Youth Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic: Travel Day & Arrival
From July 22 to July 30, ten high schoolers and four adults from St. Luke will be serving our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Dominican Republic through an organization called Joshua 1:NINE, guided by our trip coordinator and J1Nine president, Kristin Thompson.
We arrived at the Spokane International Airport at 4:30 p.m. on the 22nd intending to board a flight to Salt Lake City, Utah at 7:09 p.m. That flight got delayed it completely disrupted our connecting flights bringing us to Santo Domingo. Thanks to the wonderful Kristin and the helpful Delta ticketing agent, all 15 of us booked on a direct flight from Spokane to Atlanta at 10:45 p.m. the night of the 22nd! Once we had this new flight booked, we were all hungry and had a few hours more to wait in Spokane, so we walked over to the Ramada Hotel where we at a nice dinner. We flew overnight (which was the plan either way) and arrived in Atlanta at 6:10 a.m. (local time) with plenty of time to rest, eat, play a few games, and have some laughs before boarding our 9:45 a.m. flight to Santo Domingo!
The group at the airport before saying goodbye to friends and family!
Dinner (in Spokane) at the Ramada Hotel, waiting for our new direct flight at 10:45 p.m.
Fun in the Atlanta Airport
Upon arrival in Santo Domingo, we were welcomed warmly by Kristin’s Dominican friends Miguel, J1Nine in-country Coordinator, and Ruben who helped us on our bus ride from Santo Domingo to Barahona. The bus ride to Barahona from Santo Domingo was exiting, both in seeing a big bus navigate the busy streets of Santo Domingo and for all the visions of island beauty we got to admire along the way. We stopped around 4:30 p.m. to get dinner at a local marketplace, then hopped back on the bus for the last leg of our journey to the place we’ll be calling home all week. On our way to Barahona, we drove through Fondo Negro, where we will be working this week, and dropped off some supplies, hygiene kits, education packs, and baseball equipment. We are really looking forward to meeting new friends and working on the projects that have been requested of us. Our work will include building two latrines, painting a home or two, and leading a Vacation Bible School Day for children who attend the local churches. We will also spend time playing baseball and going to practices in Fondo Negro.
View on part of the bus ride to Barahona.
On the bus!
Dinner at the market on the way to Barahona
The group of high schoolers and chaperones attending the mission trip is made up of two returners, the rest of us (myself included) are experiencing the Dominican Republic for the first time. We are very excited and grateful to be here and to have this opportunity. We are curious about what God has in store for us. We are looking forward to the friends that we will meet, and the bonds we will make with one another as well.
The organization we will be serving with, Joshua 1:NINE, gets its name from the aforementioned verse, which reads: “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” As we make friends and work hard to complete our projects in Fondo Negro, we will keep this verse in mind, trusting that God is with us in the midst of it all.
We have been humbled so far by your support and we would welcome your prayers for safety, health, travel, and for God to be at work in our hearts and through our hands and feet. Tonight, (July 23) some took a refreshing dip in the pool after our 26 hours of travel, while others sought out the relief of air conditioning in our rooms. We are tired, but thankful to be here. Tomorrow, we head to church and the beach for a day to recuperate before we begin work on Monday!
Thank you for all of your prayers!
Your Sister in Christ,
Jacque Larson
#BroughtTheDeet (courtesy of Micah Engh)
