FW: Mission Team - March 14 morning update
Charlotte Lees
Charlotte Lees
Parish Administrator
Saint Joseph's Episcopal Church
3300A S Seacrest Blvd.
Boynton Beach, FL 33435
From: Father Marty
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 5:50
PM
To: Charlotte Lees
Subject: Mission
Team - March 14 morning update
Charlotte: I cannot send to googlegroups because my remote access to email only works over web. Googlegroups tries to send from Outlook which does not work for me remotely. Please send out for me. I'll continue to send updates to you to post to googlegroups. Thanks, Fr. Marty
After the wonderful send-off by the Saint Joseph’s church community, the team arrived safely at Fort Lauderdale airport thanks to our limo driver Roger (a friend of Jerry Guthrie’s who provided the transportation at cost), Kay Baker from St. Joseph’s, and Dee Zlatic. Jet Blue was jammed with cruise ship people on a Sunday afternoon, and our first angel we met on this trip was Darren, a Jet Blue desk person who opened up a separate line to check in our group. He and his assistant were most friendly and accommodating to help us out. After the two hour flight to Santo Domingo (some slept, some conversed, some watched the satellite TV), Karen from the Diocesan mission office met us at the arrivals hall and arranged our bus transportation to the Kellogg Center. Fr. Alvaro and his wife Angela Marie are the new directors at the Kellogg Center. They greeted us warmly with the staff, and after we sorted out the sleeping rooms, we brought in all the luggage. We had 40 checked bags, most of which were close to the 50 pound limit. 22 of those bags are group bags, as we have a ton of baseball equipment, shirts, medical accessories, classroom materials, and other donations that we will give away to Fr. Guelmy and Fr. Sandino at the respective mission sites.
We had a wonderful dinner with plenty of good and healthy food, and then adjourned for our prayer, reflection, and meeting. The group reflected on what they were thinking about, concerned about, or hoping for the week. Some of the comments included: to listen and discern, to hear the wants of our local mission partners so we can better serve them, to be willing not to be in control, that we all work well together, that I am honored to be among this wonderful group, that our efforts will be pleasing in God’s sight, how grateful I am for how much we have in the U.S.A., and how thankful I am to be here.
After a closing hymn together (thanks to the help of Bill French and Charles who provided the music and lyrics sheets), we allowed everyone to make it an early night. Marty Knight headed up the organization of all the equipment supply bags, and Debra Titkemeier organized all the food & snacks. It was a beautiful cool night with a nice breeze outside, and the quiet outside was soon reflected by the quiet mission team asleep inside as well. Everyone is looking forward with anticipation to our start of the mission work on Monday: eleven will go to Consuelo for the basketball court project, and seven will go to Boca Chica to work with the home for seniors.