Students International-New Base Construction

The new gazebo above the water Cistern!

2010-05-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

In early April Jayson York and Dave Dossett came and helped us finish up the gazebo that we have been waiting for so long. I hope you enjoy looking at these photos as much as we are enjoying the gazebo. Thanks guys for your heard work.

Well we are even closer to finishing the New Staff Office Area

2009-06-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

Well we just got launched forward into outer space so to say as far as getting the upstairs staff area finished. Thanks to Perly Schoville, Chuck Sands, and Jeff Mills. They were able to cut up 43 sheets of plywood and build a variety of cabinets. I told Perly when I sent him the drawings they only had seven cabinets to build. What I didn't tell him was some of them were 15 feet long. Well thanks guys for all your hard work. They did three weeks of work in 5 days. You have blessed us richly here in the DR and we will always remember you as we begin to use what you have created.

May 2009 New Base Staff Office area nears completion!

2009-05-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

Check out that polished red concrete floor. This is the are that will be getting a 15 foot computer work station the first week of June. We have all the windows and doors finally installed. Thanks Wintonbury Baptist for your generous donations. This will be the area for our staff kitchenette. The first staff meeting in the new staff office area. May 12, 2009

Update on Staff and Office area of the New Base

2009-02-27T09:19:00.000-08:00

As you can see we have been able to get all the walls painted. Thanks to Clinton Brick Mennonite Church that gave a donation from there Missions Sunday offering we were able to get all the walls painted. Thank you Clinton Brick Mennonite for be faithful with what God has entrusted with you. We continue to ask God for the provision to finish this area. We have new Team Directors here now, Josh and Vicki Matthews and soon they will be needing an office. We have others coming this fall that will need office space as well. So we are confident that God will allow us to finish the vision that he gave us several years earlier. You can see that we still do not have windows and doors in yet. Well we just received word this week that the $5,000 dollars that we needed to put those in, has been approved to send. Thanks to Wintonbury Baptist Church who have been such faithful supporters of SI over the last number of years. So soon we will be able to update you with photos of the area with all it's doors and windows. Praise God for His faithfulness. We feel we need about $10,000 more to be able to move into this area. It probably won't be totally complete but will be good enough for us to be able to utilize it. We need about $2000 to clean and polish the colored cement floors. We need the other $8,000 to finish four bathrooms, put ceilings in 8 rooms, the rest will be in final finish things. We are praying this will come soon. praying with us that God in His time will supply all that is needed to move into this area. We believe it will happen during this year even though this is one of the worst years the economy of the US has seen. God is still faithful he never changes and he does not depend on the wealth of the world. Praise God always no matter what the circumstances are and we Praise God always for all of you that continue to support us with your prayers and finances. Blessings

Hofsommer team

2008-10-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Hofsommer team from Middlebury, Indiana, arrived Thursday evening. They will be working on the roof of Lowell and Cheryl's house at the base. Here's a few photos of what they've been doing so far: The ladies hard at work in the kitchen:

The Staff work and office area! Will it be able to get finished by Jan. 1, 2009?????

2008-08-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

We are hoping and praying that we will be able to finish this area soon. We had a fantastic summer and everything went like clock work. But we have been without a good staff area now for about 2 years and we are really starting to feel the pressure to finish this area. We need to raise about $50,000 to finish this area off completely. Naturally we will start as soon as we have a portion of it but will need this amount to finish it completely. This area will provide us with six individual offices, two bedrooms each with private bathroom, a conference area with a kitchenette, staff work area with computers, printer and copy machine, and two common bathrooms. This will be a huge boost for our staff and their ability to function efficiently. Thanks for your consideration in helping us complete our dreams for this Staff and Student Center. Office area Entrance and office area Staff work area and conference area Conference area

The Baskets are final up and ready for use!!

2008-08-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Marlin, Travis, and Nick Gerig we were able to erect the the new basketball poles and install the backboards. Thanks guys for all your hard work in the sun last week.

New improvements!!!!

2008-07-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

Check out our new Basketball Court and volleyball area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited.

Praise God we were able to move into the New Kitchen and Dining Room on time for the Jupiter Group!

2008-03-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

Check out how far we have come since Dec. 15 till now!

2008-02-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

This is what it looked like on Dec. 15. This where we are today. Praise God for His faithfullness.

Progress continues to be made. March move in looking like a possibility!

2008-02-07T02:54:00.000-08:00

Progress on Feb. 1, 2008!

