Base Up-Keep

With hearing other stories and reading some of the ones that have put on this blog, I figured that I should attempt to share a more mundane side of missions that does not often get recognized as an integral part of the work and service. What typically doesn’t get recognition is the maintenance and upkeep of the actual missions base where all the ministries are supported and sent from. Me and my team members, Gabe and Nicci, are working through sun and (a lot of) rain to help Alberto make the Students International base a better place to live and work from. This last week, we had the wonderful opportunity to dig up and remove a center island in the driveway, pulling up three small trees, breaking concrete curbs and removing the dirt from the center of it. In its place, this next week will include laying gravel, rebar, and concrete to pave over what we removed. This is very important because Students International currently doesn’t have the best area to park their cars, and what space they do have is under trees that could drop coconuts or mangos onto the staff cars. With the removal of the center island, we will allow for four or five more parking spaces for their teams, site leaders, and partners in the missions’ work.

The work we have been doing is not all that different to what we would do back at CAMP-of-the-WOODS, on a day that we would be working a Grounds shift. As we are familiar with the amount of work that is required for something like what we are doing here in the DR, we recognize that things will fall into disrepair very quickly if they are not maintained. With a ramshackle workplace, the team cannot effectively do the work of the Lord in the community. I and my team are learning about this importance of reaching out to the community behind the scenes and looking towards supporting the sites and the people they reach. God has been teaching me to strive in strength and in dedication to the work He has put before me, completing it in joy so that it can be used effectively for current and future teams.

Noah Henry

Photos of the Construction/Base team: