Where Has The Summer Gone?

          Where has the summer gone? It seems like not too long ago I was writing and letting you know

Interesting sign on the Mens room door at a local hardware???

about what will be happening this summer, now we have a week and a half of teams left and the summer will be gone. This summer has been especially full since we had an extra team at the beginning and then another extra at the end, also with being back and forth between the new location in Santiago. We hosted a total of 31 people in that location in two different outreaches. We have some things to improve on but overall it was a great summer there. Marcy, Janae and I are all three ready to be back in Jarabacoa for a while again with Nina and Karen. God is doing so much there and it has been a real joy to be a part of that so far.
       I guess this is a good time for some admissions on my part, This summer has probably been one of the harder times for me personally since arriving here 3+ years ago. With the splitting of my time between Santiago and Jarabacoa and not feeling a true connection at either place. Then last week when our two sons and daughter in law were here I had contracted an amoeba and was down for the count almost the complete time they were here. (I ended up a total of 12 lbs in about 6 days before starting to gain ground on it). This coming Saturday my dad is having his machinery sale at home as he has rented his farm ground out and I wanted to be back for that to help him with that. It seems like there it has been a bit of an emotional time this summer and to spend a large portion of that time away from part of our family here has made this difficult. It makes me realize of just how good our life has been overall here and again how seemingly easy it has been for us to adjust to this culture. A few small speed bumps in the road like these are very manageable when in the big picture I know that God is in charge and "though my love for Him, all this are possible".
     On a more positive note, Saturday night on the 8:45 flight coming into Santiago was Brian, Sissy and the family, This was Sissy's first time back in her house since her accident, since she walked out that night back in April when she went to the base for dinner. She has recovered really well from her surgeries and had great care both here before going back to Huntzville and also back in Alabama. She and Brian both felt that prayers from everyone as she began her long road to recovery.

Backyard at the new base in Santiago

Front view of the house as you drive in the lane.

       About three weeks ago, Brian and Lowell located a better long term option for a base here in Santiago and have since signed a three year lease on that property. It will be very adequate to house teams of up to 20-22 for this next calendar year at least without a lot of major renovating. The infrastructure needs some attention, (water, Electric..) but nothing major. So the next stage in my life will most likely be spending 3+ days a week on that location through the end of the year working with a local plumber/electrician, buying more needed supplies for that location to handle the teams and assembling the 16 bunk beds that my sons and daughter in law made last week while here. I am looking forward to working with Marcy there  this fall. There are two houses - one large on in the photos and then another smaller one in the back of the property. There are a total of about 9 acres on the property so plenty of room to maybe open up an agriculture site we are hoping.
      I am working on having 2-3 construction teams coming down in Jan/ Feb 2016 to do some finishing up work for the March/May teams. The teams are all from our home area in LaGrange County Indiana.
Keep us in your prayers as we work on this location and continue to seek God's will for this site and not go just with our own plans.