2008-02-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who have come in these last two weeks, to make all of this possible.

A Great Week of Progress!

2008-02-01T02:52:00.000-08:00

The Nebraska group makes progress!

2008-01-22T19:33:00.000-08:00

Stayed tuned for more up dates coming soon!

Welcome Perly, Eric and Chuck and Great work Dominican crew!

2008-01-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

These guys arrive in the DR this morning at 4:45 am and still got this much done today. Thanks guys for you hard work and dedication. This is the Dominican Crew all working on saturday. Thanks guys for all your hard to make this dream come true.

We have the end in site and we are on a roll!

2008-01-12T14:39:00.000-08:00

We have the toe kicks in place for our cabinet builders who are coming on Jan. 19 Our dining room that is waiting for paint, windows and doors. Isn't that looking nice! Stay posted because next week we have Rich and Marv Schmucker coming and they are going to make this building come alive. The second story is starting to take shape. We have a goal of finishing as much of this building as we can before May 1, 2008. Continue to pray for the needed funds and the help to get the work done.

Second Story floor poured!!

2007-12-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

What was supposed to be a early morning pour soon turned into an early afternoon pour. I think the first truck arrived around 12:00 pm. Because we were pouring the second level floor we needed to use a concrete pump. It wasn't exactly the easiest pour either because of re-rod and electrical tubing. The finished product. Another rustic red floor. Cristian, Melvin and Anthony puting on the first coat of sealer. Praise God we have good this far this quick. We are still hoping to be able to move into the first floor in March. Pray that all the needed funds will come in, in time to finish on schedule.

Progress continues despite lots of rain!

2007-12-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

We are now ready to start plastering inside and out on the first floor. We are planning to pour the second story floor this week and then start putting the roof on the front entrance area and the back entrance area. Continue to pray the funds will keep flowing and we will be able to finish the downstairs area before march.

New Progress of the last week!

2007-11-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

Praise God we are progressing rapidly and it really is starting to feel like we can see the end. Pray that the remaining funds will come at exactly the right time to finish by March 1, 2008

Beginning the final phase of Construction!

2007-10-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

This first floor of this building will be our new kitchen and dining hall. The second floor will be our staff offices and work area.

As you can see we are beginning the final phase of making this dream come true. It has been a time of learning to depend on our supplier, who is God himself. It hasn't always been easy and we have had our battles and continue to feel the opposition of our enemy, but we are learning to lean on God and to keep our eyes fixed on him. We still have a ways to go and need your help and support. First of all we need for you to just pray for perserverence. It is always easy to start new projects, but it takes the strength of God to complete what He has given us to do. So could you join us in prayer to see this project through to the end. Second we still could use some funds to complete the work. God has a plan and purpose in this as well. Maybe God is calling you to help us finish what He has asked us to start. If so we would love to hear from you. You could contact Lowell Troyer at (cell)809-710-8879 or (e-mail)lowelltroyer@hotmail.com or call the SI office at 559-627-8923. We would love to hear from you and hear how God is using you to further His Kingdom in this present World. Thanks to all of you that have genenerously responded to God's call by responding financially and have made this become a reality. Blessings in Christ, Lowell Troyer SI/DR Field Director

The Day before moving to the New Base

2007-09-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning finishing touches Cleaning up behind Chapel getting ready for sidewalks Doesn't that sidewalk really make the The Chapel look good. Take a look at the kitchen that is finished in the Chapel. Thanks Perly and Billy for all your hard work Doesn't the inside of the chapel look great!!!!! What about these dorm room??? Nate preparing floors for sealer. Thanks Nate for your patience and dedication to making these floors look great. Wow look at how the inside of these dorms turned out. The cistern final done and ready to be filled. 20,000 gallons of gravity flow water what a blessing not to have a pump. Nate,Maggie and Cheryl still smiling after a long day of preparing

We are making progress and planning on moving in a few weeks!!!

2007-08-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

William power washing get things ready to paint. Painters painting the porch railings Christian and Alfonso getting ready for shelving in the dorm rooms The plumbers setting stools in the dorm bathrooms The guys plastering the cistern that will hold 20,000 gal of gravity flow water Nate and Tyler painting the inside of the Chapel Wow, doesn't the "The Chapel" look nice.

Progress during the first week of July!

2007-07-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Chachi Rodrigues from Tulare Ca laying ceramic tile in the bathrooms. Billy one of our summer interns working with Christian laying ceramic tile Check out those showers What do think about those sinks!!! The electricians running all the wiring in the Chapel Can you believe we have back doors on the dorms We are finally started on the Cistern. Check out that paint job!

