Back From the DR

We made it back from the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, January 27, safe and sound. The day was long, as it often is when you travel these days, but it was good to be back in COLD Indiana at the end of the day.

We traveled the last leg of our journey, from the Bypass down 331 to Bremen, with light flurries. We kept joking that the snow looked like sand on the beach, reminding ourselves that the day before we HAD been on the beach, in Dorada on the north shore of the island of Hispanola, which is home to both Haiti and the DR.

It was 85 degrees on Monday, when we went to Darada Beach (playa in Spanish).

My face is peeling today (Thursday, January 29) from too much sun. But that's the price you pay--going to the beach in January!

We completed the work we went to the DR to accomplish--the painting of the inside of the new Mission House in Hato Mayor. What a place! There are four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room and living room, with an entrance area and two balconies. There are also stairs going up to the roof, which will someday have a campo de casa, which is like a pavilion on the roof.

It is good to be back home.

Enjoy the photos included in this post. They are of the new Mission House, inside and out, as we as the guys who went on the trip posing at the beach.

Day 2 In the DR

Day 2 in Hato Mayor startedwith a trip into Santiago to purchase paint and painting supplies, along with medicine cabinets for the bathrooms. Breakfast was cheese, fig newton-like cookies, juice and some fruit. It was great!

We headed into Santiago with Pedrito at 8:30 a.m. and didn't return until almost noon, which meant it was close to lunchtime! We had a great lunch of Con Salo, which is a stew with yucca, potatoes, plantains and some pork. You put the stew on rice in a bowl and eat up! We also had some quacamole, as always.

We then proceeded to paint the four bedrooms and cut in the rest of the rooms. Many hands made light work.

It has been overcast all day, but it is still great weather for shorts and a t-shirt!

We are done painting for the day and are awaiting dinner, which will include fried plantains. If you've never had fried plantains all I can tell you is , "Yummy!"

Tomorrow we paint all day long.

It has been great sitting on the gallerias on the second floor and waving to all of the people going by. We had a great time with some police who drove by and then stopped. They appeared to be quite entertained by us (and we by them).

Life is slower here, the pace more of a walking pace, rather than a driving pace. Refreshing.

I'll try to post again to tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers.

First Installment from Hato Mayor

We made it!

We are in Hato Mayor, having arrived late last night (Tuesday). We were delayed getting out of Miami, so we were so late we could not get the vans we had reserved. Instead, we took three taxis (vans) to Hato Mayor, which is only 10 minutes from the airport.

We ate a wonderful meal of yucca and fried salami before heading off to bed. We had to put all of our air mattresses together, blow them up and settle in. We didn´t get to bed until 1 a.m., but it was good to get horizontal.

The Lord was good yesterday. We were caught in a major lake effect snowstorm on I94, which had us worried we were going to miss our flight. Not a good feeling. But once we got to I294 the snow cleared and it was a fast trip to the parking garage.

This morning, we had to go back to the airport and get the two vans we are renting.

This internet cafe is only three houses down from the Marmolejos house, which looks great, by the way.

The house now has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, along with a living room, dining room and kitchen. The kitchen is not in place yet and will require more money and time than we have this trip.

As I write, the ceiling fans and lights are being installed in the bedrooms upstairs. The stores are closed today because of a national holiday, so we won´t be able to get any painting done today. Tomorrow we paint!

Everyone is enjoying the sunny weather. It is about 85 degrees today. Last night it probably got down to the low 60s, which was great sleeping weather.

Our group includes Todd Huff, Dori Thomas, Steve and Amy Kiefer, Mike and Tona Molebash, Howard and Lucy Scott, Jeff Meixel, Roxanne Roschek, Clella Martin and yours truly.

Our major theme for this trip is, ¨Christ working in me- Christ working through me.¨

Please join us in our prayer, which is to see the Lord work in us in such a way that others can see and have their attention directed to the Lord we serve, who loves us with an everlasting love and fills us with grace.

I´ll try to post again real soon.

If you want to send an email to me (or get news to someone else in our group), then send it to jimmorse52@yahoo.com

Welcome Vicarious Travelers to the DR!

Welcome to this online journal of our trip to the Dominican Republic.

This is being posted on Monday, January 19, 2009. We leave tomorrow for Hato Mayor, which is a barrio outside Santiago. We will be in the DR tomorrow night, after a long day of travel!

The photo on this post is of the house that has become a "mission house" for Horizonites and others. It is the second floor of the existing house of Pedrito and Arelis, who are the parents of Job Marmolejos (who is married to Laura and they, together, are the parents of Jailen).

We will be painting the house, both inside and out, while we are in Hato Mayor. You can see the rebar sticking up on the second storey, as well as the first course of cinder block, which is for the outside walls.

There are 12 of us making the trip. You can check here for updates to see what new things have happened and what might be in the works.

Thanks for your prayers. We have been asking this of the Lord, that He might work IN us and that He might work THROUGH us.

You can email me at jimmorse52@yahoo.com

Thanks for checking in.

Later, amigo.