It's Thursday, June 13. Four days until the start of our mission trip.

Some important notes:

Valdosta-area missioners will be commissioned by Fr. Dave Johnson during the 10 a.m. service at Christ Church on Sunday, June 16.

Wear your team t-shirt and team cross on Monday, June 17.

Valdosta departures: Do not check in online before you come to the airport. Plan to arrive at the Valdosta airport at 4 a.m. on June 17 so all eight of us can check in together and get some of the checked baggage fees waived. This baggage waiver will only work if all eight of us are together. I will pay on the spot for any baggage fees that we might be charged.

Atlanta and Myrtle Beach departures: The four of you will check in independently and proceed through security to the Delta 686 ATL-SDQ departure gate on your own. Please save the receipts for any checked baggage fees and Julia will reimburse you at the departure gate in either US dollars or Dominican pesos, whichever you prefer. You will need pesos when we stop at the Jacaranda rest stop on Monday afternoon.

If you have any getting-to-the-airport challenges on June 17, text me at (229) 563-0209 to let me know your status.

I will be ready to open the "Bank of Julius" and loan you Dominican pesos at any time during the trip. I think the exchange rate we will use is US dollar 1 = Dominican peso 50, but I will check that again on our departure date. After we return from the trip, I will send you an accounting statement for any peso loans and you can pay me back then.

I am continuing to add "getting ready" photographs to the team photograph album on my Facebook page linked here. If you have some photographs from your own "getting ready" process, please send them to me to be added to this album. During the trip, I plan to post a few photographs and a daily summary report on my Facebook page: < https://facebook.com/julius.ariail>. Your family and friends back home can follow our adventures on this page.

New information documents online are the dormitory room assignments and the tentative day-by-day schedule, and of course those two new documents are on the planning page here . The older information document with lots of details about June 17 is online here and also on the trip planning page here.

On the tentative day-by-day schedule: this will probably change as soon as we step off the bus at the Campamento. We're well-known as "Team Flexible" and we'll roll what whatever happens.

Please be prepared to be on time for meals and team meetings / morning and evening prayer services. These are the only times that all of us are together and that we can talk about the plan for the day or the next day. Since it is very important that all of us are up-to-speed on the status of our projects and the special events, our long-standing team policy is not to start any meal or team meeting/worship service until all of us are there. On Tuesday, June 18, Morning Prayer and the team meeting will be at 7:30 in the dining hall, followed by breakfast at 8:00 a.m.

Finally, some project updates:

1) There has been a change in the location of the schoolroom mural painting project. The new location will be in the large school building and not in the kindergarten building, which has recently been inspected by the Dominican Ministry of Education and rated as too small for so many kindergarten students.

2) The two metal windows have been installed in Pirulo's bedroom and sacks of cement are on hand to start laying the floor. Several gallons of paint are also on hand to be used to paint the interior and exterior of the bedroom and then the entire front of Grandmother Elena's house. The new metal front door has also been installed in Elena's house.

3) Vaccines for the dog rescue project have been purchased and those items and other essential supplies are on hand at Jacqueline's house. If you have not yet seen the video Jacqueline asked me to make to introduce you to her dog rescue operation, you can see it here.

4) The eight sewing machines we have stored at the Campamento have been checked out by Jesús and all are in good condition.

5) The service project for the "teen team" will be a systematic trash pickup on the grounds of the Campamento and perhaps the surrounding roads. Once the trash is picked up, then the teens will plant flowers somewhere on the Campamento grounds.

And...

Let us go with servant hearts to share the love of God with the people of El Pedregal in our mission field.

Julius

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The planning webpage for the 2019 mission trip is 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 .