First of all, I want to say “thank you” to all those who have been praying for the team. I cannot tell you just how much they mean to us. There was a sense of God’s presence with us the whole day.
As far as the day went, I guess I should start by saying we had cake for breakfast. The hotel where we are staying is owned by Italians, so I suppose it’s an Italian tradition. If it’s not, then I’d strongly recommend starting it. In addition to the cake, we had fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, and ham and cheese sandwiches. It’s not the typical American breakfast, but it’s good as is the coffee.
We arrived at the school in La Romana and surveyed the work remaining. It was originally a one-story concrete block building, but previous teams have added the block walls for a second story. A lot of work has already been done, but a good bit more remains. We bent LOTS of rebar to place in the forms. We’ll start pouring concrete in those forms tomorrow morning. The hope is that by the time we finish the building will be ready for the roof.
Pastor Juan and his wife were gracious. His wife runs the school. We had a few of the boys from the community there to help as well as some hired workers who “know the system” down here. If we tried to do things the American way, it would fail miserably. This is a cooperative effort as it should be.
It’s not all work. We took time today to interact with the boys and build relationships. Building something may show we love them but not as much as holding hands, giving hugs, and letting our lives touch their lives. It will be these boys who go out and gather their friends for our VBS later this week.
We also met with the pastor and his wife to discuss the best way to do some evangelism in that community. We will go out either Friday or Monday to distribute Spanish New Testaments and share Jesus. Our desire is to point them back to the church where they can be discipled. Church members will go with us as our interpreters.
We got a treat on the way back to the hotel – we stopped again at Jumbo and got ice cream at Bon’s. It wasn’t Blue Bell, but it was quite good.
After dinner tonight we had our nightly devotional – we do this morning and evening, though it is longer and more interactive in the evening. We miss Barry and his guitar but Stacy and an iPod are working very well.
Tomorrow we pick up where we left off. We should sleep well tonight after a hard day, but we’re all looking forward to getting back and getting started tomorrow. Everyone is safe and God is blessing. Thanks again for all your prayers.
Be Transformed 