Dominican Republic Missions Trip - Overview
Dominican Republic Missions Trip
Day1 – 4:30 AM we left Waldoboro, Maine and headed to Portland, Maine Airport. Portland to New York (JFK). We sat around for several hours waiting. JFK to Santo Domingo (arrival time of 4:45 PM). It took a while to get through customs and one of our luggage bags did not make it onto the plane. Arrived to Pastor Jose Lopez’s house around 6PM, I was in bed by 8PM.
Day2- Had a great breakfast, we had pancakes, fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, and guava juice. We all went over to the school (Saturday) and removed all sinks and urinals. Our goal was to change over the plumbing from 2 inch to 1.5 inch diameter pipes which is a regulation standard. After lunch we had run out of parts and projects….so it was nappy time for me. Grant ended up going back to the airport to pickup the luggage and Vick Pease who came down a day later than us. We ended up heading out to the La Sirena for some misc. item shopping…I ended up buying pillows, since the pillows I used had left as firm as rocks.
Day 3 – After breakfast we went to Church and met some more of the locals. That afternoon we all walked down to a baseball field to play baseball with 40 kids (ages ranging from 7-12). I was quite a site….there was a huge pig laying out in leftfield and there had been 3 baby pigs running around also. The kids did a great job getting along and playing baseball. I played the third base coach and was giving out some ridiculous signs to the kids. We all went home for dinner at dusk and hung out and did devotions.
Day 4 – Monday brought some minor challenges….we didn’t have all the parts available to us. We ended up running back and fourth to the hardware store looking for stuff. Several of us had been replacing urinals and sinks with some of the newer parts we obtained. That afternoon we started to assemble some fan units….we had to wire a light unit to the fan and splice wires for installation. That night was more of the same thing….I think I did devotions for the group and it was on Mark 5.
Day 5 – Morning time was slow….some of the others in my group went to visit an orphanage and also pick up parts at a store for our projects. We ended up finishing up putting together a few fans and prepping them up to hang later that afternoon after school was closed and no one around. That afternoon we hung up and installed fans….one unexpected issue we did not expect was that the school wired almost backwards vs. the way he wire our homes in the US. Our ground wires had not been accurate with each of the rooms. We did figure out some of the glitches happening with having power….when the power has shut off.
Day 6 – Same stuff….we installed all the fans and wired them up while testing to make sure some of them worked. This took several hours to finish up….our work week was almost complete.
Day 7 – After an early breakfast….we all boarded a bus and headed into the city. We went to the tourist trap La Mercado….I have been there 6 years in a row. I was able to find a neat chess set with old Dominican Warriors, a switch blade knife, vanilla extract and a pocketbook for the wife. Then it was off to Juan Dolio to barcelo Capella Resort for some R & R. It rained several times throughout the day….it didn’t matter to me since I was in the water already. We stayed and ate from the buffet and had many fun drinks to consume while in the Caribbean. We went home and started to pack up for our trip back home the next day.
Geocaching
(I carried a cache with me and I had intentions of planting one around the resort) It rained the steady towards the end of our stay….so I ended up missing a chance to stash one internationally.
Day 8 – Travel, Waiting, Travel, More Waiting….and home around midnight.
Notes:
No one celebrates Halloween in the DR.
Don’t drink the water
Carry lots of hand sanitizer
Day1 – 4:30 AM we left Waldoboro, Maine and headed to Portland, Maine Airport. Portland to New York (JFK). We sat around for several hours waiting. JFK to Santo Domingo (arrival time of 4:45 PM). It took a while to get through customs and one of our luggage bags did not make it onto the plane. Arrived to Pastor Jose Lopez’s house around 6PM, I was in bed by 8PM.
Day2- Had a great breakfast, we had pancakes, fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, and guava juice. We all went over to the school (Saturday) and removed all sinks and urinals. Our goal was to change over the plumbing from 2 inch to 1.5 inch diameter pipes which is a regulation standard. After lunch we had run out of parts and projects….so it was nappy time for me. Grant ended up going back to the airport to pickup the luggage and Vick Pease who came down a day later than us. We ended up heading out to the La Sirena for some misc. item shopping…I ended up buying pillows, since the pillows I used had left as firm as rocks.
Day 3 – After breakfast we went to Church and met some more of the locals. That afternoon we all walked down to a baseball field to play baseball with 40 kids (ages ranging from 7-12). I was quite a site….there was a huge pig laying out in leftfield and there had been 3 baby pigs running around also. The kids did a great job getting along and playing baseball. I played the third base coach and was giving out some ridiculous signs to the kids. We all went home for dinner at dusk and hung out and did devotions.
Day 4 – Monday brought some minor challenges….we didn’t have all the parts available to us. We ended up running back and fourth to the hardware store looking for stuff. Several of us had been replacing urinals and sinks with some of the newer parts we obtained. That afternoon we started to assemble some fan units….we had to wire a light unit to the fan and splice wires for installation. That night was more of the same thing….I think I did devotions for the group and it was on Mark 5.
Day 5 – Morning time was slow….some of the others in my group went to visit an orphanage and also pick up parts at a store for our projects. We ended up finishing up putting together a few fans and prepping them up to hang later that afternoon after school was closed and no one around. That afternoon we hung up and installed fans….one unexpected issue we did not expect was that the school wired almost backwards vs. the way he wire our homes in the US. Our ground wires had not been accurate with each of the rooms. We did figure out some of the glitches happening with having power….when the power has shut off.
Day 6 – Same stuff….we installed all the fans and wired them up while testing to make sure some of them worked. This took several hours to finish up….our work week was almost complete.
Day 7 – After an early breakfast….we all boarded a bus and headed into the city. We went to the tourist trap La Mercado….I have been there 6 years in a row. I was able to find a neat chess set with old Dominican Warriors, a switch blade knife, vanilla extract and a pocketbook for the wife. Then it was off to Juan Dolio to barcelo Capella Resort for some R & R. It rained several times throughout the day….it didn’t matter to me since I was in the water already. We stayed and ate from the buffet and had many fun drinks to consume while in the Caribbean. We went home and started to pack up for our trip back home the next day.
Geocaching
(I carried a cache with me and I had intentions of planting one around the resort) It rained the steady towards the end of our stay….so I ended up missing a chance to stash one internationally.
Day 8 – Travel, Waiting, Travel, More Waiting….and home around midnight.
Notes:
No one celebrates Halloween in the DR.
Don’t drink the water
Carry lots of hand sanitizer
posted by The Lombardo Logic at
3:06 PM
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