The Ottawa group of weary travellers arrived home last night at around 11:30. Some of us are at work today, trying to work through the reverse culture shock, fatigue and make sense of everything we have done in the last 7-10 days. People at work are asking me"So how was it? Was it fun?" I really don't know how to answer that question right now, but if I had to say something it would be this. It was the hardest mission trip I have ever been on. Between the rain and flooding, the difficulties with the build, the financial shortfall and the extreme poverty, we are all really stunned. Please pray for us as we merge back into our lives. If one of your family members was on this trip, please offer them extra TLC.
I have to say thank you so much to this team. I can't say enough about the grace and love with which you all served. Just one foot infront of the other, washing feet all week. I am praying for you all as you sort through your emotions and try to recoup energy. I have a little story for you. I think you will be able to relate:
Holding up the sky
One day an elephant saw a tiny hummingbird lying on its back with its tiny feet up in the air. "What are you doing?" asked the elephant?" The Hummingbird replied, "I heard that the sky might fall today, and so I'm ready to help hold it up, should it fall."
The elephant laughed cruelly. "Do you really think that those tiny feet could help hold up the sky?" he asked. The Hummingbird kept his feet up in the air, intent on his purpose, as he replied, "Not alone, but each must do what he can. And this is what I can do." - A tale from China.
I know that there were many times last week where it felt like the sky was going to fall. But each member of this team kept their feet up and did the very best they could with what God had given them. For that I am exceedingly proud of you. Thank you Hummingbirds. And if there are any Elephants out there I hope that God will send his Holy Spirit to lovingly teach you, and that perhaps this the example that the Hummingbirds have set will minister to you in Jesus name.
Over the next few days I will be posting some of my favorite pics and I encourage the rest of the team to do the same. It was really difficult to find time when we were there to properly post things but we will continue to try to share with you over the next week or two.
I did not want to finish before I give an update that one of our team members Nicky, {Wendy's sister} was in a bad car accident on her way home last night. She and her husband are both shaken up but by God's great mercy they are physically fine with just some minor injuries. Please pray for them. Pray that Satan would not be able to rob Nicky of the blessing she has just received this week. TTYL, M
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Michelle's post "the last full day"
Well. I think we are all pretty whipped! It was another great day of chaos, hard work and emotional wash boarding. When the first crew left at 6 to cook dinner, the house was in good shape. The exterior was done, most of the wiring was complete, the water pipes were in place, the inside walls were framed and beginning to be panelled. Now it is and the second crew is not back yet. Since its pitch black out I guess the interior lights must be working. Mike said he wasn’t leaving until he was done….
Well the ride home was fun. We were riding in the back of the pick-up when a torrential down-pour started! We were using umbrellas but when I started to Mary Poppins…just kidding it was pretty hilarious though-guess you had to be there.
Good news. I just found out that both Moses and Jason are up for sponsorship. This is very unusual for brothers to be up together. It is because of their dire situation. Also, another little precioso named Mickelson who I love will also be entered into the program in the near future. Praise God! One more sleep, one more short day {it will be a long good-bye}, then head to the airport around 3. See you soon!
Day 9 "Surreal"
A short one tonight. We pulled a 12+ hour straight work blitz to try and get everything done. Close.
It was hard to build today. Part of the problem is that we're finishing the walls inside, so there's limited space to work and move around. Compound this with up to 30 people and kids constantly wandering in and looking around, and it's nearly impossible. At times you just want to scream, but then we remember that we're here "washing feet"; serving them.
The rain has been nuts. The locals say it has never rained like this before. And we believe it. And yet we managed to have a few hours of unexpected sun just at the time that we needed to get on the roof to work.
The surreal part occurred around lunchtime. We're across the street from the local village square, where everyone seems to hang out and watch us. Sometimes they bring out their 10000 watt stereo system and blast some unknown music. We respond by running our generator. We usually win :-)
Today the stereo started and we just blocked it out. Then suddenly a song came on. Some of us thought we were hearing things. It was Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind". And the surreal part was everyone around was singing along; kids, moms, dads, grandparents.
Who would've known...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7f189Z0v0Y&ob=av2e
It was hard to build today. Part of the problem is that we're finishing the walls inside, so there's limited space to work and move around. Compound this with up to 30 people and kids constantly wandering in and looking around, and it's nearly impossible. At times you just want to scream, but then we remember that we're here "washing feet"; serving them.
