School Time 2

There are so many wonderful photos of the team with the kids or just the kids alone that I decided to give you day 2 of School Time. Hope you enjoy the photos.

School Time

It is always special to arrive and see the children hanging out at the gate waiting for us. They all know who we are now and look forward to each visit.


The day we arrived with the Restoration team was a holiday. Actually it was a day that fell between two holidays. There were a lot fewer children present and many of the ones that were there were dressed in costume for Carnaval. Just another cultural experience for the team!





The team grabbed the goodies and headed in for the fun! They were rewarded with lots of beautiful smiles.

School Supplies

We have been granted great favor with the local school near the farm, and the administrator has told us that we are welcome at any time and for any reason. Our goal is to make sure than none of the children in this school, to which we feel a certain responsibility now, lack for school supplies. Many of the groups that come bring various necessary items, and we take them into the classrooms and give them to these children who often are doing without.

This team brought hundreds of pounds of supplies. We unpacked them all there at the Restoration Ranch site, and repacked them for ease of distribution. We even had a few 'prize' items so we could have some extra fun with the kids.

Dinner with the Griffins

It must have been really special for the team and for Shay and Gwyn Griffin to have dinner together in the Griffin's new home here in the Dominican Republic. The Griffin family was sent from their home church, Restoration Church, in Spartanburg, S.C. That makes them family to this Restoration Church team. It was Shay and Gwyn's desire to host the group for dinner one night, and what a delightful dinner it was. Everyone enjoyed the food and was excited to see the house. An extra treat was the presence of Shay's mother there with us. His parents had come down, but Dad had already returned to the U.S.

Jesus Film

This team came to work on the construction project, but that wasn't their only goal. Team leader, Dick Rodermond, had asked us to put together all the equipment necessary to show the Jesus film. Because of the Ministry Training School we operate here we had a huge screen, the projector, DVD player, and the works so Danny put it all together to make sure each part worked properly with the other. The team looked forward to movie night, and we announced it in the local school the day prior to the event.



The night arrived and rain threatened, but everything went ahead as planned. The guys carried the all the heavy equipment over and got it all set up. An extension cord connected us to a source of electricity, and the neighbors brought chairs out. It is telling of their culture to note that instead of them sitting on these chairs, they gave them to us to sit on. Then they perched on steps, stood, or found other seating.

As usual in a developing nation there were a few glitches, but all of them were readily solved. The most interesting one was that the voltage for the electricity was so unstable that the projector would shut off every few minutes. So we brought out the small generator that Cornerstone Church had purchased and given to us nearly twelve years ago when we moved here! That little generator has seen so much use.



This time it was useful in seeing thirty six people come to receive Jesus as their Savior. It is still going strong. What a great gift it turned out to be!

Remember that previously I mentioned that rain threatened? It was really interesting to note that we finished the movie, finished the prayer for salvation, had a few moments to talk to those who had responded and to give out treats to all the kids around. Just as the equipment was almost totally packed up to go, the rain burst forth. We were all soaked, but the equipment stayed protected and 36 people came to receive Jesus. What a wonderful night!

More Electrical

It's truly hard to explain all the work that was accomplished and all the labor, sweat, and sore muscles involved in doing it. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words so here are some more pictures. Enjoy!









These pictures of wires and conduit would have meant absolutely nothing to me two years ago! It's amazing how one's perspective can change. These are now some of the most exciting pictures for me to look at! It means progress;it means a job done properly;it means we're a little closer to our goal of bringing in children and 'parents'. Now that's exciting.

Electrical

Another one of the most daunting projects has been the electrical system. We have been highly blessed to have electricians who choose to spend some of their time here in the DR, taking time off work and away from their families. Stanley Seay is one of those cherished friends. On his last trip here he and Steve Ruff, another electrician, worked extra early and exceptionally late trying to get more and more done before their days here ended. Stanley and his team outdid themselves again this time. It is amazing what these guys accomplish in just a week of work!

Sewer

The goals this team set were to get the sewer lines run from the building that will house four apartments all the way to the septic tank. This was one of the most daunting tasks. Yet just when the time is right God sends the right people to handle the job. Joel Ball is one of those right people. He has a plumbing business in upstate South Carolina so he knew exactly what needed to be done and how to do it. Others on the team also had experience, and they got so much accomplished!



We are actually able to start talking and thinking about how to have toilet and shower facilities usable in that building. Although the structure is far from finished, these construcion guys know how to make things work around other things!


When we have usable bathrooms in that building, teams will be able to sleep right there on the grounds of Restoration Ranch. We've had a few already housed there, but we've been limited to a small number because we have only two bathrooms at this point.



It was hot and dirty work, but the guys sure seemed to have a good time in spite of being exhausted!



A little rest in the shade and regular water breaks are the only requirements we have out there. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get these men to sit down, rest, and have a drink of water!

