What’s One More Day After Three Years?

Divine Savior Lutheran Church in Hartford, WI, was the DR's first COVID casualty. I distinctly remember when we were all still so naïve as to think a trip in March 2020 could still happen; the airline industry, the CDC, the LCMS, and a few others soon spoke. 

Three years later, the core of the team plus a few add-ons was ready to try again. I was going to welcome them on a Saturday evening with empanadas and had a lovely Sunday planned: Divine Service, a garden outing, exploring the connection between mercy + church planting, and some friendly volleyball. Psych! A delayed flight led to a missed connection led to...them getting here exactly 24 hours behind schedule. What's one more day when you've waited so long, though? They'd make up for it with a "bonus" day (at JFK...) on the tail end, but they had a great time while they were HERE!

No team escapes a welcome photo by the heart sculpture; Santiago IS la Ciudad Corazón. 

I made them get up early for a Monday morning trip to Kilometer 28 for a tour of the government-run psychosocial rehabilitation hospital followed by enrichment activities for the 90+ residents.

Bubbles were fun, but we soon realized that everyone was clearly sitting around the gazebo just waiting to play BINGO (they remembered from my last visit in January with a team from Concordia Seminary St. Louis)!

Cindy (the tech who took care of us when director Marisol had to run to a meeting); Marisol, and I. 

Instead of coloring his coloring sheet, this gentleman copied the baby chick's outline onto a new sheet - freehand!

I could probably give the Los Pepines mural tour, but I'll never stop taking people on it. Something new jumps out at me every time. 

Perks of going with a small group: you get to peep INSIDE Miss Mari's Carnaval costume workshop - where the magic happens!

Happening during free blocks of time throughout the week: eliminating all traces of a minor fire in Randy's closet and hanging some new shelves for him. [New here? Randy is one of six youth in the Good Shepherd Lutheran Homes group home next to the seminary in Palmar Arriba.]

Francis and Kurt. 

Moisés. 

The team's visit coincided with a special event in Cienfuegos (a preaching station of Iglesia Luterana Confesional de Pueblo Nuevo) Tuesday afternoon: Rev. Carlos Schumann led a devotion, nurse Jamielynn Tinkey-Flores spoke briefly about wound care, and team members lent a hand passing out refreshments and first aid kits to all who came. 

I whisked Kurt away Wednesday afternoon for a "special project." I can't articulate what it is he does, but it involves setting up lots of Zoom rooms for small businesses. Um, hello!?

Later, we tried to accompany seminarian Josué in leading a devotion at the local baseball field but had to be #flexible when a scrimmage trumped regular practice and the church member coach wasn't there. No one complained about a breezy 45 min. or so of taking in the DR's favorite sport or the typical campo sights and sounds of the short walk there and back. 

Thursday morning, team leader Rev. Doug Stowe brought the Word of God to the seminary community via Rev. Joel Fritsche's interpretation. He only veered off script once, to remind the students to preach the Gospel. 

We didn't cover much in the way of regular business at the regional meeting that followed, but we love peeling back the curtain on how we get our work done when we have guests. 

I'm still peeling from Friday's WINDY day at the beach. I blame my darn spray sunscreen that I clearly should have aimed several inches away from where I intended it to land. We got back, people were cycling through the showers, I was setting out chicken salad fixings...and Pastor Stowe told me their 6 am Saturday morning flight was cancelled. 

I reassured them up and down that they could stay as long as they needed to and I'd get them to any of the DR's other international airports if need be. Several hours of calling and emailing back and forth with the travel agency later, they took me up on the latter. The least of multiple evils was to fly out of Santo Domingo at 7:20...pm (arriving at JFK after 11 and not leaving until mid-afternoon on Sunday). 

We made the best of it with a rain check for Sunday's missed garden outing and one last lunch together. 

I wouldn't wish their travel woes on my worst enemy but thank them for their selfless service and dedication to making the trip happen one way or another. Don't wait another 3+ years (and maybe don't fly Delta?)!

Until next time, blessings in the risen Christ!