February

During the month of February our ministry was greatly blessed with two groups.  The first group was a work team from First Christian Reformed Church of Crown Point.  This was the church’s second work team.  Of the sixteen volunteers, four of them were returning for the second time.  We had an amazing week with this team.  They worked very hard and worked very well as a team and accomplished even more than we hoped they would in their week here.  They built us a security wall along the southwest side of our property, they poured all the columns, and they built us a new large cabinet in Shelley’s office.  When there was some downtime, they moved the dirt off the road and played with the kids.  By the end of the week, we also had six new students sponsored by members of the group.  We also were very encouraged by the interaction that they were able to have with our staff members and members of our church.  On Monday, some of our staff members had fun helping fill holes with cement and laying block and on Tuesday night our church hosted a Valentine’s Day dinner with all of the church members and the group.  Our ministry was blessed by the work that they did and by the relationships that were formed. 

the work team in front of the wall

The other group that came down was a little bit different.  It consisted of only two woman; Ruth Boss (a member of the PTJ support committee) and Karen Hoekstra (my mom).  Otherwise known as Grannies on a Mission.  They came down for a little over a week to help us organize.  They organized Shelley’s office (the new cabinet was a great help) my office, all of our files and supplies, the preschool closets, etc.  They even went as far as to clean the toys.  They stayed at our houses and were able to see what life down here in the Dominican Republic is like day to day.  They also were able to form some new relationships with a few of our church members, school staff, and our families.  We loved having them down here and they were both a huge blessing to us.  It’s always good to have a couple moms around.  If you want to read more about their adventures, you can read their blog at granniesonamission.blogspot.com.  

the grannies with the preschool staff