More changes...

So we moved again...  Yes, we were only in our new congregation for about 2 months and we hadn't even finished construction on the kingdom hall when we were invited to a new assignment.

Last May during the reconstruction of the kingdom hall in Imbert we submitted our applications for the construction program here in the country.  By August we hadn't heard anything so we made ourselves available to the C.O. to be moved to another congregation.  That's when we moved to Torre Alta.  In the end of November the international servant in charge of the school renovation/expansion project next to the assembly hall in Villa Gonzalez contacted us about helping out on the project.  It was just an informal invitation to work there a few days a week, travelling back and forth from our apartment in Puerto Plata.  We said we could, but after our current KH project was completed.  Then we received an official invitation from the branch to be assigned full time to the project.  So, we sold a bunch of stuff and moved to a house the construction group rented.  It's in the town of Villa Gonzalez right next to the assembly hall.  We share the house with another couple.  They are Venezuelan and have worked at the branch here for several years.  They were assigned to this project a few weeks ago.

A lot of stuff is changing with the new worldwide construction program.  There are currently 4 construction groups in the country.  Group #3 is assigned to the school expansion project.  Two international servants are assigned to the project along with a few other people they've taken on (like us).  In total there are 25 people assigned full-time to the project.  Two more will be coming this month.  We work Tuesday through Saturday, and life is similar to life at bethel.  We have morning worship.  Starting last week, 4 days a week we are tied in to the branch's morning worship program.  We have family watchtower study every Tuesday night.  Starting next week we will be tied in to the bethel family's watchtower study.

The project is a remodeling/expansion of the existing school facilities.  The school was built to house single brothers.  Of course now it needs to house couples, single brothers and single sisters.  A new building is being added with a large storage room and six bedrooms.  Another laundry and kitchen are being added.  The existing residence building is being renovated and will have two large bathrooms and 6 bedrooms.  Some other small changes are being made to the existing school building.  The project looks like it will continue into the summer.  There is talk of another expansion project at the branch and a possible remodeling of the assembly hall next to the branch.

The new residence building.

The current buildings with the beautiful mountain in the backround.

Prepared for the frigid 70 degree temperatures.

Safety day

If you want to follow us on instagram, we post pictures to our account , CMCOOK25

New KH!

So it's been almost 3 weeks since we moved.  We've been having a great time getting to know the brothers in our new hall.  We're also excited that we'll be able to participate in another construction.  Two truckloads of equipment arrived yesterday.  Tomorrow the construction group will be arriving.  The actual construction should be starting on Tuesday and will probably last around 2 months.  The new hall will belong to three congregations.  Ours is one of them, but after it is built there will likely be some restructuring to maybe create a new congregation.  Our congregation has 108 publishers and is still not the largest congregation in the city.  Our neighboring congregation has over 120 publishers.  That's even considering there was a restructuring about 3 years ago that created a few new congregations.   

I created a new photo album where I will post pictures of the new construction.  Here is the link

https://plus.google.com/photos/115774820596448587458/albums/6070733149138994481?authkey=CJfWuMeNoqLMlgE

This is the view out of our back bedroom.  You can see the ocean!

 This was last Saturday.  We were preaching in a territory outside the city.

New Year!

Well, another year has come and gone... and what a year it was!  (construction, two trips to the states, Kyle's visit, pioneer school, campaigns, etc..)  We're looking forward to what the new service year may bring.  I guess you could say we are starting it off with a bang.  On Friday we are moving to Puerto Plata.  Puerto Plata is a city about 30 minutes from the town where we currently live.  Here is the link to the wikipedia page that talks about the city.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Felipe_de_Puerto_Plata

There are 10 Spanish, 2 Haitian Creole, 1 English and 1 sign-language congregation in Puerto Plata.  Soon there will be two new kingdom halls built in the city.  Our new congregation will be meeting in one of the new halls.  It's name is Torre Alta and has around 115 publishers (4x the amount of our current hall!).  It will definitely be a big change.  We'll be sure to post some pictures of the new place once we get settled in.

Below are some pictures from this summer.

 This is the new screen we have at our assembly hall. 

A new brother who was baptized this summer.

Hall is done, now it's hot, hot, hot!

The hall is finally finished and was dedicated last Sunday.  We still can't believe how nice it is.  It's one of the nicest looking Kingdom Halls I've seen here.  Maybe we're just partial and can think about how it used to look. :)  Here are some before and after pictures.  I took a few more of the inside that I'll post here soon.

 BEFORE

AFTER!!!

It's also getting really hot!  Here's an image from a page showing the current temperature, heat index(feels like 111!!!) and forecast for the next few days.  :(

New Pics

Well, the kingdom hall is really taking shape.  Most of the walls are up and all the window and door frames are in.  We continue to get really nice comments from people in the community about the project.  People are most impressed at seeing women working on a construction site.  Some people who drive by actually turn around, come back and stop just to watch everything going on.  We've had great support from the other congregations in our circuit and regularly have 20-30 people working at the site each day.

Here is the link again for our photo album.
https://plus.google.com/photos/115774820596448587458/albums/5999539421712720961?authkey=CNe4j--EguqTmwE

New Pictures

At this moment I'm uploading 22 new pictures to the photo album.  The link to the online album was in the last post from a week ago just in case you missed it.

As you can see the old KH is officially gone!  All the walls are down.  We've continued with the bond beam and the block walls.  The doors and windows got here this week and some are already being set in place.

There were a few really hot days this week.  Everybody sweats a lot.  I sweated so much one day that a brother jokingly asked if I'd got caught in a downpour.  That day I drank 2 1/2 gallons of water.  It looks like this week it should be a little cooler and cloudy.

Check back next Sunday or Monday for an update.

Photo Album

Hi everyone!  Between us and other brothers and sisters there are so many pictures we decided to make an online photo album where you can see the pictures.  Every Sunday or Monday we'll add more pictures.  Click on the link below to access the album.  If you have any problems seeing it just let us know.

Click here for the photo album.

KH update

3am working security at the hall with Lili.

These are pictures of a brother's recently built house that is being used to house some of the brothers from the construction group and also as a kitchen.

Here we are regretting having made the concrete safe for the sound equipment so strong.

After about 3 hours it finally came down.

One word.... dirty