Day One, Thursday 7/21/11

Today was a travel day.  We woke up at 6:30 finished last minute packing and were headed to the airpot at 7:45.  I was very sick on the way to the airport, my nerves got the best of me.  I thought I was going to have to ask Jeff to pull over so I could throw up!  Once we were at the airport, I felt a little better.  We got all checked in...it was slow.  21 of us getting checked in and getting through security is no easy task!  I was elected to go through the X-Ray machine though!  Very exciting!  :-)  Cam was SUPER nervous.  He was starting to drive me a little crazy!  I thought I was bad!  We boarded our flight to Chicago around 9:45.  We were on an itty bitty airlplane!  I've never been on one so little.  It was definitely NOT reassuring!  Some of our men had to crouch to walk down the aisle because they were too tall!  It ended up being a really nice flight though!  We ate in Chicago...I tried to call Jeff but he wasn't home....so I called my dad.  We played cards,

read some magazines and we were headed to Miami at 2.  That was a longer flight, but it was a nice big airbus!  Can't complain!  I took a little nap....Cam played his iPod.  Cam had woken up with a croupy cough that morning, so I had taken his nebulizer with us on our carry on.  I had him do it in Chicago...but he was NOT at all happy about having to use it!  So...I told him if he was breathing alright, he wouldn't have to use it in Miami...and he was fine!  Thankfully!  Cam loved flying into Miami seeing the ocean, the keys, the swamps...he thought it was fantastic! 

In Miama we had two testimonies.  It is nice hearing about how members of our team came to know Christ.  Then it was food time.  Miami airport STINKS for food.  Neither of us were thrilled with what we got...or the cost!  Around 9:30 pm we finally left.  This was a shorter flight, but a nice big 757.  It was a bilingual flight...so that was fun too!  We got to the DR around midnight their time.  They are about an hour ahead of Nebraska time.  We had some passport issues when we got there...not Cam and I...but someone on our team had put their passports in their carry on luggage, and then their carry on luggage was checked at the gate...they didn't give the luggage back to them when we landed and  you have to have your passports to get your luggage.  So that was a little bit of a problem considering that nobody at the airport spoke English.  I have my spanish....but it was midnight and I am not TOTALLY fluent.  Luckily Mark Thengvall IS TOTALLY fluent...he was VERY helpful in getting the passports back!  :-)  We paid our entrance fee, got our luggage, went through customs and then met Miguel.  ALL of us had our luggage!!  Can you believe it??  All 21 of us!!  I think that is a record!  Miguel had water ready for us and a van waiting.  We used the restrooms, but found out we CANNOT flush toilet paper...you just throw it away in the trash beside the toilet...YUCK!  I was NOT comfortable with that...but you do what you have to do!  We had a 45 minute drive to the catholic retreat that we were staying at for the night.  So we headed out.  The streets were FULL of stray dogs...and it was very hot out, but not unbearable.  Nebraska had quite a few unbearable days this summer....it wasn't THAT bad...at least at that time!  It was fun to see the culture at night, everything in Spanish...which is cool, but it kinda freaked Cam out.  We got to the Catholic retreat.....each family unit had their own rooms. 

 It was hot and humid...but we had a fan!  Thank the good Lord above!  We didn't get to bed until after 2...and I didn't sleep well.  We got up at 8 the next morning...I was tired to say the least......