Today was our last day of work. It was more of the same for me, wheeling cement from the mixer to where we poured all day long. Some of the team went to Jose's house to lay bricks for him as try are building him a new house. Jose is a worker here, and is one of the most sincere people you will ever meet. He is always telling jokes and smiling. It was bittersweet when we got done today for the last time. I have honestly never been more tired from working. My whole body aches, but hen you think about the difference we are making the soreness seems to go away. It is quite amazing to see how welcoming and happy the community is when we see then.
Today I had my first drink of Passion Fruit juice during lunch as well. It tasted great! It is so fun to try new things down here because everything is so fresh and made right on campus.
Tomorrow we are taking off from camp around 9 and going into Santo Domingo to walk around and hang out. After that its off to the resort for a day of relaxation on the beach before we head back Saturday to a whole bunch of snow. The days have flown by here, but I am ready to have a great day with the team tomorrow!
There is a man here named Jon who runs a few blogs and things like that. He wrote an article today about Debbie, another worker here. It is a great article and really gives you insight one how she sees life and things like that. Debbie is an amazing girl who everyone can look up to and respec. I am goin to post a link to the article when I post Sunday about my thoughts on the trip. I suggest everyone take a look at it if you have time!
Tonight will consist of a meeting about memories of the trip and what we learned, and also quite a few games I'm sure. I may try to defend my spoons title, but we have to finish our Phase 10 game first.
I am looking forward to catching up with many of you when we get home. It is always good to be home, but its hard not to want to be down here all the time helping these great people out.
Take care and I will talk to you all soon!
Corey
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Cement and Church
Today was more of the same of the previous days. I am now best friends with my wheel barrel, and will be again tomorrow. We are working hard to get all the cement we can laid before we leave. There were some people taking video of our system, and I will say it was a pretty awesome system to be in. There was an assembly line pouring buckets into the mixer, one person mixing, and then 3 people pushing wheel barrels to pour. Hopefully the videos will be on Facebook soon.
Christian came and talked to us last night about his story. I encourage anyone to try to listen to his story next time he is in the area. It all started with someone sponsoring him like people do for the children of the Lighthouse School now. To see what it has become all from a dream is pretty neat.
After work today we played baseball with some of the local kids and also went to church. Going to church is so neat because it is so different then church in the states. The atmosphere is very alive and loud and it was an awesome experience. We walked to church and it was dark, so it was fun to be out at night and see how many people are out and about. Other then that it was a pretty regular day.
Everyone is pretty tired from working so hard, but it is so rewarding its worth it. We are taking full advantage of siesta time after lunch! I am not looking forward to heading back as seeing all the snow we got that's for sure. I will gladly take the peeling skin from the sun I have already over frostbite.
It's bittersweet to me to have the last work day tomorrow. I love it here because everyone is so happy when it looks like they have so little. I already can't wait to come back next year and for years to come. It is all worth it to see all the smiling faces on the kids at the school.
I am goin to try to blog tomorrow night after work, but if not then for sure once I get back to the states to wrap up the trip.
Thanks for reading and I hope everyone back home is safe from all the snow!
Take care and talk to you soon.
Christian came and talked to us last night about his story. I encourage anyone to try to listen to his story next time he is in the area. It all started with someone sponsoring him like people do for the children of the Lighthouse School now. To see what it has become all from a dream is pretty neat.
After work today we played baseball with some of the local kids and also went to church. Going to church is so neat because it is so different then church in the states. The atmosphere is very alive and loud and it was an awesome experience. We walked to church and it was dark, so it was fun to be out at night and see how many people are out and about. Other then that it was a pretty regular day.
Everyone is pretty tired from working so hard, but it is so rewarding its worth it. We are taking full advantage of siesta time after lunch! I am not looking forward to heading back as seeing all the snow we got that's for sure. I will gladly take the peeling skin from the sun I have already over frostbite.
It's bittersweet to me to have the last work day tomorrow. I love it here because everyone is so happy when it looks like they have so little. I already can't wait to come back next year and for years to come. It is all worth it to see all the smiling faces on the kids at the school.
I am goin to try to blog tomorrow night after work, but if not then for sure once I get back to the states to wrap up the trip.
Thanks for reading and I hope everyone back home is safe from all the snow!
