Oct 18, 2019 Christ UMC Venice

We all arrived safely at the Miami airport. I flew in from Chicago and the team drove over from Venice. We met up at the gate to find Nancy, using her paper with words translated into Spanish, talking to a Dominican pastor and her husband. Judy introduced herself to her new teammate only to find out she didn’t speak any English. As we all laughed about the situation, including the Dominicans, I explained out trip and the mission. They also have a church here in Santiago and were delighted to hear of our travels.

We boarded the plane and I ended up sitting next to a Dominican optomologist and her husband who spend a week in California at an ontology conference. She shared with me her story as I told her about our work in Cuesta Arena. We arrived in Santiago and deplaned, only to find the customs line wrapped throughout the inside and then through the hallway. I have never in all the years that I have traveled here seen the line so long. We eagerly waved at our new Dominican pastor and optomologist as we passed by them. We finally got through customs to have our bags waiting on us. Sairy was eagerly waiting and wondering were we were and why it took us so long to get through. Kelfi and Pastor Sepeda were waiting outside. We loaded up the suitcases and arrived at La Islita. Mommi, Luis, Yanela, Carla, Danaurey, and Danuery, who was asleep, had all bee waiting for us to eat. We said a quick prayer and the team was nearly instantly silent as they enjoyed chicken, rice, fried corn, salad with Mommi’s yummy dressing and of course dessert.

After dinner, Lulu assigned us our rooms and everyone headed off to bed. As I type this up, I have to admit, I don’t know what time it is. I know I hit a time change between Chicago and Miami. I’m not sure if there was another time change between Miami and Santiago. Tomorrow we will meet at 8am for devotions and breakfast at 8:30am before heading to Cuesta Arena for some clinic prep and start of construction.