The rain has been nuts. The locals say it has never rained like this before. And we believe it. And yet we managed to have a few hours of unexpected sun just at the time that we needed to get on the roof to work.
The surreal part occurred around lunchtime. We're across the street from the local village square, where everyone seems to hang out and watch us. Sometimes they bring out their 10000 watt stereo system and blast some unknown music. We respond by running our generator. We usually win :-)
Today the stereo started and we just blocked it out. Then suddenly a song came on. Some of us thought we were hearing things. It was Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind". And the surreal part was everyone around was singing along; kids, moms, dads, grandparents.
Who would've known...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7f189Z0v0Y&ob=av2e
Yet another post from Michelle
Well its our first morning waking up at Makarios house. As usual God has woken me up very early. I think because once the house wakes up, it is so busy that there is little time to reflect. Last night I was reading a chapter from Radical by David Platt. It was all about how once you sign on with Jesus you can expect to suffer. Wow sounds really enticing doesn’t it? Thing is that the Christian life is really hard. When you follow the path He lays out for you its going to be hard. It will stretch you and bring you to the very end of yourself.
But that’s the point isn’t it? Like John the Baptist said-I must get smaller and smaller so you can be bigger and bigger.” More of you and less of me. Sometimes that kind of growing isn’t much fun. We all experienced a little of it yesterday. But you know what? We did it. And He was with us. And no one on this trip will be able to say that God did not do a work in them. And our suffering is so minimal compared to the people in El Saman. We were whisked away to luxury in a few hours. They are still there in that wet cold stack of boards and scrap metal that is there home. Like Greg said yesterday, it is very humbling. Sometimes sickening. But where there is Christ there is always hope and today we get to go back to that place, hug those kids. Sing with them and play with them, and the building team gets to finish helping Jesus build a home for them. There is no end to what God can do with a surrendered life.
Please pray for the weather today. We need to work on the roof and if it is wet it could be "interesting".
Here are some pictures of Miguel and his family, and also what some of the houses looked like after the rain. Hasta pronto
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Things are looking up!
Hi everyone,
Been too busy looking after this crew to post until now. Lots of surprises were awaiting us here as you have seen if you have been following Greg's posts. You never know what the next surprise will be. Well, we are on higher ground now, everyone is fed, have connected with loved ones back home and some are playing games (dominoes) around the table. Some have turned in for the night. We did make it to the beach in Cabarete, although the nasty weather caught up with us there. The team made the best of it and morale is very good. I am glad we went in spite of the weather because I feel like it was a good time for the team to kick back and enjoy themselves after our unpleasant morning. The Americanos have taken us in and we are very thankful for their hospitality. Thanks Josh and Jen!!!
Carolina (a.k.a Carolyn)
Been too busy looking after this crew to post until now. Lots of surprises were awaiting us here as you have seen if you have been following Greg's posts. You never know what the next surprise will be. Well, we are on higher ground now, everyone is fed, have connected with loved ones back home and some are playing games (dominoes) around the table. Some have turned in for the night. We did make it to the beach in Cabarete, although the nasty weather caught up with us there. The team made the best of it and morale is very good. I am glad we went in spite of the weather because I feel like it was a good time for the team to kick back and enjoy themselves after our unpleasant morning. The Americanos have taken us in and we are very thankful for their hospitality. Thanks Josh and Jen!!!
Carolina (a.k.a Carolyn)
Day 8 part 2 "Movin' on up"
Do you remember that old 70's sitcom "The Jeffersons"? Remember the theme song "Movin' on up"? You're probably singing it now.
That was us today.
After a trying morning with never ending pouring buckets of rain we evacuated from our previous mission how in Montellano and ended up at Makarios about 10 minutes away. Needless to say it's kinda like a mansion compared to what we had before.
It's about 10x the size of the old place. Not that the old place was that bad; it just had this small problem of being 4-6" under water. And as much as I like a pool, this one - not so much.
But even so we all agreed that even though it was a lousy start to the day it was a good learning experience for us. We've all had a very small taste of what a lot of people live with all the time. It was pretty humbling...
When we got here due to some God-ordained circumstances (including a bridge washing out) it ended up that a number of our sponsor kids were able to come to the Makarios house for us to visit. We ended up having lunch with them and were all able to spend a few hours with them. It was great.