Take care and talk to you soon.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Day 3 of Work
Today was a long one. We are laying cement for the new building addition, and we have to lay a ton of it. We are using the cement mixer that Project 52 sent down so that helps a lot, but it is still hard work. There are usually about 8 people shoveling ad carrying buckets, 2 people running the cement mixer, and then 3 people running the wheel barrels. It is a pretty long process, but we all got it going smooth so it was good.
Tomorrow will be about the same thing, but we are heading to a local church here in the afternoon so it will be a shorter day than usual.
We also played basketball tonight, which probably wasn't the best idea because we were all exhausted from today, but it was a good time. We played some of the guys that work here.
Also today during devotions Pastor Jon said a quite that was pretty awesome. He said "preach the gospel and if necessary use words." That is a perfect quote for this trip. We may not speak the same language, but the people here know what we are doing here.
Tonight will consist of Phase 10 and maybe some Catch Phrase. It is so fun to hang out with the team and make some new friends along the way.
Lastly I wanted to give a shout out to all the Iowa State fans. Sorry about the loss! I heard the officiating was bad and all that non sense, but we know Kansas is the better team.
That's about it for now.i am hoping to blog tomorrow if we get back from church at a decent time.
Tomorrow is also the Dominican Republics Independance Day. We will probably go to a local bar and celebrate with all the locals so that should be fun! (Kidding we would never go outside of camp alone). Only 2 more days or work until we head to the resort! It will be nice to relax at the resort after a long week of hard work.
Hope everyone is dealing with the snow ok. I hear we got quite a bit. Lindsey if your reading this please don't take my car and get into an accident! Haha kidding.
Take care everyone!
Tomorrow will be about the same thing, but we are heading to a local church here in the afternoon so it will be a shorter day than usual.
We also played basketball tonight, which probably wasn't the best idea because we were all exhausted from today, but it was a good time. We played some of the guys that work here.
Also today during devotions Pastor Jon said a quite that was pretty awesome. He said "preach the gospel and if necessary use words." That is a perfect quote for this trip. We may not speak the same language, but the people here know what we are doing here.
Tonight will consist of Phase 10 and maybe some Catch Phrase. It is so fun to hang out with the team and make some new friends along the way.
Lastly I wanted to give a shout out to all the Iowa State fans. Sorry about the loss! I heard the officiating was bad and all that non sense, but we know Kansas is the better team.
That's about it for now.i am hoping to blog tomorrow if we get back from church at a decent time.
Tomorrow is also the Dominican Republics Independance Day. We will probably go to a local bar and celebrate with all the locals so that should be fun! (Kidding we would never go outside of camp alone). Only 2 more days or work until we head to the resort! It will be nice to relax at the resort after a long week of hard work.
Hope everyone is dealing with the snow ok. I hear we got quite a bit. Lindsey if your reading this please don't take my car and get into an accident! Haha kidding.
Take care everyone!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Day 2 working
Hello Everyone!
I am writing this pretty early which means we had a good day of work. We worked from about 830 until 5 today. We are working in the camp, so today we carried bricks up to the third floor of the building. They have a pulley system where you have a guy on the ground who attached the brick and then pulls the brick up to the third floor and another person at the top takes them off and throws the rope back down. The other members of the team payed brick and made cement. It is really tough work, but it is really fun when everyone is working together.
Tomorrow is looking like we are going to be laying cement all day so that should be interesting. A lot of the wheel barrows we use do not work the best, so it is really hard work, but the Dominicans keep us going at a pretty fast pace.
Lighthouse School also painted the sign on the gym wall that says Treye's name. It's tough to look at it and not shed a tear or two. To see the difference that we and all the other teams are making is so inspiring. People around here love seeing us because they know we care about them and want them to be able to have some of the same things we do in the states.
One of the things Pastor Jon said today in devotion was "pray for us that the message of The Lord may spread rapidly and be honored." This is a bible verse that really hits you when you think about it. The question was asked what everyone prayed for before the trip. Most people said their health or their safety, but in reality that's not what we should be asking for. The main thing we should pray for is that the people down here see us working here because we believe we need to. Whether you are religious or not, when you come down here and see the difference you are making, you find out its bigger then you personally. God is great and it really shows when you come down here.
