331-327 Carrall Street will never look the same.
As Pastor Barry says, "we like to change our approach every 80 years or so", and so on Saturday (the 26th), a swarm of constructive locusts descended on our new location. Kathleen and James had begun the operation the Saturday prior, ripping out the pony wall back near the toilet area and disconnecting the old hot water tank. Yesterday, the gang from The Oasis arrived from Duncan around 8:45 and went to work. See, wouldn't we just have to be associated with a church, where the Senior Pastor (Gerry Wall) is a carpenter and the population of males is made up of young men eager to learn trades?
In building the addition for the church at the Cowichan River Bible Camp back in '02 (my contribution: barking one log for a column on the new entranceway), Gerry got these young men turned on to marketable skills, like carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc. He also got the others turned on to such crazy concepts as working as a team, following instructions and GETTING THE JOB DONE. Add to them Tim and Gord from Coast Mountain, Murray from Westpointe (as in Murray Scott Construction), Kathleen and Carolin with their cooking, Janet and Amelia with the cookies and coffee, and showers from Andrew Sheret, and you now have a space that actually looks like a space!
Global TV was there, as well ... The reporter, Jennifer Palma, is very sharp and asked some very good questions ... got some good clips in of Gerry and Brandon Wall ... evidently she has a Catholic upbringing, because she kept referring to the people who go to Gospel Mission as "the parishioners" ... why not?
We also had a rather serendipitous encounter with the crew from "ListenUp", a TV series aimed at non-believers. They were doing something else on the DTES and Brandon recognized host Lorna Dueck. Since I'd printed up a bunch of fact sheets about The Lord's Rain, I gave her one, and she's passing it on to her producers for a future segment.
The Apostle Paul's writings about many members of the one Body of Christ also apply to any human endeavour: people of various anointings come together to give the Word of God substance.
It's been obvious from the start -- check back through the previous installments in The Shower Saga -- that this project has the Hand of God firmly on it for blessing, and as we so many people with so many varied gifts working to make it happen.
One of the things that delighted one during the work blitz was the lack of competitiveness. We had some highly skilled people on the scene, and I'd say at least four could each have taken the lead and tried to run things. Yet they all submitted to one another. A lot of the time, Brandon took the lead ... and the others listened, stepping up now and again when they felt they could contribute.
I felt a little useless and in the way ... but only a little. At that point, my main duty was to talk to any reporters who came along. That was perfectly fine: that's What I Do. I have a hard time hammering anything straight, and if I'd attempted something with the electrical, most of BC would be operating by candle-light now! So I do what I do ... and the others do what they do.
A new God-send in this project is Bill from Hillcrest Plumbing and Heating. Our friends at Andrew Sheret had offered to work with our plumbers, and when we had a problem getting a senior plumber to pull the permit we need, I contacted Brian, the president of Sheret; one of his managers quickly rounded up Bill, and Bill came down to the Mission on Saturday to look the project over and give advice.
And so we press on. We'll have to set up another work party to build that last stall ... then comes the plumbing and the permits (not necessarily in that order) ... hook up the water heater ... and let the people bathe!
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