From Mortar to Manufacturing: The Story of Adonai Textile
In June of 2025, a team of 17 — mostly students — traveled to Los Guaricanos in Santo Domingo North, Dominican Republic, with a mission. For one week, bricks were laid, sand was sifted, and mortar and stucco were mixed on the floor with a shovel. It was unglamorous, sweat-soaked Kingdom work, carried out with a vision for what this space would one day become — a t-shirt factory.
Less than ten months later, that vision is a reality.
The pace of progress was remarkable from the very beginning. Just two months after the mission team departed, Ellen and I returned to the field and were met with visible transformation — AC systems installed, windows in place, freshly painted rooms, and tile on the floors. What had been a construction site covered in dust and fresh stucco had already begun to look like something special.
On that same visit, we met with Sandy, who helped us procure the equipment for the T-shirt factory and later trained our staff. Equipment was secured before we headed off to summer camp with 200 sponsored children. By the time we returned for the Child Sponsorship Christmas Party several months later, the machinery was in place. As a final finishing touch, I joined our National leader Marino to pick up the backup generator — and we watched as a crane hoisted it into position.
Just weeks after that visit, the first fabric patterns were cut for staff training. Through the holiday season of 2025 and into the new year, the team was trained and the first T-shirts were produced. In February of 2026, Ellen traveled back to the Dominican Republic for the ribbon cutting and grand opening of Adonai Textile. The smiles on the faces of Joselin, the factory manager, and Ellen as they cut the ribbon said everything.
ASON has completed many projects across many fields over the years, but this one is truly special. From teenagers mixing mortar and laying brick, to a ribbon cutting and finished product — all in under ten months. New, well-paying jobs have been created for the community, and we are meaningfully closer to a self-sustaining ministry in this field.
We need your prayers. The business plan is solid — sales of just a few hundred shirts a month would allow Adonai Textile to break even. Please pray that Adonai would be blessed with the business it needs to grow into profitability and, ultimately, to sustain Adonai Evangelical School for the long term.
We also need your financial support. ASON paid for this project in advance before being fully funded, and we are still raising the remaining funds. Please consider making a gift and spreading the word about what God is doing in Los Guaricanos.
