Day 8 - Finishing Up

The skies were over cast as we drove up into the hills. Nice cool and hazy! Duane gave us all instructions at breakfast so we knew our tasks. After piling out of the van and scurrying to our tasks on the site, we noticed that Duane was speaking to a young man and sensed frustration. In Spanish, "Work must stop now! You have no permit, if you don't stop now, the military will come to demolish!" Oh my. What to do. Duane was alone, no Pastor present yet. Duane kept trying to compromise, "Let us work today and we won't come back tom!"(as we would be driving back to Santo Domingo anyways) :) No go. No deal. "You must stop AHORA!!" (NOW)

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. 

Do not be terrified, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9. 

God  answered our prayers in a BIG way, that the man who was bold and said he was NOT a Christian when Duane asked, did not come back to stop our labors! After Pastors arriving and phone calls made to respective persons, it was decided to continue with the building. Praise God, there were no more interruptions. Guido (man in charge of construction) came from capital and took care of the legalities.....or so we hope.

So the building continued!  Concrete was mixed, and another form was poured.  Even Melissa and Lindsay got involved in mixing concrete.  

Leo came down with hundreds of donated hurricane straps from Canada and Jesse took 20lbs of them donated from Vreugdenhil Construction.  Here Leo is utilizing these straps on the new house!  

Soon after the guys started to get things ready for the rafters and the tin to be put on. BJ avoided a trip to the ER as Steve and his first aid kit came to the rescue after a piece of tin disagreed with his forearm. Next it was Jesse's turn with his finger. He patched himself up and went back to work.

Meanwhile, the ladies continued painting nails, playing keep away frisbee, coloring, taking pictures, jumping rope and assisting when needed with the work. Baby Jelmy, this lad is too cute for words, don't you think?! His stoic face never changed:) I was just glad he didn't scream at the sight of white people like Freddy did 2 years ago!

Down pour - rain happens here rarely so when it's pouring they praise God! Most  people hustled to the church for cover. Lots of people in a small space! Trying to keep people entertained we started using James Van Wyk's name board that he so kindly lent us to capture the name with their face! Ciana and Alancia were two of the Pastor's daughters from Sitio Nuevo, along with Wilfania and Eveline, some of you may remember them?! This board was a fabulous tool in helping us to remember names! Since it's hard to understand them, seeing it spelled out was super!

We said our goodbyes. It was a flurry of activity. We handed out New Testament Bibles, left clothes (for the Pastor to distribute), coloring books, crayons, 57 bottles of nail polish and headed down the hill. Right now all the guys are strategically loading the van and truck and we hope to head back to the capital.