomorrow and work on Tuesday at the church building.  We will be doing some prep work for next year.  They need classroom space and we will be preparing the patio area to be enclosed and made into a two story room.

As always check out the photo page for updated images. 

Another great work day.  We began the stages of the detail stuff.  Not my cup of tea but necessary in the process.  A lot of little cuts and angled nailing to put in the rafter blocks and other reinforcements.

So here is our progress report for day 2:  We finished all the interior walls.  The rafters are in place and we managed to put on half of the plywood roof decking.  The electrical wiring is 3/4 finished.  We began hanging sheet rock in the bedroom.

There are more pictures on the photo page.  Make sure you click on the photo bar to see the additional photos.

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day.  They should have had our work crew.  We’ve proven to be skilled at building very large boxes.

After purchasing the lumber and waiting for delivery we began working around noon.  By 7PM we had framed, sheeted and raised the four outside walls.  If you’ve ever been involved in one of these projects you can appreciate the  magnitude of this accomplishment.  I am quite pleased with the work effort and the progress made by the team.  This may be the year we realize a decade long dream of finishing the project and going to the beach.  Of course now that I just typed these words there will be a nation wide shortage on sheet rock that will send our project to a grinding halt.  But I guess either way that means we head to the beach.

Check out some photos of our work today by clicking on my photo page link.

10 people.  5 Airplanes.  2 Terminals.  Reese and I arrived on the ground in San Diego, rented a baggage cart and began walking back and forth between terminals to unite with our mission team flying in from Oregon, Nashville, and Washington.

The arrival times were staggered (even with the delays) so we picked up a worker here and a worker there.  Here a worker, there a worker, everywhere a worker, worker.  Old Mac Wray began to assemble his elite mission team for a mission deep in the heart of Ensenada. Our Peloton grew steadily as we walked from terminal to terminal.

Javier, Minerva and Arturo arrived right on schedule and we made it safely to our host homes at 12AM (3AM for the east coast people).

Good News!  The foundation has been laid.  We sent funds down earlier and hired some brothers from the church (Milo & Company) to lay the foundation.  This will increase the speed of our work efforts.  After the leveling work was completed it was determined that the house could be made four feet wider.  So now we are planning to start this afternoon building a 16 foot by 24 foot house.

But first, we need to go buy the lumber.  

We could see the smoke for miles.  Even at 35,000 feet we could see the flames of the fire. 

Passing over the wildfires in the California desert was truly a sight to behold.  It was so captivating I didn’t even think about trying to take a picture.  We just kept looking out the window.  The passengers on the left side of the plane stood up to look out the right side windows.  This particular airline features Direct TV service on every seat.  The current programming could not compete with the view from the window.

The smoke, the flames, the entire scene gave me a better picture of what Mt. Sinai might have looked like when the Lord descended and made his presence known. 

Exodus 19:18  (New Century Version) Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord came down on it in fire.  

To be recited, according to the Talmud, before undertaking a journey:

"May it be Your will, Lord, My God and God of my ancestors, to lead me,
to direct my steps, and to support me in peace. Lead me in life,
tranquil and serene, until I arrive at where I am going. Deliver me
from every enemy, ambush and hurt that I might encounter on the way and
from all afflictions that visit and trouble the world. Bless the work
of my hands. Let me receive divine grace and those loving acts of
kindness and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all those I
encounter. Listen to the voice of my appeal, for you are a God who
responds to prayerful supplication. Praised are you, Lord, who responds
to prayer."

It was a mistake to install that widget.  Sure it says three weeks until we get on a plane but three weeks sounds an awful lot like 21 days.  Leaving on an airplane is not like leaving in a car.  Really?  Wow, Randy you figured that out all by yourself?  What I mean is that if one leaves on a trip by car you could always leave a day later if needed.  When one leaves on a trip by airplane the leaving time is set in stone unless you want to give the airline more money.

Our scripture reading for yesterday (Psalm 39) provided me with a private, personal chuckle.  One verse in particular: 

Psalm 39:5-6  (NCV)  You have given me only a short life; my lifetime is like nothing to you.  Everyone’s life is only a breath.  People are like shadows moving about.  All their work is for nothing; they collect things but don’t know who will get them. 

I don’t need to know who will get all the stuff we have collected.  I just need someone else to add OUR stuff to THEIR collection!  What time are you coming over and what do you need?  (Greg, guitars are excluded from this offer). 

I’ve been thinking about these words Steve wrote in a recent post:

We are moving ahead with some ideas to put people in a place of worship well before the assembly time begins on Sunday morning.

Yes.  Carry on.  Make it so.  Use the force.

I was reminded of our time in Central America.  There was such a thing as gringo time and latin time.  For example, a particular event was scheduled to start at 7PM (gringo time) which meant 7:30PM (latin time).  But on Sunday morning a strange thing happened.  People would show up early.  Not everyone, but a fair number of people would arrive before the start of the assembly. 

They would sit silently in the meeting room.  Some would pray.  Others would read from their Bibles.  It was their way to be in a place of worship well before the assembly time.

I imagine Steve is talking about steps to take during the week to put people in a place of worship.  Excellent!  We need this type of challenge.

Those of you who take part in the administration of the public assembly know how chaotic it can become before the assembly.

I want to brainstorm with you about ideas to make the meeting place (atmosphere and physical space) conducive to worship.  We can with our collective creativity think of all sorts of things. 

I am more interested in hearing about ways to challenge each person to arrive in a place of worship well before the assembly time begins on Sunday morning.

Psalm 24:1-5  (New Century Version)
The earth belongs to the Lord, and everything in it — the world and all its people.

He built it on the waters and set it on the rivers.

Who may go up on the mountain of the Lord?

Who may stand in his holy Temple?

Only those with clean hands and pure hearts,

who have not worshiped idols,

who have not made promises in the name of a false god.

They will receive a blessing from the Lord;

the God who saves them will declare them right.  

My brother-in-law whose name starts with a B ends with a Y and sounds like Brady taught our mid-week tune-up last week.  He shared with us the value and importance of having a good friend.  You know you have a solid relationship when you can say . . . 

Philippians 4:1  (NCV)  My dear brothers and sisters, I love you and want to see you.  You bring me joy and make me proud of you, so stand strong in the Lord as I have told you. 

B _ _ _ Y is a gifted teacher and that he occaisonaly slips into French makes him fun to hear.  His words made me once again realize how blessed I am to have so many good friends (you know who you are!) 

25 days left, so says the widget countdown plus, before we get on an airplane.  Since Reese and I leave for Mexico in 6 days I am officially stressed.

Greg receives 10 points for correctly identifying the movie and the name of the character.  He would have received an additional 5 points for giving the name Enrique Polazo.

I’m typing today from the comfort of my new imac and thus my mac journey begins. 

Another storm blew through last night knocking down trees, powerlines, and batting cages (more on this in a moment).  We are enjoying our time at the house of some friends watching the match between Germany and Italy when the power went out.  The match was in the 17th minute of overtime and darkness came over the land.  With a peach cobbler and a berry cobbler still to be cooked we made the group decision to cook these baked delicacies on the grill.  Nothing shall stand in the way of cobbler on 4th of July! 

The fireworks were fun.  The show itself lasted 20 minutes.  From our view on the river you could see fireworks up and down the Potomac.  Of course the people on the parkway with their handfull of explosives trying to compete with the big show is always amusing.

The windstorm knocked down and destroyed the frame of the batting cage.  I think I can fix it.  I’ve always wanted a reason to buy a welding machine.