Work to be Done

Today's title has a double meaning. There is always so much to be done in the weeks prior to travel, and we'll be heading to the US for some weeks of ministry, fun, and family. Somehow, in taking care of all the various things, I let several days go by without updating the blog. And there is still so much to tell you about the team that was here from Restoration! There was a lot of work to be done at the farm, and the team was ready and willing to do it.



At the same time, they have obviously learned the rule about working smarter, not just harder. One of the first things they did was rent a bobcat machine to start moving all those tons of dirt. Whenever you're digging sewer lines and such there is a lot of soil being moved. These guys knew the key to their productivity lay in using their talents for electrical, plumbing, engineering, etc., instead of spending all day digging holes.


But even with that in mind, they all got in their share of digging, picking, shoveling, and everything else!

The Ladies

On this team were two ladies who were such a blessing to me and to everyone else. It had been decided to have almost all of the meals right there at Restoration Ranch so I had my hands full three times a day! Ginnie Rodermond and Carol Trotter made everything so much easier. And the truth be told, I don't think I washed a single dish. Those two were on top of it. And if there were no dishes left to wash they were likely to be found hand - washing clothes for the team.



Here they are trying to get ink spots out of the pants, trying all kinds of suggestions. I think this one involved warmed milk.

Bobin

Many of you who have been here are familiar with our black goat, Bobo. He is the only goat or sheep on the premises that has a name. The family that work on the farm named him and have treated him like a pet. They even told us once of how he would come in their house and get up on the bed! He's bigger now and acting a bit differently, but still playful. His form of play involves head butting and love nips so we have to warn everyone to remember how adult male goats play! The point of this story is not just to tell the rest of you about Bobo. It's to tell you about his son. Bobo has sired many goats in the two years that we have had him, but all of them have had the tawny color of their mothers. Just before the team came, a little black male goat was born. And since he looks like his sire, he got a name too! That makes two that have names. The family called him Bobin (sounds like Bowbean). Basically it means little son of Bobo.


With the exception of the one white leg, he looks just like Bobo. The team was amused to see that he very much resembled a puppy as he gamboled around after his mother. He is really cute, but we are going to have to stop naming the 'food'! (No, he and his papa will never be food, but the reason we are raising animals is to provide food!)

First Things First

All of the team, with the exception of Scott, arrived Saturday afternoon. Our faithful bus driver, Guillermo, took us to Bani where we stopped to let the 'hotel' know everyone had arrived. Then we headed off to Restoration Ranch where Marta had a wonderful dinner waiting for us. On this team were several people who had come last February with Carpenters for Christ. They had helped lay the first blocks and were eager to see what had transpired in the year between trips. While Fran and family were bringing the food out this crew disappeared to the job site! If their expressions and comments told the story well, they were amazed at all that had been done. Sunday morning we had a quick, but delicious breakfast and headed off to church in the capital. We decided to take them to our Dominican home church, and not one complained about having to climb four flights of stairs to get there!



Here's the team looking really sharp in their matching green 'Task Force" shirts.

Bonnie Goes to the Farm

Whenever Bonnie sees the suitcases come out she gets a little worried. If the trip isn't too long, one of the Burge family usually tends to her here at home. She never knows whether we're leaving her or not so she has her own way of dealing with it!



This time she got to go with us. She's a good traveler and stays in her travel bag until I take her out. Here she is, on the bus having just been removed from her bag - Christian bow and all!



I should have combed her before the picture, but then, I didn't look good all week either!

Setting Up

Part of the 'fun' of each team trip is setting everything up. This particular team decided to stay in two separate locations since a few of the most adventurous of them wanted to sleep at the farm. The others chose to stay in a hotel in Bani. Trust me when I tell you that the word hotel should be used lightly. We wouldn't want you to have a picture of a Hilton, or a Holiday Inn. Not even a Day's Inn or a Motel 6. Keep moving down the economic chain until you arrive at, "it's more or less clean; that will do". I tell you that so you won't think they were resting in luxury while the rest of us were housed either in a tent or in the bunk beds of the one room currently available at Restoration Ranch. Danny and I chose to stay at the farm in a tent so that I would be able to start breakfast before the team arrived each morning. Last year Dick and Ginny Rodermond left some inflatable mattresses here. This year some tents came along with the team. (Thank you Edgar.) So Danny set up a tent, and then the guys inflated the mattresses so we'd have something to sleep on, not just in. As things sometimes go, the batteries to operate the pump had been left at home so we resorted to another means of airing up those mattresses.


It was low-tech but it worked! Thanks guys. I slept quite comfortably. It was actually really cool to be able to see the stars and sky at night after we went to bed. The tents had a wonderful removable cover for the top that allowed you to be all snug as a bug or just screened in. It was so cold out there at night that after one night of enjoying the beauty of the sky, we had to leave the top cover on. And Bonnie, our Yorkie, absolutely loved sleeping in the tent with the two of us. Her crate wouldn't fit in there with the two inflatable mattresses so she got to sleep with 'mama'. She liked that, and truth be told, I needed her little bit of body warmth!