Update for Day 1, 2, and 3

Tuesday - Day 1

We all arrived safely around 11:30 pm in Santiago. Every aspect of our travel went smoothly. No lost luggage, no cancelled or delayed flights, no customs dilemmas and we had the GO ministries group waiting to pick us up right outside the airport. It took about 15 minutes to get to where we are staying in Santiago. When we arrived, we were served a light dinner, learned about the customs here in the DR, and prepared our sleeping arrangements (three story bunk beds, tiled floors, nice showers and toilets, and clean drinking water in our room. I believe we finally went to sleep around 1:30am.

Wednesday - Day 2

Breakfast was served at 8:00am, which meant that we needed to wake up prior to this time. Many of us were really tired, but were ready to get started on our work. It was pouring rain, so many of us did some cleaning around the dorm and sorting in the sports equipment room. Some of the brave people went to work outside in the rain on the construction project, moving dirt and tying rebar to prepare the foundation for the cement.

We also visited a location called the hole that is on top of a dump, which all of the people living their are squatters ( people who don't pay rent for their homes). There were pigs eating from the river where there was lots of trash an raw sewage running through it. There is a children's feeding center in this location that we all worked at. When we arrived at the center the children were so excited and wanted to be held and get their picture taken. We served them beans and rice, which is probably the one meal they eat for the day.

After the feeding center we ate lunch, rested until 2:00pm (they observe siesta here) and then got back to work on the construction project. We got very good at tying rebar for the rest of the afternoon. This construction project is to build two houses for two members of the GO ministries team who have been serving here for over ten years. Around 5:00pm we called it a day and went back to our living quarters to clean up for the evening. On our way back many of the men/boys in our group played a game of baseball (they call this vitilla - baseball with as stick and 5 gallon jug water bottle caps) with the local teenagers in the street. We ate dinner at 7:00pm. So far the food has been really good (rice, beans, spaghetti, bread, fresh fruit, plantains, veggies, fruit juice, etc.). After dinner we all went out for ice cream and got to know Medina, who is a local pastor here that CPC is looking to support.

Thursday - Day 3

Today has been a long day and tiring day. Many of us finally felt rested this morning with a full nights sleep. Breakfast again at 8:00am (eggs, bread, fruit, coffee, juice, and water). We started our day with a devotional and then headed out to the work site. Many of us worked with the electrician to lay down all the piping and tie it down for the electrical and phone wire. Many of us worked on getting the cement, sand and rocks into the cement mixers (many shovels, muscles and sweat). Many of us fetched water from the water well to be used for the cement mixer. The rest of us transported the cement to the location to be poured. This went on until around 11:30am, which was when we headed to another children's feeding center.

The children were happy to see us when we arrived, but they didn't seem to have as much energy as the group of children we visited the day before. Rob McIlvoy spoon feed a little girl with big eyes and girly hair......I think he was in love. The pastor Raphaelito at this location showed us the church area and told us how this location came about and how God provided it for them. The building used to be a place were people drank, gambled and were their was prostitution, but was torn down and rebuild to do Gods work. He mentioned that he saw all the good things that the missions group was doing and how it motivates them to work hard to do Gods work as well.

After visiting the children's feeding center we headed back home and ate lunch, then headed back to the work site around 2:00pm to sweat some more. By the end of the work day the foundation was poured for one house. The second house's foundation was started but not yet finished. Tomorrow we hope to finish pouring the foundation for both houses.

Tonight Shella, Zoraida, Bethany are meeting with Fran (Haitian who is a member of the construction group who lives in the community that GO Ministries supports). The rest of the group will be having dinner at Medina's house to get to know him better. That is all for now, but we will continue to update you throughout the week. No guarantees it will be daily, but we will try.

:)