Tuesday

We left Chicago this morning around 6 am. Our flight flew to Miami and then we connected on a flight to Punta Cana, in the Dominican. I think the time we arrived was around 3 pm local time. The flights all worked out great and no luggage was lost! I love it when that works out. Even if they had lost my luggage, I don’t think I would have cared for at least a couple days, I was just happy to be out of the cold and into some warm weather and sunshine.

Pasquel, the pastor of the church we worked at, and his brother Renaldo picked us up at the airport. The ride to the hotel took a while because Renaldo’s truck, which was converted into propane, kept breaking down. Turns out that one of the wires was corroded or had a bad connection. After stopping on the side of the road several times we all crammed into Pasquel’s car with our necessary bags and headed to the hotel. With six of us and our bags crammed into the ride, we almost looked like true Dominicans…almost.

We got to the hotel and I was taken aback a little at the luxury of the place. I’ve lived pretty simple on my trips overseas, but here we are staying at a resort for the week. But hey, if called to, I’ll suffer for a week.

The resort was all-inclusive which had its pluses and minuses. Since the trip is only 8 days, staying at a place where we don’t have to plan our dinners or worry about the sleeping arrangements at night definitely makes it easier on Rod when he’s planning the trip out. He can spend more time focusing on the work that we are doing and the relationships we’ll be building. It also makes it easier on Pasquel, since he can get us in the morning and take us back in the evening, without feeling any extra pressure to watch out for us during the evening and night.

On the flip side, the Dominicans see the resorts as the place that the rich tourists go, and not much of a place for a Christian. I don’t know if that hindered their perception of us since they know Rod pretty good from all the times he’s been down there. Some of the guys from the church also work at the resorts and we are able to get the rooms pretty cheap. I wasn’t able to feel that we were actually experiencing the same life as the people that we were there to serve. We were around European tourists that dressed nicer and probably had more money than any of us, rather than living with the Dominican people we were serving.
Rod has been talking about changing the living arrangements while we’re over there, which could be good. The resort wasn’t all bad, nor was it all good, I came away indifferent on it, seeing as though we were only there for a week and I’m not a hundred percent sure how it’s perceived through the eyes of the culture down there. It was nice to be able to come home at night and jump into the ocean for a few minutes before the sun went down though!