Tonight will hopefully consist of me winning spoons again and continuing the dynasty, and then hearing about the Kansas game. I need Kansas to win otherwise I won't live this one down for a while. Other then that nothing much is new here. I hope everything is great back home!
I will try to blog again tomorrow after work.
Take care.
Corey
I am writing this pretty early which means we had a good day of work. We worked from about 830 until 5 today. We are working in the camp, so today we carried bricks up to the third floor of the building. They have a pulley system where you have a guy on the ground who attached the brick and then pulls the brick up to the third floor and another person at the top takes them off and throws the rope back down. The other members of the team payed brick and made cement. It is really tough work, but it is really fun when everyone is working together.
Tomorrow is looking like we are going to be laying cement all day so that should be interesting. A lot of the wheel barrows we use do not work the best, so it is really hard work, but the Dominicans keep us going at a pretty fast pace.
Lighthouse School also painted the sign on the gym wall that says Treye's name. It's tough to look at it and not shed a tear or two. To see the difference that we and all the other teams are making is so inspiring. People around here love seeing us because they know we care about them and want them to be able to have some of the same things we do in the states.
One of the things Pastor Jon said today in devotion was "pray for us that the message of The Lord may spread rapidly and be honored." This is a bible verse that really hits you when you think about it. The question was asked what everyone prayed for before the trip. Most people said their health or their safety, but in reality that's not what we should be asking for. The main thing we should pray for is that the people down here see us working here because we believe we need to. Whether you are religious or not, when you come down here and see the difference you are making, you find out its bigger then you personally. God is great and it really shows when you come down here.
Tonight will hopefully consist of me winning spoons again and continuing the dynasty, and then hearing about the Kansas game. I need Kansas to win otherwise I won't live this one down for a while. Other then that nothing much is new here. I hope everything is great back home!
I will try to blog again tomorrow after work.
Take care.
Corey
Sunday, February 24, 2013
The Day at the Farm
My apologies again, I am writing this on an iPod so I am sorry if my spelling is off.
Today had been exciting! Minus a pretty bad sunburn, there are no complaints. We spent the day at Christians family farm and plate softball with the local team. Wayne was the umpire and it was hilarious. We ended up winning the game, but Wayne gave us a call that sealed the deal so we could call it a tie. We also donated some team uniforms and other supplies to the community as well. It was a pretty good feeling knowing that we really did make a difference in their lives today.
Being around the people down here just makes me really realize how good life can be. They are so appreciative of even used things and it makes you think about your own life.
Other then that tomorrow it is back to work as usual. It will be a lot of mixing and carrying cement so it will be a long day. We make it fun though so I am excited.
Last night we had our first spoons tourney of the trip and I am happy to announce that I won for the second year in a row. Just wan to thank my family for all the New Years games of spoons for training me so well.
Also, being down here I keep seeing tons of scooters. Some people know I have always wanted a Vespa (retro scooter) so I have decided its time to purchase one. Lindsey if your reading this right now I am pretty sure your not happy at all about that decision but it has to happen.
That's really all I have for today. The Internet here is not quite as good as last year so I am trying to blog each night but I get disconnected a lot. Hope everything is well in the states!
Last thing, the Jayhawks play Iowa State and I am a little nervous. I will be there in spirit and am really hoping they win this one. I will leave you with this.
Rock chalk!!!
Today had been exciting! Minus a pretty bad sunburn, there are no complaints. We spent the day at Christians family farm and plate softball with the local team. Wayne was the umpire and it was hilarious. We ended up winning the game, but Wayne gave us a call that sealed the deal so we could call it a tie. We also donated some team uniforms and other supplies to the community as well. It was a pretty good feeling knowing that we really did make a difference in their lives today.
Being around the people down here just makes me really realize how good life can be. They are so appreciative of even used things and it makes you think about your own life.
Other then that tomorrow it is back to work as usual. It will be a lot of mixing and carrying cement so it will be a long day. We make it fun though so I am excited.
Last night we had our first spoons tourney of the trip and I am happy to announce that I won for the second year in a row. Just wan to thank my family for all the New Years games of spoons for training me so well.
Also, being down here I keep seeing tons of scooters. Some people know I have always wanted a Vespa (retro scooter) so I have decided its time to purchase one. Lindsey if your reading this right now I am pretty sure your not happy at all about that decision but it has to happen.