God's Provision for this week!

2007-07-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

Praise God Katie's family was able to come and spend a week with her. Dave, her father, and Jacob, her brother, wanted to work at the New base this week so I arranged a few things for them to do. Wow what a blessing they were. You will see below some of the projects that they completed in just one week. Dave cutting the sinks to fit the openings. Jacob putting up the supports for the sinks. A new sink cut perfectly to fit and not destroyed while cutting. Truely amazing!!!!! This area is now ready for ceramic and for the sink to be connected. Ceilings in the bathrooms of the Chapel. Doesn't that look great? Dave assembling bathroom doors. Jacob closing in the above the sill plate with screen. The whole gang that worked this week. Right now we are going full bore trying to finish these four buildings. The doors and windows are ordered. The ceramic is here to install. All the fixtures to do the finish plumbing is here sitting in the warehouse. I will do my best to try and do a new posting evey week for the next month or so. Continue to pray now for the funding to complete the two-story building which is the kitchen,dining hall and administration building. We would like to start closing that in with in a month. Again thanks for your prayer and financial support during this last year and a half of construction. Blessings

Wow! We really did do it all in two days! Praise God

2007-06-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

The Chapel building has a floor in it. We are so excited because we really moved this project forward again in just two days. Keep praying for us as we finish up these four buildings. We mixed almost three hundred bags of cement in just two days and we could of done more. It was all God. We recieved money on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday we poured all the floors. Thanks again for your prayers in this process.

We did our best to Floor it today!

2007-06-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

This is where we started this morning. We had the gang here at 6:00 am sharp but then our finishing crew did not show up until almost 8:00. They not only finish the concrete but they also level it and float it. So we were stuck until they came. Then they were only a half crew and we had a crew and a half. But all went well and we got floors in two of the three dorm buildings today. They really look nice. The sealer is on and they are a beautiful red color. Praise God for his faithfulness in the middle of trials. Anthony got the honors of bringing in the first wheelbarrow load. One of the construction students trying his hand at wheeling concrete.

This is the construction site at it's best. Everyone has a job just the way Brian always has it planned. Here is one of the finishers running the power trowel. Here is the finished product. Tomorrow we will finish with all the floors in the dorm rooms and the Chapel Praise God for his provision of money just in time so we can finish these four buildings in the next couple of months. Stayed tuned for the upcoming action.

Praise God we are moving forward on the New Base Project

2007-06-10T09:05:00.001-07:00

Praise God for His faithfulness during the last year and a half of construction. We feel we are finally turning the corner in this project. The only one detail that is giving us some challege is the financing to finish. We could really use $25,000 immediately to help us finish the the three dorm rooms and the chapel in the next two months. Please prayerfully consider what God would be asking of you to help finish this job on time. Thanks again for all your support We have been working inside most of the month of May because we had rain almost every day. So we concentrated on getting the dorm rooms done as much as possible. We have them ready for floors. The electrical tubes are in the floors and the wire mesh is down and now we just have to pour and finish them. We are hoping to do that in the next couple of weeks. If you would like to help us with this part of the project we need roughly $5,000 to make it possible. You can also see that we are in need of doors and windows. The windows for the dorms and chapel cost $5,000 installed and the doors about $3,000. We could really use your help. As you can see the bathroom walls are all in place. We have them all plastered except where we will be installing ceramic tile. We also worked on this during the rainy season. It will cost us approximately $5,000 to finish six bathrooms with 2 showers, 2 toliets and 2 sinks in each one. Maybe you could help us with one or more?? Last and not least we have started working on the septic system again since the rain has subsided. Myron Mullet will be returning the end of July to install everything and make sure it is working properly.

The Dorm Rooms are now all plastered!

2007-04-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

Don't they look great! The dorm rooms are ready for floors and paint.

Hey new shoes for the workers-Thanks Donnie Ott

2007-04-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

They all made the trip well and we had no problems in customs. Christian eyeing his new prize Rudy looking them over good. Rudy and Son having fun picking out their new shoes. William taking a pair. Fico taking his turn Melvin with a huge smile while getting his new work boots. This is a very contented group of guys with brand new boots. Thanks again Don for thinking of this.

