July 21 (click on photos to expand)

Teams with Dominican leaders and project family

Kitchen of target family

Exterior walls up

Well, we are back. It is nice to send you a line or two from the Caribbean; Puerto Rico in particular. In my last letter I announced the upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic. That is now in the history books. Here are the details... A team of nine met in the DR; four from PR and five from KY and NC. Each in the group was assigned different responsibilities. I was called upon to preach twice on Sunday and be available to help out with the VBS in any way needed. The others from the DR, PR and USA led the VBS and were prepared to preach/teach as the opportunity arose. The team from  the USA focused on building a house for a very needy family and working with the children in the area. Santos, our co-worker, the one who organized the trip, made sure everything moved forward as he had to contend with coordinating Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Americans; not an easy task.

Floors, doors, windows installed

VBS

From our perspective, the living conditions were very challenging. The family lived in a 15' x 15' house with a dirt floor, very limited electricity, and impure water. I have never seen anything like that in PR. I have seen photographs of Puerto Rico around 1900 that resemble the living conditions these people faced. In addition to building the house and leaving it 95 % finished (other than the electricity it has now been completed), the team did a VBS for 200 children the first day and around 100 the next day. I was utterly amazed at how easy it was to get the kids to show up. For three days straight we started at 7:00 AM and finished late in the afternoon, skipping breakfast and lunch to reach the goals that had been assigned us.

Project target family

First taste of ice cream

Shoes, undies and socks

Thursday afternoon, after the last cement was poured, we had the delight of seeing the owner of the newly built house baptized. As for the couple's four children; money was given to buy them shoes, flip-flops, underwear and socks. Plus, we got to watch them eat ice cream for the first time in their lives. It was quite an experience for them and us.

Back to PR... summer continues to march on. Attendance continues to bounce all over the place. Vacations, local holidays, and visitors from the States draw people away. In August things improve. Sounds like the US does it not? In early July, our church had an outing to Old San Juan. Tomorrow we will do our second summer outing. I believe 40 are signed up to ride the bus.

That catches the main points. Thanks for reading.

Johnathan and Mary