That's really all I have for today. The Internet here is not quite as good as last year so I am trying to blog each night but I get disconnected a lot. Hope everything is well in the states!
Last thing, the Jayhawks play Iowa State and I am a little nervous. I will be there in spirit and am really hoping they win this one. I will leave you with this.
Rock chalk!!!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Travel Day and Day 1 of Working.
WE MADE IT!
To say yesterday was a long day would be an understatement. Our flight out of Des Moines was delayed by a few hours so that started it all off. We then got onto the plane, and sat in it without moving for at least an hour while the crew was "de-icing". We then made it to Atlanta, and had to run to our flight just to barely make it on time.
We flew into Punta Cana because we could not fly into Santo Domingo. We were all grabbing our luggage and there was one bag missing so we had to wait at the airport for about an hour and a half. Punta Cana is 3 hours from where our camp is, so we ended up getting to camp last night pretty late.
It was a long day but defnitely worth it to finally get down here!
Today we got to sleep in a bit and took a walk around the community. I was talking to Matt and we both realized that it does look a lot different than last year. A lot of the roads are paved it is really nice! The community walk always is amazing. The people here are so appreciative of us and the life they have. In talking with Christian, he stated that everyone is content with what they have. I love that about this place. The camp has also changed a bit. The kitchen to feed over 1,000 kids breakfast is now done, and the dorms for the kids are what we are working on this week. I will be posting pictures to my Facebook when we get back, but there are some pretty incredible things going on here. This is such an inspirational place to me. I can't put into words how much everyone loves it here.
This afternoon we mixed cement and wheeled it all over the place. Talk about getting thrown into the fire. I think its safe to say that we will all be pretty sore tomorrow. I can't wait to see what the rest of the week has in store.
Last story for the day. There is a guy here that played basketball at Cornerstone University, and in talking to him we played him at Grand View. It was at a tournament in Indiana and we won, but its such a small world that he would be here. He will be a great addition to our team when we play the Dominican Team later this week.
Tomorrow is the day we go to Las Charcas (Christian' Hometown) and spend the day with his family. It is another 3 hour drive but we are going to play softball against the town softball team. It will be an exciting day!
I am hoping to blog tomorrow when I get back. Hope everything is going great back in the States! I will catch up with all of you tomorrow hopefully.
Take Care!
To say yesterday was a long day would be an understatement. Our flight out of Des Moines was delayed by a few hours so that started it all off. We then got onto the plane, and sat in it without moving for at least an hour while the crew was "de-icing". We then made it to Atlanta, and had to run to our flight just to barely make it on time.
We flew into Punta Cana because we could not fly into Santo Domingo. We were all grabbing our luggage and there was one bag missing so we had to wait at the airport for about an hour and a half. Punta Cana is 3 hours from where our camp is, so we ended up getting to camp last night pretty late.
It was a long day but defnitely worth it to finally get down here!
Today we got to sleep in a bit and took a walk around the community. I was talking to Matt and we both realized that it does look a lot different than last year. A lot of the roads are paved it is really nice! The community walk always is amazing. The people here are so appreciative of us and the life they have. In talking with Christian, he stated that everyone is content with what they have. I love that about this place. The camp has also changed a bit. The kitchen to feed over 1,000 kids breakfast is now done, and the dorms for the kids are what we are working on this week. I will be posting pictures to my Facebook when we get back, but there are some pretty incredible things going on here. This is such an inspirational place to me. I can't put into words how much everyone loves it here.
This afternoon we mixed cement and wheeled it all over the place. Talk about getting thrown into the fire. I think its safe to say that we will all be pretty sore tomorrow. I can't wait to see what the rest of the week has in store.
Last story for the day. There is a guy here that played basketball at Cornerstone University, and in talking to him we played him at Grand View. It was at a tournament in Indiana and we won, but its such a small world that he would be here. He will be a great addition to our team when we play the Dominican Team later this week.
Tomorrow is the day we go to Las Charcas (Christian' Hometown) and spend the day with his family. It is another 3 hour drive but we are going to play softball against the town softball team. It will be an exciting day!
I am hoping to blog tomorrow when I get back. Hope everything is going great back in the States! I will catch up with all of you tomorrow hopefully.
Take Care!
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