Connections, connections, and connections....

Team Domincan’s travels began at O’Hare airport in Chicago where we were able to meet up with former Northland student and Lady Pioneer, Julia Becker. Julia flew from Philadelphia Monday morning to travel the rest of the day with us. We connected in Miami where Kate, Babcock, the final piece of our mission team was waiting for us. Kate was an All-American for the Lady Pioneers last year, and currently works at the Wilds Christian Camp in North Carolina. She flew from Charlotte to meet us in Miami, and for the first time, Team Dominican was assembled! The reunion at the gate was brief as we only had a few minutes to catch our very crowded flight to Santo Domingo.

We landed in Santo Domingo, where it was 88 degrees, about 7:30pm local time. After navigating immigration and customs, we were on our way with ALL of our luggage at 8:30. Tito, from Iglesia Bautista Cristiano, was the first to meet us outside the airport, and showed us to our bus that had been chartered for us for the week. Tito is 23 years old and a student at the Bible College at the church, and will be with us a few days during the week to help answer questions. The vehicle is a nice, 30-passenger air-conditioned bus driven by a man named Marcos. I’m sure we will get to know him well, despite the fact he speaks no English!

We arrived at our accommodations for the week, a beautiful 3-story gated home owned by a generous businessman from the church, Don Juan. It has several bedrooms and baths on the main floor, not to mention a garden sitting area and 3 small swimming pools. We met him and his 13-year-old daughter, Safero (sp?) Monday night. Donya Mechi, the lady making our evening meals for the week, had prepared a delicious dinner of lasagna, boiled plantains, and salad. Everyone was full! After a time of fellowship and prayer, everyone headed to their rooms for bed about 11:30. Meanwhile, a few of us went on a late-night trip to a 24-hour market to get some breakfast supplies for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday will be more of an orientation time in the morning and afternoon. We will visit the church for the first time, as well as do some ministry and basketball practices. Each day, I'll ask a team member or two to contribute to the blog from their point of view. Today, Lydia Hodak is helping out....

After a night in Chicago (and a Portillo’s Chocolate Cake Shake), we piled our luggage into the van at 8:45 in the morning and started trek to the O’Hare. We were all caffeine deprived and promised to get coffee when we got to the airport. This fueled a short discussion about the difference of Starbuck’s , Caribou Coffee, and Dunkin’ Donut coffee. Along the way, we stopped at Schaumburg Christian School to pick up Jenna Kurtz, who had bravely made the trip to see her parents the day before in Indiana and had driven through rush hour traffic that morning. Excitement built as we arrived at O’Hare.

The first challenge of our trip was the weight of our luggage. Did we pass the 50 pounds? After unpacking my 60 pound bag, and throwing a few things into another duffle, we all passed through baggage and security with flying colors. The airport was bustling with activity. We saw many people with face masks on trying to avoid the swine flu. We laughed when we found out one of our team members had also brought a mask and was thinking about wearing it. All of the girls had lunch and bought coffee. (Some Dunkin’ Donuts and some StarbucksJ)

God’s grace was truly upon the team as we traveled. We were safe and were able to connect with our flight in Miami without any difficulty. When we arrived in Miami, we connected with Kate Babcock. It was so good to catch up with her as we waited for our flight to take off. The flight to Santo Domingo was excellent and we arrived safe and sound in Santo Domingo!

I was excited as we got off the plane and went through customs. We were a little nervous when we didn’t see our baggage. Thankfully, it arrived safe and sound as well. We were all shocked when we arrived at the house that we will be staying. It is a palace… I like to call it Don Juan’s palaceJ . I am excited to explore it moreJ. We are excited about tomorrow and what God is going to do in and through us! Please continue to pray!!!

Lydia