The sun had already gone down when the plane began to land over Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The juniors of Mitchell Christian were hot, exhausted, and most of all, excited. In the airport, a sign read, "You’re finally here!" which the juniors, of all people, could appreciate. For three years they had thought of fundraisers, sold Mitchell Christian cards in the bitter cold, and served at just about every event that went on. When March 26th came, the juniors traveled from midnight until seven (almost 24 hours), spending a lot of time in some airports, and sometimes barely stepping onto the plane before the doors shut. Needless to say, when they had finally gone through customs, found their luggage, met the COI leader, Elson Jones, and were speeding their way through the Dominican countryside on a rundown bus, the juniors were relieved to finally be there.

    Most of the juniors’ week was spent at Ebenezer, a school that was run by a pastor and his family. Every day around 200 children from the nearby villages travel to the three room school house to receive an education. The pastor also permanently takes care of seven children whose parents died of AIDS. When the juniors arrived on Saturday morning, the school was in sad shape. Because of the heat, there were no windows or doors, but there were also no fans or electricity. Many of the desks were missing seats or legs, and the children simply had to make due any way they could. The walls were just concrete, and the floors were made of dirt. For most of the next week, it was the juniors’ job to clean up the school. The boys began by mixing up concrete with the help of a local construction team, while the girls prepared the walls to be covered and painted. Once one wall was concreted, the girls would paint it and then move on to the next one, coming back the next day to apply a second coat. While this was going on, there was usually a group of people in the middle of the room standing on barrels, installing lights and fans in every room. By the end of the week, every room was swept out, covered in concrete, painted, had functional electricity, and a few improved desks. On Wednesday, their last day with the kids, the juniors brought out and gave away all the things that had been donated and collected back home. They set them out in suitcases and let the children come through in a line and take things that they really needed, like clothes, soap, toothpaste, and of course, toys.

     When the juniors were not working, there was always something going on. On Saturday they went to a local beach and spent the afternoon there. Sunday afternoon, after working with the kids, the juniors spent time at a park before going to Elson’s church, where they encountered one of few air-conditioned buildings of the week. They also went out to eat that night, where no one could even understand the menu, so they ordered their food without knowing what they would get. One day the girls stayed home and washed everyone’s clothes - by hand! Most of the girls also traveled to another village to do a Bible school at the church there, while Mariah Nelson stayed behind to meet the child she has been sponsoring since she was a seventh grader. Two nights, after working all day, the boys were taken to a local basketball court where they played against a team of Dominican boys until the sun went down. Thursday was the day before the juniors returned to the United States, and it was spent in a few different places. They saw underwater lakes that you could see to the bottom of, they traveled to the tombs of the Dominican’s national heroes, and they walked the streets of Santo Domingo shopping for souvenirs to bring back home.