End with a Blast

The week ended with a big push! Lerato told me about lunch time that he told the guys they needed to work hard to make up for the week, and they did! Monday we took off because the weather was cold and windy. Tuesday we started late (because of the cold) and went up on the koppie to get more stone to fill the old compost planned gaps in the wall. We actually found quite a bit in a short time. Didn't start any cob because the forecast was for several degrees below freezing. Since I got home early, I made my first “gringo block.” It's four pieces of wood screwed together to make a frame of sorts, and then placed in the wall with one side exposed to attach something too. In this case, the bottom door hinge.

Gringo block face showing itself.

 Added a bit to the bottom of the center wall where it joins the outer wall.  Want to raise it 30cm or so, then raise the whole wall up to make it level.  Think it's best to put 30cm or so of cob at a time.  Otherwise, if it's gotten hard, takes time to wet it to workability again.

My awesome team, without them, it would take a couple
years to build the house.
(L to R) Rasusu, Lerato, Matsebetsbe, and Notsi.

Wednesday was pretty cool again, so we worked in the “mine” digging dirt and clay out and quit early because Lerato was definitely not feeling well. I was inspired by Mr. Timmons from Larkrise to Candleford, we had watched the episode when he carved the angel in stone, and there has been a stone in the stem-wall that slopes outwards and has been bothering me ever since I noticed it. The problem is that the cob will want to slip down it. Was thinking of borrowing a grinder and generator to cut grooves in the stone, which is all a hassle, so I tried cutting grooves with a small chisel, and it worked! Doesn't look pretty, but it satisfies me. Not worried about the cob wanting to slip off.

My chiseling work.
Photo doesn't do it justice.

So, we only got to doing cob on Thursday, and started the kitchen wall. Friday, we were five, and the magic happened. About 10:30 I noticed they were working 3 tarps, and later there were 4 tarps in some state of use. Notsi was continuously feeding me cob from 10:30 onwards. They guys were just mixing and moving! Days like this make me think the house could be done quickly.

This near corner (kitchen wall) was all done in 2 days,
besides adding to the back wall and center piece
mentioned above.

Ministry

On Thursday, we actually called it an early day as Corné and I were going out to meet Om Koos and Tanie Gussie (in South Africa, elders are respectfully called uncle and aunt). I heard last week that he was having real problems sleeping, and I could relate to that from my anxiety both before and after moving here. When I heard about that, I immediately felt like I should pray for him (that was last week). So we went out to their farm and prayed, and really felt the Holy Spirit there. This morning Tanie Gussie stopped by to say he slept really well last night! Praise God.

Another great thing is that some people gave us a nice bit of support money! We can pay for more electricity, have money for diesel, give a little bonus to the guys.  God is supplying us as we need it.  Not an easy (fun) road to walk, but the best kind of road!

Switch

I'm moving my posting day from Friday to Saturday.  Rasusu only comes on Friday, plus, since we are in town, I can ride down to Rosa Saturday morning to post.