Day 1 - We're Here!

So, we left Schenectady at 11pm on Sunday night, drove to JFK, boarded a 7am flight, arrived around 12:30pm in Dominican time, made it through customs without a glitch, found our hosts, and rode in vans from Santiago to Santo Domingo. By the time we settled into the ministry center, it had been a looooooooooong day. But they fed us well, gave us a quick tour of the neighborhood, and generally gave us a good welcome to the DR.

One of the things I warned our mission trip participants this year is that on mission trips, especially those to other countries, things seldom go as planned. So, I should not have been surprised when things immediately went in a way that I did not plan. The very basic itinerary I received told me that most of our work would be painting and basic renovations around the ministry center, and working with the school they run on the site. The folks here were under the impression that we were going to help them put a second story on one of their buildings (which isn't really something our group is qualified to do) - and bring a significant amount of money with us to fund it (which no one told us about). We negotiated, and now we are...painting and doing basic renovations around the ministry center, and working with the school.

Suffice it to say, this is the polar opposite of last year's hyper-structured, planned-to-the-second mission trip in Toronto. But this is one of the things that is valuable about mission trips: our youth get to see several different ways of living. Life here is slower, less planned. The people here believe in free time, which is something these youth have very little of most of the time.

So, we are enjoying a bit of relaxation before dinner now. Some of us are reading, some of us are soaking in the novelty of sun in February. Nick and Heather are playing some version of kickball with a couple of little girls from the school. We have arrived, and it is good. Tomorrow the work begins!