We're Heading "Home"

With Father Hipólito

An essential part of every mission trip is the "going home." Leaving the people who have been so hospitable and so much a family for the week, and heading back to the people who are also family, is a bitter-sweet event.

Bob and Stacy

And so, we said goodbye to our Cristo Salvador family on Sunday after church with tears and hugs and promises that we'll be back next year, "si Dios quiere."

Jim and Lazaro

We boarded a comfortable, air-conditioned bus and drove to the north coast for a couple days at the beach before catching the plane to Virginia.

The beach is beautiful and we've been lucky enough to have Poly, Lilian and their kids with us here... kind of a gentler way to start the work of re-entering the culture we live in "the rest of the year." How do we integrate the experience of living in the Dominican Republic with open hearts and open hands with the busyness of work, studies, traffic, bills, and all our other obligations. Tough, it's tough!

Tomorrow, I'll make my own café con leche. I'll do my laundry, I'll get a reminder call from the dentist. I'll long for a hug from Leonardo, I'll wish for the chaos of passing out and collecting crayons from the VBS kids. I'll hear Fr. Hipólito's voice calling, "MARTA!" in my head but not with my ears. And I'll get a call from my granddaughters, I'll get excited about sharing our experience with my St. Anne's family, I'll get a frappuccino and I'll remind myself that we are separated only by distance in miles, not by distance of the heart!

It's been a GREAT trip! Thank you, St. Anne's. The team will be fired up for a while, ask us about DR2010, we'll be happy to tell you.

More photos here.