After the kids went back we wandered down to Cabarete - which is an actual beach. And it rained. And some of us didn't care because hey - might as well get wet anyways.
The plan for tomorrow is to "git-er-done" (which is spanish for "finish the house"). Still lots to do but we trust that God will go before us. We are just His instruments, He has to do it.
And for your viewing pleasure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYcqToQzzGY
That was us today.
After a trying morning with never ending pouring buckets of rain we evacuated from our previous mission how in Montellano and ended up at Makarios about 10 minutes away. Needless to say it's kinda like a mansion compared to what we had before.
But even so we all agreed that even though it was a lousy start to the day it was a good learning experience for us. We've all had a very small taste of what a lot of people live with all the time. It was pretty humbling...
When we got here due to some God-ordained circumstances (including a bridge washing out) it ended up that a number of our sponsor kids were able to come to the Makarios house for us to visit. We ended up having lunch with them and were all able to spend a few hours with them. It was great.
After the kids went back we wandered down to Cabarete - which is an actual beach. And it rained. And some of us didn't care because hey - might as well get wet anyways.
And for your viewing pleasure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYcqToQzzGY
Day 8 "Beach Day"
Sometimes you make plans, and God has other plans. Guess who wins?
The plan for today was as follows:
1. go to church with our Dominican friends
2. have lunch
3. go to the beach and enjoy a relaxing day
God has a sense of humor...
We woke up to the sound of rain. The rain got harder. And harder. And harder. A guy named Noah in an ark floated by. And then it got wet. By 8.30am our entire house was flooded with an inch of water. The road was flooded and whatever was floating in it ended up in our house. The girls and Ben launched into action and we ended up working an evacuation plan. We found a place nearby (Makarios house means "blessing") that happens to be a mission house with nobody staying here.
One problem: the road in front of the house is flooded with almost two feet of water. The first van shows up and manages to get through. But as soon as we're about to start loading, it dies. And it won't restart. So another SUV shows up and we get the girls out. And we wait.
Soon after an unknown silver Nissan 4x4 pickup truck shows up and Josh gets out. Now it's clear that Josh isn't from here; we soon find out that he's actually from North Carolina. He and his wife Jen and their family are the hosts at Makarios and he's here to help. We get the rest of the stuff out of the house and moved to higher ground.
We're settled in.
On the plus side we managed to have most of our sponsor children here for lunch. So that's good.
And the sun is just coming out now. I think the beach came to us.
More to come later...
The plan for today was as follows:
1. go to church with our Dominican friends
2. have lunch
3. go to the beach and enjoy a relaxing day
God has a sense of humor...
We woke up to the sound of rain. The rain got harder. And harder. And harder. A guy named Noah in an ark floated by. And then it got wet. By 8.30am our entire house was flooded with an inch of water. The road was flooded and whatever was floating in it ended up in our house. The girls and Ben launched into action and we ended up working an evacuation plan. We found a place nearby (Makarios house means "blessing") that happens to be a mission house with nobody staying here.
One problem: the road in front of the house is flooded with almost two feet of water. The first van shows up and manages to get through. But as soon as we're about to start loading, it dies. And it won't restart. So another SUV shows up and we get the girls out. And we wait.
Soon after an unknown silver Nissan 4x4 pickup truck shows up and Josh gets out. Now it's clear that Josh isn't from here; we soon find out that he's actually from North Carolina. He and his wife Jen and their family are the hosts at Makarios and he's here to help. We get the rest of the stuff out of the house and moved to higher ground.
We're settled in.
On the plus side we managed to have most of our sponsor children here for lunch. So that's good.
And the sun is just coming out now. I think the beach came to us.
More to come later...
Day 6/7 "Washing Feet"
Hi everyone, hope you are all well.
The last few days since my last post have been full of ups and downs. The build is coming along well but a little over budget and a little behind schedule {washing feet, washing feet....} Also it rained like crazy yesterday eve and the road was more fit for canoes than cars. Our mission house flooded and lots of stuff got wet. Then the toilets backed up so we are now one toilet for 15 people {washing feet, washing feet...}. Haha.
