DR 2009 - Saturday

It was a balmy 82 degrees in the sunny DR today. We woke up and had pancakes, fruit, and 4 pots of coffee. We headed over to the church and had and interesting morning getting material delivered. We ordered 3 pipes to make railings. One piece came on one truck and two pieces came on a second truck, about an hour later. The 200 cement blocks came about an hour after that so we got a bit of a later start. After lunch we hit the block and laid about 100. The crew has been building a dividing wall that runs along the edge of the church property and will give some security to the building.

The rookie for the trip, Nate Moyer from Penn Valley Grace Brethren Church in Telford, PA got his first taste of mixing concrete (mud) Dominican style. You dump all the ingredients on the ground in a pile, add water, and start mixing with a shovel. You can seen his video and another at the bottom of this page.

The only injury was mine so I took one for the team (see picture in the album). Over the years we've brought a lot of tools down from the States in our luggage and some last from year to year while others don't. We use a 4" grinder to cut rebar and pipe - the only thing always missing is the safety guards. When I cut the first rebar, the sparks burnt right though the new leather gloves I was wearing. Ad and Fred were so sympathetic that they told me I was pathetic and to get back to work. All I wanted was a short siesta (napp-o for those of you just learning Spanish.)

A few of the folks from the church stopped to visit and help today. Elvis, one of the leaders at Los Girasoles, and his family brought us some coffee and he stayed to lend a hand. Alfonzo stopped to help with some plumbing. There are a few photos below.

One unexpected project showed up today when the hardware store truck stopped to drop off the cement blocks, they backed over the water main going into the church and broke it. Fortunately there isn't much water pressure in the DR so we could get it under control. Fred offered his finger for a while to stop the pipe till we could get a patch. We made one temporary repair to get a hose for concrete making and a second patch to get water to the church for Sunday tomorrow. We can make a permanent repair on Tuesday.

Monday is a holiday here but we have enough material to get us through the work day.

"The Missionary" is back at church tonight with the youth group and we're hanging around playing dominoes, the DR's favorite past-time. Tomorrow is church and a baseball game in the afternoon.

Thank you again for all your prayers. Remember that there is an email link on the main DR page if you'd like to send us a note.