Some visitors from up north stopped to lend a hand

Matt Macking helping us get cleaned up from some of the work we did earlier in the week.

Typically, we try to carve out one work day each week to work on the building, but this week, we snuck an extra day in.  Late last night, we learned that we would have some extra help.  Matt Macking (the Director of the Pocono Mountain Bible Conference) and Mitchel Raboci drove down to lend a hand.

Mitchel Raboci at work, cleaning up debris

We loaded the organ that was removed from the building onto a truck, did some more painting, cleaned various light fixtures, used the shop vac to clean up debris from other projects, packed more items to donate and did some additional wall repairs.  It was a full afternoon / evening.

The organ was ready to be loaded in the truck.  Let's just say it wasn't a "light" object to try to move.

Our thanks to Matt and Mitchel for their help!  We even provided them with two trophies we found in the midst of the random items the old church left behind.  

Winners!

Organ removal surgery

Dylon climbed into the wall to help us remove the organ speakers

Organs don't seem to be quite as popular as they once were.  We have an organ that we want to pass along to someone else, but they're hard to sell and just as hard to give away for free.  It's like offering someone a tube-TV.  No one seems to want them.

Well, thankfully, we found someone who was willing to offer us a very minimal amount for the organ, so we began the process of removing it and getting the heavy speakers out of the walls.  It wasn't easy, but we got it done.

Matt Thomas helping us remove the organ wiring

We also had the help of Matt Thomas this week.  Matt is going to be the brains behind our new sound system and he began putting together his plan for running cables, creating a sound booth and installing a projector.  He even created this helpful floor print of the sanctuary for us.

There's new evidence that we have not yet chased the raccoon out of the building.  Looks like it's time to take a more aggressive approach.

Paw prints from the resident raccoon

As always, thanks for your prayers!

Guess who we found living in the attic...

The outside of the building looks nice on days like today.  The stucco has been repaired.  The exterior has been painted and the doors are sporting their new color.

As you can tell from the series of pictures we've posted, there has been a lot of work that we've had to do on the building to get it ready to start hosting worship services, Bible studies and other community events.  We're starting to feel like the end is in sight and in the coming weeks, we hope to have all the painting complete so we can have the flooring installed.  (We're waiting to do the flooring last.  That way, we don't have to worry about paint drips.)

This past week, we had a couple groups go to the church and work for several hours.  We were able to load a trailer with more of the junk we purged from the building and the back room where we've been collecting all the clutter is now just about empty.

More junk being purged from the building

Before and after of the back room.  It was piled high with clutter.  Now it's just about empty.

Mike Ivins, a contractor from Core Creek Community Church is helping us with some of the additional repairs that need to be made to the building.  This week, he repaired the vent at the crest of the roof.  It had been bent by animals that were getting into the building, so he fixed it and put a metal screen on it to prevent animals from attempting to enter the attic again.

He also started work to repair some of the damaged ceilings and is fixing the front window areas where we had a damaged stained glass window. 

While Mike was up in the attic working, he came across a creature that has been doing some damage to the building.  We previously thought it was a squirrel that had ripped apart speaker mesh and left a mess in other areas.  It turns out, we have a raccoon living in the attic.  We're giving him an eviction notice.

There has been a raccoon living in the attic.  He wasn't happy about being found.

 That's all that's making news for now.  Thanks again for your prayers.  We're getting much closer to the day when we'll be able to start hosting meetings and other events for the community.