16. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

Construction Thursday
This is out last day at Boracay and Kevin, AKA the warden, has turned up the heat. We had a big push to get the outside walls done so they could finish them after we left. Also it will help with the water running in where they will be building the steps to the second floor. I believe they will be doing that next week. Since this was a big push, we enlisted as much help as we could so you will see lots of people in the pictures. I’m going to upload a bunch today so I will not be explaining each one like I have in the past.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1736&id=100000039211132&l=1bf3ca2a57

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15. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

Town Photos

These are some pictures from around in the area. I will describe them the best I can.

The first one is the hotel we are staying at.

The next five are from the main street that we have to walk to get to the building site. The first four are of the street and the traffic; the other is of a nicer store front.

The next couple are from the second floor of the building we are working on. You can see how close together the houses are.

The next one is a picture down the beach strip. This is packed with vendors and night life every night.

The next three are from a pool hall that we walk past every day to get to the job site. Kevin Smith is just amazing. Every time we walk by he talks to the guys in there, passes out fireballs. One day he played pool with one of them, got beat 2 to 1. The only reason he won one game, the guy scratched on the 8 ball.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1617&id=100000039211132&l=053ed5a6c4

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15. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

Construction Wednesday

OK everyone today was a complete work day for me so the pictures are all of construction. You will see in the first two pictures the staircase beside the building we are working on. The water from this AMs rain is flowing down so hard that you can not see the steps at all. You just have to guess where to put your feet so you don’t miss a step.

The next picture is of a visitor to the site. He was having a good time sloshing around in the water that was lying on the floor.

The next three pictures are of a wall that we finished in the morning. It was right after this wall that Doug S. went back to the hotel with back problems. We have been missing him on the job site, but its better that his back is in good shape for the trip back home.

Since Doug went back to the hotel, we have had to enlist more help with the block laying. The next couple of pictures are of Pastor Rob Barlow working on a cement header over the two bathroom windows.

Next you will see Kevin working on the outside wall.

Remember that mixer I was telling you about before? This is Doug A helping Jerry mix a batch of mortar for the wall construction.

Well that’s all the pictures I have for today. I’m going to try to get some feeding site pictures to put up either later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for praying for us over here.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1613&id=100000039211132&l=7ed9ad2d1e

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14. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

These are the construction photos from tuesday!

 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1509&id=100000039211132&l=b1d5a6e8db

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14. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

This is one of the feeding sites that we are building a new shelter for. This is the kind of environment that I was expecting to see. The “houses” are nothing but little huts. The little ones are running around with minimal clothes on. One guy you will see in about the last photo was so excited that he had a pair of underwear to put on. He showed us about 10 times!

Now for the pictures. You will see the shelter first. Then a picture of the local jail! The next one is one of a boy that was helping us. THe first one is him helping mix the cement. The next one he is helping us fill the hollow block with cement. The next one is one of the huts I was telling you about. A whole family lives in here. Two generations. Next are pictures of the locals there. THe last photo is of a lady I saw on the street on the way mack. if you look real close at the picture, you will see that her foot is on backwards. Even with that, she got around as good as you and me.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1503&id=100000039211132&l=47a0b9ca35

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13. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

These are pictures from my first feeding site. It was at Jimmers chapel. We had about 60-70 kids there. Let me describe the pictures for you: 

In the first one, we were just getting there. The kids were trying to get settled and sat down. 

In the next seven, the kids are singing songs for us. They all had motions and unlike our kids, most participated.Please pay close attention to the little girl about in the center of all the pictures. She has on a white t-shirt and is the smallest girl in the front row. The white undershirt she has on, that’s ALL she has on, that’s all she had to wear. It barely covers her. 

The next two are of Rob Barlow telling the story. He does a great job with the kids. He is very animated so the kids tend to pay close attention to him and sometimes laugh at the goofy American! 

Then you will see one of a couple kids eating. Those cups have about two cups of oatmeal like stuff. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I’ll try to find out. It’s very hot when we first start dishing it out. I know this because I poured a spoonful on my hand while I was trying to get it in one of the smaller cups. While you are dishing it out. The kids are supposed to be in a line, but they are swarming around you trying to get their cups to you. It’s funny, we had balloons, candy, vitamins, and stickers to give them, but when we took the lid off the pot, they were definably the most eager. 

