Extreme Home Makeover DR Style (with photos!)

Just last month, my Dad came to the DR with a missions team from Northeast Christian Church. My Dad's church has been partnering with the church in La Romana for many years now, and it was a unique opportunity for me to work beside old friends from my home church in the US... but also beside my new friends in the DR.... and be the "bridge" between the two cultures as the only Spanish-speaker on a work site with 15 Americans and a handful of Dominicans.

Over the course of a week, the team built a new home for a Haitian-Dominican family in great need. I was so impressed with the family (Amable, the father and his three daughters, Nairobi, Raquel and Ana) and the church, as they helped to build the house alongside the Northeast group. Their smiles were contagious and it was obvious that Jesus Christ is the rock that they stand upon as they deal with their many struggles (no electricity, a hole in the ground for a toilet, no medication when they are sick). I was priveledged to know this little family personally and share time and meals with them over the course of the week... God has really provided for me with my Spanish and the ability to communicate with such amazing people.

The following photos are the house they lived in before...

Nairobi (12 years old) at her front door

The bed that the three girls slept in together

And these are the photos of the new house and bed....