New Base Septic Project

2007-04-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here you can see the three stage septic tank being layed up with block This area is where the water will be filtered before reentering the creek. Another view of the filter box. It is real difficult here to use a drain field type system to get rid of your gray water. Myron Mullet from Colorado is helping us design a way to clean the water before putting it back into the eco-system. It should be a great example to the community on how simple water treatment plants can be made. Thanks Myron for your help.

We finally have more to show on the Progress of the New Base

2007-03-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

Today we dug the area to put in the septic and filter box. Last week Myron Mullet was here again for one week and helped us plan out what we are doing for the septic. He is planning on returning the second week of April to install all the water lines and infrastructure for the septic. We have a one week team here right now. They are installing the facia trim metal and painting. Dan Yoder from Middlebury is also here. He is here for several week. Dan has been working on putting all the ceilings in the bathroooms of the Dorm rooms. Dan has been a huge blessing.

Day five - What a fabulous finish!!!

2007-01-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

This is what it looked like at about 3:00 pm on Friday afternoon! This is what it looked like at 4:00 pm as the guys finished up! I just want to say thank you to all that came on and made this outreach possible. For me this has been the high light of this project so far. Only in my dreams could I imagine getting all this work done in one week. But let's take time to praise God for his faithfullness during this outreach. It never rained one drop during the work time, that is a miracle this time of year. No one was injured during all this work. We had minor things happen like some bug bites and a few stitches but nothing serious. We had all the materials necessary. Everyone worked togather well and we had a great time. God was here with us and he showed his faithfullness and the work that was done was a testimony to all that observed it. Special thanks to George Hofsommer for leading this team. Also special thanks to Vern Heacock, Phil Heacock and Roger Hoover for your leadership in building the roofs. God used you all mightly this week to further his kingdom here in the Dominican Republic. Blessings to all of you until you can return.

Day four of the ROLF and Heacock Outreach!

2007-01-26T03:12:00.000-08:00

We just wanted you to know really how much revelation 15 year Paul Marner got on this trip. He has decided that God is calling him to be a taxi driver in the DR. We thought maybe he should test his skills first. Hope Janelle has good insurance!!! Tyler decided that he needed a shot in the arm to keep him going. So we turned Doctor Alba loose on him!!! Nothing like team work to get the job done. Coffee break time. We could all use more of these! Trennis you the man! Go Lamont! Don't those dorm rooms look nice wth the porches on them? It is totally amazing what a difference a few people can make in one week for the Kingdom of God. Would't it be amazing it we live and worked like all the time. The world would change right before our very own eys. Thanks so much to all of you that have been supporting this project both financially and in prayer.

Day three progress!

2007-01-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

I am sorry not to have any action shots from today. You will just have to see the progress in the buildings. As you can see we made great progress today. We have all the metal on two of the four roofs and should have all the metal on all four roofs tomorrow. We have a lot of detail stuff to do yet but we are confident we will be able to make a huge difference tomorrow. Blessings and keep checking for more updates. Remember to keep praying for the funds to complete this project. We still need between $125,000 to $175,000 to get us moved into the facility. Thanks so much for your support.

Day two of the Outreach!

2007-01-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

Ellen, Ruth, and Amy painting again. Willie and Ruben Miller playing roof monkeys! Ray, Mitch, Brad, and Lamont building knee walls! The heavy equipment at work again. Vern Heacock, Laban Miller and Verle Stutzman cutting out and assembling trusses. Trennis Vaughn and Brad Dewald framing the third dorm room. Wes Miller up on the ladder. All I have to say is, where is the keyboard? A good look at many of the gang at work. Well, what do you think of the progress of day two? I think it is amazing what is getting done in such a short time. I wasn't sure we could get all four roofs done in five days but I am starting to believe it is possible. Praise God for perfect weather so far. It has been around 80 each day with lots of sun. Too bad for those of you from Indiana that didn't come!

Day one proves to be a very successful day!

2007-01-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

The women that came to paint are getting right to work the first thing in the morning Vern Heacock being assisted by Jose Ignacio on laying out and cutting the rafters for the Chapel Building Phil Heacock is the other master mind behind the the Chapel roof. He is being assisted here by Rueben and Willie Miller. Day one was very successful on the Chapel. We have four rafters in place and most of the other are cut waiting to be installed. Good job guys. The team of guys working on the dorm rooms was headed up by Roger Hoover. Here you see Tom and Mitch Mosier and Brad DeWald forming a team to assemble rafters for the dorms. Who says you need equipment to do heavy work!! We are still not sure of this team? Trennis Vaughn and George Hofsommer, two pilots putting on roofs. Good job guys!!! Day one results of the dorm rooms. I think it is going to be a fabulous week. Keep checking for more up dates.

