Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Two Pilots land in the Dominican Republic

Captain George Hofsommer flying with United Airlines and Captain Dave Mast who flys with US Airways arrived in Jarabacoa during the last couple of days. They have been taking a break from the routine of flying and trying thier hand at painting, doing all kinds of handy man jobs and seeing what it is like to be on the smart end of a shovel. Below you will see a couple photos of them in action. I think after today, flying airplanes will look like a sweet job again. Thanks guys for your hard work!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Day Three and Four of the Outreach

How many more shovels full do we have to put in there! 100 more get out of here! The bucket brigade on the prowl! I sure wish you guys would hurry up so I could get finished! Come on men let's get this done today! Jose Ignacio telling some Dominican story again before dinner in the community You don't have to eat it if you don't want to! Well I will eat if your not going to! What a great week of our lives. I will never forget this one!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Day One & Two of the Outreach!

We always started with a good Breakfast! As you can see sitting down on the job was permitted! Sometimes we needed team meetings to understand what we were doing! Come on is this a cistern or a swimming pool? Electrical! You mean we have to put a wire in there? I Think I can reach it from here! If you would turn up the pressure I could shoot this paint a little farther!

Welcome Country Bible Church & KZ/Sportsman groups

Well the teams got in safely and everyone is well. Keep checking in for updates on what is happening this week!

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Can you believe we started here!

In march of 2005 many hours were spent planning how this dream that God had put in our hearts was going to come true. Thanks Brian Andrews and the crew from Design Collaborative in Fort Wayne In. For helping us get a great start. It is hard to believe that in Feb. of 2006 this piece of ground looked like this. We began by cutting the the orange and tangerine trees that covered the area and then began the process of turning this orchard into what God had saved this land for. As you can see we had to move almost a mountain to make the area where we wanted to build level. We hauled out 280 truck loads of clay and hauled in 150 trucks of good clean material that is of road base quality. It is just a little like life, get rid of the old and be filled with the NEW! We had to build retaining walls to hold back where we had cut into the side of the hill. In sixty feet we had more than five feet of fall. Not to much problem with water wanting to stand anywhere! Well anyways we now have a level place to build on and it is not upon the sand either! The first building to be completed is our warehouse. It contains a breakroom for all the hired workers, a maintenance office, and a beautiful apartment which is going to be Carlos's new home soon. WOW!!! One hundred fifteen cubic meters of concrete and just look at all the rebar we used. This is the foundation for the two story building. We had to build on a monolithic slab because of building on compacted fill. The New SI Staff and Student Center. The first floor of this building contains our new kitchen and dining room areas. The second story will contain the the staff offices and conference area. Should be a nice view from the second story!!! This actually happened today Oct. 4, 2006. We are now going to have this building under roof. God is so Good! This is one of the foundations of the three dorm buildings. We have another 2000 blocks arriving tomorrow to continue the building of the three. Each of these three dorms will hold 20 people comfortably. Just think two showers, two stools and two sinks for each ten people. What a blessing this will be when you're on a SI outreach. Last but not least is our Chapel building. The Chapel is being sponsored and will be built with hands from a Church called the “The Chapel” in North Canton,Ohio. God has done and continues to do some of the most amazing things you have ever seen in your life. This is a dream project that God has put in our hearts and is completing it before our very own eyes and in His time. This is about the work of the Kingdom of God and winning Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic for Jesus. This will be a place where people will come and be ministered to, both outreach participants and people from all over this precious island. If you would like to be a part of what God is doing in the Dominican Republic through Students International please contact us. All of the contact information is on our website at www.stint.com. Thanks for considering being a part of this project.