In March 2024, a group from Amazing Grace Academy in Palmer, Alaska, spent two weeks on a project with Maranatha Volunteers International, a supporting ministry of the Adventist Church.
The group laid block walls for La Caleta 6’s new church building in the Dominican Republic. Richard Jordan, project coordinator, recalled his first impressions of the congregation’s meeting space. “When I went on my site visit in November, there must have been almost 40 people meeting in a backyard. You had to walk through a house to get to the backyard, and it was just an unideal situation.”
The volunteer team was eager to help remedy this situation, but Jordan wasn’t sure if their 21 members would have enough manpower to finish the project. He was pleasantly surprised when volunteers exceeded their construction goal. Not only did they finish the building’s exterior walls, but they also completed a sizable portion of the interior walls.
“This is, hands down, the hardest working, best group I’ve ever worked with,” said Jordan. “Everybody showed up ready to work.”
In addition to construction work, the group’s eight student volunteers led Vacation Bible School at a public school around the corner from the building site. At the end of each weekday, they presented the same program to a different class, tailoring the content for each age group. The VBS team presented to roughly 400 kids total and was thrilled when several public school students joined them for church on Sabbath.
Maranatha mobilizes volunteers to build churches, schools, water wells and other urgently needed structures around the world. In addition to projects open to the public, Maranatha helps church and school groups organize their own mission trips at no additional cost. Since 1969, Maranatha volunteers and crews have constructed more than 14,000 structures and more than 3,000 water wells in nearly 90 countries.
The AGA team stands in front of the church walls they built.
Students work carefully, ensuring each block is level before moving on to the next.
Volunteers mix the mortar that will hold each block in place.
AGA students bond with local children while leading a Vacation Bible School program at a public school.
