Birthday Tuesday

Today was another great day for our team and members of the church who have been helping to grow a little more in relationships.  Now you may think because of the language barrier and culture difference that it would not be possible to get to know each other very well, but those differences will only stop you if you let them.  The people are extremely hospitable and are starting to open up to us and we are having lots of laughs and enjoying working together.

Today was also a special day as Brent Kooiman celebrated a birthday as well as a young man named  Modesto.  He is one of the pastor's sons and is the man who runs the show because of his expertise in building.  We got to sing happy birthday to both of them and it was a joyful moment for the both of them.

Our work day consisted of laying block, making re-bar cages, forming concrete corners and bond beam, and ending with pouring concrete.  With all the mortar and concrete work it is not an easy job since both are mixed on the ground and carried from there by hand.  The Haitians are pros and their system is very impressive and we work together to get in from the pile to the walls by human chain.  Its one of my favorite parts of the project to see people different race mixed in a line to accomplish the same goal. 

We finished our work about 4:30 today so we got an opportunity to jump in the river and the ocean to cool off before supper which was very refreshing.  We again enjoyed a Dominican meal of rice, chicken, noodles, toastones, and they even made us mashed potatoes!! We ended the day with devotions and some history of Dominican Republic and some snacks.