Day 3 - Continuation of the Roof

Day three - and the concrete making and pouring continues!  Its been a few hard days for our men as the making and pouring of concrete is all heavy manual labour.  The guys are working with a crew of Dominican nationals.  Some of the men are shoveling the concrete onto a platform, others from the platform to the roof and then from the roof into a wheelbarrow.  Then the wheelbarrow is taken to where they are working and dumped.  They are now done the third section and have another full day, maybe two to go.  Please pray for the men on our team as their bodies are not used to the heat and the hard work.  Often we hear them say, "The spirit is willing but our bodies are weak." 

We have had lunch provided by a few ladies at the school each day - a hot meal of rice, vegetables, meat, salads, bread and more.  They have a continual thermos of amazing Dominican coffee always there and been treating us to cake and cookies for afternoon break.  These humble ladies have been a beautiful blessing to us.

The ladies of the team have continued to draw water from the cistern and we joke that we feel like Rachel getting water from the well...LOL  We bring water to the guys on the roof for the concrete that is drying so fast in the heat and we fill three large blue barrels that they need to mix the concrete.  We also get drinking water for the men who are working behind the shovel and on the roof as we are all sweating buckets.  We also worked on some re-bar today and may do more tomorrow.

We have taken time to interact with the kids and they love getting their pictures taken and then being able to see the pictures of themselves.  Often we get mobbed trying to show the pictures to them.  The language barrier is there but with many gestures we are able to 'speak' to the Dominicans....smiles, laughter, hugs and handshakes also go a LONG way!  We find that our relationship with the kids, the workers and the teachers is growing as we show the love of Christ through our smiles, kind words and gestures.  Sharing pictures of our families helps too.

Gord, Nicole and Michele travelled to Belen where there was teacher training going on.  Michele has been talking to many administrators, teachers and leaders and Gord and Nicole were photographing and filming the intereviews, area and the kids.

Our day starts with breakfast at 8am - this morning it was pancakes and delicious fruit.  We have devotions together and then get ready to go and are usually at the job site by 9:30am.  The hottest part of the day is just before lunch.We usually arrive back at the Ministry Center by 5:30pm, supper at 6 and devotions at 7.  Our days are full!  Evenings are spent catching up on our emails, playing cards, singing, reading, taking a shower and getting to bed on time....mind you, once it cools down and we're sitting outside in the 25C weather - its hard to get moving :)

Blessing to you all - pray for healthy, strong bodies so that we may continue to do the work set before us.  Pray for humble, gentle spirits as we relate to the people we come in contact with.  Pray that the fellowship within the group will continue to be so amazing and that we will all be Christ's hands and feet to the people in the Dominican Republic.

Trying to upload pics but going really slow - will try again later.  Wilma