The Cercadillo Project

For the last 3 1/2 years that I have been working in Cercadillo a reoccurring question has been, “How do we reach the men?”  We may have found the answer!

All of the men pictured below came to an informational meeting today for an electricity class.  A Dominican electrician is offering to teach a 10 month hands-on class that will meet once a week for three hours.  At the end of the training the successful participants will receive a certificate in residential electricity and will leave with the necessary tools for this type of work.

The students are being asked to pay $125 RD per week. (About $3.30 USD) Each of the men who decide to take the training will need to bring the payment for the first class by next Sunday.

The students’ payments will cover a portion of the expenses of this course.  The rest will be covered by Steve Otte’s memorial gift to Cercadillo.  (Steve was a very dear friend from Kahoka who greatly influenced my life.  He died about a year ago after battling cancer.)  I’m very excited about how God is going to use this class.  I think Steve would have been also.

Traditionally in the Dominican Republic, children do not receive gifts on the 25th of December, but rather on January 6 – Three Kings Day.   With this tradition is mind, we had parties today for the 53 regular attenders in our Sunday programs.  The first party was for the preschoolers and the second for our children’s department.   For crowd control purposes, this was a by-invitation-only event.