We are happy to report that last week we had a good meeting with Padre Ramón Canela and his wife, Ivelisse Espinal, at the Campamento in El Pedregal, and that we discussed this preliminary list of projects for our 2019 mission trip:
* Paint murals of animals and trees in the second kindergarten classroom. (We did the first classroom last year).
* Construct a concrete block bedroom for a villager, Pirlulu, replacing an existing plywood structure on the side of a house. Pirlulu is Leidy's cousin and Elena's grandson, and our team has supported his education in a special needs school for many years.
* Install oscillating wall fans in the second-floor main dormitory rooms. We might elect to fund these in advance and have them installed by the time we arrive. The dining hall already has oscillating fans along the walls.
* Conduct sewing classes.
* Conduct embroidery thread bracelet classes for the teenagers.
* Conduct a veterinary clinic.
* Conduct some form of Vacation Bible School or environmental studies classes for the children. The scope and topic of these classes is to be determined later.
During the time we will be at the Campamento, the teachers will still be on post-planning duty but the children will be out of classes. The teachers will be available to help us with the VBS and other activities as needed.
If you are interested in joining the 2019 team, please contact us to discuss your interest and your possible role on the team (contact information below). Once you receive an OK to join from us, then send a $100 deposit made payable to Christ Episcopal Church with "DR Mission" in the memo line to the church (see address below). Then proceed to choose your departure city and purchase your flight tickets. Send copy of the airline confirmation to
juliacariail@gmail.com
. The team will have a maximum of 18 members.
All missioners will have the choice of starting the trip either at the Valdosta airport or at the Atlanta airport on Monday, June 17. All will fly back to Atlanta on June 24, where missioners can decide on their own to leave the trip in Atlanta or to fly on to Valdosta that same night.
Here are the designated flight numbers and times:
Monday, June 17
Delta 5034 VLD 6:15 a.m. --> ATL 7:25 a.m.
Delta 686 ATL 9:50 a.m. --> SDQ 1:16 p.m.
Monday, June 24
Delta 759 SDQ 1:45 p.m. --> ATL 5:21 p.m.
Delta 3420 ATL 9:10 p.m. --> VLD 10:15 p.m.
As of 2 p.m. on October 31, the cost of these flights from and back to Valdosta was $1,155.73. The cost of the flights from and back to Atlanta was $863.63.
We will be in Atlanta on grandparent duty from November 2-7. From November 8-13, we will be in the Dominican Republic again to photograph the consecration of another new church built by mission teams from Florida and South Carolina. To see an album of photographs that we took in October of the consecration of the church built by the St. Anne's Tifton team,
click here
. While in the Dominican Republic, we think we will have good internet access for email and generally good voice phone service.
You can follow along on this trip on Julius' Facebook page: <
https://www.facebook.com/julius.ariail
>.
And a final note: Leidy and Jesús asked us to convey their sincere thanks to all of you for your cards and good wishes on the occasion of their marriage on October 23. We were honored to serve as their official witnesses at the ceremony, representing all of you. To see the formal photographs of the family taken after their wedding,
click here
.
-- Julia and Julius
The planning webpage for the 2019 mission trip
is now online here.
All information about the trip will be added to this page just as soon as it is available.
For information about Christ Church's mission work in the Dominican Republic, including a summary report and photographs from the 2018 trip,
click here
.
