Day 1: Dominican Republic Mission Trip
Dear friends,
First off, I want to offer a sincere “Thank you” to you all for your prayers and support so that Brie and I could go to the Dominican Republic with G.O. Ministries! It was a fantastic experience for us both! I will be posting daily with stories and pictures from our days in the DR. To learn more about G.O. Ministries, please visit http://www.go-ministries.org/
Day 1:
We woke up at 4am to pack our last minute items and put our suitcases in the car. We drove to Kentwood Christian Church and met our fellow travelers armed with steaming coffee and lots of goodbye hugs. After the bus was loaded, we left the parking lot around 5:45am. We departed from Chicago at 10:15 and headed to Miami and then on to Santiago. Our plane touched down at around 8pm and we stepped off into a humidity that was very similar to my childhood Papua New Guinea.
Brie and I in Miami, waiting for our plane to Santiago.
Brie, waiting for our bags to be loaded onto the bus in Santiago. (See, the security guy is already suspicious.)
Clay Stauffer at the airport.
Brie and Ryann Zourdos, on the bus, waiting to head to our dorm.
We were still on the airport grounds when our convoy was pulled over by the police. After a few minutes, we were driving again and the brief explanation, in my inept understanding of Spanish, was that we looked like a group that might have money, but after our driver, Paton, told the police that we were doing mission work, they let us go with no money changing hands. We arrived at the Central Church/Dorm and unloaded our suitcases, picked our beds and had a snack while Tim Kraus made a few announcements. We were all excited and exhausted from the long day.
The last line in my journal reads, “We are here, in this beautiful country, ready to work alongside these beautiful people and here, God’s story is resonating loudly.”
