Supplies Bought, Trenches Dug, & Chris Preached

Faithful Monday-checking blog-readers, we sincerely apologize again for being a day late. Please still love us. :) So here's what's been going on here.

This week, for the precise skilled work of digging the trench for the foundation of the new temple for Casa de Dios Puerta del Cielo, a crew was hired out and the work was finished in a couple of days. A lot of rich dark dirt was excavated in the process, so the dirt will be taken and used to give fresh soil to the gardens that we're working on at Centro Cristiano.

Yesterday, Monday, about $3,400 USD (or RD$117,000) worth of Cinderblocks, Concrete, Gravel, Sand, Rebar, & Wire were bought for the first stage of construction (i.e. pour the foundation & erect the walls of the first floor of the church). With a combination of the grace of God, church fundraising efforts, and donations from those of you who generously supported the cause financially, we've been able to witness and take part in this first step. Next comes building the roof of the first floor (also the floor of the second floor). This is a significantly more expensive process, but we'll cross that financial bridge when we get there. If construction continues at a quick rate, that bridge will probably come quickly. *****BREAKING NEWS! Ochoa, the hardware store, JUST donated 1000 cinderblocks to the cause! God is providing everyday in new ways!

In other news, Chris preached for the Sunday service at Casa de Dios Puerta del Cielo on I John 1:5-2:6 (it's toward the back of the Bible). Awesome passage... I dare you to read it.

Also, we're reading a great book right now called "A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional + evangelical + post/protestant + liberal/conservative + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative + Fundamentalist/Calvinist + Anabaptist/Anglican + Methodist + Catholic + green + incarnational + depressed-yet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished CHRISTIAN" which is really challenging us to rethink and rediscover the path of following Jesus and what that should look like. Even more challenging is trying to rediscover that path and apply it to our current Dominican cultural context in an appropriate way. Pray for mercy. Hope all is well back home… or abroad… or wherever you are.