Wonderful sabbath and first church service

We had our first church service in the new church. The church was filled with mainly kids from the vbs and medical. We had a lot of them say they would be back last week!

We also had a baptism after we got back from church. One of our youth, Parker Carbone, was baptized today at the hotel pool. That is a first for our mission trips and was amazing!

Massive storm last night

We were woke up to a massive thunderstorm last night at around 2 am. I don't recall many storms that have been stronger for a long period and dump that much rain.

Electricity is out all over town. We are hopeful the electricity comes on soon so vbs can operate. Since we got done with blockwork yesterday, we won't need electricity. Praise the lord!

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Wednesday pics

Amazing day of ministry

We had a fantastic day on Wednesday. On construction we got completely done with all blockwork on the church! We have never done all blockwork on any church in four days with any group. Truly amazing and totally a God thing.

Our medical team had an addition of a local doctor today and they were able to see 93 patients ! All of our glasses have been given out as well. They have been doing amazing work and really ministering to the town.

Vbs group had a smoother day today and have the kinks worked out. 300 kids is a ton to handle and they are making it work. The kids are really enjoying it.

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Tuesday in Pedasi

End of day three. The team is doing awesome work!!! Completed 13 courses all the way around and 14 on one end. Should finish the sides tomorrow and a lot of the gables.

Our vbs team has continued to adapt and is now running four different vbs sessions a day. They have over 300 kids and it is going well.

Medical is up and running and ministering to the town. Yesterday they saw 45 persons and had more than that show up today!

We have more and more people showing up to the jobsite to ask what is going on. We have been able to share why we are there. Two police officers in full riot gear came by on a motorcycle today and waved me over. They wanted to know what was going on and were genuinely interested. I told them to come to church on Sabbath for the dedication so they could provide protection! They laughed at that.


We also had an expat from the states come by today and took pictures for the local pedasi Facebook page. We are getting noticed!!

Sunshine on Monday

We had a great day on construction and NO RAIN! As a result, we got done with nine courses of block. Amazing work by our team.

One of our you, Amos, decided today that he was the project manager and boss rather than me. So we ran with that and decided that, as a good leader, if we got done with nine courses that I could throw him in the pool. You can see by the video that he is a good sport.


Awesome day and praise the lord for good weather!!

Ministry reports for Sunday

We have had miracles today. The school had been on strike and they lifted the strike today so we can vbs at the school! Amazing that it happened.

They have 300 kids so they are going to have to run TWO vbs sessions during the day from 8:30-1:30. A long day.

For medical, a local doctor showed up out of the blue with a TON of medicine and supplies! We will also get tables and chairs and privacy screens. Amazing!

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The rains came down

We finished with day one on the job site. It rained solid till about two pm. Everyone was soaked through and stayed wet all day.

In spite of that, with new team members, we achieved our goal and a bit more. We got done with four courses, rebar tied and concrete poured. We also extended the rebar and put up scaffold. An awesome day and incredible effort by a new and young team.

Worship in panama

We had an awesome Sabbath morning here in Pedasi. We started with a group run to the beach before breakfast.

We had our lesson study and sermon here at the hotel. We are building the church so no where else to go!


We had a first today: We had two of our young men dedicate their lives to the Lord and declare for baptism. Super excited by that!!!!

At the hotel

After a LONG bus ride, we are safely at the hotel. Everyone is headed to bed after a long day.

Praise the Lord we are all here with our luggage!

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On the bus!

Everyone got their luggage and we are on the bus to pedasi. We will stop to get out supplies and continue on our way.

Landed safely in panama

Our trip to Pedasi has begun and we had a little snag in Houston. One of the passengers on the flight decided she wasn't comfortable flying today and got off the plane. That meant that they had to search through the luggage hold for her two bags and take them off.

That set us back about an hour and we are late to Panama City but all on board!

We will board our bus and have a six hour trip to pedasi.

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Planes, trains and automobiles.

We got to DC an hour late. Which meant that we were going to have tight connections.

However, United cancelled our flight from Dulles airport. So, they rebooked us on a flight from Reagan. South African paid for our taxi, so we are in our way to Reagan for a noon departure. I pray that our flight will be on time and we are only delayed by for hours.

Our Atlanta group was able to run and make their flight.

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Landed in DC

After. Long flight, made an hour longer by headwinds, we have landed in DC.

Now we only have one hour to make it through customs, get our bags, recheck them and make it through security. Praying that United holds our flights.

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Landed safely in ghana

Had an uneventful flight to ghana. Will be on the ground for an hour and then head to DC.

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On the plane to DC

After a layover in Joburg, we are on the plane to DC.

We had an overly elaborate security process at the gate that included a full body pat down and bag search. For the life of me, I will never understand why they insist on not letting water on the plane. Doesn't make any sense.

Regardless, we are here and have a 5 hour flight to Ghana and then an hour layover for refueling. And then the fun begins with the 11 hour flight to DC. Praying we can sleep on the plane.

Making our way home!!!

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RE: Landed safely in Joburg

Wonderful! Thanks! 

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-------- Original message --------

From: "Greghatch@sbcglobal.net"

Date:03/28/2016 7:46 AM (GMT-06:00)

To: Blog ,Rachael Hatch

Subject: Landed safely in Joburg

Made it on time and safely to South Africa!!

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RE: On board the plane to Johannesburg

Good deal!  Be safe. 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

-------- Original message --------

From: Greg hatch

Date:03/28/2016 5:59 AM (GMT-06:00)

To: Blog

Cc: Rachael Hatch

Subject: On board the plane to Johannesburg

We made it to the airport in plenty of time and got everyone checked in just fine. And no issues with luggage this time! Everyone got their proper allowance of two bags a piece. 

We are now on the plane for a short ride to Joburg and then a three hour wait till we take the LONG flight back to DC and then to home.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

Landed safely in Joburg

Made it on time and safely to South Africa!!

Sent from my iPhone

On board the plane to Johannesburg

We made it to the airport in plenty of time and got everyone checked in just fine. And no issues with luggage this time! Everyone got their proper allowance of two bags a piece. 

We are now on the plane for a short ride to Joburg and then a three hour wait till we take the LONG flight back to DC and then to home.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.