Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Miami Airport hotel:
Someone's alarm woke me up at 6:40am, so I showered and was ready at 7, even though we didn't need to be in the lobby until 9. I felt very dehydrated, so I went to Subway and drank a few glasses of water and some coffee. I was tempted by their eggwhite sandwiches, but wanted to wait for everyone else and once we were through security and at our gate. I chatted with my mom who was on her way to work, which was really nice since I hadn't had a chance to talk with her the night before.
We all got through security without much ado. The agent was from Kearney but was a native Spanish speaker. She was extremely nice. We got to our gate with time to spare but a bird had hit the plane and damaged the nose, so we switched gates. Imagine my surprise when we walked down to the exact same gate we flew out of in 2013, with Cafe Versailles right there! So of course, I had to get some cafe Cubano and pasteles de queso y guayaba (guava cheese pastries) for everyone to share! Yum!
Now we're on our way to the Dominican and the views from the plane are fabulous! I never take pictures from the plane, but I couldn't help myself.
I cannot believe that so much has already happened and so little time has passed!! We have met a new missionary, Norm, and some of the new interns: Mollee, Lauren and Monica (rode with us) and the rest later: Andrea, Joan (pronounced Jo-ahn, it's a guy), Emma and John. The do EVERYTHING - lay down the rules, organize things, etc. We got to see Chad and Jill, Hope and even "Washy" who no longer goes by that since he's the driver, not "guachiman". He just goes by Darlin, his given name. Later on in the trip we would see Laura Beth, Cory and their children Harrison and Greyson and we would also meet the night watchman, Jorge, Glen, another missionary, Paul and his wife Barbara who are co-directors of the Children's Home and Ryan and Sandra (Sandy) who run the Manna Christian Center in Rio San Juan and are also in charge of Sunday worship services.
Lauren, Monica, Mollee (interns) |
Monica (intern), Hope (missionary), Alisa (cook, daughter of head cook, Carmen), Joan (intern), Norm (missionary) and Emma (intern) |
Norm (missionary), Porfi (in charge of the Children's Home and our host), Darlin (driver, formerly "Washy" the night watchman - "guachiman") |
Jill and Chad (missionaries) |
Laura Beth, Cory and their children Greyson and Harrison |
Sandy and Ryan, directors of Manna Christian Center in Rio San Juan and Sunday worship services |
Porfirio (Porfi), Carla and their children Daniel (Dani) and Abby |
Children's Home - staff and children (Paul and Barb, the codirectors, are on the far right) |
The famous Daihatsu was a bit crowded, as there are 23 instead of 18 of us like last time. It did have a new metal roof so there would be no flapping canvas to hold as we rode. Unfortunately, however, there would be no straps to hold so we mercifully could stand and make space on the benches. Here is a little video of us riding from the airport: https://youtu.be/ECC42BTPPuI
We got to know Norm a bit on the ride. He seems very nice and is pretty funny with a dry sense of humor. He warned we were not allowed to throw/hand out things from the Daihatsu, as he ran over a kid who was trying to get a piece of candy and last week he ran over someone else, but "that's another story." We don't quite know what to believe or think!
After a ride that seemed much longer than we remembered, we arrived at the Manna compound in Bobita. We gratefully piled off, helping to get all our luggage down of course, then headed to the dorms to stake out a bed and set up. A fitted sheet was all that was needed, but it was a little tricky to put on with the mosquito net.
After getting set up, it was dinner time and the food was just as amazing as we remembered from last time. Dinner was moro (rice and pidgeon peas), yuca frita (fried yucca root, like potatoes) and salad. We didn't even have to do dishes/chores yet! After dinner, we played volleyball. It was pretty terrible with guys vs. girls and we got stomped. Then, we had a meeting to go over the rules, we presented our skit to the interns and discussed VBS. They were very impressed and think it will go well. However, there are going to be WAY more kids than we expected in Rio San Juan (RSJ) - 100, and 50 in Bobita. Well, we'll make it work. It turns out the couple in charge of the center in RSJ, Ryan and Sandy, are ex-military and run a real tight ship. That will certainly help us out!
I was a little disappointed not to see Luisauny (the girl we sponsor) yet, nor many other Dominican teens. I suppose there will be time for that though. I just remember them being up playing with us the whole time last time and they're pretty scarce! We later would find out that Manna cracked down on them last year as they were hanging out and "mixing too much" with the kids (I think it was a guy/girl thing) so this year the kids are a bit shy about coming around.
Trying to get some sleep and thank God for this fan, as there is no breeze at all! However, although I may not be physically comfortable, I'm completely at peace and just feel full spiritually.
After a ride that seemed much longer than we remembered, we arrived at the Manna compound in Bobita. We gratefully piled off, helping to get all our luggage down of course, then headed to the dorms to stake out a bed and set up. A fitted sheet was all that was needed, but it was a little tricky to put on with the mosquito net.
After getting set up, it was dinner time and the food was just as amazing as we remembered from last time. Dinner was moro (rice and pidgeon peas), yuca frita (fried yucca root, like potatoes) and salad. We didn't even have to do dishes/chores yet! After dinner, we played volleyball. It was pretty terrible with guys vs. girls and we got stomped. Then, we had a meeting to go over the rules, we presented our skit to the interns and discussed VBS. They were very impressed and think it will go well. However, there are going to be WAY more kids than we expected in Rio San Juan (RSJ) - 100, and 50 in Bobita. Well, we'll make it work. It turns out the couple in charge of the center in RSJ, Ryan and Sandy, are ex-military and run a real tight ship. That will certainly help us out!
I was a little disappointed not to see Luisauny (the girl we sponsor) yet, nor many other Dominican teens. I suppose there will be time for that though. I just remember them being up playing with us the whole time last time and they're pretty scarce! We later would find out that Manna cracked down on them last year as they were hanging out and "mixing too much" with the kids (I think it was a guy/girl thing) so this year the kids are a bit shy about coming around.
Trying to get some sleep and thank God for this fan, as there is no breeze at all! However, although I may not be physically comfortable, I'm completely at peace and just feel full spiritually.
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