Saturday, June 26, 2010

DR #2 – First Summer Team Lands Safely

Joanna Berry, STCHM Vice President – Family Counseling and International Ministry

The group has landed! The flight was on time and the rain stopped minutes before we loaded 80-90 pieces of luggage onto a truck and a small trailer.  The STCHM mission team, with drivers and interns, stood in a circle while Noe voiced a prayer of thanksgiving with great expectations for what God would do in us and through us this week. Then hand sanitizer for all as we boarded the bus and headed north through flooded streets across the city, while familiar sounds of horns honking welcomed us to a week of ministry in the Dominican Republic.

We (Rebeca and I) have made our lists, and checked them twice! VBS assignments, rooming arrangements, menus, shopping for needed supplies while Will Reid and Robert Harder spent two days at the Hatillo site getting tasks underway and assignments planned for our Monday liftoff at 6:30 a.m. The team will be building an open-air shelter with a zinc roof, a playground, several safety fences, and painting and painting and painting.

 Tomorrow will be a day of worship and celebration with the Quisqueyana Baptist Church, where the music will be the closest to heaven until we actually arrive!  Your prayers are so important–for enough pauses in the rain to allow the outdoor construction to be accomplished, for the VBS classes, for health and safety, and above all for God’s Spirit to move freely in us and through every activity. 

  ~  Joanna