Starting the Work
The painting crew starts their work on the classroom walls
By Rusty Hazzard
Thursday, June 26th 2025, was the first day in which the team was able to fully engage in the building and maintenance projects which we do in the morning before the Vacation Bible School in the afternoon.
We divided up into three groups, one focused on the school grounds which needs tree trimming and landscaping work, another on interior painting of classrooms, and a third group constructing new shelves for use in the classrooms.
Bill Montgomery led our tree trimmers and they made great progress in trimming lower limbs to open up the tree canopy. The trees and shrubs grow incredibly fast here in the DR. So each time we visit there is plenty of work needed to keep the trees from overtaking the grounds and buildings.
Heber Willis managed our painting crew. They tackled four classrooms and one of the primary hallways. The school uses two different colors on their walls, so they must be painted individually on different days. Today our painters got two coats of paint on the upper walls so that tomorrow they can tackle the lower walls.
I led our carpentry crew which began work on building seven new bookshelves. We were able to complete the design planning (we start with just a pile of lumber), all the cutting of the lumber and much of the sanding needed before beginning assembly.
Our projects all appear to be on schedule, so we are also looking at some additional work at the church in Montellano. Hopefully we will be able to fit in painting three rooms there where they are planning on conducting English lessons for adults. Tourism in this part of the DR as increased substantially in the last few years, so many of the jobs available need bilingual employees.
Thank you everyone who is thinking and praying for us.
Today’s update comes from Rusty Hazzard, who is a long-time member of Saint Peter's Episcopal Church and serves as the Junior Warden. Rusty worships at Saint Peter's with his spouse, Diane Hazzard.
The carpentry crew carefully measures out their materials, beginning their construction of new bookshelves
