The day we all have been anticipating-- the day the church walls would go up! This day dawned bright and crisp on November 30, 2017. About 7:30 AM, three semi trucks hauling supplies and walls pulled into St. Francis.

The crane would soon arrive. The plum bushes had to be cleared giving room for the crane to work, after that the work began. It was a tad chilly but the day soon warmed up. The crew began working hard to get everything ready. 

Trucks carrying the church walls

                                                               Prep Work
             

Lifting the first wall section!

                           

The walls were shimmed and held in place while the plates that were on the footer  was welded to the plates on the bottom of the precast wall.

Gary Peters welding

Thanks so much Gary for sharing your talents and your time for the Lord's work

 

                                           Gary Peters and Ron Patton

The Welded Plates

Re-adjusting the fork so it wouldn't scrap the wall

Thank you to Chris Grillo for donating your Telehandler to help with putting up the walls. We could not have made it without this. Thanks to you and Duane Smith for operating it and for all the other help you both gave us!

Mixing grout to pour along the base of the wall to seal the wall to the footer. 

A HUGE thank you to OLA (Platte Hutterite Colony) crew for your fast, efficient,and excellent work making the walls, and setting them up! You are a tremendous blessing! 

Daniel (OLA) giving instructions to Gary Peter's grandsons on how to put in Tundra Foam. Thanks Colton and Brennan!

The space in-between the walls, filled with Tundra Foam and caulk.

As the sun was setting at the end of the first day of work, there were only three panels and the entry left to put up. 

Thanks to the help of our Native ladies, we were able to serve Indian Tacos to the work crew for supper. 

Thank you so much ladies who helped cook each of the days! Each little (and big!) thing lifted the load! May God Bless each of you!

Day 2.

Friday dawned bright and early. Once again it was chilly but not bad considering it was December 1! The trucks came with the rest of the panels and the crane was set- ready to begin work!

Thanks to the excellent crane operators! They did an excellent job!

The rest of the panels were soon set and work to put the pillars for the entry began. They had a little trouble setting the roof on the entry so once again dark set in so they called it a day!

Day 3. 

Back to work on Saturday morning

Things went smoothly and the roof was soon on the entry way! Insulation and caulking continued along with the added job of back filling. 

Men began working to put the top plates in place that connect the trusses to the walls. We are very thankful for those who volunteered to go beyond helping put up the walls and on to putting on the roof.

Thanks Duane for running the Telehandler!

Many hands make light work!

Different Sunday school children saw the progress! One little girl kept saying, "That is Awesome! That is awesome!"

They were able to set up about 1/2 of the trusses by Saturday night. 

Plans were made for Chris Grillo, Duane Smith and a crew from the Hutterite Colony to return on December 13 to set the rest of the trusses. These plans had to be changed as bad weather began to move in. Please pray that the weather will clear and the guys schedules will permit them to come back soon before winter takes over. 

The Work Crew

So Thankful for the contribution each person made in making this project a reality! The Lord sent the right people at the right time to assist. Thanks once again for all those that prayed, gave finances, and manual labor! So thankful to God for giving protection and good weather each of these days! We have so much to thank Him for!