Forward By His Grace (edit, back)

In 2004, Living Springs Overseas Missions began construction of a 6,000-square-foot vocational building at their orphanage in India. It would house the necessary facilities for a fully functional vocation training program.

Soon the footers were poured and some village laborers were hired to finish the ground floor. The project also received a boost by being included in the 2006 ASI Convention offering. Then everything came to a sudden halt.

The village secretary came to the site, angrily ordered construction to stop at once, and threatened legal action. Living Springs later discovered that the problem had arisen from their laborers. Apparently they had hired workers who were members of a different political party than that of the current village government. Many meetings with officials of the village and district ensued.

A building permit was delayed for several months as the opposing political parties argued amongst each other. During this delay Living Springs received the first half of the $30,000 allotted to them from the ASI offering. And after some time, the building permit was reinstated.

Construction resumed, and so too the conflicts. In the spring of 2006, an order was placed for steel at a significant discount. The steel would provide support for the second floor roof. Months and months went by and no steel arrived, only the vain promise, “Next week the order should be finalized.”

The first ASI project report would soon be due, and construction was significantly behind schedule. Living Springs’ Jacob Wayd felt impressed to go forward in faith and told the workers to begin putting up the scaffolding for pouring the roof.

No prospect of steel was in sight, and the workers continually asked when it would be delivered. But just when the scaffolding was finished, the delivery came. A full year had gone by before the steel finally arrived, but God provided when it was needed most.

Vocational training actually began before the building was finished. Some of the older boys at Living Springs assisted with brick laying, plumbing, wiring and painting. They also helped weld the windows and doors, an experience they had been wanting for some time. They were so interested in their work that many continued after the day’s scheduled stopping time.

This past autumn the building was finally completed. All of the rooms are in use, and only some landscaping remains.