Arrival and Day One

We are so grateful! After an exhausting day of travel, we finally arrived in the Dominican Republic safe and sound last night. The only casualty of travel was one of Jason's bags; the one with all of the tools. It will likely catch up to us soon. After driving to the ministry center, we all managed to fall asleep in short order, despite the rooster that mistook our 1:00 AM arrival as a signal for his morning alarm clock routine.

After breakfast we packed into vans for our first day of work. All of the cinder block walls were standing tall. Progress was slow on the construction side of things, but we did begin to form some relationships with some of the members of the congregation that we are supporting. Communication was a bit challenging with a lack of translators, but more often than not, we were able to make our points clear. Our first task was to put on the top plate for the trusses. As part of the team worked on that process, others began making calculations and measurements for the trusses. We did have some work that will need to be redone, but we have the resources to make short work of it. We are hopeful for a much more productive day two.

Al had a chance to hold a baby for a while and it was quite obvious that he was in the grandpa zone.

A couple of us were inspecting the lumber and wondering as to where it was from. One of the team members said, "Oh. We got it from behind that building over there." We did have a chuckle at his expense.

One of young local boys suggested that Jim looked like John Cena of WWF fame. That also gave a few of us a chuckles.

I'll start our prayer request off with a call for prayers for Shelley Postma. She has been having some significant health issues and medical attention has been very challenging. Please keep our whole team in prayer for building on the relationship seeds that have been planted. Pray for our construction efforts and safety on the job site. Pray for the congregation that we are partnering with.