I just returned from Lima with exciting news of the progress of the construction project at the Nancy Cole Women's Home.  Construction is now beginning on the third floor.  It is exciting to see a new, modern building rising from the debris of the old, dilapidated building.  We are in need of funds to keep the project going and to meet the challenge of the matching grant.  Funds are beginning to come in for the Benefit Concert but we need your immediate help. 

Here are several pictures of the construction project:

#1: Here is the view of the new home being constructed.  It will eventually have five floors and will house over 60 women.  What a wonderful sight as I drove up the first day that I was there!




#2:  All of the concrete is mixed and hauled by hand.  All of the debris from the old home is carried out in wheelbarrows.  I was amazed at the difference in construction methods from those in the United States; however, I was impressed with the progress that made during the week that I was there in September.




#3:  This is a view from the second floor.




#4:  The contractor (Carlos), myself (Dale Baird) and Pastor Lilliam - September 23, 2006. 




Thank you for your continued support for this worthwhile project.  God is moving in the lives of the women (which now includes a majority of teenage girls) at the Nancy Cole Women's Home.  On the first day that I was in Lima on this trip, when we arrived at the construction site, I noticed two women standing at the front entrance.  One was crying profusely.  I thought that I recognized her.  Pastor Lilliam discovered that this girl, who had resided at the home when our team was there in July of 2005, found herself in a park, on the ground, surrounded by five drunk men.  The other woman, who happened to be passing by, rescued her and brought her to the site of the home.  This Good Samaritan did not know the girl and did not know anything about the women's home.   The victim had no where else to go.  Pastor Lilliam admitted her, even though there is a shortage of bed space at the temporary home, and we took her to the temporary site where she was feed, clothed, and shown the love of Jesus.  What a visible example of the incredible ministry at the home and a vivid reminder of why we need to work diligently to see that this project is completed as soon as possible. 

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.  Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'  The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "
                                                                                                                                           Matthew 25:35-40 NIV