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After returning home from Santiago, Chile in early February, one person could only see that little lot in San Bernardo that was to become The Living Hope Baptist Church in a few short months. This is the second church that Pastor Doug Kreeger and his wife, Sharon, have planted in Santiago. It has doubled from about thirty members to around sixty in just a short time over the last 4 -5 months. They were meeting in a small building, about 12 feet wide by 30 feet long. They had constructed a netting type tarp out over the area adjacent to it as shading and held their services outdoors in good weather. There was not enough room inside for everyone to worship. And, as much as the congregation felt blessed to have people come down to build a new, large church for them, each person from the U.S. that works on the buildings is much more blessed. It is as CWE's motto states, "Building Lives with Buildings as a By-Product." CWE website (www.cweforthegospelsake.org)
Prior to our arrival to begin work, Missionary Doug Kreeger had to have the hole dug and foundation walls poured.
The following photos were taken during week #1 (concrete block week) and may offer you the sense of accomplishment that we feel working for God.


Monday morning - 3000 concrete blocks in the hole, ready for construction. The walls on either side were of the neighbor's properties. There was approximately 32 inches of open space between the neighbor's walls and the church walls.	It took no time for people to get busy setting up scaffold, mixing mortar, and supplying block to the masons.

There were several nationals laboring along side us. It could not have progressed as it did were it not for the local church members pitching in.	This is Laney, our block cutter. He spent a day and a half cutting the centers out of 600+ blocks necessary for making a row of channel blocks to add rebar and cement for support in the walls.

By the end of the first day, walls were really taking shape and it was time to add another level of scaffold for the men to go higher.	Day #2 had men working so hard that the two cement mixers making mortar had a hard time keeping up with the masons laying block.

Men were in the hole and out working on every aspect of the building to get the job done to the best of their ability. Only the best for the Lord.	By the end of the second day, the side walls and the back were completely up, including the gable end.

As you can see, the building is quite tall, at least for this part of Santiago. The scaffolding was set up 3 levels.	This is Johnny 'Queso'. He stopped for a drink at the end of the day to catch a little down time. He's the youngest on the team... turned 26 years old on the Saturday we returned. That's not his real last name. It just stuck somehow.