Monday in the D.R.

Greetings in the Name of Our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
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>We have had yet another fabulous day. It all began with FOOD! We had...oooh...`potatoes with cheese (Yum!), fresh pinapple, mango, and coffee. We had a quick devotional that talked about the way our lives clutter the gospel message. THen we loaded up into the van and off to the work site we went. Much to our dismay, there was NO backhoe  :(  So, that does not mean we get the day off, that means WE are the backhoe. SO we grabbed some picks and shovels and away we went. There are about 48 squares where there will be columns, footers need to be dug for each square. Basically, we have to dig 48 holes by hand that are about 5ft by 5 ft square and 6 feet deep. Yes folks, you read that right, 6 ft deep. remind you of anything? Let´s hope it´s not an omen.
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>Today Sarah went with Nieves to her school. Nieves teaches kindergarten and Sarah got to be the teacgers aide for the day. She said all of the kids were really cute. IN the evening Sarah went with Nieves back to the school and then to the work site. She made alot of friends with the local kids.
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>Mean while, back at the ranch..oh, we mean the worksite, we took a break for lunch. However, Bob and Nardo went to the bank and took the van. SO the rest of us were given rides home on the motor bikes. Sometimes there were three people on the bike. Jessica and Terri were being oblivious again and so they missed the memo about the rides home. They turned around and everyone was gone so they started walking but the locals told them to stay put and they would come back with the motorbikes. Not to worry, Wilber and Jeyurus made sure to bring Terri and Jessica home safe. Wilbur was sure to get there first so that he could give Jessica a ride home. Ohh lala.
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>Lunch was wonderful. and so was the nap most of us took afterwards. We spent some time planning the bible school that Alba was hosting in the evening. Others went back the the worksite to continue performing their new found missioni n life, to be human backhoes! (insert superhero noise here). Katie spent alot of time translating songs into spanish and trying to teach the rest of us muscially inept people how to carry a tune, and the right tune at that. Picky picky! We went to the bible school which went very smoothly and was quite fun. It turns out that one of the songs Katie spent a long time translating, they already knew...but with different words! oh well, we smiled and clapped. Dave did a wonderful job playing the guitar. THe most interesting part of the bible school were the chickens that kept flying into the tree we were sitting under. SOmetimes the chickens didn´t quite have enough strenght and they would fall out of the tree. Jessica screamed like a scared little girl. All of the 5 year olds made fun of her for the rest of the night. The rest of us were just thankful that the chickens didn´t poop on anyone. God was watching our for our hair...ok really it was just an effort to conserve the scarce water.
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>After Bible study, we had more food! We had lasagna, with awesome garlic bread and Limonada (Limeade for all of you americanos). Then we had to make Anna go eat because she was infatuated with her email. She did eventually eat. We promise she will not come home malnurished!
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>THe background music for our dinner tonight was a street preacher. There is a car driving through the streets with a speaker system attached to it and a large crowd following it. Hmm, we are getting wonderful evangelism tips here! Anyone have a car they would like to donate? Do you think Mt. Airy would cite us for a noise ordinance? Oh well, we´ll work it out. Maybe frank will give us the autoparts store if we don´t preach in the streets.
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>Alba wants to teach us to dance tonight so we will see how well that goes. I´m sure there will be itneresting email material for tomorrow so stay tuned. Tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel.
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>Until our next email, know you all are in our thoughts. We are safe, content, and pleased to be with our brothers and sisters in Christ. What an awesome reminder of what it means to be part of the body of Christ all over the world. We are, indeed, part of a global movement, the work of the holy spirit transforming the world. God´s peace be with you!
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>Blessings,
>Jessica, Jen, Ed, Anna, and Rachel.

There r 48 columns. Each

There r 48 columns. Each square that needs 2 b dug is 5ft x 5ft and needs 2 b 6ft deep. Pls pray for everyones health

So the backhoe did not

So the backhoe did not show up 2day which means we dig by hand. We are digging footers for columns.

Sunday in the D.R.

Hola amigos en cristo!  This morning we had a wonderful breakfast of hard boiled eggs, bread, freash mango, melon, and pinapple, and some cereal!

Then we had devotions which Dave and Katie led in song.  We thought of you the whole time!  After we had our devotion, we went to the market!  It was filled with lots of people, shoes, underwear, and food! 

Then we went to the worksite to see what progress the Dominicans had made.  Today they were digging the footers for the columns.  Some of us got to try our hand at wielding a pickaxe.  We are happy to report, no one lost a toe in flip flops, although we did have a close call!!  We had an impromtue song and dance lesson from the younger girls that were at the worksite.

After we went to the worksite, we went to THE BEACH!!!!!  Some of us waded out to a small reef.  Others of us just put our feet in the water!  There was a lot of glass on the beach and garbage, but the water was very crystal clear!  Some people played football with our friends, others wandered and took pictures, and now some look like tomatoes! aka JEN!  She is mad at me now!  She says there are other red people too, but she needed the aloe! 

Then we came home and ate a much needed lunch!  Everyone was soo hungry!  Even Dave and Katie who had a hot dog snack at the beach were hungry!  Then we slept!  YAY Sleep!

After everyone rested, we got ready for worship!  Everyone was more dressed up than we have ever seen!  As always, the music was amazing!  Jen read First Corinthians 12:12-20.  Then she preached and Richard was the translator from English to Spanish.  Dave and Katie led the music with Enrique.  The church seems to be changing the culture.  Their self-confidence has improved and it seems to all be related to the church!  It is amazing to see the difference in the people! 

Now we are headed to bed!  We are tired, FULL of food, and RED!  Well, only some of us!

God Bless You all... Le Bendiga!

Jessica, Jen, Dave, Katie, and Ed!  Everyone put in a little effort for this email!