On the good side, we had a proof that our work with this church and our support of Compassion is truely a blessing. Last night in our house we had 4 young people visit us. All 4 of them grew up in very poor homes with stories similar to Jason, Moses and Luna. Out of those 4, one young woman was a newly graduated university student who is now practising as a doctor. The other is finishing up her university and will also be a doctor. One of the young men was a business consultant and the other, Benjamin, is still in university and serving the Lord as our field missionary. The proof was right there before our eyes. I know a lot of people are unsure about sending money overseas because they are not sure it makes a difference. I'm telling you it does and these 4 young people were living proof. All of them are involved in bringing up the next generation of kids so that those kids can have the same opportunities they had. Here are 3 of them. Benja was studying at university and wasn't there for the picture.
Dios es bueno-todo el tiempo!
Another good thing. Today I had the blessing of bringing some food to Lude and her family. It was so special. She told me she loves me and she called me mother{I think I am younger than her}. Here is a picture of all of us.
Sometimes being here can be like beauty and the beast. There are so many 'beastly' things here. Things that frustrate you, break your heart in ways that you don't want to be broken. But there is so much beauty to be found if you are looking in the right place and if you allow Jesus to show you. It reminds me of the song by Geoff Moore Every Single One-I've seen Jesus standing in the cold. I've seen Jesus, He is young and He is old. I've seen Jesus in the eyes of all His daughters and sons-every single one. God is in this place, I can feel it. He is on the move. Check out these photos.
Update on the build. We've managed to get virtually all of the siding and roofing completed. The doors and windows were installed and it's really starting to look like something.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Post from Michelle
Michele Elstone says:
Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know a little about my experiences in El Saman so far. One of my goals for this trip was to find out a little more about the family of the baby I'm holding in my facebook profile picture. His name is Jason. He is now 2 yrs old and and absolutely adorable. He loves to have his picture taken and poses with a huge smile when you ask him to. I don't know how he is such a happy little boy though, because yesterday I was able to find out his families story through a neighbor who is a young university student who speaks 4 languages, one of them being Creole which is the language of Jason's family. Jason has a brother named Moses and a sister named Luna living at home and 2 others who have moved on. Jason's mother's name is Lude. She is a Christian woman and attends the babtist church in the area. This is what she told me;
“I have 5 children, 2 are older. We live here but I don't really know how. I used to have some things I could sell to get food but I have sold them all and have nothing left to sell. If it were not for others who give us some food we would not eat. We are hungry most of the time. My house is very small and the roof leaks. When it rains it is very bad for us. At one time I had a husband but he left us some time ago and we are alone now.”
Its raining this morning. Hard. I can't help but sit and worry about my new friends. Maybe they are in bed wearing the rain jackets I gave them yesterday. They are probably hungry. I just don't know what to do about this but write to you and cry. But it forces me to ask myself why am I the blessed one? Why do I get to live in a big house with all I need and they don't. It forces me to again see the connection between God's blessings and God's purpose. God may have given it TO me but its not all FOR me. I am meant to be one who distributes God's blessing. I am one who has more than enough and therefore if I am to honour God with what He has given me I have to recognize that its not all mine. Lude is a Christian woman and I wonder what her prayers are like. Quite often mine are so trivial. Maybe she has prayed to God for rescue. Maybe God has sent me.
Lude's son Moses is one of the new kids who has just been enrolled into Compassion and he is available for sponsorship. I'm going to ask my brother and sister-inlaw if they will take him so that I can stay connected with this family. I know that once Compassion is involved, things will improve for this family. In the mean time I will pray. I'll pray for Jason's family and for all of the kids from this little slum, many of whom have similar stories. There are 100 new kids in this area available for sponsorship. 60 are coming to me as an advocate at Compassion. If you are interested in sponsoring one of the least of these little brothers or sisters, let me know in some way. I am on facebook, my e-mail is micheleelstone@hotmail.com
Stay tuned for pictures of Lude and her family.
Alex, Mallory, Damian and Paul, I miss you guys a lot and I hope you are doing really well. I know that when I plan these trips and I'm away, its a sacrifice for you too. I hope you are proud of the sacrifice you are making so that others can be helped and loved. Hasta pronto, M.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Day 5 "Je suis un pamplemousse"
One of the obvious challenges when we come to a different culture is language. Here in the Dominican Republic the primary language is spanish. Some of the people down here also speak some english due primarily to the tourist trade. In the Haitian neighbourhood where we're building and ministering to the folks here the primary language is Haitian (obviously) - a mix of french and creole. But they also speak spanish.
