The Dominican Republic Part I

Have you ever had emotions and nerves that you just couldn't explain?  As I was sitting at the airport last Tuesday morning waiting to board my flight to Miami, FL and then to the Dominican Republic, I thought I could cry at any moment, but not because I was sad, but because I wasn't sure what I was!  I was nervous, happy, excited, and did I mention nervous?  The trip was not only my first missions trip, but also my first time leaving the U.S.  You hear, read, and see stories of all sorts of things happening when leaving the U.S. and let's just say my mind kept thinking the worst.


Once I arrived in Miami, I went straight to my next gate in hopes of finding some of the other team that would be traveling with me.  We all we were wearing blue t-shirts that had Operation Christmas Child (OCC) on the front and Dominican Republic on the back so it would be easy to spot each other at the airport. My nerves started fading away as more and more people from our group started to arrive in Miami.  As we all boarded our flight to the D.R. together I thought to myself, "Alright God, let's do this!"  and boy did we!!!


Once we arrived to the airport in Santo Domingo and went through customs (not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't anything what I thought it would be) we grabbed the luggage and boarded our buses for the 40 minute ride from the airport to our hotel.  This would be the shortest ride in the buses the entire week and also my first eye opening experience at culture and life outside of the United States.  The main road we took was Autopista Las Américas, which boarders the Caribbean Sea.  It was amazing to look out the left side of the bus and see the colors of the Sea - blues, purples, teals, aquas - and then look out the right side of the bus and see what we would consider poverty in the States but nicer homes for the Dominican Republic. We crossed Rio Ozama and turned onto Avenida George Washington to our hotel.


Before dinner, the OCC staff gave us a few hours to freshen up and get ready for the week.  Two of the other ladies, whom I now ADORE, and I decided to be brave and try to cross Avenida George Washington by foot in order to get to the Sea.  The best way to describe this experience is this: Do you remember the game Frogger?  Yeah.  We were Frogger trying to cross to the other side without getting squished!  At one point, the 3 of us were standing in the middle of the Ave with cars passing us on both sides and I wasn't sure if we'd be able to continue across to the Sea or not, but we did, and I was able to catch the sun setting over Santo Domingo.

The sun setting over Santo Domingo and The Caribbean Sea

As the three of us stood there watching the sun set, Chris Tomlin's "How Great Is Our God" kept repeating in my head:

He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

After the sun went down, we once again braved crossing the Ave to our hotel so we could join the rest of the team for dinner.  And boy, was dinner delicious!  After dinner, we were beat from traveling all day, and went to our rooms.  As I laid in bed, I kept wondering what Wednesday morning would hold. What would we see?  What would we experience?  How would God use our team to impact the lives of the children in the D.R?

Keep reading tomorrow to find out!