The next few you will see are from the balloon pass out. We do that and the sticker hand out last. Some of the workers made hats, dogs, and butterflies for the kids, but most of them were just happy to have a balloon. 

 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1395&id=100000039211132&l=d776dad8c9

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13. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

More pictures of construction from Monday. Doug and some of the guys are still working on the walls. I didn’t get any pictures of them because the camera batteries went dead. What I did get pictures of are the dimpling of the walls and the ladies moving rocks! You can see in the background that someone has already started utilizing the space drying their laundry!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1394&id=100000039211132&l=894fcdd5b5

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12. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

This morning was very exciting!  We got to experience the Boracay church in action.  Many of the feeding sites were represented and they took turns reciting their memory verses, presented special music and dramas.  The children were very pleased to show the church what they have learned.  Many parents were there to see their children - the parents don’t all attend the church. 

 Pastor Rob then preached a sermon on Lazarus using our bed sheets for extra emphasis.  Our hosts said that the sermon translated into their culture and we pray that God will use it in their lives especially since some had never attended before.  Some of us then went with the children to their Sunday School class.  It was a bit chaotic, but we enjoyed celebrating with them through songs, snacks and balloons.  They also always get a vitamin every time they attend.  We trust God that He will instill the truth to them through the songs and spoken word even though we can’t always communicate as we would like to.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1300&id=100000039211132&l=be3c47a80d

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11. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

Greetings from Boracay. God has been so good to us during this trip. The groups from Ripon, CA and

Team #1

Karen Smith (OH)

Rob & Cristy Barlow (OH)

Karlene McFarland (

Don Bionaz (CA)

Team #2

Esther Heatwole (CA)

Judy Fair (OH)

Sue & Mike Cole (OH)

Team #3

Glen & Lois Shirk (CA)

Linda Day (OH)

Susan & Helen Batty (CA)

Here are some photos from those visits. The towns were: Yapak, Tambisaan, Vargas and Sacapamo:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1212&id=100000039211132&l=dc3f09d86a

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10. July 2009 by Rick Turske.

We have had our second day of work so far, but the pictures I’m putting up are from our first day of work and I will explain them to you.

The project that we are working on is to finish the first floor of the building so they can start using that section. There is a lot of work to do to get that to happen.

Major projects so far:

Pour the rest of the floor - Half of the first floor has already been poured, we have to ready the second half and pour it. As you will see in the pictures, there was a huge pile of dirt and stone that needed to be shoveled and hauled out to be able to ready the floor. While a crew did that, another crew filled sand bags for the mixing of concrete. We poured ¼ of the floor the first day. We used about 80-90 bags of sand. Doesn’t sound like much, but at about 75 lbs each, it adds up after while.

Inside walls – The inside walls have not been done at all. The entire block for the inside walls needs to be laid. But, first we have to get it from the street to the building which is about 150 feet uphill from the street to the building. We had to transport them by hand, two bricks at a time. Thanks to the skill of Doug S. these walls are starting to take shape. You will see his progress in the pictures.

There are lots of minor projects going on while the others are working on the major projects. You will see in the pictures a little side structure that needed to come down. Destruction is much easier than construction unless there are a bunch of electrical wires carrying power to our building and surrounding buildings in your way.

Pictures:

The first set is of the small structure that needed to come down.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1153&id=100000039211132&l=5ee911f0ea 

The second set is of the pile of dirt that needed to be taken care of to level the second half of the floor needing poured.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1155&id=100000039211132&l=aba436f8b3

The third set is readying for the pour, including the bagging of the sand and the actual pour. You really don’t see much action in this part because it takes a lot of man power to do the pour that no one has time for pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1157&id=100000039211132&l=8d0a516791

The fourth set is the inside walls. It starts with bare floor and rebar then you can see the walls forming. You will see lots of Doug in these pictures for good reason.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1158&id=100000039211132&l=04184769d2

After the first day of work, we went to a very nice place to eat. They made us the most amazing fruit shakes for appetizers while we waited for the food to cook. Some of the guys had a hard time staying awake. I believe it was Rick Turske that kept getting picked on. Had it not been for the jesting, he would have fallen asleep in his food.

It started raining here about half way through day one and it has not stopped since. Everything is wet and it is hard to get from the “hotel” to the job sire without getting soaked. It hasn’t stopped us from being in the ocean after work cooling off and cleaning off. Then we get ready for supper. After supper you are on your own, but most of us sit and talk for a while then hit the bed.

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