Our Apartment... Getting Closer

The floor plan as it is now.

We finally have the keys to our apartment. Svetta has been waiting for the apartment to be finished for almost three years. Now that it is finished, they still have not hooked up the gas because not everyone has paid for it, and there are still a lot of things that will need to be done or redone. The company that was building the building is bankrupt and just needed to finish the project as fast as they could. Because of this, and several management problems, many things were done incorrectly or not at all. Since the company is out of money and they were able to get the paperwork out to the people who own apartments, the owners now have to pay to have these things fixed and done. However, when it is all done, it will be a very nice place to live! There are four buildings in the complex and people are already living in three of the four. We are in the last one. We are hopeful.

Aside from that, the apartment is bare walls with just plumbing, electric, and some basic fixtures. This means we have to finish the whole thing. We also have decided to move some walls around. Right now it is a two room apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, toilet, and a corridor. We are going to rearrange the layout to give us a bigger kitchen and a living room instead of a corridor with two smaller bed rooms. It is only about 700 square feet, so there is not a ton of playing room. But with some smart planning and hard work I think we can do it. Right now I am working on the floor plan. (I finally get to put to use some of what I studied in community college before I went in to ministry.) I found a free CAD drawing program. It is somewhat limited, but it is good enough.

All this means we will have to live with Svetta’s mom for a while until we are able to get the place in such a condition that we can move in. We don’t need much. All we need is to smooth the floor out, clean the place, wait for the gas to get turned on, and get a washer, a fridge, and a bed before we can move in. We will do the remodeling little by little as we can afford it. I am not sure how long it will take to get it all done. Our main obstacle is finances. I was a carpenter in the States, and I know that I can do pretty much everything that we will need to do. I will just have to do some things a little differently than I am used to. They build a little different over here and they use different materials. But I am sure I will pick it up quickly.

Please keep us in prayer. Pray that the Lord will provide for what we need to be able to finish the apartment and move in. There is a lot we need to do, and we can’t do it without the help of the Lord! If the Lord leads you become a part of our ministry, there is prayer, contact, and support information in the right column. Thank you and may the Lord bless you all!

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