Work Day #3 in La Romana

 Good evening family, friends, and followers.  We have had another great day here in the Dominican.  It has been hot but God has provided ways to escape it.  The VBS team today had a large tree to cover the area where they were working with the children.  The construction team had cloud cover and a breeze that helped to break the heat.  Here's more of what has happened since our last post:

This morning we had a good breakfast of French toast, meats, and fruit.  We then hit the road toward our worksites but with a slight detour on the way.  We were given a tour of the Rodney Henrickson School in one of the suburb areas of La Romana.  This is a school that SMBC has had 2 different teams work at in 2016 and 2018.  (My first time in the D.R., my previous youth group also worked on the school).  We were met but a small group of students who offered a greeting and gave us pamphlets about the school.  The administrator of the school told us more about the school and gave us a tour of the facility.  The school has over 500 students in it including a new class for special needs students.  We were able to see flowers that were painted by some of our team back in 2018 and took pictures with Mike next to the one Marti did and Tim and McKenzie next to the one that Abby painted.  

After the tour we headed back to our regular routine.  As we pulled up to the VBS site, kids came running.  There were about 40 kids that participated in the activities that our team and translators led.  The construction team spent more time sifting sand and digging for the porch foundation and leveling the floors inside the home.  The team was able to meet two ladies who are receiving the houses.  Each house built is a duplex that serves two families.  The house that we are working on happen to be going to two brothers and their families.

Since returning to the Casa Pastorale, the team has showered, had another amazing meal, and enjoyed a special time of worship and devotion.

Tomorrow we will be working again at different sites.  It is a special day as it is Liam's birthday!  We will have special ways to celebrate him.  

Here are the ways that the team shared that they have seen God at work today:

Stephanie: Kid making sure Zachary had a chance to try pushing the wheelbarrow again after dropping it and a village girl trying to take it away, then helping Zachary keep it balanced.  Also, working without words with the two ladies that will be receiving the houses we are working on. We worked really well together and never spoke.

 Zachary: Tim asked for a pen and one was sitting three feet from him

 Meara: got into the little school building, too small for all kids, preparing to be in all the sun all day, we went out and there was awesome tree to provide shade. It was beautiful and had cool seeds, but we got pooped on

 Nora: girl that started fanning her when she said she was hot

Adeline: after she fell and was forced to take a break, some girls saw her knee and started to try to clean it for her and braided her hair (Adeline's knee is fine.  It just has a tiny cut.)

 Megan: whole VBS crew cooperated, had to do a lot on the fly, trusted each other and God, everything went smooth 

 Kenz: Took a nap at lunch time

 Sami: painting nails and everyone was enjoying it, even the boys wanted blue nail polish...leadership of VBS had good communication within all the craziness on the fly. Everyone working together to keep it all cohesive

 George: had 4/5 older kids in back of VBS. Had the opportunity to coax them into being a part of the group. Got them involved and thought it would be a lot harder

Brooks: there's a little girl and older girl. Older girl was making sure the younger girl was taken care of

 Gretchen: Christiana taught her how to sift sand. Christiana's dedication and taking few breaks. The three Watson's working together 

 Mike: trip to school

 Steve: past couple days reminding him of Dennis Brinley

That's all for tonight.  Keep looking for God at work in your life as we look for God at work here in the D.R.