missionaryMAC

I went to my first destination wedding this weekend! I guess you can still call it that if I live  in the destination?  I've known Kelsey & Franco for about 2 1/2 years - ever since they started attending my local church. They're part of my small but treasured group of expat friends outside the LCMS missionary community. Kelsey is from the US and was on staff at Santiago Christian School (SCS); her husband Franco is Dominican but studied engineering in Michigan for several years.  Wedding fever started last month with a lovely bridal shower hosted by one of Kelsey's SCS colleagues. We played the newlywed game, wedding Jeopardy!, and hot potato with a bouquet of plastic flowers while trying not to melt in the afternoon heat.  The Cute Sundress Picture The Church Picture (I think we're laughing because right before this Val (far left) held up "her finger and her thumb in the shape of an "L" on her forehead"...for Lutheran...) My gift to the couple

I'm not moving :) Buuuuuuuuut...I'm temporarily relocating :( I'll transition to a soon-to-be-vacated mission apartment in early July, head to Punta Cana and then on to the US for home service on August 2, and return to my temporary apartment until my landlord is ready to draft a new contract for "my" house. She continues to say the remodel will take an estimated "4 months," which would mean early November.  It's essentially the same  news that I was overjoyed about last Saturday yet a difficult pill to swallow for 2 reasons.  Early last week, there was a small chance my landlord would find another place to live during the remodel. Ever the optimist, I clung firmly to this.  My original conception of "temporarily relocating" has been rocked to its core. I will not be leaving wall hangings up and stowing some select off-limits items in one of the spare bedrooms. Rather, I'll be emptying the house completely and stripping it of fixtures

It's hot, and I'm not talking about my house while the oven was on for 7 hours making Oven Cooked Barbecue Brisket for tonight's all-team dinner.  I mean  that the DR is a hot-climate culture. I'll get there, though.  Tirzah and I went garage sale-ing and thrifting on Saturday. Sadly, no, garage sales are not a "thing" here unless you're a member of the Santiago, DR Missions Community Garage Sale Facebook group. Both of us are, so we hit four before heading to the mall for lunch and dress-hunting at a favorite secondhand clothing store.  Things I got for free: Scrabble Scramble A map of the West Indies (yes, I like maps, OK?) Things I bought:  Rummikub A 2nd (and smaller) cookie sheet One of those pouches that keeps your phone waterproof but still lets you take pictures A completely impractical summer party dress for a wedding a week from Saturday Neutral sandals (to go with the dress, but I was going to buy some anyway) AND Foreign to Familiar ! Foreign

I mentioned a few posts ago that I had news. Things have finally developed enough to share; in fact, it's gone from awful, distressing, sad news to the best news I heard all [yester]day:  I DON'T HAVE TO MOVE!!! The backstory is this: my  dueña (landlord) informed the mission's business office that I needed to move...by July 1...and I was crushed. My home here is a safe, comforting space to me that I continue to nest into . I wouldn't be the first missionary this had happened to, and I actually had an  oddly similar experience  in 2009 while serving as a GEO missionary in El Paso, TX, but my mind was immediately flooded with all of the reasons why I love my house and living anywhere else would be the worst fate imaginable.  I went from anger, to denial, to finally starting to notice things I would not  miss: the diseased palm tree in the front yard, the fluctuating water pressure, the wonky kitchen drawer. Talking through an action plan helped, too, but hinged on seein