Our Last Group of 2013...Course Trends from Austin!

Only two weeks after we returned from Guatemala we welcomed our next team to the D.R.  They were our friends from Course Trends, a company in Austin that sent us the team last year that was instrumental in our recovery from the flood in November 2012.  This year 11 men made the trip, including friends we had met last year.  We were excited to see them again and meet new friends as well.

Our New Sidewalk!

Again, the guys proved to be hard workers and a huge blessing to the Makarios community, as we had them engage in three main projects throughout the week.  First, they helped us construct a new sidewalk on the school grounds to replace the previous gravel walkway.  Saying that there was a lot of shoveling involved is an understatement.

Second, they built some much needed improvements at the home of a local elderly woman and her two nieces.  This sweet family has been friends with Makarios for the past several years.  Shelves in the kitchen, repairing the girls’ beds, and a safety handrail on the front porch were all huge upgrades for this family.

She's so excited to have a handrail.
There's a steep slope into her home

You can't imagine how much better this looks!
The community was excited to have curbs!

Lastly, the team joined in on an exciting project out in front of the school.  A new drainage system was built to help channel dirty wastewater from the school down to the river.  The guys definitely got their hands dirty helping the city workers and local residents dig drainage ditches and mix concrete for the curbs that were built. There are fairly open sewers that run through this area that people walk over and empty into the streets.  So, this project not only benefits our students who daily walk through these areas, but the entire surrounding community as well.  The families who live on the same street as the Mak school now have a reliable drainage system that should make the entire area cleaner, safer and definitely more pleasant to walk through.  The hope is also that this will provide better drainage to prevent flooding in the future.  There is even talk of the city paving these roads in the near future which would be a further blessing!

The team and community worked hard together!

After a lot of shoveling, drilling, mixing concrete, swinging pick axes and more shoveling, the week wrapped up with a futbol game in Chichigua.  Despite a definite home field advantage from the locals, the guys from Course Trends faired pretty well- actually taking the lead at one point.  Eventually, we succumbed to the mad, bare-footed soccer skills of the Chichiguans, but not before a brave effort.  It was a great way to end the trip.

After a friendly competitive game of futbol with the guys from Chichigua (a neighboring village)

Once again, we thoroughly enjoyed and were blessed by the Course Trends team and are thankful for their hard work and partnership in our ministry.  It’s humbling to have folks who want to come and share in what God is doing here in this part of the D.R.

Thanks for joining us in the journey.

We are blessed!

The Becks