In my opinion, the construction crew got a lot accomplished (some others would say we didn’t accomplish that much but I beg to differ).  Mainly we had people moving a mound of dirt.  The dirt was in the back of the church at Boma and we were making it so the rain would roll down the hill instead of into the church.  As another attempt to move the rain away, we started digging a trench.  There were also people mixing cement, cutting block, and laying block.  Once the action started we all kept ourselves busy the whole day.

Today I tried the water inside a coconut (well, I think it was a coconut, maybe not) and it was great!!  We also found this type of nut.  We weren’t sure what it was at first, so we cracked it open and discovered it.  It was a different looking nut so we asked the Dominican translators what it was.  I don’t know how to spell it otherwise I’d tell you.  But there is no name in English.  Then we asked if we could try it and got a responding NO!!  Apparently we could die from it.  So one of the guys rubbed it against a rock and then put it on our arm.  It felt like a shock.  It made everyone jump.  New experiences; how fun.

Something interesting from the VBS site was a misinterpretation.  A little boy came up to Jeff and Josh and was motioning towards his mouth.  So, they thought he maybe wanted a drink, but no it wasn’t that.  They couldn’t figure it out, and then they were like, ‘He’s asking us for a smoke!”  Josh replies, “You’re only seven and you want a smoke.  No, bad; will kill you (with gesturing movements across his neck).”  They later found out that the boy was asking for bubbles.  Ah, the difficulties with language barriers.

Today I saw how exciting it is going to be for the people at Boma to have a completed church building.  There were Dominicans watching us work the whole day.  I am excited to see the influence this church will have on the community of Boma.

Well I am off for dinner, so I will end with a saying from a grateful Dominican woman, “Gracias a Dios!”  Thanks to God for the work he is doing in the DR!  May He be glorified and honored in all we do!

Katíe