So since we're here some of the folks are taking the opportunity to learn or extend their spanish. This has caused no end of rolled eyes or even gut-busting laughs from our wonderful hosts. For example (apologies to anyone out there who actually speaks or reads spanish):
"tengo mucho calor" : I am hot (as in it's hot outside)
"yo soy la patrocinadora de ____" : I am the (female) sponsor of ______
"?como se dice esto en espanol?" : how do I say that in spanish?
"grande ponzu" : large tummy (some of us seem to get this a lot from the kids for some reason...)
"como te llamas?" : what is your name? (literally "what are you called?")
"cuantos anos tienes?" : how old are you? (literally "how many years do you have?")
...
But that's just part of the story.
One of the encouraging stories here involves Joselito - the son in the family that we're building the home for. When the team was here in January building a home for another family he accepted Jesus into his heart. When we came back now it was clearly evident that Jesus was alive and well in his life. You could just see it in his smile, his attitude, just everything. It's evident in his face.
Here's Galen up in the roof.
And Andrew too...
We'll post more pictures as we can.
We've got the roof completely framed and the exterior walls completely up. We start putting on roofing and siding tomorrow, and windows and doors arrive on Saturday.
It's late so we'll post more tomorrow.
So since we're here some of the folks are taking the opportunity to learn or extend their spanish. This has caused no end of rolled eyes or even gut-busting laughs from our wonderful hosts. For example (apologies to anyone out there who actually speaks or reads spanish):
"tengo mucho calor" : I am hot (as in it's hot outside)
"yo soy la patrocinadora de ____" : I am the (female) sponsor of ______
"?como se dice esto en espanol?" : how do I say that in spanish?
"grande ponzu" : large tummy (some of us seem to get this a lot from the kids for some reason...)
"como te llamas?" : what is your name? (literally "what are you called?")
"cuantos anos tienes?" : how old are you? (literally "how many years do you have?")
...
But that's just part of the story.
One of the encouraging stories here involves Joselito - the son in the family that we're building the home for. When the team was here in January building a home for another family he accepted Jesus into his heart. When we came back now it was clearly evident that Jesus was alive and well in his life. You could just see it in his smile, his attitude, just everything. It's evident in his face.
It's great to see. In the background is Benjamin (in the red shirt) our host, and Ventura who's our construction guy here.
Here's some more pictures for your enjoyment...
We'll post more pictures as we can.
We've got the roof completely framed and the exterior walls completely up. We start putting on roofing and siding tomorrow, and windows and doors arrive on Saturday.
It's late so we'll post more tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Day 4 "Contrasts"
We've managed to get some internet time thanks to our friends down here. A few of us are madly facebook and gmail'ing.
Today we managed to get most of the exterior walls up and all the roof trusses built. We even got 8 of 13 installed on the roof. It's starting to really look like a house.
With the whole team here we've been off doing various things. As one team builds another connects/reconnects with families and children we've met before. And still others just take time to play "ring around the rosie" with the kids at the build site. Everyone seems to be having a great time.
I think we're still suffering a bit of culture shock. It's challenging to look around and see nothing but poverty. And yet the people here seem so happy. Content, even.
And there's the contrasts. Just a few miles down the road is Puerto Plata and miles of high end resorts for "touristas" to come and soak up the sun.
We've been very fortunate. The build site is shaded most of the day so it isn't stifling hot. Still pretty warm.
More pictures to come...
Today we managed to get most of the exterior walls up and all the roof trusses built. We even got 8 of 13 installed on the roof. It's starting to really look like a house.
With the whole team here we've been off doing various things. As one team builds another connects/reconnects with families and children we've met before. And still others just take time to play "ring around the rosie" with the kids at the build site. Everyone seems to be having a great time.
I think we're still suffering a bit of culture shock. It's challenging to look around and see nothing but poverty. And yet the people here seem so happy. Content, even.
And there's the contrasts. Just a few miles down the road is Puerto Plata and miles of high end resorts for "touristas" to come and soak up the sun.
We've been very fortunate. The build site is shaded most of the day so it isn't stifling hot. Still pretty warm.
More pictures to come...
Pictures (finally)
Here's some pictures from the trip so far...
Nikki with a friend...
Some important construction discussion...
