Thanks to Jared Hall for making the trip to Houston to retrieve Rocio and I from IAH. SO much happened since the last post:

A team leader severely cut his thumb on a table saw.
The chapel was constructed four hours from Santo Domingo.
One van was crashed in to at the jobsite by the organization coordinator driving a rental truck.
On the way to Playa Caribe, beach, the brakes on the other van went out and crashed through a wall of cinder blocks.

I am now back in College Station awaiting classes starting for me tomorrow. Take care.

Well Hurricane Dennis, the first of this season, is currently passing over us, but it’s not that bad. Scattered rainfalls throughout the day and night, light wind. My last hurricane was when I was four in Biloxi, Mississippi. All the kids were home alone, so we grabbed some pillows and the cats and climbed in to our bathtub to wait the storm out.

No worries.

This is an extremely quick post. Dominican Republic has been great. Lots of work and many differences from South America.

We just finished building panels to construct a chapel four hours from Santo Domingo. We go construct tomorrow and leave at 3A in the morning.

Yesterday we visited this village twenty minutes away. The people are called “those who do not exist.” They don’t exist because within 90 days of birth they don’t get a birth certificate and in DR if you do not have a birth certificate you can’t get medical treatment, government services, get a good job, or pay taxes. If one has a child, the child can not get a birth certificate, because one does not exist. Terrible cycle. Terrible poverty.

Keep us in your thoughts.

We have no luggage, but we are here in Santo Domingo. The rest of the group from Dallas arrives today in a few hours. Hopefully, our bags will fly in from Miami on the first AA flight.

We also had some issues in Miami yesterday. Our flight from Sao Paulo, Brasil was delayed in the air, so once we landed we rushed through customs (as fast as we could) and boarded our flight.

Santo Domingo is reminiscent of Rio. Very sticky and humid. Good thing were wearing long sleeves, eh? No, we have shorts on too.

I have no idea when Internet access will be available again. Until then, take care.