3/22/23 Christ UMC Venice Day 1

Sarah

This is our first group post COVID-19. They were scheduled to come on 3/17/2020 but at the last minute we made the decision to cancel the trip. Since they they have been waiting to return. The group arrived in Santo Domingo on 3/21/23. We made the trek back to Santiago to eat dinner. This was the first group to eat at Sairy’s new house. The large patio is perfect for meals. And as always, mommi’s food is delicious. This trip, per group request, we are staying in Hotel Los Jardines. It took time to get everyone checked into their rooms but we finally settled in around 1130pm.

The first work day, we headed to Cuesta Arena. Henry joined to help paint. The team set up for a day of medical clinic, painting the outside of the school and bible lessons with the children under the pavilion. We also have some special guests that joined us from the Duverge area (close to the southern Haitian border) to do some astronomical work in the community. They are painting a mural on the second floor and one of the nights this week, we will travel with them to Cuesta Arena to look at the stars.

We saw close to 80 patients day 1 in Cuesta Arena and nearly finished painting the outside of the school. We came back to the hotel to shower and then headed to Sairy’s for another amazing meal. Luckily we were able to get to bed a little earlier. It has been a little more of a challenge this trip finding our grove. Not only have we not had a group since October 2019, but we are also all in new spaces. Luckily I was able to get a little bigger of a room so we can make sandwiches and have devotion in the morning. Each day we get a little better by tweaking the schedule and making improvements.