All the lumber has to be treated. Yolanda (on the left in the striped shirt) is the woman whom we're building the house for. Her son Josilto is in the red hat (thanks to Pastor Ryan!)
The power company (turn your head left)
Michelle with some of the kids in the area...
Wendy with some friends. Not sure who's having more fun.
The infamous lumber yard. We're on dominican time here...
The common area of the mission house.
There's more but it's suppertime.
There's more but it's suppertime.
Day 3 "Blocks"
Today we got started on the main reason for being here - building a house. After unloading the truck in the dark into a locked house we started the day by checking out the foundation. It was almost finished but there were some unexpected challenges. For example, it wasn't square, rectangular, or even a rhombus. No, it was an interesting five-sided shape that had elements of a a square, but nothing close.
Our initial presence in the area where we are building caused a bit of a stir. There was a small mob of people watching us as we started. Eventually our "audience" drifted away as our discussions of how to frame this thing were less interesting than the rest of their days. But we always seem to get a group of children, always greeting us with a friendly "ola!" in a tiny voice. Heart warming to say the least.
Some of the team met kids and families that they've known from previous trips. And some met their sponsor kids. Many happy reunions.
We managed to get two side walls framed and standing today.
The remaining team members arrived just before supper. All thirteen of us are now together. Needless to say things are cozy in the mission house but we're doing fine.
Oh the title of todays blog. When we were cleaning up our worksite at the end of the day, there were a small pile of tiny wood blocks and pieces. We would normally call those trash. The kids excitedly took them and started playing with them. New toys.
Kinda puts a perspective on things.
Oh, pictures are coming asap. We're still working on internet issues. We try to daily blog but your mileage may vary.
Our initial presence in the area where we are building caused a bit of a stir. There was a small mob of people watching us as we started. Eventually our "audience" drifted away as our discussions of how to frame this thing were less interesting than the rest of their days. But we always seem to get a group of children, always greeting us with a friendly "ola!" in a tiny voice. Heart warming to say the least.
Some of the team met kids and families that they've known from previous trips. And some met their sponsor kids. Many happy reunions.
We managed to get two side walls framed and standing today.
The remaining team members arrived just before supper. All thirteen of us are now together. Needless to say things are cozy in the mission house but we're doing fine.
Oh the title of todays blog. When we were cleaning up our worksite at the end of the day, there were a small pile of tiny wood blocks and pieces. We would normally call those trash. The kids excitedly took them and started playing with them. New toys.
Kinda puts a perspective on things.
Oh, pictures are coming asap. We're still working on internet issues. We try to daily blog but your mileage may vary.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Day 2 "Ten Hours in Santiago"
After an adjustment sleep we left to go buy supplies - more groceries; kitchen things; stuff for the house we're building, and most importantly - wood.
First of all, we're buying wood to build a small house. So this isn't a couple of 2x4's. So we wander down to Ferreteria Ochoa which is the local equivalent of Home Depot or Lowes. And it's not around the corner; it's about 70km away in Santiago.
By the way, Wendy is fanning me as I type this. Talk about service!
Back to the store. So after an hour or so we finally agree on a list of materials and price for all the building materials we need. And because everything is in pesos, it makes it hard to comprehend whether this is a good price or not. "How many pesos to the US dollar is it again? 38? 238? 1,000,002?" But we get the list.
Now we have to go to the lumber yard. It's across town. Off we go. We start with the lumber guy. After he counts and stacks most of our lumber we realize that some of the lumber is dimensional, and some is full-cut. For example consider a "2x4". A dimensional 2x4 is actually 1-5/8"x3-1/2", whereas a full-cut 2x4 is 2"x4". Now if you're not a construction expert that's okay, just understand that you can't mix dimensional and full-cut lumber. It just doesn't work.
That made the lumber guy mad. So Benjamin and Mike had to go into the office and straighten it out. And the guy behind the desk doesn't do that, the girl that handles exchanges does and she's on lunch.
Whatever.
While Mike and Benjamin are working on this, Galen and Greg realize that the roofing that they call "3x6 foot" is in fact "2.7x6.1 foot". After some brief calculations we're short two sheets of roofing. Another trip to the customer service desk for Mike and Benjamin.
Whatever.
Now we get all our lumber from the lumber guy. But where's our roofing sheets? Oh that's the roofing guy, and he's somewhere around.
