Ryan, Lington, Kombuk, and Zach. Kombuk and Lington are trained carpenters who live in Madang. We hired them for these last two trips and have been really thankful for their skill, help, and for the relationships they build with our friends in the village.

Step one: removing the roofing iron.

There was a pretty significant earthquake on the day when they were removing the roof, but no one was on the roof at the time and the house didn't sustain any more damage - for that we were thankful!

Step two: Removing the walls.

Look at our floor!

Taking down the last few walls.

Step three: removing the floor.

Removing the floor trusses.

All that is left for now is our water tank and the concrete footings.

While all the pieces were coming down, we needed to hire other men to remove nails.

Early in the week, Ryan oversaw the construction of this shed to house all the wood.

Organizing the wood by size.

Securing building materials inside.

Ryan worked hard also in marking, digging, and pouring cement for the office footers.

All ten footers done.

We hired several men from the village each day to help.

And many of our close friends came each day to help for free.

The guys spent a full seven days working hard.

You might expect that a trip like this would be difficult. Let me tell you, it WAS difficult. Physically, it was hard. Ryan suffered much with an injured knee and back. Zach and Ryan both had trouble breathing (and therefore sleeping) each night in a smokey hut. And waking each morning with sore muscles to remove nails and haul wood again was tiring. Yes, it was physically difficult.

But let me tell you: emotionally it was more difficult. As an example, removing our boys' green walls: walls that were installed at the cost of lots of time away from wives and kids. Walls that we painted army green for Jude and Oliver in the early years of Mawerero ministry. Walls that saw those little boys do so much growing up. Walls that still had various artwork and nicknacks tacked to them. Those walls had to be ripped out and new ones will have to be rebuilt again some day. Yes, it was emotionally difficult.

Yet Ephesians 5:20, Paul tells the Ephesians that they are to give thanks always and for everything. Not just to always find some reason to give thanks, but to actually give.thanks.FOR.everything. Because of God's promises to us in the gospel, Zach (and I from afar) can give thanks to God for the very removing of our walls since in His wisdom God is doing all things for our good and the good of all those around us who know Him.

We are so very thankful that they finished all they set out to accomplish on this trip. Even more than they expected. And we are thankful to be back together!