Church project

Since we are so terrible at keeping this blog up. I thought you all would enjoy a few pictures of how the church project is coming.  

The walls are just about finished and the roof will be going up shortly!

Lord bless you all in the coming year!

Donavon

The new church.....so far.

As many of you already know, the church project is once again under way. Several weeks ago the Bosses from Ti-goave came up and started work. They first finished digging the trench for the footer and then built the rest of the two foot thick rock wall for the foundation. Now they are working on laying the block walls. 

So far all the work at the site itself is being done by Haitions. But we have to keep all the supplies there for them so they can keep working. Donny and Hans and I have hauled many loads of sand and rock from the river bed and cement and blocks from here at the mission up to the building. Much of it we have been doing with the small machines, but we were able to use Don Weaver's truck as well, so I spent several days hauling 

with that. 

Rain has been somewhat of a problem as far as working on the church is concerned because it does not take much to make the trail too muddy and slippery to drive a truck of supplies back here. But we are still thankful for it bcause it means water for the gardens and water in our cisterns. 

All this for us right now means more work and more stress. But I've seen it over and over that God's grace is sufficient and He never gives us more than we can handle. And we are all blessed to have a great group of people here to work with. Even the Haition Boss has surprised Donny and I at how well we can work with him and how much patience he has with me especially when trying to communicate with him with my limited creole vocabulary. 

Hauling rocks with the bobcats. Although this kind of work is hard on them (I look at things from a mechanic's prospective) I don't know what we would do without them. 

Shoveling a load of sand on the dump truck took around 45 minutes.

A Haitian truck load of blocks on its way to the church almost got stuck turning around because of all the rain. 

The church from inside as it looks right now. 

Power Once Again

Several weeks ago the power quit working in the depo and it was just recently that we had time to fix it.

After a lot of testing we decided that the problem had to be under ground, so we started digging. 

That's me (Julian), Shaylo (a neighbour boy), and Aaron Smith. 

Aaron wearing his CornerStone Electric shirt. 

We where very thankful to finally find the problem. It was only about five feet from the building and under the sidewalk. Apparently something had gone through the conduit at one time and damaged the wire and it only now shorted out and melted off. 

Bible Study...

Donny supperised all of us this weekend and took us out to Port for Biblie Study. The missions here in Haiti put one together every month, and this month Blue Ridge hosted it. It was awesome to be able to sing praises in English again with a large group of people. 

We left Saturday morning in time to get there for the 10:00 service, stayed Saturday night, and left after church Sunday afternoon. 

Some of the vehicles from all the different missions that came. 

Saturday lunch with lots of good food, American style. 

Trees...

This is a little late, but I thought you might be interested in seeing it anyway. Unfortunately several of the large trees along the front fence have died out, so Donovan and I decided to take a day and cut them down. 

We had to cut all the branches off before we felled them due to limited space. 

Whenever there is action there are always curious people. 

Julian

Finishing touches

Donny and I and Ti Paul and Polvoret went to an elderly women's house to fix up a few things that she thought might blow apart during a storm. We didn't actually change a hole lot, but it sure made her smile. 

Greetings!

      Greetings in the Precious name of our Jesus!

 I thought it would be fitting to take a minute and introduce our family to all those our faithful supporters and prayer warriors. My name is Donavon Hostetler. My wife Thea and I and our little daughter Makayla, have moved down here to Allegre to take the postion of administrator here at the mission. We are human just like everyone else, and desire your prayers as we settle in here and learn to know the Haitians better.  Here are a few things in specific you could pray for:

- Meaningful relationships with the Haitians.

- That we could grow our vocabulary quickly. Both of us know a little creole, and can manage, but there are still many, many words that we need to learn to be able to communicate effectively.

-That we would be able to mesh well with the rest of the team that is here.

- Good Health. There is a nasty disease going around called "Chikungunya". It is spread by mosquitoes, and can be very nasty. Most of the ones here have had it, but it would be a big blessing if we could be spared! 

Thanks for your prayers, and may God bless each one as you serve our Jesus in your corner of the world!

Donavon

Here is a picture so you can put a face with the names!