Whatever.
Now we realize that we don't have the nails that we bought. And it's hard to build a decent house without nails. So off to the nail guy. But our paperwork is missing a magic yellow sheet, and the nail guy won't budge. No nails. "Non clavo".
At this point Mike goes back into the office to "discuss" the situation with the nail guy. And he returns with nails.
We all feel at this point that Mike needs to change careers and become a hostage negotiator with the NYPD. He'd be so good that if he was dealing with a hostage taker with one hostage, he would talk the guy down, free the hostage, and get another hostage in the deal for free.
Now we have the lumber. We need to travel back to Montellano. It's about 70km back from Santiago. Halfway back the wood starts sliding off the truck. After stopping the delivery guy we attempt to go "North American" on the situation and solve it. He just ties some more rope around it and off we go.
Whatever.
Long story short, we get the lumber to the site and unloaded and stored away.
There's lots more about our trip to Santiago but time's wasting.
Tomorrow we start building in earnest.
Or so we hope.
First of all, we're buying wood to build a small house. So this isn't a couple of 2x4's. So we wander down to Ferreteria Ochoa which is the local equivalent of Home Depot or Lowes. And it's not around the corner; it's about 70km away in Santiago.
By the way, Wendy is fanning me as I type this. Talk about service!
Back to the store. So after an hour or so we finally agree on a list of materials and price for all the building materials we need. And because everything is in pesos, it makes it hard to comprehend whether this is a good price or not. "How many pesos to the US dollar is it again? 38? 238? 1,000,002?" But we get the list.
Now we have to go to the lumber yard. It's across town. Off we go. We start with the lumber guy. After he counts and stacks most of our lumber we realize that some of the lumber is dimensional, and some is full-cut. For example consider a "2x4". A dimensional 2x4 is actually 1-5/8"x3-1/2", whereas a full-cut 2x4 is 2"x4". Now if you're not a construction expert that's okay, just understand that you can't mix dimensional and full-cut lumber. It just doesn't work.
That made the lumber guy mad. So Benjamin and Mike had to go into the office and straighten it out. And the guy behind the desk doesn't do that, the girl that handles exchanges does and she's on lunch.
Whatever.
While Mike and Benjamin are working on this, Galen and Greg realize that the roofing that they call "3x6 foot" is in fact "2.7x6.1 foot". After some brief calculations we're short two sheets of roofing. Another trip to the customer service desk for Mike and Benjamin.
Whatever.
Now we get all our lumber from the lumber guy. But where's our roofing sheets? Oh that's the roofing guy, and he's somewhere around.
Whatever.
Now we realize that we don't have the nails that we bought. And it's hard to build a decent house without nails. So off to the nail guy. But our paperwork is missing a magic yellow sheet, and the nail guy won't budge. No nails. "Non clavo".
At this point Mike goes back into the office to "discuss" the situation with the nail guy. And he returns with nails.
We all feel at this point that Mike needs to change careers and become a hostage negotiator with the NYPD. He'd be so good that if he was dealing with a hostage taker with one hostage, he would talk the guy down, free the hostage, and get another hostage in the deal for free.
Now we have the lumber. We need to travel back to Montellano. It's about 70km back from Santiago. Halfway back the wood starts sliding off the truck. After stopping the delivery guy we attempt to go "North American" on the situation and solve it. He just ties some more rope around it and off we go.
Whatever.
Long story short, we get the lumber to the site and unloaded and stored away.
There's lots more about our trip to Santiago but time's wasting.
Tomorrow we start building in earnest.
Or so we hope.
Day 1 "Whatever"
We've arrived safe and sound. All our luggage arrived without incident which is a huge relief.
We were greeted at the airport by some Dominican friends.
We've moved into the mission house. Lots of room for all of us.
Because there wasn't any food we had to go to "La Sirena", which is a little like WalMart. Only with a food court. Many things are familiar but some things are different.
We had some premier Dominican cuisine - Dominos pizza.
One of the things we decided coming down is that we need to be doing things as the Dominican people do; after all, we're here to serve them. And the Dominican pace is, shall we say, much more relaxed than the standard North American approach. North Americans have a plan and agenda, and the end goal is the objective. The Dominican approach is all about relationships; the end goal is the relationship.
