Glass Chariots and Great Progress

I'm not sure how he does it but the painter has not only a talented brush, but a marvelous imagination. It is the God blessed wit and the increase in labor that brought you today's painting.

In spite of the wolves, the pace of labor has picked up quite a bit. The ground has been complete leveled and cleared, although weeds and tall grass has already started to take over the fresh leveled ground.

The ground here seems to be quite fertile. I have cataloged at least two kinds of grass, wheat, a kind of yellow and red flower. I can only imagine what will be able to be produced once the orchard and gardens are put in.

Additionally, the architect has placed all the cornerstones, which took quite a while, but we can be certain they are fateful to the drawing. Practically as soon as this was done a flurry of masons and woodworkers joined the project and begun to place foundation. If you look in the painting you can see the foundations to the church and a few of the buildings beside it.

The artist was not satisfied you could adequately see the work from ground level. So, he imagined a scene where a glass chariot was created by God to survey the grounds. The painting is faithful to the work that has been accomplished, but the height is a result of the artist's imagination.






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Startled awake

Tonight I had a moment where I was praying for the faith of Daniel. It wasn't lions, but wolves that had awakened us. It was a pack of them and all that stood between us and them was a wood door.

As it turned out, a small rock of sheep had wondered onto the property and the wolves followed them. For the most part the wolves didn't pay us much interest. The architect would through bones at one every once and a while, but we quickly learned we could work near them.

They will need to go, though, if we I tend to keep sheep here. The painter captured an early moment on the night of our first encounter.




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Home sweet home

We are still the the process of leveling the new purchase and constructing a wall at the new boundary. As we have done this we have sometime uncovered animal dens. This has created a couple tense moments. We worked to be thankful even for this hardship, but I admit it was a struggle.

Even as this prayer paused on my lips the stonemason arrived early and the architect put them to work building some temporary structures. You can see their simple design in the painting below. To the left you see our bunk house, which has room for three bunks and little else. This is a great improvement over the ground rolls we were using. To the right you see our storehouse. It is currently full of logs from the trees we fell and some of the selected stones from the land.


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Surveying the grounds

Since I last wrote the Lord has blessed this humble scribe. First, a plot of land, much of it already flat and cleared has been donated the the project. Secondly, I have found a painter with a gift for both speed and accuracy in his reproductions of the natural world in pigment. Below you can see the land that was purchased faithfully reproduced by out artist's hand.

I should note that while this project has been blessed beyond expectation, there are some big problems. The architect tells me the plot of land purchased is not big enough for the plans. This means a portion of the wall already in place needs to be brought down. The bigger problem is the direction the architect wants to expand the land there is much turmoil within the land. In one place it rises to the heights taller than any building with sheer and treacherous cliffs. In another the earth is giving birth to liquid fire. I'm told we won't need to deal with the fire, but I can't help but think of the danger so near to our work.

The image below is taken from the cliff we need to remove looking into the already cleared land. I believe it captures but the blessing of the purchase and the work still awaiting us.

My first day as the scribe of this project

It was with some trepidation I took the assignment of scribe for the construction of what I expect to be the grandest Monastery build in our world. But when you consider the purpose for which these grounds will be consecrated and the value of the those asking, I could scarcely refuse. I quietly accepted this role. My external countenance masked the fervent prayers echoing in my own mind; they are prayers not only for the hands of the builders, but for my own, so that I might give the proper honor to this place as it is constructed.

This is the drawing provided to be by the architect.


I've added it to the codex so those who walk the grounds in the future can recognize the power of God. I expect they will be amazed at the insight of the one whose hand penned this, which will pale in comparison to the final masterpiece, which will further pale in comparison to the Creator.

Once we secure the grounds to build, I hope to secure the services of a painter so that we can, in the best of our limited ability, document our progress on this project.