At the hotel in santo Domingo

After a long bus ride, we made it to our hotel.  The team is getting ready to eat and enjoying themselves.  

Not sure why, but some of our team wore bathrobes to dinner. 

Back safely at the end of the trip

All of is our group is back in Houston as of 2 am this morning.  Our last three made it in late due to bad weather over Houston last night.  

We thank God for his leading and safety through our very long travel day and the entire trip. 

I want to hank David Ramia for his continued leadership in coordination.  Couldn't do this without him.  

We had a great trip this year due to everyone having a willing spirit and flexibility.   God accomplished a tremendous work through us.  We look forward to next year, wherever it may be!  

Finally on plane to Houston

We are getting closer to home. Flight shows on time.

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On our way to miami

We are on the plane to Miami. Supposed to get there at 2:50.

The other 14 that left on the earlier flight missed their connection. They are now on different flights throughout the day to Houston.

It has been a challenging travel day but doesn't diminish the great work God accomplished through the group on this trip!

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Flight delayed till 6:55 pm

Most of the group now gets into Houston at 6:55 pm. More updates to come.

Not very happy with American now

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Flights cancelled on the return

For any parents or people picking up who are reading this, American cancelled the reservation for 41 of us. They are rebooking us. I will have an update shortly to let you know when we are arriving. Stay tuned.....

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Church and ministries completed!

We finished the church and roof today around 10:00.  The roof is all on and it is all cleaned up. We had a great group of maranatha workers and so we gave them each one of our team tshirts as a momento.  We are now getting ready to head to santo Domingo.  

Our medical tram completed their work yesterday so they are working with the vbs group today. 

Here is a picture of our construction crew with the Maranatha workers. 

Tuesday report- almost completed!

We had a great day in Barahona.  Our medical team completed their work.  Hey saw another 50 patients today bringing their total ton over 1100 patients.  An amazing ministry!

Vba had over 150 kids today.  They are really reaching the children in the area for Christ.  

We are almost completed with the church.  We only have 2 more lines of block and a little ore of the roof.  We will be completed by 11 in he morning and head to Santo Domingo to be ready to fly out early on Thursday am.  

A great trip with a great group of volunteers.   We have really been blessed by everyone.  

Inside of he church

Roof

Monday report

Sorry this is late.  We had a very productive day after the excursion.   We got all done with the front am back walls and five courses on the interior wall. 

Vbs had over 130 kids and more are coming each day!   It is a real blessing to the community.  

Our medical team did public health and taught the kids how to brush their teeth and put fluoride on them.  Very beneficial. 

Completed front of church

Bobby posing at lunch

Excursion/construction day

Most of the group went on an excursion today to a beautiful stretch of beach on the bay of Eagles. However, we only had room for 54 on the bus and boat. We have 59 persons on this trip. So, I volunteered to stay back with whomever wanted to work on the job site. I actually had six volunteers, but only ended up needing four to go with me. We had one sick person that couldn't go so my wife volunteered to stay back at the hotel with him to make sure all was ok or else she would have come with us.

Rick, Michael, Ernie and myself worked with the Maranatha crew all day. We got all done with the side walls. It was only two courses but they are the two hardest since they are right under the structural metal. I am very appreciative of their hard efforts on a hot day!


Ernie is very artistic and noticed that last year, they church doesn't have a sign till it is painted, which can take a couple of months. So, he took three block back to the hotel on Friday and used permanent markers to draw our church logo and a sign. Michael laid the block on the front of the church so I took a picture of him and Ernie right after they laid them.

You can also see the church after the 13th course.

Worship

Our Sabbath afternoon was filled with team building and bible games. We had a great time and the group for to know each other much better. Thanks to Pastor Jonathan and Renee for organizing.

After worship, pastor Murillo came by and told the group the story of how the church we we rebuilding came to be.

A great evening other than the wedding reception that was going on till after midnight. Very noisy....

Brenan and his fanny pack

Barb, this is for you

Church service in Barahona

We just got back from church at the central church in Barahona.  The church we are building isn't ready yet for worship. 

One of our team members, Rafael, preached on his journey back to the DR after leaving here in 1965. 

We also had a great bible study before church led out by our team. We studied the story of when Jesus healed the blind man. 

Here are some pictures of our worship.  

The God that repels Mosquitos

For anyone that has studied the Bible, you know that God has many names (Redeemer, Savior, Sustainer, etc).   

Well, on this trip, God has revealed another name. One of our prayers has been to not allow anyone to get infected by the mosquito borne virus prevalent in the DR. One of the church elders mentioned to our team that mosquitoes in this area are ao prevalent they are usually swarming around you. 90% of the town has the virus.  He mentioned that three days ago (the day we got here) he stopped seeing mosquitoes in town.  I think I know why.....

