Back to work!

It is Monday...no not like that Monday....IT WAS MONDAY!!  😁

We were excited to get back to the worksite today after having the day off yesterday.  Today was a day of wall building, but also of breaking down walls (barriers).  We got to know many more of the congregation members today as we worked alongside of them.  We learned more names (and forgot a few) as well as what they do for work or what they are going to school for.

We began the day again with prayer over the worksite by the local pastor and then began tearing off the forms from the lower bond beam.  Next was laying block and more block.  By noon we had the north wall completed and the south wall about 1/2 way up.  

At noon, we enjoyed another meal prepared by the ladies of the church

The afternoon continued the block laying and then also forming up the first of the columns on the north wall.  By the end of the day, the north, south and 1/2 of the east walls were up and all the columns on the north wall were poured.  It was a good ending to a good day.

We had lots of help with any tasks we were doing

We continue to enjoy our view and the future view of of the church window.

Sunday

What a day! We enjoyed a day relaxation in the local area which was highlighted with an evening worship service at a local CR church currently lead by the pastor who will be leading the church we are building. A rain shower caused the road we thought we needed to take to become impassable. We tried to make it up the steep path but the attempt ended with all of us getting out and pushing the van back on the path and backing down onto the main road.

Soon after we realized there was a better path and we were able to make it up a remote river-bed to the church shown in the picture below. 

Due to the rain shower the crowd was smaller but the enthusiasm was lacking nothing. We gathered in song and praise with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are rich in their love for bring praise to God. The singing and prayers were with such sincerity that even with the language barrier we could sense their love for Jesus. The team sang a few songs in English and we concluded our service with greeting of handshakes and hugs to one another. We were blessed.

1st day onsite

Hola! Buen Dia!
     Saturday was our first day on the work project.  We started our day with prayer and introductions.  Pastor Moses shared with us his thanks and praise to God for answers to prayer for a new church building.  It is humbling to see how God works and answers prayers, even through the hands of people from Sioux Center and many others, of course.

     If you expect that a project in the Dominican will go like those in the US, you would be mistaken.  We may have needed more supplies.  Those supplies may have taken a while to get there.  By the end of the day, you would have no idea that any of this occurred.

     Our group had the privilege to work along a large number of local congregants to continue work on the church.  We laid some block, made some re-rod cages , and poured a substantial bond beam.  Local women provided a delicious noon meal.

     The location of our hotel may be along the ocean.  That location provided us with refreshing break after a great day on the job.  An evening meal was enjoyed, and we ended our day with group devotions.

Travel to the site

After breakfast this morning, we went through some orientation/presentation about the Ministry here in the Dom. Rep.  I would invite you to check out sinergiaflt.org and find out about all the exciting things happening here!

After that, we packed up the van with our bags and all the tools, had lunch and then headed out for our 4 hour trip from Santo Domingo to Los Patos.  It is really a beautiful country and a lot of diversity, from city to agriculture of sugar cane, plantains, tomatoes, corn, etc.  A little further along and there are mountains and coastline and even desert and cactus!

We were glad to finally reach our hotel around 5:30 pm

We decided to check out the construction site before eating, since it was just a little over a mile down the road. The congregation had gotten a great start and had the foundations laid and ground mostly leveled.

As you can see, we will have some great views while working on this project overlooking the water 

Thanks for all your prayers for safety in our travels and for continued prayers as we start work tomorrow and that God's kingdom may be spread and shown to all those who we encounter.

First Morning in DR

We arrived in Santo Domingo and were able to have get to the ministry at 1:00am. When I go to different countries one of the things I find interesting is figuring out the rules of transportation, Dominican Republic is no exception. The biggest adjustment was having roosters outside our window. I can probably count on one hand my interactions with roosters. It was a quick moment to help me switch mindset for the next 10 days. I cannot expect simple things to be the same and they might seem to be irritating but it is all part of life here, and part of my life for remainder of the trip. For breakfast we were able to hear stories of Guido, a Hatian, and his journey to believe in Christ but also how he became involved in his work now with the denomination and ministries. 

Today we will be traveling to our work site in Los Patos.  Please pray for safety in travel.

For those who have been here before, it was a sad day....the old grey van was retired 😫   We have a different van for the trip. 

On our Way!!

We are just getting ready to take off from Atlanta for the final leg of our flights.  So far, everything has gone smooth and we plan on being at the Ministry Center in Santo Domingo late tonight.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

2020 Trip - Getting Ready!!

The Faith team is getting ready head to the Dominican Republic on February 20th through the 29th.

This year, the team will be working in Los Patos (the ducks) which is about 3-1/2 hours west of the capital of Santo Domingo along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic.  The project is working alongside Pastor Moise LaFleur and the CRC congregation to build a church building as they are currently meeting in a rented house.

Please pray for the team and the congregation in Los Patos.  That we may bless them and they may bless us during this experience.

The team:
Steve Boer
Karla Byl
Jon Dekkers
Dave Eekhoff
Scott Hulstein
Brent Kooiman
Glen Mouw
Duane Postma
Jesse Punt
Lisa Smith

Thank you for the support from Faith CRC to provide for the building materials for this project and for supporting and praying for us and our families.

We love to hear from you via comments to our posts while we are gone.

If you would like to see what we will be doing, please check out the previous posts below from previous years.  This project will be very similar to those.