Day One - On Our Way

Arrived at 6 am at the DBCS school parking lot - loaded the Blue Whale (school bus) with luggage and 14 duffle bags packed with supplies for the orphan centers.  In a light misting rain, we formed a prayer circle and lifted our hearts up to God for safe travel and open minds & hearts.  We stopped at a rest stop before reaching Richmond for "el bano" break and received some very sad news - Mr. Law's father had been recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer - had been sick for some time - and the Father decided he wanted him to come home - he had just passed from this life into the gates of Heaven.   As we got back on the bus and continued our journey, the students began to sing - they sang "and He shall wipe away all tears" - how true is that promise!

We made a quick stop at the Landmark mall and ate lunch at Chickfila.  We arrived shortly thereafter at the Dulles Airport, where we waiting in long lines at the TACA ticket counter to check our suitcases, the duffle bags and get our tickets.  We made record time in getting through the security check and then arrived at Gate A19 in plenty of time to make our flight.  After snacks and drinks, One Voice performed their first impromptu concert, complete with guitar and drums - people stopped to look and listen as they sang "Hosanna in the Highest."

We flew from Dulles to El Salvador - uneventful and safe flight - arriving around 8:30 CST (10:30 EST) and then boarded the next flight to San Padro Sula.  We arrived about 30 minutes later, and then waited in long lines to get through customs. We were met by Edward Rivera with two passenger vans, where we began to load and stack mounds of luggage on top of the vans. We arrived safely at the Mission Dormitory, quickly made room assignments, went over a quick agenda and wakeup time for the next day, prayed and thanked God for a safe journey, and then collapsed in our beds - about midnight CST (or 2:00 EST).

Will be creating some additional pages to the blog to put specific information, but below is a list of the One Voice Mission Trip members:

Chaperones:

Karen Poplin, One Voice Choir Director (Drew’s mom)

Jeremiah Skinner (Orphan Helpers Guide)

Dave Phillips (Orphan Helpers Board) (Logan’s dad)

Rob Walk (Karen’s son-in-law)

Don Skrinjorich (Christine’s dad)

Amber Pelletier, DBCS Spanish Teacher and trip interpreter
Kathleen Futrell (Jessie's mom)

Students:

Daniel Etheridge

Kyle Smith

Robert Rhodes

Evan Tanner 

Drew Poplin

Michael Field

Ben Nolte

Katie Nolte

Christine Skrinjorich

Kayleigh Poulin

Jessie Futrell

Jamie Collier

Logan Goins-Phillips

Anna Cashen