“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.”
Psalm 127:1a
I’ve always been struck with the audacity of these words penned by Solomon, the great temple-builder and king. All of our plans, investments, expertise, and grueling labor come to naught when we go at it alone. If God’s not doing the work, it’s all just wasted. The concern isn’t simply shoddy construction quality without God’s involvement. It’s far worse than that. The concern is that you will give your life to something that, in the end, will have been pointless, meaningless, and just a big waste of your time. Nobody has time for that.
Certainly, this verse is primarily metaphorical and can be applied to a variety of contexts. But when you’re actually building a house, it’s probably wise to listen up. It is in that spirit that we have sought to seek the Lord in every aspect of this project. We are laboring to build the kids at New Hope Children’s Home a brand-new house but we are trusting God and asking Him to do the heavy lifting.
We wanted to offer this update to you, our incredible donors, to be transparent with the process but also that you might join us in asking God to be our architect and builder in every detail. So be informed but allow this report to inform your prayers, too.
Fundraising
Donors: 106
Repeat Donors: 25
Total Given: $153,894
Total Pledged: $10,000
Goal: $250,000
Still Needed: $86,106
We Need A New Builder
We spent many months researching and interviewing builders in Mongolia before the pandemic. We selected a great company and fleshed out our concept with them. Unfortunately, this company shut down their construction arm after COVID-19 hit and now only focuses on insulation. We have spent this last year interviewing new builders but communication has been an incredible challenge due to widespread lockdowns in Mongolia. We are having ongoing conversations with several construction companies and are very hopeful to have a new builder chosen very soon.
Please pray for Spirit-led clarity for our leadership team and provision of the best builder for this project.
Material Prices Have Increased
As it is worldwide, this pandemic has greatly affected Mongolia’s imports, skyrocketing material costs. Quality materials are still available but at an increased rate. For this reason, the current proposed estimates we’ve received from prospective builders have been higher than what we originally budgeted for construction. Luckily, the increase still falls within our overall project budget because of the 15% buffer we originally included. The hope and expectation is that prices will be lowered once transit lines reopen.
Please pray that transit lines soon reopen and quality material costs decrease.
We Prefer An Updated Land Certificate
Mongolia has unique land ownership laws, compared to what we are familiar with in the USA. It is common for people to occupy land they do not officially own but this does come with an inherent risk of forfeiture. WEGO has an official land ownership certificate on the area around our current houses (which we pay taxes on) but it does not cover the area where we would prefer to build, although it is still within our fence. We are hopefully at the end of negotiations to officially attain that section of property. We can still build on our current land (if needed) and we could even still build on the unofficial land but we would obviously prefer to hold an official land certificate on that section.
Please pray for favor with the appropriate land authorities to officially acquire all of the land within our fence line at no additional expense, outside of property tax.
Our Timeline
We greatly desire to build our house this building season, April through October 2022. The need increases with each passing month but so do the expected challenges of building during a pandemic. A 2023 build would most likely lead us to relocate the children to warmer lodging for this upcoming winter. In order to accomplish a build this year, we must finalize our builder, finalize building plans, and resolve the land issue quickly. Although, we have the funds to begin the build now it is our great desire to have all funds accounted for (just $86,106 more) before we break ground. We feel a great urgency to see this home built this year but we are at the mercy of COVID lockdowns and the unknowns created by this pandemic. Even so, we firmly believe the logistical challenges are in God’s Hands, He alone is our builder, and He cares for our children far more than we ever could. Luckily, His timing is always perfect.
Please pray we are able to build this year!
We Need You To Pray And Give!
1) Petition God with these urgent requests
2) Make a financial pledge or give sacrificially today: wego.org/home
3) Give generously to our general fund to help overset the home build giving: wego.org/give
We can’t wait for the day our children freely run around their new home for the first time, without fear of cold, mold, or house decay! Thank you for investing in that moment through your prayers and generosity today!
