Los Rios....here we come!!!

We left early this morning to go and help a construction of a Kingdom Hall in a neighboring city called Los Rios. It is an hour bus ride.
There was 10 of us from our congregation that went, and we met at the bus stop.





It was around 7am, and as we waited for the guaguas (basically the white van is the bus) two other women showed up at the bus stop which meant that they too would come along in the bus. Now there is only seats for 10 people, we however had 13! it was very cozy as you can see. Gray and I along with 2 others were in the back row !






We had a great time in the bus. I have been trying to figure out how to describe the ride....so this is the best example.....you know when you go to Canada's Wonderland and you go on the wooden roller coasters?! And you love the wooden ones because at every turn and dip of the tracks you feel like the wood is going to come apart and you feel like your going to fly out of the chair!!! That's EXACTLY how it feels in the guagua. The van is held together with cardboard and duct tape, and every bump and turn of the road you feel like you are on that wooden roller coaster!!! It was AWESOME!!!!!


So once we arrived (safely) we got to work right away. We were given hard hats and other working tools and then given our assignments for the day. Gray was asked to work on building the cement walls and mixing concrete, I was asked to clean off the cement that was on cement forms.
I worked along with some of the sisters in our congregation, and Gray met some new brothers.
 Gray is standing in the middle of the picture, he assured me he was working really hard :)

These are the sisters from our hall....from left to right....Carmen, Nidia, Me, and Yovanni.

We were scraping the cement off the forms, they reuse and recycle everything. Our organization does not waste any of the donations and they use the materials wisely so that many other congregations can benefit from the generosity of brothers donations.

It is amazing to see what is accomplished with all volunteers and that everything is supported by voluntary donations. It provides real glory to Jehovah!

Somehow Bonnie (another sister in our congregation) managed to get an office job!!

Those who know her wouldn't be surprised!

This is the supplies trailer. Everything here is for us to use during the construction project. You come and sign out whatever you need. It is really organized and all the tools are numbered and you just bring them back when you are finished.

And then it was lunch time!!

We ate rice and beans, and salad. It was delicious!
Directly after we eat we consider the days text and have comments, then after a concluding prayer we go back to work. Its funny, this country is so HOT and the work here is really difficult and they take no coffee breaks on the construction site, its only lunch and dinner. Which made both Gray and I laugh at how many 'coffee breaks' we take back home on a RBC site LOL.......these brothers put us to shame!!!

Near the end of the day we were all very tired. The heat and the work really take it all out of you.

This is Jose. He is in our congregation. Gray and I aren't sure how old he is, but we think he is in his 70's. I took this picture at the end of the day, and everyone is all smiles.....Gray and I were in complete shock to see what this brother could do.

The heat and the hard work of cement blocks was not going to slow this brother down!

As the picture explains, there is much joy in the service to Jehovah!!







When we arrived in the morning there was only a foundation, the day began with building the walls. When we left at 6pm this is the stage that they were at...4 blocks high around the entire structure!




So another guagua came to pick us up to return us home....so our adventure hasn't ended....we all get into the bus and as we start leaving we realize that the door to the bus will not close. Its been welded open!!
So not only is the ride crazy, but we could fall out!! LOL
Its Mind-buster without seat belts!! LOL


We arrived home safely...so don't worry. Everyone, and I mean everyone uses the guagua's its just the way things are.
What an amazing day, we had so much fun meeting new people and being apart of the new Kingdom Hall. Oh, I forgot to mention that there was no Kingdom Hall in Los Rios. This will be there first! How exciting to be apart of it. We hope to go again during the construction, we have been invited to go every Friday. We will see how things go!

Oh...FYI....4 DAYS AGO we got the great news that our washing machine was being delivered!....we are still waiting LOL
Its Dominican time...everything happens tomorrow!! and then tomorrow...etc!
So tomorrow is day 5 and counting......We will keep you all posted..talk to you soon.