The students have arrived

We knew things would get busy when teams started coming. Now we realize what everyone means. We've been going non-stop the past 2 weeks. We've had 2 straight weeks of teams and things went great with both. Caroline has really started to understand her role at the Social Work site because she's the link between the students and the site. That means lots of translating (only a matter of time before her Spanish is better than mine), explanations of the community, and getting the girls and women to connect during their time at the site. She's done an excellent job at both.

My role these past 2 weeks (and for the next month) is an interesting one. I'm leading the construction site until at least April. Yes, that's right I have no background in construction. As I told some of the students this week: I've never had a farmer's tan (until now). We had lots of construction projects lined up and no one to lead the site so Lowell and Nate asked me if I could step in along with Rudy (Dominican) to lead the site. I've actually really enjoyed it. In the past 2 weeks we've built a gate for a preschool, a drainage system for the Social Work site, 4 portable dental chairs and a playground for another pre-school. The microfinance site is still in the works for the beginning of the summer and I'll keep you posted.

Here are some more faces of the people here:


Andre is the Dominican pastor of a church in Los Higos, a community of about 500 way up in the mountains. He used to be on Staff with SI in that community but his ministry there eventually turned into a church plant and he left staff to pastor the church full time. His wife, Joanna, runs an SI preschool there and is pregnant with their first child!


Arlene also works in Los Higos with SI. She has done a variety of community development there and is currently starting a second SI Social Work site. In this picture she's holding a plastic-wrapped, roasted pig's head (a Dominican delicacy) which she won in a raffle at an SI banquet.


Ryan and Matt were 2 of the High School students that came down from Jupiter, Florida the first week of March. They worked with me in Construction. We spent most of the week working on the Pre-school and Social work site up in Los Higos. Ryan installed a flag pole and a new gate for the pre-school and Matt worked on the drainage and electrical system for the new Social Work Site.


Lourdes and her son Jaime, who is the youngest of 3. They live in El Callejon, just a few houses down from the Social Work site. Lourdes was recently diagnosed with cervical cancer and the doctors are saying that it could be terminal. She is a strong woman and has attended the activities of the Social Work site consistantly since it started 7 years ago. We are praying that in the midst of this tragedy that God will be glorified in El Callejon. Please join us in prayer for her and her family.