Diving In: We made it

We arrived here in the DR yesterday afternoon, twenty minutes early. From what the people say here, that never happens! When we were first here, we quickly heard many people speaking of “DR time,” meaning never on time and you must be flexible! To be honest, while I am a very timely and structured person, turning off my cell phone in Miami for a week and entering “DR time” is a relief. It is good to just go with the flow and not have any expectations...

When we arrived here we were picked up by the head of Vision Trust for the DR. He was extremely welcoming and excited to have us here (even though he had just finished with another team earlier that day). Nelson (the head of Vision Trust) had pizza waiting at the airport for us to eat. It was good, not quite like American pizza, but good!

The four of us and two others (Kelley & Kea) were both on our flight from Miami to Santo Domingo, however the rest of the team did not come in until seven-thirty last night so we all had a little more time to get settled in the hotel and relax a little bit before dinner and a team meeting.

Ok, well I started that post four hours ago… I am now back! I feel like there is so much to write about, I am not even sure where to start, or continue :)

The hotel is nice, not quite what I expected though! It is nice, a little smelly though! The lobby and restaurant are extremely nice, the rooms are a little more run down and have a distinct mildew smell, but honestly, not bad at all. When we first got here, I had a hard time adjusting, but really gave it over to God and asked him to help me get over my own comfort things and truly have a heart of a servant while I am here. Despite the heat, smell and very small bed, I slept like a rock last night (I guess that could be because I had only gotten 2 ½ the night before!) About an hour after we fell asleep Phil turned over and started talking is his sleep, in three years of marriage this is the first time I have ever heard that! He said “where are we? Where are we?” I answered “Phil, we are in the DR at a hotel” he responded “I don’t know where that us” and fell back asleep. I laughed!

Today we started the morning with breakfast at the hotel and a team meeting. Phil and I found out we will be in charge of doing all the heights, weights and vision for all the children. I am really excited about this, and it will be fun to be working with Phil and the children all day. We then sorted all the supplies everyone brought down here. It was so cool to see how much stuff we have for the projects. We had plenty for each site we are going to with extra that they will bring to the other orphanages in the DR. Very cool to know the stuff will make a difference.

Then we went to Herrera, a community just outside the city of Santo Domingo. This community is very impoverished and unique in that it is build on very steep hills so you are constantly going up or down. It was quite the workout just to walk around and see the community. The people who live in this community are living their illegally, however the country has given up trying to regulate what goes on. The people have come in from the country to find work, and literally have build this community one piece at a time with no plan or organization. Each building has multiple stories and additions. Their power is stolen from the city, which makes for unreliable power and frequent black-outs (since being here we have already experienced two!)

In Herrera, Vision Trust has their first project that we visited, and also went to church their tonight. It is such a place of hope in the midst of so depravity. The building serves as a school, church, office headquarters for Vision Trust, and mission for the community providing water at a price they can afford. Vision Trust has been around for a little more than ten years, and this mission graduated their first class this summer. Graduating from high school is something we take for granted in the US, here this is a huge deal and amazing to have twenty students graduate, out of that twenty eighteen are planning on attending the university starting in January. When they talk about it, you can see what a big deal this is and how cool and life changing it is!

Church tonight was in all Spanish, so we were pretty lost the whole time. I am trying very hard to understand what I can, but my Spanish is quite bad! I learn a word, and promptly forget it! Phil is really impressing me with his Spanish though! I can almost always ask him how to say something and he knows… its great! During church the little children all came and sat in our laps, played with our hair, and taught us some Spanish words! We would point and say “como se dice” and they would reply with the word. It was cute! The children are SO beautiful! I have always said I would like to adopt someday, and seeing them makes me want to even more.

Ok, this post is getting long and to get internet I need to go down to the lobby of the hotel, so I better end here. Tomorrow we are going to our first site and start the medical assessments. I am very excited to be with the children and continue to be exposed to new things.