Construction Update

Sorry about the lack of pics lately but the internet has been out again. We have attempted to get our own internet but like everything else, it's not working. Haha oh the life. Anyway we have been busy with the construction and i don't mean to complain about the heat seeing as most of you are having to deal with -20 and snow but man is it hot shoveling dirt with the sun beating down on you. It also doesn't help when as soon as you do something someone says they measured wrong and you have to redo it again and again. It is pretty amusing when a Haitian walks by and sees a bunch of white girls digging a ditch. I think they find it amusing to because they usually have a pretty big grin on their face. little do they know, we get paid less then them. Hehe.

We went to the site today and shoveled for about 2 hours but it turned out to be one of those days where there is not much to do and people were being sent home. Seeing as my day is now empty i thought i would do a little updating on the blog. Better get it done before the internet conks out.

It's not all hard work around here. It does get interrupted by a beach day every now and then.

Welcome to the construction site

Sachiyo and her boo boo

Two brothers on the construction team in the paint hut.

Morning worship

Lunch hall

Lunch time. Ummm the food is so good.Dish duty A sneak peak into the kitchenHarllens hard at work

This is how you cut a tree down in the D.R. Workers comp anyone?

Every day you have to scrape all the concrete off EVERYTHING.

More scraping I can do it all apparently!!!!!!!

Laying chalk lines by hand

A pile of stuff we had to move. There's more there then you think!

Levi and I on our watchi man duties.

Supply Trailer

Digging through a pail of rusty nails to find any straight, usable ones. There's no job to big or to small.

Haha. removing fence posts cause someone measured wrong, again.

Taking apart an old fence and striping the wire and cutting it to secure the new fence. Nothing wasted here.

I spent a morning putting rocks under that rebar to keep it off the ground. This is the base for the fence. Yup, a hole lot of fence work going on here.

Pouring concrete for the entrance to the hall.

Levis turn to do a little ditch digging.

Taking a water break

Back to work. Look at that white girl with a shovel. The spot where the hall is to be built.

Prepping the ground. Finally

Levis new paintings

By the way, don't forget to leave us comments. We love hearing from everyone.

Lights Out

Just a quick note tonight seeing as i'm at a restaurant cause we have no internet AGAIN. Anyway It's never a dull moment at the meeting. First of all it was a packed house with the construction workers here. About 2 min. before the end of the talk the power went out so everyone brought out there cell phones and one of the brothers ran to a colmado (corner store) and bought some candles. Then they ran to the construction site and got a generator. So they got that going but then no one could hear over the noise of the generator. Just as everyone blew out their candles the generator quite. Out come the phones again and light the candles again. Power comes back on and then a few min. later the lights go out again. It's a good thing there is a sister that knows the tune to every song in the song book. It was pretty interesting to be at a meeting that is lit by cell phones and candles. The power finally came back on at the end of the meeting so all is good.

Today was a congregation potluck on the beach to welcome all the workers and say thank you. It was a long day on the beach so now i'm pretty tired and ready for bed. So good night everyone and see you another day.

Pics From the Past Few Weeks

I've been promising pictures for a while now, so here are a few from the last few weeks.

Laundry day. Yes i mean day. When i leave it to long, it takes me all day to get the laundry done. It doesn't help when the power keeps going out.

This is the site of the Kingdom Hall. Lots of work to be done but it will be so nice when it's finished.

Haha. Who can find Jeremy?

No coffee breaks here, just coco breaks
Hummmm. The possible source of Levis amoeba infestation?
They took load after load of brush away.
Sara
Laura
All ready to start
Part of our cleaning crew
The after shot
I must say, this was not the most fun job of the day but it had to be done. Scrubbing rebar.
This ones for you Chris. On our way to Santiago.
Mmmmmm. Just a little taste of home.
Assembly Center in Santiago
Levi y Colby
Me y Levi
Sachiyo, Miharu, Leslie, Me, Lacey y Hannah
Inside the open air hall

Monument in the middle of Santiago.

We just got home from Santiago and it's nice to be back. It's amazing how much Las Terrenas feels like home. It tooks us a little longer to get to Santiago but it's a good thing Colby was with us. The streets are way more confusing in real life then what they look like on the map. We got lost in Nagua, then in San Francisco and again in Santiago. We did however fine a Burger King in San Fran. so we had to stop for a little taste of home. It's kindda crazy thou cause it really does taste like home. Once we got to the hotel and settled in, Colby took us on another adventure through the streets and taxis of Santiago for another taste of home, TGI Fridays. Ummmm real chicken ceaser salad.

Sunday was the English assembly and it was so nice to have a full day of English. It was such a good assembly. Maybe it's just because i understood everything that was said. Haha. The weather was perfect, not to hot and not to cold. I even ran into someone i know from back home who is now living about 45 from L.T. I felt like a fool cause i didn't recognize her at first but it has been at least 10 years since i saw her last. Levi's been feeling sick from the amoeba medication so we weren't to sure how it would go but amazingly he felt good for the whole assembly.

After dinner and little nap we walked up the hill and made our way to a cowboy restaurant. Yes i said cowboy and let me tell you this restaurant out did any cowboy restaurant from back home. The waiters were in FULL cowboy getup and western stuff EVERYWHERE. I must say, they made the best fajitas i have ever had.

After dinner we walked up to the monument across the street for a birds eye view of the city at night. I didn't realize just how big Santiago was. But by this time Levi was not feeling great again so we made our way back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. We cranked the AC and covered with real blankets and felt like we were back at home. It was hard to leave that bed behind.

Before heading home i desperately wanted to do some real shopping so we made our way to La Sirena ( the dominican Super Walmart ) OH MY GOODNESS it was just like being back home. Very hard to drag myself away from that. All thought there was a power surge just to remind you where you really are.

Anyway the trip home was pretty uneventful which is good in this country i guess. It was fun to get away of the weekend but i can't say as Santiago is my favorite city. Glad to be home with my puppy again.

Oh i almost forgot. We woke up at one in the morning to a hooker trying to open our hotel room door. Levi knocked on the door and she grabbed her purse and ran. Never a dull moment. Haha