DR Reflections

We are coming to the end of our stay in San Juan. Today, we wrapped up our construction work at CCED. Here we are standing in front of one of the many classroom walls we built.

Tonight, after dinner, we took a few minutes to reflect on the time we've been able to serve this week.  Clay asked us to share some take-aways from this experience.  Here are some thoughts from a few of the team members.

Tammy:  Knowing that when she returns next year that she will get to see kids sitting behind desks in the classrooms she helped to build.

Virginia:  Seeing, once again, how grateful the people were who received rice and beans.

Michelle:  Getting to see the children she met last year.  Seeing that they were doing well and were healthy and happy. 

Sophie:  That kids recognized us from last year and seem genuinely happy to see us and spend time with us.

Louise:  Seeing people who have so little yet are so happy.

Andrew: Loved hearing songs in church on Sunday that he recognized.  A reminder that we might be singing in different languages but we sing with one voice and to one God.

Casie:  Getting to see her friend Benito again.  Benito is now a teacher at CCED but Casie has known him since she started coming to the DR years ago when she was just a teenager. 

We are so thankful for the time we have had to be Christ's hands and feet this week.   We will be traveling back to Santo Domingo tomorrow in preparation for flying home on Saturday.  Our journey here is coming to an end but none of us want to forget this amazing experience.  Our hearts have been touched.  We can't wait to share these memories with you!

 

Mission Trip Stats

Nearly 500 concrete blocks layed at the CCED school

3000 lbs of sand (give or take a few pounds) hauled upstairs,one bucket at a time

550 lbs of beans/rice given away

Copious amounts of coffee consumed

Five days serving in the DR= Priceless

Our Trip to El Cercado

We had a great day visiting Pastor Morales in El Cercado.  Many of us were able to visit with the school children we sponsor.  After spending time at the school, Pastor Morales took us to the rural, mountainous town of Batista to deliver rice and beans to nearly 70 families. 

 

In addition to distributing our gift, we were also able to deliver photos to three families that were snapped last year when we delivered rice and beans to them.  The families were thrilled to receive these photos.  

After delivering our final few bags, many members of our team commented they wanted to hand out twice as many bags next year...I think we'll need a bigger truck. :) 

Dominican Day 3

It was another productive day in the Dominican.  The day started with a visit to El Rosario, one of the schools that NCC helps to support.  We were thrilled to deliver some much needed school supplies to the Director.

We also continued working on our contruction project at CCED.  Our team is getting quite handy with trowels, scoops of morter, shovels and a wheelbarrow. 

This evening we prepared for our trip to El Cercado tomorrow afternoon to spend time with  Pastor Morales.  375lbs of rice and 200lbs of beans are packed and ready for our trip up the mountain!

And here are just a few more pics we wanted to share.

Thank you for your continued prayers.  We appreciate all of you!

Sand, Cement and Shovels

Today the NCC mission team polished up on their dirt hauling, block lifting, and wall building skills as they worked on adding a second story of classrooms to the CCED school. 

We discovered that the most efficient  way of  moving large quantities of dirt and cement blocks from the ground floor up a flight of stairs was to form a human conveyor belt. Buckets of sand and blocks of cement moved up the human chain many, many, MANY times!

Tonight we also had the opportunity to play baseball with the locals. 

And at the end of the game some of our guys raced some of the locals in a foot race. 

It was a productive day. Our fun in the sun resumes again tomorrow with more construction work.

Our Trip To The Orphanage

Hello from San Juan!

Our first day in San Juan was spent visiting the local orphanage. We were able to deliver several bags full of clothes, stuffed animals and school supplies donated by many of you!

We were also able to tour the facilities and spend time talking and laughing with all the children. Their hugs and smiles warmed our hearts.

Picture to follow soon!

This evening we attended church services at Central Church. It was a beautiful time of worship with our Dominican brothers and sisters. All the songs were sung in Spanish but a couple were very familiar ones to us and the words for the evening message were translated into English for us to follow along.

Tommorow we will be starting our construction projects at the CCED school. We look foward to another day of being Christ's hands and feet!

We're Here!

Just a quick update to let you all know we arrived safely! We will be staying in Santo Domingo tonight. Tommorow morning we will make the three hour drive to San Juan. We look forward to spending some time at the local orphanage and then attending Sunday church services tomorrow evening.

We will keep you posted!

It's A Party!

NCC was hopping tonight! Several team members helped to pack up all the donated items being taken to the DR this Saturday.

Mission Accomplished!

Bags are stuffed full of school supplies, clothes and other much needed items. Thank you to all who generously gave!

The Countdown Continues!

It's almost time! Only six more days until this year's mission team heads back to the Dominican Republic.

At church this morning, the congregation prayed for our team. We would appreciate your continued prayers, both for our team and for all the people we cross paths with as this journey unfolds.

Today the team met for one final planning meeting prior to our departure this coming Saturday in the wee hours of the morning.

Excitement for the trip is growing and each of us is looking forward to loving God and loving people in the Dominican Republic.

One of our team member's 5 year old grandson was kind enough to take this year's group photo after our meeting.

Attempt #1

We'll just call this one "being the hands and feet to Christ."

Attempt #2

The faces behind the hands and feet! ;)

DR 2011

Well, it's just around the corner. Only 36 more days until this year's journey back to the Dominican Republic for a week long adventure serving the Dominican people!

There are fourteen members on the team this year, nine returning members and five new members. As we each prepare our hearts and our minds for this trip, we would appreciate your prayers. Thanks for taking this journey with us. We will keep you posted.