Friday report

We had a great day on all three sites. We had 125 kids on the children's ministry- up from 80 the day before! The kids are really getting into it and learning more about Christ.

Our medical team saw about 100 more patients. On Monday they will begin a health clinic for dental health.

On construction, we got more done than expected. We got done with the 11th course which leaves only two more on the sides.

We had a great worship tonight to bring in the Sabbath day. We also had one of our team members ( James Friesen) late to the bus today and he had to act out a skit tonight as his penalty. If I ever get the video I will post it.

We look for to church tomorrow and a day of rest!

First day of vbs

We had our first day of children's ministry. They had about 85 kids and had a very success day. All the kids enjoyed themselves.

Our medical team went door I door for he morning and handed out medical pamphlets and fluoridation pills for clean water. They handed out glasses in the afternoon.

On construction we got up to our seventh course of block. Very happy with the progress. We had three people sick today with a cold, but are all better tonight.

Things you see on the way to the construction site bathroom

A church member lets us use their outhouse. Here are a few things we see on our way. It's like our own petting zoo!

First day of ministry

We had a great first day of work. Our medical team saw 152 patients and ran out of medicine for the day. They will bring more tomorrow.

Our children's ministry team organized today and have all the crafts ready for the kids.

We had a good, but hot day on the job site. We have a lot of new construction crew members and they all did a great job. We got 3 courses all the way around and 4 on the ends.

Ernie's new friend

The things you find at the job site .....

Safely in barahona

We made it to barahona and the hotel at about 10:30 pm. Had a quick dinner and meeting and headed to sleep.

A long day, but a good day. We begin our mission tomorrow. Keep us in your prayers.

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On our way to barahona

We arrived safely to santo Domingo only one hour later than originally planned. Praise God!

And even better, all of our bags made it except one!

So we are eating pizza and relaxing on the bus ride. Looking forward to getting to the hotel in a few hours.

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Praise The Lord for delayed planes

Prayers are answered! They did hold our flight till we arrived. We all made it on and we hope our bags made it as well.

The flight crew said they NEVER see flights held for passengers. I told them we were 54 missionaries and they said "a higher power must be at work here".

Couldn't agree more!

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On the plane

Ready to go

Slight flight challenge

We arrived at the airport in Houston to find out they cancelled our flight to Miami. We are now boarding a flight to Miami that is supposed to arrive at 1:15 pm. Our flight to DR is supposed to leave at 12:50. The plan is that they are going to try to delay the flight from Miami and hold it for us.

Keep the flight and personnel in your prayers that make the right decision and hold the plane for us. Otherwise, we will wait for the next flight which won't get us into DR till 11pm tonight.

Thanks.

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2014 Summer Youth Trip to Barahona, Dominican Republic

We leave on July 22 for the Dominican Republic with 36 youth and 22 adults. We are looking forward to building a church, helping with a medical and dental clinic and leading out in children's ministry.   This is our third year leading a mission trip primarily focused on our youth.  This is an opportunity for them to begin / continue a life of service to others.  It is also an opportunity to spend time growing as a team and closer to God.

Please keep the team in your prayers. We hope to post daily updates. 

Landed safely in Houston

After two days of excursions in Rio, we are safely back in Houston 

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network.

Safe arrival in Rio

We did arrive safely in Rio. Had a small scare as Aunt Geneva left a carry on bag in the airplane. They were able to bring it to us in baggage claim, so crisis averted!  

Checking into the hotel and look forward to a great two days here. Raining now, but praying for good weather. 

Church dedication

We had a wonderful church dedication today in Quingoma. The conference president was there to have a dedication prayer and a ribbon cutting ceremony. Then the entire church went in and we had songs, testimonies and thoughts from the pastor. The church gave us all a gift of a cd of Portuguese songs. Always humbling to get a gift from the congregation. 

We then gave out our team tshirt to a few folks that helped put tremendously on the trip. Elmer and Elder are the two Maranatha coordinators that were with us every step of the way. Pastor Abraham and his two junior pastors helped with organizing the local congregations. The junior pastors start evangelism in the area shortly. The man who lives across the street from the church donated his land to store the building materials and tools. One of the elders, Aldenir, helped with getting transportation free of charge from the city and also getting additional medical help. 

I preached a short sermon and we had two testimonies from Eliel and Joel. A wonderful service and is always the highlight of the week. 

We then went back to the hotel, eat and pack up for the trip to Rio. We were sad to leave the hotel. They were extremely good to us. Would stay there again and again if I am back I the area. 

We fly to Rio to start our excursion tomorrow. Hoepfully the rainy forecast is not accurate!

Our mascot is attending church!