Welcome River of Life and The Heacock Teams! First Outreach of 2007

2007-01-21T17:44:00.000-08:00

The teams all arrived safely and with all their luggage Saturaday night. Praise God for his protection and grace for a long day of travel. As always we don't have any extra room just enough to get the job done. This is what the teams have to start with on Monday morning. Vern and Phil Heacock will be directing the work on the Chapel building. Roger Hoover, a United Airlines pilot and good friend of George Hofsommer, will be leading the work on the dorm rooms. They told me tonight that they would be golfing on Friday so check back in to see daily progress.

Week of Dec. 8, 2006 Wow look at those Dorm Rooms taking shape!!!

2006-12-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

Pouring the viga for the first dorm room. Isn't God so faithful!! We can't wait to have people stay in these dorm rooms.

New Base Construction Progress Report- December 2, 2006

2006-12-02T12:52:00.001-08:00

Jonthan Thompson and Leon Bushee did a great job of getting the warehouse painted. It has a few areas that need some paint yet but is really close to having everthing done. Great job guys!! Leon and his wife Natalie stayed in the apartment this last week so now it is ready for guests and waiting for Carlos to move in. It is really exciting to see things come to completion. The Chapel has come a long way in the last month. The group from the "The Chapel" in North Canton, Ohio did agreat job of poring the cement beam around the top. It is now ready for a roof which we are planning that River of Life from Middlebury In. will do that in January. Then it will need to have the plastering done and the floor poured. We can't wait to use this building. The last several weeks we have been concentrating on the three dorm rooms. For those of you that have been here in the last two months you probably think that things are going pretty slow. One thing that has held us up is doing all the back fill by hand. We have finally finished and have most everything back filled to floor level. It you have ever moved tosca (that is the rock and dirt fill that we use) with a shovel, you know it is no easy task. We moved 300 cubic meters of material, mostly by hand. For that reason it has taken a while but we are on the move again. The first dorm room is ready for the cement beam above the windows and the second will be ready on Tuesday of this week if it doesn't rain. Our goal is to have the three dorms ready for roofs by January 20, 2007 when the group from River of Life comes. Praise God for His faithfullness!!! Sorry to say there has been very little progress here. The building company finally got the stairway fixed and it looks good now. We also installed the wire mesh on the second floor so we are ready to pour concrete. For the most part we have not done much here in the last month. This is what is going to be the cistern. Right now it is a small swimming pool. It will hold 20,000 gallons of water when complete and have a nice gazebo above it that will provide an exceptional view of the mountain. The cistern will provide constant gravity water flow to all the construction below. Continue to pray for us as we continue to be faithful to what God has called us to. We have spent about $200,000 on this project and need about another $100,000 to be able to bring the project to a some what completed stage. Our target date to complete the project is April 30, 2007 but may not be realistic. If not, then we will hope to be done sometime in the fall of 2007. Thanks to all of you that have participated in this project and have prayed for us. We love you and cherish your support. Lowell Troyer SI/DR Director

Fall Family Outreach in the DR and some decided that Construction was the easy way out!

2006-12-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

Wow, look at that mottly group of rednecks and Dominicans working togather. Well they got a lot of work done and sure had a good time doing it. Now this is quite the team here. I am surprised they didn't kill each other trying to paint this building!!!! I only had to go untangle the hose from around their legs several times all week. No really they did an excellent job. Thanks guys Noah Thompson I think you found your calling in life. Family outreaches really do work! Hey when all else fails go haul bricks. These guys thought they were in Egypt!

The Chapel team finishes the race well!!

2006-11-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

Mitch says come on guys let's move it a little faster They made forms and forms and more forms Then there was the famous toska stone that everyone enjoyed shoveling! NOT We even had the human concrete pumpers working during the week Wow, now that is starting to look like a building What a great construction team. Thanks guys

The Chapel team during their first days of work!

2006-11-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

The Chapel Team Arrives in the Caribbean!

2006-11-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

The team arrives safely after trying to leave Pastor Bennett in New York!

Two Pilots land in the Dominican Republic

2006-10-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

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!

Day Three and Four of the Outreach

2006-10-17T04:23:00.000-07:00

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!

Day One & Two of the Outreach!

2006-10-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

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

Can you believe we started here!

2006-10-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

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.