As a result it takes real effort for us North Americans to "slow down" to the Domincan pace. Our motto then for the trip is "whatever"; if something isn't happening at our pace, "whatever." If the driver wants to stop and talk to a friend, "whatever."
I should work more on this blog. Whatever..
We were greeted at the airport by some Dominican friends.
We've moved into the mission house. Lots of room for all of us.
Because there wasn't any food we had to go to "La Sirena", which is a little like WalMart. Only with a food court. Many things are familiar but some things are different.
We had some premier Dominican cuisine - Dominos pizza.
One of the things we decided coming down is that we need to be doing things as the Dominican people do; after all, we're here to serve them. And the Dominican pace is, shall we say, much more relaxed than the standard North American approach. North Americans have a plan and agenda, and the end goal is the objective. The Dominican approach is all about relationships; the end goal is the relationship.
As a result it takes real effort for us North Americans to "slow down" to the Domincan pace. Our motto then for the trip is "whatever"; if something isn't happening at our pace, "whatever." If the driver wants to stop and talk to a friend, "whatever."
I should work more on this blog. Whatever..
Day 1 "Whatever"
We've arrived safe and sound. All our luggage arrived without incident which is a huge relief.
We were greeted at the airport by some Dominican friends.
We've moved into the mission house. Lots of room for all of us.
Because there wasn't any food we had to go to "La Sirena", which is a little like WalMart. Only with a food court. Many things are familiar but some things are different.
We had some premier Dominican cuisine - Dominos pizza.
One of the things we decided coming down is that we need to be doing things as the Dominican people do; after all, we're here to serve them. And the Dominican pace is, shall we say, much more relaxed than the standard North American approach. North Americans have a plan and agenda, and the end goal is the objective. The Dominican approach is all about relationships; the end goal is the relationship.
As a result it takes real effort for us North Americans to "slow down" to the Domincan pace. Our motto then for the trip is "whatever"; if something isn't happening at our pace, "whatever." If the driver wants to stop and talk to a friend, "whatever."
I should work more on this blog. Whatever..
We were greeted at the airport by some Dominican friends.
We've moved into the mission house. Lots of room for all of us.
Because there wasn't any food we had to go to "La Sirena", which is a little like WalMart. Only with a food court. Many things are familiar but some things are different.
We had some premier Dominican cuisine - Dominos pizza.
One of the things we decided coming down is that we need to be doing things as the Dominican people do; after all, we're here to serve them. And the Dominican pace is, shall we say, much more relaxed than the standard North American approach. North Americans have a plan and agenda, and the end goal is the objective. The Dominican approach is all about relationships; the end goal is the relationship.
As a result it takes real effort for us North Americans to "slow down" to the Domincan pace. Our motto then for the trip is "whatever"; if something isn't happening at our pace, "whatever." If the driver wants to stop and talk to a friend, "whatever."
I should work more on this blog. Whatever..
Sunday, November 20, 2011
And so we wait...
The team is all here in Toronto. Woohoo! We've come from Sudbury, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and all points in between. Great to be together.
However, the flight to Puerto Plata is 2 hours late. Boohoo.
Westjet is great. They're giving us meal vouchers as we wait. Time for lunch...
However, the flight to Puerto Plata is 2 hours late. Boohoo.
Westjet is great. They're giving us meal vouchers as we wait. Time for lunch...
Bon Voyage!
Hey team,
So proud of you all for stepping out in faith like this! You are God's servants!
Have a safe trip. I will see you down there in a few days!
Care
So proud of you all for stepping out in faith like this! You are God's servants!
Have a safe trip. I will see you down there in a few days!
Care
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Departing tomorrow
The first group departs tomorrow morning and will arrive in the late afternoon. Please pray for a safe journey and for all the baggage and tools to arrive safely.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Flights are booked
Hi everyone,
I booked the rest of the flights from Ottawa today.!!! Yay! We are really going! Praise God!
I booked the rest of the flights from Ottawa today.!!! Yay! We are really going! Praise God!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
On Our Way!!!!
God has been so much good during this time, the foundation, septic tank and basement have been setted up. In this litle community in El SAMAN, the majority of the people are haitian, most of them had been without working for months, so in this sense the opportunity to work at list four two days is a blessings for these families...Guys this is going to be a clear and powerful testimony of what does redemption mean, God is williing to reach this people.
I am IN.......Are you IN????????
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