I think we bought a truck from a drug dealer.

posted by sharla, who has never used drugs.

we have been looking for a good quality truck for some time now. we've needed one for a long time, but didn't have enough money for one that wouldn't break down every month. then in december, the Lord provided the rest of the money and we were excited. but then we shopped and shopped and shopped and found that there were very few quality trucks available (except for brand new models that were VERY expensive).

and so we were discouraged, and I, for one, was tired of shopping. it was getting frustrating because we were having to rent trucks for various needs - at the construction site, for groups, for other mak needs.

then last week, a truck came up on a dominican car shopping website that i hadn't seen before. it looked like a great truck for a great price. it was in bonao, a city that i had never been to, about an hour away from where i was in santiago.

teresa white and i set out for bonao on wednesday. we looked at the truck. it was great. a mechanic looked at it. he said it was great. then it started getting weird.

we went into the dealership office. now picture this with me. this is a small, corner lot dealership in a small town with maybe 30 cars. it doesn't seem like the kind of business that makes a man filthy rich. but what do i know? the office was fancy as far as these kinds of offices go in the DR - expensive art, the latest technology, people offering you beverages left and right.

we were invited into the president's office. turns out he had a big tv that he kept watching - it was showing surveillance of his lobby. ok. then we got up to go to the bank. he pulled a hand gun out of his desk drawer and put it under his shirt. now mind you, we were NOT carrying a bunch of money to the bank. no, no. the bank was going to run my credit card and put the money into his account. the bank was two blocks away. were we in danger of some sort of violent crime in a country that suffers from a mere 7.6% of the aggravated assult rate as the US? (I looked it up.)

so you put this together and i fear we bought our truck from a drug dealer. i think it'll be okay. why don't you come down and go for a ride with us? (p.s. the twins were just modeling. we do not drive with them in the back.)

the last 2 weeks.

The middle of January rolled along, and in came a wave of busyness for us. Miguel and the crew started on the massive cistern for the new Makarios team house/conference center. When I say massive, I mean its about the size of an average house here, but under ground. The projected gallons of water it should hold is around 35,000. Because of the rain, we were able to see that more work needs to be done on leveling the ground before the foundation is started on. And you'll also see the cave-in that one side of the cistern hole experienced. It has made for some muddy, busy days, but they are thankful that it is coming to a completion this week as far as the cistern goes. The guys are working all day pouring the top on the cistern and hope to be done by 7pm tonight.

I on the other hand, have been getting bigger and feeling it! (for some of you who don't know, Im six months pregnant). But aside from that I've been doing a lot of running around and errand running for the school. We have been able to, with more sponsorship money, start a little more sophisticated feeding program for the kids at the school. Up until now, we had been able to give an egg, piece of bread, and banana to the kids that come to school. Now, we are able to offer a warm breakfast for the morning kids, a hot lunch for the preschoolers, and a healthy snack for the afternoon kids. I have been busy buying the cooking utensils and kitchen supplies; organizing the cleaning and cooking ladies; and helping Robin (school director) to get it all organized. Last week was our first week of cooked meals and it went surprisingly very smoothly. Of course there are always a few kinks to work out, but we are excited to be up and running with this program. Although the food benefits all who come through the program in significant ways with added nutrition and food in the bellies, it has especially been noticeable in a few kids who come through and are literally scarfing their food down. Its obvious its the only food they have received all day. We are so thankful for the kid's sponsors who make this possible for us to do.

Some pictures of the massive cistern!

Lake after the rain.

the cistern with 2 rooms!