Letter from Travis

So....Dad wants a project report?!?!? Well...I'm not really sure what he meant by that but here is what we've done so far. We cut boards one day then the next day the saw quit! So I fixed it but haven't had a chance to cut anymore yet. We harvested all of Mallmeats rice and put it in the house and he has been working on the roof so it won't get wet and ruined. I almost have the floor finished in the church...I think it needs five more boards but haven't had time to go and cut them. I just about have the area cleared for the dorm now it has taken most of three days of just cutting brush to get it to where it is now and I think it will be another few days before it is finished. The head man and his crew are finishing the hanger today.I think they will be happy to have that done.I got the motor bike and brought it up but just as always if things can go wrong they will go wrong! After I called you only a little ways down the road it started pouring down rain. Like really pouring! I didn't have a tarp or anything so I put my ipad in a plastic bag and kept right on going. It got really hard to drive but before Salawat it stopped raining so that was good. But I had taken off my shoes and put them on the back of the bike since I couldn't drive with them on. Well....they must have fallen off. Anyway at Salawat they told me the road up the rest of the way was open and passable so I just had to try it!!! Well....it was all overgrown and really bad. It got dark and I was nowhere near GWM. When I discovered that Mallmeats machete must have flown out of the sheath in one of my many tumbles. Well...I headed back down the trail looking for it but in the jungle I couldn't find it. I gave up on it and headed on to GWM. So yesterday we spent the whole day clearing the road between here and Salawat and looking for the knife. The road looks passable now but we still couldn't find it.The other big thing we have accomplished was the runway! I have been digging stumps in my spare time and it is starting to look really good. But as I told you already it rained really hard so those that haven't finished their rice are going to have wet rice!Now a little bit about the situation here. Here in this number six area the government has only allowed schools to teach fourth grade. Because the government doesn't have the money to support any more. So three years ago when we started helping this school Mallmeat asked the government if we could be allowed permission to teach higher than the standard school. He was granted permission and now it is a six grade school. The only one from Mae sot down. In this area SDAs are hated and made the matter of a lot of gossip! (Maybe since they don't have many good ones in this area!) Mallmeat and I have talked about it and there is no way for us to just preach and get anyone to listen. But through the school it is possible. Really because of the reputation of the SDA in this area already the government doesn't want to give permission for anything but they desperately want a tenth grade school! So since we are the only ones willing to do it they get a SDA school! (The more they see the more they like it but they haven't forgotten the past) When we asked about the plane four of them sat down to discuss it. Two of them said that maybe it would be ok. The other two said that they shouldn't do it. Well...they said they shouldn't do it but they would anyway because they want us to have a way where we can help in some of the other villages that need help with education too. It is amazing the way that God has opened the way for us to work here! Now they are asking if we will build a dorm so that children from other villages can come and study at our school. I really feel that we need to do it! But it also comes with the responsibility to do it right and to the glory of God. Is it ok to get six teachers for next year?Mallmeat got me a nice long jungle machete for when we are hiking in the jungle. It is made from a leaf spring! The man that made it knows what he is doing and he does a very nice job. He got himself another one also. I thought it was a good compromise from the other kind of weapon.We have given away some of the bibles that we have but are saving some to take with us on our trip to the interior.Oh...the other thing was the kings daughter is coming to visit TeaLayPaw on the second of December. Two bad I won't even be here when she comes! That is when I need to go for visa run. The helicopters are coming almost everyday and there is now not just the one there is two and a plane too.Monday....well....the rain got to some of the rice that we bought and so everything else got put on hold until we were able to carry it all to the school and dried it out. (Only 12 bags) It's perfectly fine now since we got it right away. Then we finally got the picture that those people that said they wanted to help cut wood for the rice barn just plain aren't coming! So today we built a bamboo barn. It's not finished. Another day and it will be though. I finally gave up on them finishing the hanger and pulled their bamboo post and ladders out and put the plane in the hanger. It doesn't need much just the peak of the roof. We'll get it done but sometimes it seems to go pretty slow when you are working alone. Any day they are going to tell us that we have a hundred bags of rice to get! We are going to have a overgrown tiller bring it. It is only a couple of miles if we carry it!!!I should go,LoveTravisSent from my iPad