TBC Dominican Republic Mission Trip: First Day Out In the Bateys

Today's blog post is from Stephen Evans:

First day out on the bateys. Hard. Hot. Fun. Social. Rewarding. After a great breakfast, we loaded the bus for a 45 minute drive out to the bateys. For most of the drive, sugar cane stretched out as far as we could see. Once we reached the batey 106, we were directed to the large holes in the ground, which will become latrines by the end of the week. These holes are roughly 9 feet deep and 5' by 7'. What is amazing is that the residents of the batey had dug these holes after long hard days of work for about 3 weeks using only manual labor tools and much of what they were digging into was solid rock. Much of our day consisted of shoveling sand and the like for a concrete mixture and shoveling dirt from the sides of the latrines. The local children were very eager to help us and play with us. They were completely full of joy and could not contain it. I have made quite a few little Dominican friends and am excited to get to know them further throughout the week. I am so glad that God has brought us here and cannot wait to see what else he has in store for us!