The "GO" in Goshen Group

Every year in January/February - for the last 18 or so - a group of people descend upon the Escuela Caribe campus.  They are GOSHEN GROUP, a collection of people from local churches from Goshen, Indiana. They come baring blessings to all those they come in contact with - Escuela Caribe staff, students, local Dominican families, etc.

In short, THEY ARE AWESOME!

The group is led by Pat and Jeryl Hochstedler, a couple of the nicest, kindest, most servant-hearted people one could ever meet. The original reason for them bringing a team down to the Dominican Republic was because a former member of their youth group, Escuela Caribe staff member Matt Yoder, was here.  In October of 1993, they took their first trip to Escuela Caribe to be a support and encouragement to Matt, and to see first hand what the Lord had called him too.  Thanks, Matt - as a result of this relationship the school, staff, students and local community have been blessed beyond belief!

Since the beginning of their beautiful relationship with Escuela Caribe, they have built or helped to build a number of buildings on the Escuela Caribe campus:  the chapel, Thomas House, TKB (renovations), Huyck house, Lance house, Casita house cistern, and most recently, Goshen Mission House.  

Goshen Mission House can sleep 24 people.  The upstairs is currently in progress and includes 2 small apartments and a large meeting space.  It is the hope that short term mission teams and local missionaries can use this house as a refuge while serving the Lord in the Dominican Republic. 

So, as you can see, their collective hands have had a major impact on the Escuela Caribe campus.   When they first started coming to Escuela Caribe, they slept on porches, floors and in the great outdoors at times.  Some where along the road, Chuck Redwine had a vision for a mission house on campus and began to talk to Goshen Group about making this vision come to fruition.  A few conversations, brainstorming sessions, and years of hard work later, Goshen Mission House was officially dedicated.

This year's Goshen Group 2011 has been working on:  the upstairs of Goshen Mission House,  putting in toilets, repairing roofs, building walls for Dominicans in the community next door to Escuela Caribe, building a new house for a Dominican family with 5 children in a local community, leading a Vacation Bible School in the community of Boma, and countless other projects here and there.  Their days are filled with hard work, laughter, fellowship, dirt, heat, Jesus, and joy!

Goshen group and local Dominicans working on building a new house
for a family of 7 in an impoverished neighborhood.

The house for the family of 7 is on top of a hill.  In order to get supplies to the house, buckets of sand and concrete mix had to be handed off in assembly line fashion, down a steep incline, across a little creek, and up a steep incline. 

Tony, Maury and friends standing inside their old home, which is surrounded by their new home in progress.  The new home will be double the size of the old one.  They are very happy!

Last week, all of Escuela Caribe, staff and students, along with Goshen Group, went on a prayer walk for the campus and the surrounding community.  One group covered all of the houses on campus, one group covered the school, and the other covered the Dominican community next to Escuela Caribe.

Matt Yoder and his group prayed for the Dominican community right beside Escuela Caribe.  After a hike up thru banana trees, they started at the furthest house and prayed for each family along the way back to the campus.

Pat & Jeryl Hochstedler leading prayers for the Dominican friends and neighbors of Escuela Caribe.

Goshen Group is a very special part of the Escuela Caribe family.  We are thankful for the "GO" that the Lord created in Goshen Group, for their collective servant's heart and for the ways that they bless so many.  Goshen Group, we love you!

Be Strong and Courageous

Eddie's House: A Labor of Love

 

Saturday

 Every Saturday evening, we have what we call "Family Unity" in the houses.  It is a time for everyone in the house to come together and eat good food, play games and discuss house matters.  This past Saturday, Thomas house played a game of "Mafia" after another delicious meal prepared by Gloria.  Then for group discussion they talked about (among other things) ways to "keep" God in the house, the upcoming housetrip*, why they are consistently failing inspections**, and keeping the bathroom clean.  Believe it or not, most topics on Family Unity are brought up by the students.  Yes, that means your teenage boys are concerned with keeping the bathroom clean.

After enjoying a delicious peanut butter pie for desert, TKB played some cards games including Skip-Bo.  Then they discussed what they will be doing for their upcoming housetrip*.

 

Sunday

On Sunday Escuela Caribe Chapel had a guest speaker, courtesy of the Goshen Missions Team that is in town.  He spoke about being strong and courageous, drawing from Joshua 1:9 which says "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."  

In the afternoon, both houses enjoyed a game of baseball with some Dominican friends.  Then some of the Thomas house guys hit the gym and some stayed at the house and enjoyed a game of Risk.  The girls at TKB enjoyed a more relaxed Sunday afternoon, tanning in their front yard and swinging on the tree swing.  In the evening they played a game of "Hand and Foot".

 

Monday

For their free day this week, the girls once again enjoyed a day of horseback riding.  After riding, they took a special shopping trip into town to buy fun things like jewelry and make-up and stocked up on snacks for their candy cans***.  In the evening they watched "Sweet Home Alabama".

The boys had a service project free day, and for this they helped out Goshen Missions Team build a house for a man named Eddie.  Eddie is a 36 year old Dominican who has been living in a shack/chicken coup for years.  The boys helped by hauling trees, digging a "baño" hole, and laying brick.  They also played another game of baseball in the afternoon, and ended the day by watching an episode of "Firefly".

 

*Housetrip is a trip that the houses take twice a year to different parts of the island.  It is a mini-vacation from school and a fun cultural experience. 

**Inspections occur once a week.  The homelife director will inspect the houses to see if they are clean and organized.  If a house fails inspection, they are required to do anywhere from 2 - 8 hours of cleaning on their free day, depending on how bad they fail.  If they pass inspection and receive a higher score than the other houses, they have the honor of hanging the "inspection flag" outside their house, declaring them the winners on campus, and receive one week of grace from inspections.

***Candy cans are large tin cans with lids that the students keep their snacks in so that bugs and other pests do not get into them.