By Jack Crabtree
We all take steps of faith every day. Some seem small to us, while others make us wish we’d practiced the triple-jump back in junior high! Thankfully, we serve a God who is completely faithful. After our family returns from bush orientation in Patpatar in January, our team will begin house-building in Wantakia. This is one of those triple-jump situations. I’ve never built a house…let alone one on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere! Yet we can already see ways God is providing for us and showing us that reaching the Wantakians with the Gospel is important to Him.
Several support missionaries helped us plan our houses and work up material lists. Some of these same guys are going to help us with the initial construction. Friends from the States are coming over to help as well. The Body is working together!
We’re on a bit of a tightrope balancing simplicity with livability. We’re milling timber for our posts, rafters, studs, etc., from trees the Wantakians have given our team (about 10 enormous trees in all), and this cuts down (pun intended?) our costs. However, we also designed the house knowing we plan to live in it for 10+ years.
The Wantakians have already cleared and leveled the ground for our house!
More than 60% of our house-building costs have been provided, praise the Lord! However, we have an overwhelming amount of funds left to raise, and it's tempting to look at the waves and begin to sink. We are continually trusting the Lord, because we know He is faithful. He's proven Himself over and over again.
Almost half of our remaining costs are transport related, because our village is accessible by helicopter only. This is a team mission, and it’s been a humbling privilege to represent you all over here in TomorrowLand. Below is a chart of our start-up budget, which details funds that have come in already and areas we could use help with.
Thank you so much for being a part of the beginning stages of putting the Word of God into the hands of the Wantakian people! Together with God we can do great things! Click the button below to give toward our tribal house.