What Happened?

A few months ago we erected a tabernacle for a church in a village named Matapira.  The church was meeting under a thatch roof, with only one wall, so they definitely needed a structure of some type.  A few days ago I received some bad news concerning the tabernacle.  The pastor phoned me to tell me that it had fallen.  It seems that it fell during the night when no one was close by.  We are grateful for that since there were no injuries.

When I travelled to the village to inspect the fallen tab, I discovered that four cross-pieces had been removed from the structure.  These cross-pieces are used to strengthen the structure, being removed only when a brick wall has been constructed.

No one is sure how this happened, but it did.  The cross-pieces were not stolen, and they were not damaged – indicating that they were removed before the tab fell. 

The damage was quite extensive as you might imagine.  All eight legs were destroyed, and all four trusses were damaged on each end where the legs attach.  The legs will have to be replaced and the trusses will have to be brought back into the shop where we can cut out the damaged areas, and rebuild them.  Fortunately, nothing else was damaged.

 

 

 

 

 

I have no idea as to why someone would remove the cross-pieces.  It could be that they wanted to steal them, or that they wanted to steal the bolts, or they wanted the tab to fall.  The church members are all a bit scared, because this area is known for powerful witchcraft.  I did what I could to explain what happened and encourage them to trust God.  The pastor told me that an elderly woman came to his house on Saturday before the tab fell on Monday.  She wanted him to prayer for her, but he refused to because she was not born-again, and had no desire to convert to Christianity.  He said that since her departure from his house, “nothing has worked” there.

The sad part of the story is that this church has no resources for rebuilding.  If you would like to help with the repairs and reconstruction, please contact me.