Final day of vbs and medical and excursion day

Vbs and medical had their last day of ministry today. They have truly been a blessing to the community this week. Their ministry is so essential to the long term success of this work. They are the ones that lead people to the churches and schools we build. 

Since we finished a day early, the construction crew took an unscheduled excursion today!  We went on a tour of old town Salvador, a lighthouse from the 1500's and then went to a beach. It was a great day and we thank our tour guides, Elmer, Elder and Aline. 

Old town Salvador

Old lighthouse from the 1500's

We had two people that were late today- Ray and Joshua. Ray had actually suggested their punishment earlier in the week and it came back to bite him. They had to perform synchronized swimming in the pool!  Words cannot describe.  I will try to post a video later. 

We are preparing for our church service tomorrow and to leave for Rio. It will be a highlight of the week to dedicate the church tomorrow!

Work completed!

We completed the work and roof completed at about 3 pm today!  Praise The Lord for great weather, a wonderful team, no major injuries and little sickness. The Maranatha team was also great to work with. 

Here are some pictures of the job site, our team, the Maranatha crew and Bobby massaging our mascot with a broom.  

Almost completed

Our medical team is doing great work. They saw over 50 patients today and completed a couple of procedures. They are also able to share Jesus with their patients as well. 

Our vbs team has about 30 to 45 kids each day. The kids are really enjoying themselves and the crafts. It is a blessing that we only have that many kids because we have a small team. 

We almost have the block work on the church completed. We finished the outer walls and got the scaffold torn down.  We have about four courses of block and the roof to complete. God willing we will complete it all and clean the church tomorrow. 

We have had great weather. It got a little warm today in the early afternoon. One of the crews was really getting overheated so we rotated them out.  

The team is really doing well and working well together. Our evening worships have been great and have built our team atmosphere. 

Here are some pictures of the job site. 

And here is our mascot

Uneventful day

We had a good day on the construction site and got up to the 13th course. We made great progress and had no accidents.   Beautiful weather and no rain at the job site. It was raining as we left the hotel, but God hears prayers!

David spencer was late to the job bus. He had to perform for us and his kids emailed with his punishment. He had to sing a bob Marley song. Very entertaining!

Scaffold Surfing

We had a very eventful day. Our vbs team completed their first day. They had 25 kids for the first day.  We expect more tomorrow as we had a lot of kids at the medical team. The vbs was very well received and the crafts were great. 

Our medical team saw 94 patients today which was more than expected. Very busy and handed out a lot of eyeglasses as well. 

We got a tremendous amount done on the job site. We got all of the ninth course completed and fears extended. We also had to put scaffolding up for the first time. We haven't worked with this type of scaffolding in the past so had to learn how it works. We have no side braces as we normally do. The Maranatha crew showed us what to do and it seemed a little unstable, but reasonably safe. 

We had one of the front ones collapse when someone got on it and we chalked it up to too quick of a weight transfer. We rebuilt it and put other braces on the top. 

Right before lunch, we were pouring the bond beam and had six people on the scaffold pouring concrete. I heard a crash and the entire side scaffold collapsed with everyone on it. It is truly a miracle that no one was injured beyond a scratch on Carolina's arm!  We spent some time after lunch and rebuilt all the scaffolds and found what we had missed before. They are now secure and rock split. Praise The Lord that our mistake didn't hurt anyone. 

Bobby is now our "dog whisperer". Our mascot was back again today. In the afternoon, he was laying in the middle of the street. A large truck was coming and was stopping. The dog wasn't moving either. Bobby ran out into the road, stopped the truck and got the dog off the road. We would have had a lot of upset people if he would have gotten hurt. 

Our weather was great again today. Ken keeps praying for no rain. We had just wrapped up work and cleanup and Ken mentioned to me that our prayers were answered again. At that exact moment, the skies opened up and it started raining-just as we were done. God is good!

A great start to the week

We had a fantastic day at the job site. We started the day with dedication of the job site. The pastor and church members were there and had a bible, prayer book and prayers that our group wrote down. They put in a box and then buried as a time capsule and a cornerstone for the church. It was a very special ceremony and had some wonderful words and prayers to end the ceremony  

I wasn't expecting the pastor to ask me to place the box in the hole. I joked with him that he wanted me to get dirty!  We all got a chance to put some do the dirt in the hole. 

We made great progress on the job site. We got almost done with the fifth course, a little ahead of schedule. We only had one person (Renata) get sick. We had some fruit brought to us on the job site and we think that is what made her sick. 

It didn't rain and didn't get too hot. Praise The Lord. We had a lot of folks praying for great weather and it was granted!

We also have a new mascot. A puppy wandered on the site and stayed the rest of the day. He is a very cute dog but doesn't know how to get out the the way. He got stepped on a couple of times but was ok. 

The power went out briefly at the motel but came back on in time for dinner. No candlelight tonight!