The second wave of New Life students left this morning. They did some of the hardest work of the summer. It wasn't particularly difficult, it was just insanely hot, and the projects were incredibly dirty. There was a lot of demolition this week, and some we hadn't even planned on.
As things seem to go, the church building and house have layers of issues. When one thing is uncovered, several others come to the surface. Thus, one of the projects we thought was complete last week, ended up being part of a project this week.
We really thought at this point all our projects would be done, but that is not the case. There is still a lot more to do, and the reality is setting in, that it all won't happen this summer (and that's OK). Our goal was to have a place that looks nice, that was safe, and that could be used as a tool to reach the community. Those things are almost completely achieved. While we may not have a completely working a/c, new sanctuary lights, or a new front door, we have torn down (and will continue to tear down) an unsafe ceiling, had an electrician bring a bunch of things up to code, gotten rid of tons of mold and mildew issues (and prevented them from coming back), and made much more practical space to hold events, work out of, and host people.
Here are the before and after pictures of this week.
The Last Classroom Before
This needs another before... because last week's after connects with this week's before
This room used to be the nursery. It is really small, and we weren't sure how to use this space. We have a whole lot of storage space, so we really weren't sure what this room would be. Now we know...
The during and after pictures
We opted to take the wood paneling off, like we did in the other room
Oh look! They put wood paneling over a window, so this room actually has two windows not one. In a basement where light is extra important, we were excited (and perplexed) to find this.
The burnt out light bulbs in the drywall we were not so excited to find. (We also found bricks in the drop ceiling, and in the plaster ceiling. We are so lucky no one got hurt).
This is what we discovered about our "finished room". It was originally part of our unfinished room. We opted to take out the dry wall, and turn it into one large room. That way the room has more flexibility. We can use it as cafe overflow. We can use it for large classes. We can also get a temporary partition and split it into 2 classes (which makes more sense than drywall)
The current end product of those rooms. The ceiling needs to come down (it's sagging, and only a matter of time until it falls, and the electrician needs to do some serious rewiring in here) and the walls had to be patched, so they still need to be painted. Even with all of that, it still looks so much better! We're hoping that our group this week can finish this room up!
The cafe ceilings before. Part had a drop ceiling over plaster, and the plaster had already begun to fall down in the back. The safe option was that it all needed to come down. A very messy project.
The cafe ceilings now. The electrician was able to move our light switches to a spot that makes more sense, and install light boxes for 3 ceiling fans and some fluorescent lights. We need to put up some mold resistant drywall, and then the ceilings will be done. In the mean time, we have this industrial look.
Our new light switches up to fire code. He also installed them so we can run the fans without the lights, which will help if the basement gets wet this winter/spring.
During demolition
The students also worked on our office room at the house (as well as some other small projects)
The Before of the office room
during painting
after
This was a great week! I was so excited to meet these students, and about what God is doing in their lives. The other night, as they were over at the house for showers, the kids would just stop and carry on conversations with us. We talked about all sorts of topics, and it was great to see their minds working as they continue to work out their faith. We're continuing to work out our faith too, and we are grateful we got to share a part of this journey with these new friends.
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